I had mentioned last week that I was going to post an update on what I am up to soon.. well here it is. Now what I have been thinking about is probably what a lot of people in the Paleo world are thinking about, how do I learn more?
I love learning about health and Paleo and I would LOVE to have some sort of nutrition background to help me when doing nutrition consultations. (I have done a few for family and friends but not clients, yet) Now the problem I have is that I can’t find any institution anywhere that gives a certificate or diploma course for Paleo. Now it’s slightly understandable since Paleo is a new thing but is Paleo all that new really? It’s evolutionary nutrition, seriously why aren’t there courses on this? I haven’t been able to find much and I’m actually a little shocked that there’s not more out there for people who want to do the exact same thing as I do.
So what’s my plan?
Right now I’d like to create a service for people who are looking for help to get started with Paleo for a small fee. First I’ll tell you what I’d offer then you can suggest how much you think those services would be worth.
This is something that I have done for friends and family members but I thought maybe it can help me raise some money to take some more courses.(More about that in a minute)
PALEO CONSULTANT/MENTOR/BUDDY/PAL
I will work with people for 30 days or longer depending and I’ll teach them about Paleo and how to eat. I created a very detailed FOOD form that I get people to fill it out. It tells me what kind of foods they like, what ways they like certain food cooked, what foods they have never tried but are willing to etc.. when they send it back I write up a meal plan for the month along with recipes of foods they like(since they filled out the form) I work with them during the 30 days to help them get started. Since I have researched Paleo for a few years and I have helped others start eating Paleo I have enough knowledge, resources that I can help people through the very bumpy beginnings of switching to eating a new way..I know how hard it is to change the way you eat and I know how hard it is to go from eating out ALL THE TIME to eating more meals at home and using foods you may not have even heard of before.
The thing is at the beginning, it’s new, people get confused and it really is hard to find all these new recipes and foods you like but I know I can help and I love to help! I have the resources, I know where to look and I have recipes on my computer for thousands and thousands of different meals/recipes that I can share. I can help answer questions you may have. Everyone needs some sort of support system when starting something new.
ONCE I take more schooling I’ll have more knowledge to offer my clients but the thing is right now I can personalize this for each individual person who needs the help all for a low cost and I can work with them, motivate and support them along the way. Kind of like a Paleo Buddy..
Resource page – what I’d like to create(shortly) is a resource page on my blog, these are all the books/blogs/websites/doctors etc Things that might already be on my blog and things I’d like to add. Easy to find, easy to look up.. If you are searching for info it can help guide you- It will list all the books I used so far to learn Paleo as well as ones that are on my TO READ list.
I will update my ABOUT ME page as I take new courses, so I can list that info there.
HEALTHY HAPPY & WISE <— I’m always working on the WISE by learning
I’m always looking to learn more about Nutrition. I haven’t taken it in school and everything I have learned so far are from books, blogs and research papers so I’d love to actually take some courses, preferably online since it would be too difficult to attend school at this point in my life.
What I want – a course that gives me the chance to become a PALEO nutritional consultant or a title that gives me the opportunity to teach others but I want Paleo or traditional foods to be tied into the course. I don’t want to be in school for years, I can’t go anywhere because I have a young family so I’d have to do it online. If I can find a good quality course that takes 1-2 years to complete that gives me everything that I want then I would do it in a heartbeat.. but I haven’t found one.
OPTION A
What I have found.. there’s a University in California, called Hawthorn University.. I have never heard of them but they actually have tons of courses that are based on Weston A Price’s teachings.
NOTE – If you haven’t heard of him Weston A. Price is a doctor, actually a dentist but shifted his interests to nutrition in the early 30’s. At the end of the 30’s he published a book that detailed his travels around the world while studying the diets and nutrition of different cultures. His conclusion from his studies was that a modern Western diet(processed foods, sugar, flour and processed oils) cause nutritional deficiencies that are the cause of many health and dental problems. Dr. Price’s research demonstrated that humans achieve perfect physical form and perfect health generation after generation only when they consume nutrient-dense whole foods and the vital fat-soluble activators found exclusively in animal fats. The Weston A. Price Foundation was co-founded in 1999 by Sally Fallon and nutritionist Mary G. Enig to disseminate his research. (info found on wikipedia and Weston A Price Foundation website)
Hawthorn University has Masters and Doctorates, none of which I’m qualified to apply for since I didn’t go to University. Plus they are VERY long to complete and VERY expensive. They do however have Certificate courses.
One of the courses I’m most interested in at Hawthorne is the Nutrition consultant. It is a HUGE commitment, they give you 32 weeks to complete it and it’s a lot of money over $4200. I am just not sure I want to commit that much time/money to this at this point now. The other course is Wise Traditions Nutrition Certificate which would be interesting to take but I wouldn’t I wouldn’t get a nutritionist consultant designation.
OPTION B The other route is to take courses to become a Registered Holistic Nutritionist that consist of taking a few courses that I don’t care to learn about such as Vegetarian Nutrition. There’s a school that has ONLINE courses(what I was looking for) called Alive Academy, it’s based in Canada which is a bonus. They have a Nutritional Consulting Diploma Course which is 7 courses total. If you complete the course one by one you have a max amount of months to complete each course. If you pay all at once you are given 18 months to complete all the courses but most people complete them all in 12 months. It’s also cheaper than the Hawthorne Option, less time but not giving me more of the traditional nutrition courses like Hawthorn does. $1800 for the courses all at once or almost 2000 if I do them one at a time BUT I will become a Certified Holistic Nutritionist(CHN) when I complete the course and can also apply(write exams) to become a Registered Nutritional Counselor (RNC) and/or Certified Natural Health Practitioner (CNHP)
OPTION C Alive Academy also has a course called Sports & Fitness Nutrition Certificate. It is a total of 3 courses, it’s even cheaper, will take less time than Option B but once I complete these 3 courses I will be a Certified Sports Nutrition Consultant(CSNC) and if I take an extra course on Vegetarian Nutrition(you can see where I have a problem with this) I can apply, write an exam to become a Registered Nutrition Counselor and/or Certified Health Practitioner. This is the quickest and easiest and cheapest route at this point but is still not getting me what I want to learn exactly.. well some of the courses are but the Vegetarian Nutrition isn’t something I want to learn about.
Option D There’s an option with both schools to take courses individually(as far as I can read).. so what I was thinking is I can take the courses I think I need or the courses I want to learn more about and mix and match, a bit from here, a bit from there but this will get me no title designation.. OR I can can do the basic courses from Alive Academy to become Certified sports Nutrition Consultant then either continue on and finish the courses to become a RHN there and/or go to Hawthorn and take courses individually there. The ones I would like to take..(have to look into this to make sure I can take courses individually from the Nutrition Consultant /Wise Traditions courses.)
As much as I would love to do Option A and take the Nutrition Consultant course, right now I don’t see that happening. Option D is actually what I’m leaning towards. It will combine a few courses I don’t want to take with ones I do but the way I see it, I will likely run into clients who are vegetarian and wanting advice so if I take the Vegetarian course I will have a better understanding of this, I can follow it up with the WISE Traditions course from Hawthorn which has a specific course on the Myths and Truths about Vegetarian Diets.
I hate decisions like this! I’m kind of confused on what I should do on which courses to take. I did some research though and Hawthorn University worked with Weston A Price Foundation to create the courses at the school. I found this on the Weston A. Price Foundation Website ( I had to check it out, just to make sure) So that’s a good sign! You can find this at the following link towards the bottom of the article, before comments – http://www.westonaprice.org/health-issues/what-should-i-do-to-be-a-nutritionist
All I know is I will never stop learning, I will never stop teaching.. that is a promise!
Please let me know what you think, what do you think I should do? Do you know of courses that exist that are Paleo that I can take that can help me on my journey? Do you think offering help to people who are struggling with paleo or wanting to start paleo and don’t know where to start is a good idea? How much do you think I should charge for these services if I do? If you have ideas or suggestions I’d love to hear them. Help me make a decision!
Healthy Happy & Wise 