How To Become A Nutritional Consultant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a nutritional consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Elizabeth Smith PhD, R.D., LDN

Nutritional consultants plan and conduct food service to assist in the promotion of health and control of disease. They help guide others to better eating habits and food intake for optimal health by developing eating plans that promote healthy metabolism, good immune response, and healthy body weight. They earn an average salary of $53,000 annually or $26 per hour.

Nutritional consultants discuss and analyze the current eating habits of their clients and educate them about the importance of specific foods and nutrients. They also create a workout plan that combines all sorts of fitness regimen, depending on the client's needs. These consultants need to have compassion for their clients and be physically fit also.

An academic degree is not a basic requirement to be a nutrition consultant. However, getting at least a two-year associate's degree or, better still, a higher degree can pave the way in some instances. Most states also require that nutritional consultants are licensed and hold the designation of a licensed dietician.

What general advice would you give to a nutritional consultant?

Elizabeth Smith PhD, R.D., LDN

Associate Professor

Remain open minded and don't be afraid to try new roles and tasks. Sometimes the area of nutrition you think you will like the least is what you end up loving!
Also, be on time, follow through with what you say you will do and be positive!

ScoreNutritional ConsultantUS Average

Salary

4.9

Avg. Salary $62,346

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.2

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.86%

Asian 9.10%

Black or African American 8.12%

Hispanic or Latino 11.15%

Unknown 3.65%

White 67.11%

Gender

female 77.44%

male 22.56%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

7.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.9

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a nutritional consultant

Explore nutritional consultant education requirements

Most common nutritional consultant degrees

Bachelor's

63.6 %

Master's

17.8 %

Associate

9.4 %

Start to develop specific nutritional consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
Diabetes	8.61%
Weight Loss	7.49%
Nutrition Assessments	5.99%
Food Service	5.88%
Menu Planning	4.62%

Complete relevant nutritional consultant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New nutritional consultants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a nutritional consultant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real nutritional consultant resumes.

Research nutritional consultant duties and responsibilities

Manage the in-store dietitian program providing nutrition education, culinary workshops, food demonstrations, and nutritional assessments.
Specialize in weight loss, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and lactose intolerance
Provide nutrition assessments, counseling and diabetes education to visually impair population individually and in group setting.
Ensure compliance to USDA requirements.

Prepare your nutritional consultant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your nutritional consultant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a nutritional consultant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable nutritional consultant resume templates

Build a professional nutritional consultant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your nutritional consultant resume.

Apply for nutritional consultant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a nutritional consultant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do nutritional consultants rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Nutritional consultant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020

Cons

At the end of the day, you’re body is so tired. From doing this much heavy work you’d expect a decent pay check. You won’t make enough to rent an apartment with this job.