The greatest love on earth is indeed one's love for food. It is indestructible and the most sincere. It is a dietician's job to make the obese get over this love: no doubt one of the toughest jobs on earth. Obesity one of the greatest problems crippling humans now has a number of co morbidities that includes diabetes, blood pressure, arthritis, heart disorders and bone problems. An Indian dietician thus holds a very important position in today's society.The Indian diet is quite balanced in itself. muktocampus But in the past few years many have switched to the western diet laced with Pepsi, pizzas and pastas which is the sole reason for the sudden peak in obesity. Also many have lost control of calories eating too much of rice and wheat which mostly gets stored as fat in the body. Also studies have proven that Indians are very susceptible to abdominal obesity due to a gene we carry. Hence we have to be extra careful to tread the line of obesity.
An Indian dietician works in clinics, hospitals or specialty centers (like diabetics, kidney or coronary wards). They assist infants, elderly, the sick, athletes and the obese to control their calories and nutrition. They help patients carry out a customized food plan that is drawn up especially for them. This plan is based on their occupation, age, weight, fitness, disorders and stress levels.
Dieticians should necessarily enjoy working with people. Apart from working in clinics or hospitals they may also be employed in defense establishments, educational institutions, residential schools, factories, sports establishments, and health and fitness centers. Research in diet and nutrition is also an option. Organizations like The UN and some NGO's employ dieticians to work on new diets if you enjoy writing you may even combine journalism or blogging with health and nutrition and write about diet plans and weight loss tips. In fact most news papers, magazines and television channels employ their own special dieticians to write columns and host programs on weight loss and answer queries.
You must have good communication skills and a lot of patience if you want to be a dietician. A lot of cajoling and convincing is required to motivate obese people to follow dietary restrictions. Also you must make sure you are fit and healthy as patients will look for practice and prescribe.The majority of diets available are built for the western world. These have to monitored and customized for the Indian. Also most Indians are vegetarians and hence they demand a unique diet to suit their body and life style. Hence as an Indian dietician you will have to be willing to try different approaches and experiment.