What Is Nutritional Counseling?

Nutritional counselors, also known as dietitians, help patients identify and manage food and nutrition-related concerns through short- and long-term treatment strategies. Nutritional counseling is commonly applied to patients experiencing neuromuscular or musculoskeletal disorders, digestive ailments, obesity, diabetes, menopause, pregnancy, allergies, among other conditions.

By analyzing and assessing diet and exercise habits, nutrition is seen as a key factor in establishing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Without adequate nutrition, a large number of diseases can ensue in part due to the vulnerability placed on the body. Nutritional counselors aim to find integrated ways to set goals and help patients achieve them. When nutritional counselors assess patients, individual profiles are analyzed. The information the patient receives from the counselor is contingent on their lifestyle (vegetarianism, for instance), age, life stage (menopause, pregnancy), and medical history.

Nutritional Counseling incorporates weight monitoring and education about weight, food records, self-control strategies, meal planning, and problem-solving skills. Instruction of food planning and self monitoring is seen as instrumental in getting patients to follow a specified program.

The Work of Dietitians
Dietitians and nutritionists plan nutrition programs, helping to prevent and treat illnesses by promoting healthy eating habits while addressing dietary imbalances. They also recommend specific dietary changes to fit a person’s temporary condition. (Recommending extra folate for pregnant women, for instance.) Dietitians often work in hospitals and schools, applying their services through education and research. Clinical dietitians provide nutritional services to patients in institutions by assessing patients’ nutritional needs, developing and recommending nutrition programs, and evaluating the results with other professionals to coordinate medical and nutritional needs. Community dietitians counsel individuals and groups on nutritional practices aimed to prevent disease and promote health. They work as independent contractors with healthcare facilities or engage in their own private practice, screening clients’ nutritional needs and offering regulated approaches meeting them.

Eating Disorders
The American Dietetic Association (ADA) sets guidelines and protocols for the practice of nutritional counseling. In 1996, it defined guidelines for medical nutrition therapy for many medical conditions related to nutrition, which included eating disorders.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) considers nutritional counseling as one of the most important treatment elements for people with eating disorders. Nutritional counseling is viewed for its role in motivating patients to agree to reestablishing healthy eating habits. In this context, nutritional counseling is seen holistically, in terms of how it fits into ongoing support to patients and their families.

Nutritional counseling in this context attempts to correct irregular eating habits, replacing it with a balanced approach to food and weight control. It provides a synthesis of information and practices, drawing from many fields including cognitive-behavioral, relational, and educational techniques. It is considered a part of overall treatment, not as a single-source approach. As such, it employs the support of other treatment methods, which can include psychotropic medications and psychological counseling.

Collaborative rapport between patient and counselor is considered essential for treatment success. The counselor addressed entrenched food beliefs, behaviors and attitudes revolving around food, how, when, and how much to eat it – amounting to a complex equation. Counseling environments must be secure, safe, and supportive, where the patient receives helpful information from the counselor in a direct but non-intrusive manner.

How Nutritional Counseling Can Help Overall Health: Counseling can clarify questions related to nutrients, calories, and special food needs, showing what to look for when reading food labels. They can help sort through healthy cooking alternatives in real-life contexts while teaching strategies of self-control. (One may learn how to better select items from a restaurant menu, for example.)

Digestive Problems – Dietitians or Nutritionists jointly work with physicians to establish dietary plans that are in keeping with a patient’s condition. They may recommend the removal of fried foods, spices or carbonation, while recommending other alternatives.

Diabetes – Counseling can provide healthy food alternatives without sacrificing taste.

Pregnancy – It can help ensure a pregnant woman is getting all the nutrients she needs, especially during the first three months of pregnancy, the crucial period that may affect a newborn’s risk for developing neural tube or spinal cord defects.

Conditions that May Benefit from Nutritional Counseling HIV, Cancer, Hypertension, Organ Dysfunctions, Hypoglycemia, and Heart Disease.

Most eating disorder centers and residential programs offer nutritional counseling. The benefits of receiving nutritional counseling includes improved ability to concentrate, a boosted immune system, stabilized moods, more energy, aid in recovery of eating disorders, and increase in overall health.

The Art Institutes Offers Educational Assistance For International Students

The Art Institutes (often commercially abbreviated and stylized as AI) is a collection of private, for-profit educational institutions for career preparation in the visual, creative, and applied arts, including design, media, fashion, and culinary programs. Nowadays there are forty five Art Institutes located in major cities across North America, and have over 125,000 graduates. The Art Institute Online, a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, also has online courses available. The AI awards master’s degrees, bachelor’s degrees, associate’s degrees, and non-degree-program certificates. AI is headquartered in Pittsburgh, and is a division of Education Management Corporation (EDMC). Educational accreditation of The Art Institutes and their programs varies among campuses and programs.At the present day the Institutes announced that they will help to both, the domestic students and the international students from the universities in New Orleans, southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama universities. These universities were closed on the indefinite term after the damaging cause of the Hurricane Katrina. All the students appeared without homes and educational establishments. And the Institutes decided to take care of those students and take them to continue their studying.All the AI will provide for the international students both on-campus and online courses. This will give to students the opportunity to continue their academic studies, even at the distance. They can succeed in their academic careers during this semester of disruption. Students who were to finish their study because of the Hurricane Katrina can be registered at any of the Art Institutes. There are thirty one locations in the country where students can enter. The international students can be enrolled for courses on a space-available basis for the fall semester.This terrible event took place in 2005. That was the beginning of the semester, thus students have paid their tuition. That is why the Institutes will waive tuition for those students who have already registered and paid their tuition at their home institutions for the fall semester. But in the case if they have not yet paid their tuition at their home institution, they will be given the lesser of the current published tuition and fees at the home institution. The school president mentioned that the AI have already published tuition and fees for the fall semester.The president of the Art Institutes Dave Pauldine said that they would try to assist the poor students whose lives and education have been impacted by the Hurricane Katrina. He also said that the AI were the only way for students to continue their studies and to improve their skills. These institutes offered that initiative as the way to reach out to the students in the Gulf Coast region whose lives were endangered by the Hurricane Katrina in the 2005.The Institutes is a group of thirty one (that was the number of institutes in 2005) higher educational establishments which are located throughout North America. They offer a wide range of educational programs among which are audio production, culinary arts, culinary management, fashion design, fashion marketing, graphic design, industrial design technology, interior design, media arts & animation, multimedia & Web design, photography, restaurant management and video production. These are not the all programs which are offered, they are more numerous in number. The Institution offer a lot of programs which are not available in others higher educational establishments.The AI operate in different towns and cities all over the North America. There are representatives of the Art Institutes in Atlanta, Arlington, VA (as The Art Institute of Washington), Boston (as The New England Institute of Art), Charlotte, Chicago and Schaumburg, IL, Cincinnati (as The Art Institute of Ohio – Cincinnati), Dallas, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles (as The Art Institute of California – Los Angeles and California Design College), Miami (as Miami International University of Art & Design), Minneapolis, New York, Orange County, CA, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Toronto, Vancouver (as The Art Institute of Vancouver, York, PA (as Bradley Academy of the Visual Arts) and The Art Institute Online, a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh.The Art Institute of Pittsburgh – Online Division, is a part of The AI system of schools with more than 40 locations throughout North America. The Institute of Pittsburgh – Online Division was launched in 2000.Founded in 1921, The Institute of Pittsburgh supports online programs with more than 85 years of excellence. With 16 academic programs, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh – Online Division is the leader in online creative arts education. The Institute of Pittsburgh is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). The AI of Pittsburgh is authorized by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to award Bachelor of Science and Associate of Science degrees. It provides courses that are designed using the same curriculum taught at The Institute of Pittsburgh. The big advantage is you can attend class fully online and at anytime to fit your busy schedule. At The Institute of Pittsburgh – Online Division, you’re in control. At graduation you will receive a degree or diploma awarded from The Institute of Pittsburgh. You will be invited to attend your graduation ceremony in Pennsylvania where you can walk with your cap and gown. You can also participate in our portfolio review show, where you can present your work to potential employers.From this article you received the information about the creativity and a good organization of the Institutes, which agreed to help those poor students who were endangered by the Hurricane Katrina. They have lost their homes and the places of education, but the Art Institutes gave them the opportunity to continue their education and received the ability to study. These institutes gave those students the ability to build their careers and to make them successful. These institutes made the act of kindness when they present them one more chance to make a successful life and career.

Best Way to Start a Photography Business

So you have a digital camera and you are thinking of turning your photography hobby into a successful business. But where do you start? From a logo, to a website, blogsite, domain name, email account, business card, camera equipment, lighting equipment, accounting software — you are feeling a little overwhelmed. The question is, what should you do first?Identify the one action that will make the biggest impactWhen starting any new business, you will have many things to do. The hardest part is knowing what to do first. Although, several things may be important, think to yourself, “what is the one thing that will make the biggest impact in launching my business?” For example, hiring a great accountant is important, but without any clients or income, this step will have very little impact in launching your business.Biggest impact for photography businessesGet a website! Getting a website will have the single greatest impact on starting a photography business. Certainly, word-of-mouth and referrals will bring you business as well. But, for example, if someone refers a business to you, what is the first thing you do? You go online and check out their website! Times have changed, getting a professional looking website is not difficult or expensive. There are many beautiful template photography website companies out there. You simply upload your own photos and content. You can even change the look of the website without any graphic design skills. Best of all, many of these companies help you set up your domain name and email accounts. These companies charge anywhere from $6 – $50/month on average. (Once your business is more established you may wish to hire a professional to design your website/blogsite – see branding below).What content should be on the website?Make sure to include your business name and location. So often I see photographers have forgotten to give their location! Don’t have a studio or a physical address? That’s okay. It is just important that you include the city and state/province that you work in. This is important for Google. You want your website to show up when someone searches for photography services in your city! For example, a potential client may type “Windsor Wedding Photographer” into a Google search. You want to make sure that you have mentioned on your website that you are a Wedding Photographer in Windsor!Also, be sure to give your contact information – email and telephone number. It is ideal to have this on your “contact” page, and at the bottom of every page on your website. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to contact you!Finally, write a little bit about yourself and what type of photography you do. People can’t hire you if they don’t know what you do!What images should I put on my website?Many new photographers worry that they don’t have enough photos for a portfolio page. Don’t worry! Less is often more. If you are starting a wedding photography business, put up some wedding related photos. Don’t have very many wedding photos? Try this: go to your local florist and buy a beautiful bouquet. Then take some beautiful detail photos of it. Ask a friend if you can take some detail photos of her engagement ring and wedding band. Slowly, as you get more clients your portfolio will grow and you can add more photos. If you are starting a kids portrait photography business and you don’t have a lot of photos of children – ask a friend if you can photograph her toddler for the website.I am by no means suggesting that you lie to clients about your level of experience. These are just some ideas on how to get supporting images for your website. Also, getting out there and taking more photographs is a great exercise in photography!Unsure of your company’s identity? What about branding?You always hear about people who haven’t started their photography businesses yet because everything behind the scenes, (branding, logo, studio, etc), isn’t perfect yet. They are afraid to start until everything is perfect. Chances are they will never be perfect – and they will never start. Your style and your company’s identity will become clearer to you the more you photograph. For example, you may decide that would like to photograph newborns only to discover, from experience, that you don’t have the patience. And you later realize that you really excel in the fast pace world of wedding photography.Things to think aboutThere are many simple/plain website templates out there that you can choose from, if you are still discovering your style and brand. You can refine the your website’s style later. Look at established companies – they are always updating their website’s style! Don’t wait until everything is perfect behind the scenes to start your photography company. You might just be waiting forever! Get your website up, because it is the one action you can take that will have the biggest impact on propelling your photography business forward. Good luck!