If you keep up with me on social media you may probably already know that I not only finished the Nutritional Therapy Association Program in June and graduated, but I totally aced my exams and I am now an officially certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. Woohoo!! I have also already begun seeing a small amount of clients. It’s been a whirlwind of a year and I went ahead and just hit the ground running since graduation – then I realized that I never updated and finalized this series. This is the last post chronically my journey to becoming a Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner with the Nutritional Therapy Association, speaking to the final 3 months of the program. I plan to, from here, create one final post that is an FAQ of sorts, that I will continue to update as people reach out to me with questions about my experiences, since sadly I don’t always have the time to reply to each and every email, as much as I would love to. If you have any questions in regards to the program or my certification, please feel free to leave a note here in the comments or reach out via email.

My Path to Becoming a Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner – Months 7, 8 & 9

This post continues to share my journey of becoming a Nutritional Therapist with the Nutritional Therapy Association, covering Months 7, 8, and 9, April, May and June. To read more about how I came to selecting this program and to read about Month 1 of the program, see my first post. To read about months 2 and 3, month 4 and months 5 & 6 you can read more at those respected links.

Months 7, 8 and 9

As the program content continued into the consequences and we got closer to final exams, the content definitely loosened up a ton and the intensity at which we were moving, did as well. Modules 13-15 are all supplemental content that you are not tested on, but are just as important to your success as a Nutritional Therapist. I enjoying being able to read and consume all of the incredible information in these modules without the concern of memorizing and being able to be tested on it. Amazing how that changes how you take it in. That said, I found all these modules to provide a ton of very helpful and practical content that pulls together all of the knowledge we garnished throughout the curriculum into very real-life settings and scenarios with clients. When addressing the foundations and the consequences, there are obviously a myriad of individualized challenges and also highly individualistic expectations and goals for each client that need to be taken into consideration when creating personalized plans, addressing specific health and lifestyle needs, all of which are highly unique to each individual. I loved that the supplemental content gives us a look into some of these details and provides additional stepping stones and tools for digging deeper to continue to explore, educate and research the very detailed avenues that we will surely find ourselves on as practitioners.

In module 14 we received some very helpful business basics, practice management, business procedures, principals and resources needed in starting or expanding your practice. This module also offers support and resources for determining fees, navigating legalities, insurance, setting up taxes, tips for organization and creating procedures, marketing and networking, referrals and more. Module 14 also put a strong focus on goal setting and it’s importance in mastering the art of productivity, to help streamline your passions into action.

Modules Covered:

Module 13 Applied Nutritional Therapy

Module 14 Business Basics

Module 15 Beyond the Foundations

• Fertility
• Popular Diets
• Probiotics and Enzymes
• Sports Nutrition
• Vitamin D

Favorite Book(s):

Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan This is a book I have already read several times in the past and I was ecstatic to see that it was a part of the curriculum with the NTA. I firmly believe if you eat food, this is a must read! You owe it to yourself, to the farmers and the animals, your family and our environment to educate yourself on where your food comes from – no matter what and how you choose to eat. This book takes us through the process of our food system and investigates in great detail the three main principal food chains: industrialized food, alternative or “organic” food, and food people obtain of their own hunting, gathering, or gardening. Pollan explores eating a meal under each system, from it’s place of origin to it’s final resting place, on our plate. Every ingredient traced, the book also exposes the many hidden parts that we can be quite easily missed by not eating mindfully and with a conscious awareness of the ramifications of our choices. At the same time the point is driven home that our food choices have profound implications for not just our own, but also the health of our environment. If there is one book that you choose to read about our food system, if you often find yourself asking “what should I eat?”– this is a must.

The Peace Process: Attract a Steady Stream of Clients and Create a Thriving Holistic Practice by Miriam Zacharias This book lays out a conscious method to promote and grow today’s holistic, functional or integrative health practice. With easy to consume steps, you will learn to reconnect with the love, passion and excitement for your work and overcome the self-imposed obstacles, to put your practice on the map. Understandable, easy to digest and implement with clear and concise actionable steps, the PEACE plan is comprehensive, practical, applicable and founded upon personal learnings and successes. This book challenges you to look inside and helps you to define your personal philosophy and goals, providing the framework for you to build upon and find success. I love that this book is so much more than a run-of-the-bill marketing and business book, tailored specifically to the holistic practice it touches on the unique challenges and provides applicable tactics to implement, given these challenges. No matter where you are at in your journey, this book provides the inspiration to reconnect with why you started in the first place and using the fuel of this passion gives you the tools to target customers and be clear in your message, to deliver results to your clients. A must for the alternative and holistic health practitioner that is highly focused on the health of others and health of their practice.

Biggest Lesson: Honestly, with this being the culmination of the program, this particular lesson isn’t specific to these remaining months of the curriculum, but rather the completion of the program. Receiving my NTP certification taught me so much about myself and so much about my desire to want to help people. With each passing module in the curriculum this want and need to share and to give got stronger and stronger. At the start of this program, I kept finding myself saying, as I spoke with my fellow classmates “I don’t know if I will see clients, I just want to educate myself and learn more for my own health, I want to be able to share more with my readers and we will see what comes of it”. WOW – I cannot believe how wrong I was. While I am only opening my schedule to a few select clients every month at this time, the impact that this knowledge can have, the reach that I have in creating this community and the importance of sharing and giving this knowledge to whomever is open to receiving it, in whatever means possible – it has been huge for me! I have already begun seeing a few clients – when they approached me and shared their stories, there isn’t an ounce of my being that would have allowed me to say “No, I am not actually seeing clients”. I know in my heart that I can help and I am excited to not only help them, but also help myself to learn more about what people need. I want to be able to approach this new era of Tasty Yummies with direction, with an idea for where we are lacking and with inspiration to hopefully help make this

Biggest Struggle: Staying current with the final modules and not getting too far behind while I got heavy into studying. The content is all so interesting and there is so much to take in, that it is in my nature to slow down and to really allow it to permeate, but given the schedule of this course and the intensity and pace at which it moves, it wasn’t exactly possible. Managing studying for finals while still learning new content is definitely a lot on your brain, but being organized, keeping flashcards, studying a little bit every single day for the two months leading up to the exams meant there was no crash studying, no freaking out and no late nights just before the finals. I found that rather than memorizing words I truly had a deep understanding for all of the content and I was able to go into the final exams with confidence in my knowledge of the material. I think throughout the whole course, my struggles remained constant, but with a little self-discipline, which was so easy because I truly enjoyed the content and the program, I made it through and never felt too overwhelmed.

Stay tuned for my follow-up FAQ post, that I should have pulled together in the next month or so. I will be answering reader questions in regards to the program and other frequently asked questions about becoming an NTP. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a note here in the comments or reach out via email. While I may not have the opportunity to respond to each and every inquiry personally, my hope is to compile these questions and share an ongoing dialogue here on the website, that I can direct interested folks to.

As part of my scholarship with the Nutritional Therapy Association, I shared my personal experiences of the NTP program with you here on Tasty Yummies throughout the program. All of the content, words, ideas and opinions are my own.