Our body responds to things we eat and drink in a day. This is why food has an important role in curating our health, managing chronic diseases, and fighting illness. Holistic nutritionists tend to teach clients how a proper diet helps in maintaining weight loss and weight gain with a proper support system. If exploring nutrition and learning about them excites you, then you should see how to become a holistic nutritionist and what they actually do.
What does a holistic nutrition professional do?
A holistic nutrition professional is an individual who provides suggestions to families, individuals, and people to not only improve their eating habits, and lifestyle but also advises how to make choices that promote health. Simply put, these health professionals plan and program diet charts of food and nutrition, supervise how food is prepared, and educates the patients on how their in-take is affecting the body mechanism. People who wish to pursue this as a career, often want to find out about holistic dietitian salary, what they do, and what is their career progression.
Certified holistic nutritionists follow a unique approach that is different than what we normally see in traditional western medicine. They focus on every detail and consider every aspect of a patient’s life equally important to improve their health conditions and then develop a plan accordingly. They address specific conditions as well depending on the health condition and diagnosis of the patient.
Hence, along with the physical health, they must look for the emotional health and well-being of the patients and identify how the environment is affecting their health and energy levels. With this wide perspective, they create varied and balanced diet plans, which fulfill the health requirements.
Where are they employed?
Holistic nutritionists usually find employment in hospitals, schools, and research laboratories after the completion of their studies. Though, most of them are employed as consultants on contracts in private practice sometimes as a dietitian.
How to become a certified holistic nutritionist?
As the field is rapidly growing, people are searching for answers to how to become a holistic nutritionist?
Several universities are helping individuals in becoming a certified holistic nutritionist by certified courses and related programs. However, the master’s program in this field is suitable for the current dietitians who aim to explore more and increase their knowledge in alternative medicine. The program primarily comprises learning about basic nutrition sciences in the beginning and on moving forward involves overall education of diet, lifestyle, and lifestyle.
Training and certifications
For now, to be a holistic nutritionist, you don’t need any license. However, in many states, certain standards have been set in place for to practice of holistic nutritionists and dietitians. Moreover, the National Association of Nutrition professionals now operates the Holistic Nutrition Credentialing Board.
You have the option to go for the certification or not, but it is widely known in the industry hence if taken, it increases the job opportunities. For nutritionists to pursue their field professionally, they need to have a professional experience of no less than 500 hours. Besides, continuous education and exams must be taken to maintain the certification’s credibility.
Related job titles
As per indeed reports, the jobs postings of holistic nutritionists and other related fields come with the job title of Public Health Nutrition with an average salary of $52,000.
Job outlook
The average growth rate in the field of holistic nutrition including nutritionist and dietitian from 2016 to 2021 was almost 16%, stated by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hence, making it the fastest growth rate than the national average
As per the reporting of Indeed.com, the average holistic nutrition salary jobs with a high confidence ranking, verified by more than 250 sources is $36,000.00. However, the average salary of holistic nutritionists is posted 37% lower than the average salaries of all job postings around the world.
Holistic dietitian salary by the state in the US
Following is the list of salaries of holistic nutritionists in different states of the US. The data was collected from Indeed.com based on the average number of job postings.
For instance, the largest quota of pay in Washington DC was $45,000 while in Hawaii it was the smallest i.e. consisting of $22,000.
- Salary in Alaska
The average salaries of holistic nutritionists in Alaska were 26% lower than the rest of the jobs countrywide. Thereby, it was ranked 48th on average salary relative to other states in the US. It was last updated in October 2016.
- Salary in Alabama
In Alabama, the average holistic dietitian salary was $37,000 which is 1% higher than the average salary percentage nationwide. It was rated 10th among the average salary ratings in the country.
- Salary in Connecticut
In Connecticut, the average holistic nutritionist salary was $42,000 which was 15% higher than the average salary percentage countrywide. It was rated as 4th among the average salary ratings in the country. There were job openings in this salary range from employers like Square Organics.
- Salary in Georgia
Georgia was ranked 5th in the country for an average salary of a holistic nutritionists as it offered $41,000 which was 14% higher than other salaries. Square organics and Revolution Holistic were offering jobs in Georgia in this field.
- Salary in Illinois
Illinois offered $41,000 as an average salary for holistic nutritionists which was 13% higher than offered by the rest of the states in the country. Thereby, it was ranked 6th in average salary ranking. Balance Stress Management, Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, and Square Organics were posting jobs openings in this domain.
- Salary in Mississippi
In Mississippi, $38,000 was the average pay of holistic nutritionists which was only 5% higher than the country average. It was ranked 9th in this regard. Though, there were no job openings from this state as reported back in 2016.
- Salary in Newyork
New York offers the best job opportunities in almost every field. Holistic nutritionists’ salary average was $44,000 which was 25% higher than the industry countrywide. Hence, it was ranked 3rd in average salary ranking. In 2016, there were job opportunities from ALOHA, Square Organics, Newyork Presbyterian/Columbia Medical University, and Metro Integrative Pharmacy.
- South Dakota
Seems like South Dakota had the lowest average in 2016 for holistic dietitian salary which was $27,000 annually hence, made 25% lower than the industry average. Undoubtedly, it was ranked 47th.
These are the statistics of October 2016 but as of now, holistic nutritionist is one of the highest-paid jobs in the United States. The salary potential in this field is influenced by the number of certifications and years of experience the practitioners hold. Holistic nutritionists who earn annually around $34,500 make the 10% of the lowest paid in this field. While the 10% of the highest-paid earn almost $77,590 annually.
Functional nutritionist salary as of June 2022
In California, the average functional nutritionist salary is $81,326 annually. In case you need to have an hourly rate, this would be $39.10. The weekly calculator for the average salary becomes $1,564 and for $6,777 monthly.
Here are the top 10 cities where the functional nutritionist salary is the highest.
| City | Annual Salary | Hourly Wage |
| San Mateo | $101,891 | $48.99 |
| Daly City | $100,287 | $48.21 |
| Berkeley | $100,232 | $48.19 |
| Richmond | $95,268 | $45.80 |
| Santa Clara | $93,047 | $44.73 |
| San Francisco | $92,204 | $44.33 |
| San Diego | $90,324 | $43.42 |
| Fremont | $90,291 | $43.41 |
| San Bernardino | $89,238 | $42.90 |
| Elk Grove | $89,053 | $42.81 |
The Bottom Line
Holistic nutritionists work to meet the special and specific needs of the clients and prepare evidence-based meal plans. Considering clients’ dietary restrictions, they educate their clients about how many portions of specific nutrition they need in a day and how much time they should cook certain meals to meet their dietary needs.
If you are a Holistic nutritionist, consider the information discussed above to know your worth in different parts of the world and expand your chances to get paid better.