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Nutrition and PA's ? ? ?


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I have read some of his work and am familiar with his stance. I mostly agree with his position on carbs in the diet. I haven't read these books in particular and will try to get a hold of a copy. Thanks.

 

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"Why We Get Fat" is a much easier read and communicates the major points.

 

Taubes along with others have started a new organization called NuSi which aims to perform high-quality studies on diet and hopefully advance the state of things.  Peter Attia is one of the players and is also worth reading and watching.

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You absolutely can offer nutritional counseling as a part of PA practice.  It's ridiculous that, in this country, "nutrition" is not considered medicine or taught in medical school.  Fortunately this is changing.  I worked with an internal medicine PA for a long time who talked extensively with patients regarding diet for all kinds of chronic disease (prevention and treatment).  She is not an RD, but if you read enough, you can do strong work through nutritional therapy.  Food is our first line of defense against chronic disease.  As for "paleo," it is always easy to write off popular diets as being one more fad, but I can't count on my fingers and toes the number of overweight, borderline or full-fledged diabetic, and even heart disease patients respond extremely well to the paleo diet (so long as they don't stop eating veggies in the process).  Ad unlike calorie restriction like Weight Watchers, these folks have no problem eating a low carb, high veggie & quality fat diet indefinitely.  The American RD curriculum is extremely influenced (i.e. funded) by massive American processed food conglomerates and deviates radically from what's practiced in much healthier nations.  It's going to take the medical establishment to reverse that paradigm.  RDs don't have the scope, clout, or depth of training to overturn the Food Pyramid on their own.  To me, PAs are perfectly positioned to bring in knowledge from previous training or degrees, and I can't wait to see more RD, PA-Cs running around this country.

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You absolutely can offer nutritional counseling as a part of PA practice. It's ridiculous that, in this country, "nutrition" is not considered medicine or taught in medical school. Fortunately this is changing. I worked with an internal medicine PA for a long time who talked extensively with patients regarding diet for all kinds of chronic disease (prevention and treatment). She is not an RD, but if you read enough, you can do strong work through nutritional therapy. Food is our first line of defense against chronic disease. As for "paleo," it is always easy to write off popular diets as being one more fad, but I can't count on my fingers and toes the number of overweight, borderline or full-fledged diabetic, and even heart disease patients respond extremely well to the paleo diet (so long as they don't stop eating veggies in the process). Ad unlike calorie restriction like Weight Watchers, these folks have no problem eating a low carb, high veggie & fat diet indefinitely. The American RD curriculum is extremely influenced (i.e. funded) by massive American processed food conglomerates and deviates radically from what's practiced in much healthier nations. It's going to take the medical establishment to reverse that paradigm. RDs don't have the scope, clout, or depth of training to overturn the Food Pyramid on their own. To me, PAs are perfectly positioned to bring in knowledge from previous training or degrees, and I can't wait to see more RD, PA-Cs running around this country.

Totally agree! Great post.

 

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@Joelseff,

You might want to read the following, just to name a couple.  They don’t have all the answers but speak to the topic of cholesterol, etc:

 

Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It (2011), by Gary Taubes

 

Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (2008), by Gary Taubes  

 

Thanks for the titles; I'll check them out.  The Cholesterol Myths by Dr U Ravnskov blew my world wide open.  The day American medicine realizes the Framingham Study is bullcrap (and The China Study, for that matter) is the day we start to defeat chronic disease (and the propaganda that's creating it).  

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Tufts University offers an online graduate certificate program titled "Nutrition Science for Health Professionals" which might provide those interested in this thread an opportunity for formal training in this area.

 

http://www.nutrition.tufts.edu/academics/certificate-programs/health-professionals

Yikes, $7200 for three online classes. You can get a full-blown Nutrition MS online for $20k: https://www.uws.edu/master-of-science-in-human-nutrition-and-functional-medicine/curriculum/
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Everyone,

Thanks for all the info.  And I agree "Why We Get Fat" is a much easier read than "Good Calories, Bad Calories" but I wanted to read both and get the details.  And yes the others mentioned are great too, like Peter Attia, Mark SIsson, Rob Wolff, Chris Kresser, and many others.  Without good nutrition, a person has little hope for health and healing.

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  • 1 month later...

I am currently a Registered Dietitian and have decided to become a PA-I start my program in August.  If you want to practice in-depth nutritional counseling, you would do better to focus on becoming a registered dietitian.  A PA focuses on the medical aspects, and then requests the nutrition consult from the dietitian (currently my job).  However, I know that having the background in dietetics will greatly aid my studies and understanding of the way the body works, as well as bolster my counseling and allow me a further range of practice (so long as I keep up my registration).  I would take a look at what you want to do, if you really want to be a PA.  Do you want to work in a medical area like bariatric surgery where you need to have a good understanding of nutrition but still continue to focus more on the medical aspects, or do you prefer to be more of a nutritional counselor?

Hi, I saw this post and was hoping you could give me some advice.  I just posted this on the forum was hoping you would have some insight on it.  

 

My post:

 

Hi, I am currently a undergrad student in dietetics (registered dietitian).  After contemplating and having the career of a PA cross my path I am now thinking I am in the wrong major or possibly wanting to become a PA in my future.  I don't want to give up on everything I have worked for thus far in becoming an RD.  However, I have one more year left of UG and then my RD internship. I found out from the school I am looking to apply to for PA school would accept clinical hours as a dietitian for there 750 patient contact hours required.  Since I do not have my CNA I would need to acquire them in some way.  However, they recommended a more diverse set of hours the better would be an ideal candidate.  I currently have a 3.74 GPA and am contemplating making the switch fully and start to pursue my PA degree or finishing out my dietetics degree, complete the required internship after graduation (which would get me my clinical hours needed for PA school), get my license by taking my exam for RD, and then go back to be a PA.  I am unsure if that is a waste of time getting my RD and then going on for my PA.  Should I just get my CNA this summer and then change all my courses to become a PA rather then a RD?  Is there anyone out there who has both and finds a benefit to it?   I know what it takes to get into a dietetic internship inside and out. I have tons of volunteer and valid work experience plus a strong GPA.  I need the 101 on PA school.  That way if I do drop my dietetics degree I don't drop it and then not get into PA school which puts be back even farther in school. That is why part of me wants to finish my RD in order to have a back up plan in case PA school doesn't work out.  I at least have my RD and can go forth with that.  What recommendations do you have to be a strong candidate for PA school?  I need help!  I have 3 months this summer to figure out what I want to do to avoid wasted time and money going into my senior year of UG.    

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More and more schools are seeing more and more applicants with advanced degrees.  At this point in your training, why not finish up, get the degree, the experience, and the patient hours over the next year, and plan to enter PA school once you've received your degree in dietetics (perhaps even before applying to one of the few and competitive RD internships).  I know of several RDs who have gained acceptance to PA school, but honestly, an RD that works with patients is probably viewed very similarly to a plain old "nutritionist" who also works with patients regularly.  If it were me, I'd do what it takes to become excellent, clinically, in whatever field I'm in, and use that as a jumping off point for a PA degree--while accumulating minimal debt en route.  Good luck! 

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  • 4 years later...
On 3/31/2015 at 4:36 PM, nem1221 said:

I am currently a Registered Dietitian and have decided to become a PA-I start my program in August.  If you want to practice in-depth nutritional counseling, you would do better to focus on becoming a registered dietitian.  A PA focuses on the medical aspects, and then requests the nutrition consult from the dietitian (currently my job).  However, I know that having the background in dietetics will greatly aid my studies and understanding of the way the body works, as well as bolster my counseling and allow me a further range of practice (so long as I keep up my registration).  I would take a look at what you want to do, if you really want to be a PA.  Do you want to work in a medical area like bariatric surgery where you need to have a good understanding of nutrition but still continue to focus more on the medical aspects, or do you prefer to be more of a nutritional counselor?

Hey there! I am a current RD interested in applying to PA school this upcoming cycle. I appreciate what you said here and completely agree!

Which program did you get accepted to? How was it? Can  you share your stats you had when applying to PA school?

Thanks in advance 🙂

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