When thinking about your nutrition goals and what kind of support you might need, it can be helpful to explore a few different questions. Let’s take a look today at the potential differences between face-to-face (virtual or in-person) nutrition sessions with a dietitian versus a nutrition course.
- Learning Styles: Ask yourself: How do I learn best? Some of us learn best through reading/writing new information, while others learn best through visual guidance, listening to someone speak out loud and still others learn by doing. It can be helpful to reflect on how you think you may learn best. Courses typically provide a more reading/writing approach while some also include visual and auditory learning through videos linked with their texts.
Face-to-face sessions provide more of an interpersonal approach where you can learn through discussions with a professional. You have the ability to share your experience and learn about others’ experiences. These types of sessions can also include handouts and other information that is sent to you after the appointment to supplement what you may have talked about in the session. - Timing: Courses tend to have the most flexibility here since you are able to pick when you log-on and how long you work on a section. When you are working with a dietitian doing face-to-face appointments, you will be making appointments that fit both of your schedules and are usually limited to 30min-1hr time frames.
- Accountability: This is one area where sessions tend to win. When you’re meeting with a dietitian, you are consistently scheduling appointments and know that you are going to be asked how you are doing with your goals. This is most often where I hear clients prefer sessions- they tend to work harder on tasks when they know they will be discussing them with me later. Courses on the other hand tend to work better for people who are able to hold themselves accountable when working towards certain goals.
- Check out my course called Your Guide to Sustainable Nutrition which offers up to 6 weekly email check-ins for increased accountability.
- Cost: Cost tends to vary greatly between dietitians as well as courses. Typically, however, courses are a one-time fee whereas nutrition sessions are a repeating cost depending on how many sessions you end up wanting. Overall, a course tends to be lower in cost.
If you think that a nutrition course may be a good fit for you, I have recently completed a course to offer alongside face-to-face appointments. This course is currently less than the cost of one face-to-face appointment but the cost will be increasing soon once I have had added videos to supplement the lectures. This course offers 18 lectures over 4 modules including 10+ downloadable handouts. If you have questions about whether a course or sessions could be a good fit for you, please reach out at stephanie@ayalanutrition.com or 301-820-8848. If you’re interested in more details about my course, check them out at Your Guide To Sustainable Nutrition.