FACS: Dietician/Nutrition

Background for Teachers

Review all information and materials prior to class discussion.

• Dietitians are often referred to as "nutritionists," but registered dietitians have more education and training than nutritionists. Dietitians also have greater job responsibilities and earn higher salaries than nutritionists.
• Dietitians are experts in nutrition science.
• Dietitians and Nutritionists plan and conduct food service or nutritional programs to assist in the promotion of health and control of disease.
• Most jobs are in hospitals, nursing care facilities, outpatient care centers, and offices of physicians or other health practitioners.
• Must have at least a bachelor's degree; licensure, certification, or registration requirements. (These requirements vary by state)
• Applicants with specialized training, an advanced degree, or certifications beyond the particular State's minimum requirement should enjoy the best job opportunities.
• Possible job responsibilities include: plan food and nutrition programs, supervise meal preparation, oversee the serving of meals, prevent and treat illness by promoting healthy eating habits and recommending modifications, manage food service systems for hospitals, schools, nursing care facilities, HMOs, group homes, prisons etc., provide instruction on grocery shopping and food preparation, enforce sanitary and safety regulations, prepare records and reports, hire and train other dietitians, perform nutrition screenings for clients and offer advice on diet-related concerns such as weight loss and cholesterol reduction and so on.
• Dietitians often work with diet therapy or therapeutic diets to help clients improve their health using the foods that they eat.
• Some of the main therapeutic diets include: regular diet, liquid diet, soft diet, diabetic diet, calorie controlled diet, low cholesterol diet, fat restricted diet, sodium restricted diet, protein diet, bland diet, and low residue diets.

Instructional Procedures

Step 1: Review the background material for teachers. Also review the basics of the Food Guide Pyramid and nutritional guidelines.

Step 2: Make enough copies of the worksheet for each student to have and complete while watching the power point

Step 3: Show the power point presentation and be prepared to discuss the answers to the 'mini' quizzes throughout the presentation.

Extensions

Possible second day activity: If time permits to have a second day on this topic, the students could do a cooking lab in which they make miniature pizzas and analyze how the ingredients can fit into the food pyramid categories and what they could do to make it have less fat and more nutrition. (Such as substituting Canadian Bacon for the Pepperoni, use low fat, part skim mozzarella cheese, add more veggies such as peppers, onions, add fruit (pineapple) use whole wheat English muffins etc…)