Do These 8 Things Before you See a Nutritionist in Dubai

Written by Manja from almostplantbased on March 9, 2021

Last updated on July 16, 2022 at 11:20 am

Becoming a nutritionist in Dubai or around the world requires to study many years and active practice with clients to help them achieve their health goals.

Talking about finding a great nutritionist in Dubai, a very successful business woman said to me the other day:

“Many people claim their certificates or titles but when you ask how they actually graduated and how good of a job they truly do, there is no transparency and it becomes difficult to understand who to see and trust with your health.”

My certification process for Nutrition Science with Stanford University taught me many things. And I want to share 8 with you, before you see a Nutritionist in Dubai or anywhere in the world.

Keep in mind: You only have one health! And you need to groom and maintain it your entire life. Now that doesn’t meant that you need to pay thousands of dirhams or dollars for consultations and blood tests.

To prepare for your consultations and optimize your results, we summarised 8 things you can do on your own, to set yourself up for success.

Do these 8 things before you see a Nutritionist 

Just like with any project in life that you start, you start somewhere and you want to progress to go elsewhere.

With a project regarding your health, it’s important you involve professionals and know your current state of health.

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1: Get A Blood Test Done

I recommend you go see your general practitioner of trust and tell them about your project.

Ask your GP to check a few hormonal markers, also your cholesterol levels, your vitamins and minerals.

Get a comprehensive check and discuss the results with your doctor.

2: Understand Your Body Fat Percentage

It is important you understand your current weight, body fat, visceral fat and muscle mass. You can do so at a gym or at some hospitals that have specific scales to measure that.

Just bear in mind that you always need to go back to the same place to track your progress since it’s best to use the same device for before and after comparisons.

Personally I use a body fat scale at home. Whilst that’s definitely not as precise as a respective scale in a clinic or a gym, I am fine as long as I can track progress and compare on the same device in the comfort of my home.

Whatever you chose to do, I recommend strongly you get this data before you change anything in the way you eat or exercise.

3: Know How Many Calories You Need

Something that is always a myth for many is the whole idea of counting calories or even understanding how many calories you need to maintain your weight.

It is not clear, there is a lot of data out there, many apps that try to get your data and I decided to research what science recommends and how they evaluate the calories required.

During my studies of nutrition science with Stanford University, we talked about Estimated Energy Requirements in great length.

And whilst that sounds very complicated, it’s actually a simple calculation that totally makes sense. You can access our calculator at the bottom of the page HERE.

How is the estimated required energy calculated?

The tool does not only ask for your age, height, weight and sex but also for your current activity levels.

And depending on your way of life, they might change. And so does your calorie requirement.

Your energy requirement (meaning the calories you put in your body) may change because you used to be very sportive but now you twisted your ankle and you can’t run anymore for a while.

You activity levels (which determine how much energy you consume) change drastically and hence, you should adjust your calorie intake.

By no means we are suggesting you should become obsessive  and count calories of every meal. We strongly recommend though, that you are aware of your data and understand your requirements to either maintain, gain or lose weight.

When you are aware, you can action accordingly and are more empowered to own your health!

And it’s very important you feel empowered and own your health, because it’s not a doctor, neither a nutritionist that owns it. Only you! And you are responsible.

4: Start A Food Diary

If you are serious about changing the way you want to eat, you should start a food diary where you list absolutely everything you eat and drink.

And be honest with yourself. You are doing this for you, right? So just be as transparent as possible.

If you go to see a nutritionist, you can bring this food diary and save yourself an extra consultation because you come already prepared.

This template is from Harvard University and suggests you fill this out for at least 3 days.

I recommend you do this a bit longer if you can, so you make sure you include a weekend as well.

That will give you a fair evaluation of weekday and weekend consumption.

5: Set Your Goals

When you go to see a nutritionist, they will ask you why you are here and what you are trying to achieve.

Whichever your situation might be – it is important you take the time and write down your #1 goal before you make changes to your lifestyle.

Now don’t get me wrong, writing down the goal should not be something like “I want to lose my post pregnancy kilos”, “I want to play soccer with my son again”, “I want to reverse my pre-diabetic state”.

These are wishes and not SMART goals. A SMART goal is a well structured statement that is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound. HERE is a free template for you.

Taking our previous examples that could be:

“I want to lose 10kg in 2 months by changing the way I eat to an almost plant-based regime.”

“I want to lose 5kg of fat and gain 2kg of muscle mass within 3 months by adjusting my diet and exercise habits.”

“I want to reduce my blood sugar levels to below 140 mg/dL and lose 8kg within 2 months.”

If you get to write these down, not only will it help you to understand yourself what you are trying to achieve and why, it also gives accountability because now it’s on a piece of paper.

You might even want to share that goal with your partner, your family or your close friend. Ask them to check in with you on your progress – that will give you another purpose and fuel your motivation further.

6: Get Ready To Put In The Effort

If you go and see a nutritionist, you will need to prepare to make a few changes to your daily routines and commit to these adjustments to see an effect.

Changing habits never comes easy. You need patience, hard work and be persistent.

It’s a common belief that we take 21 days to form a new habit. This belief has it’s origin in the book “Psycho-Cybernetics” by Maxwell Maltz. 

He published this book in the 60’s and since it got sold more than 30 Million times, this statement became a common belief.

In 2009, the European Journal of Psychology published a study which leads to the conclusion that it takes an average of 66 days to form new habits.

It will take longer when it comes to behaviour related habits. To make you continue a habit and get you to do it over and over again, your brain releases Dopamin.

Thats extremely useful if that’s a habit you want to stick with. If you want to break it, that Dopamin rush will make it even harder for you to stop. All that to say: Fix your goals, and get ready to put in the effort.

7: Learn About Healthy Nutrition

Prepare yourself and learn about eating healthy before you see a nutritionist in Dubai or elsewhere.

It will help you to get to know yourself better, understand what foods you really like, which ones you can replace with healthier options and what works for you in your social setting.

You might live alone, or with toddlers or teenage kids. No matter your family situation, it’s a good idea to educate yourself around nutrition before seeing a nutritionist.

You want to find out, what works for you and what doesn’t. That will help to set up your diet plan accordingly and work around your personal setting.

In our nutrition course, our core module focusses around the basics of nutrition everyone should know about. These basics are the result of 20 years of experience of Professor Gardner who heads Nutrition Science with Stanford University.

He studied all different type of diets that are out there and summarised the 5 key components that all these diets have in common.

8: Prepare Your Fridge & Pantry

Put what you learned in practice and make a few changes in your fridge and pantry.

If you took our nutrition course (which contains a 21-Day Weight-Loss Challenge as well), you have learned about what foods to look out for in the supermarket, how to correctly read the labels and you get access to 200+ recipes that inspire you for healthy cooking.

Since we don’t want you to waste food and throw it away because you might have it but you know now it’s not good for you, we really recommend you take the time and do a proper pantry and fridge clean up before you see a nutritionist.

That way you can either donate the food items, give them to places that need pantry items or you organise a cheat meal with your friends to use everything up.

The Bottom Line

If you manage to stick to these 8 points, you will be in a fantastic spot to start taking action on your lifestyle and the way you eat.

If you go and see a nutritionist after that or you start trying to put all the acquired knowledge into action first, is totally up to you – and certainly a question of budget as well.

Owning your health and realising that food is the best medicine, should be accessible for everyone and that’s why we summarised all the basics HERE for you.

Just click on “Start My Add to Cart” and off you go!