DIET & NUTRITION COACH CERTIFICATION

Explore the science of nutrition, how the body uses nutrients for growth and function, and the impact of fats, sodium, and sugar versus whole foods.

Trace how the sun powers energy to form carbohydrates, fats, and protein, and how humans obtain energy by eating plants or animals, balancing intake with activity for performance.

Metabolism is the body's energy use and the chemistry of anabolism and catabolism. Learn how anaerobic, high-protein training builds muscle and loses fat, while aerobic, lower-protein training promotes catabolism.

Explore how the body converts food into energy through three ATP-producing systems—the phosphagen (ATP-CP) pathway, anaerobic glycolytic pathway, and the aerobic oxidative pathway—and how their roles meet different exercise demands.

Understand calories as a unit of energy from carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and alcohol. Learn how excess calories are stored as body fat and the relative energy content of each source.

Learn how total daily energy expenditure is calculated from basal metabolic rate, neat, tef, and thermic effect of activity, and how these components influence daily calories and body composition goals.

Explore how food provides essential nutrients and energy for growth, maintenance, and well-being, and learn the differences between macronutrients and micronutrients.

Master macronutrients—carbohydrates, protein, and fats—energy sources and building blocks for growth and repair, noting carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen in protein, and how foods vary in amounts.

Proteins are essential nutrients built from amino acids, with nine essential and eleven non-essential amino acids; tyrosine becomes essential if tryptophan is limited.

Explore how proteins provide structure for cells, synthesize hormones, and regulate RNA and DNA. Learn protein's role in post-exercise recovery, muscle contraction, and energy when carbohydrate intake is low.

Explain complete versus incomplete proteins, highlighting animal sources as high-quality providers of essential amino acids, and how plant sources can form complementary pairs like rice and beans to cover gaps.

Recognize no one-size-fits-all approach to protein, then spread intake across meals and snacks, target 20–30 g per meal, include breakfast and post-workout protein, tailor by weight and activity.

Learn how to set protein needs with a dynamic approach, considering age, sex, weight, activity, and health; recognize protein turnover and the 0.8 g/kg/day guideline, with higher needs for athletes.

Explore how carbohydrates influence health and athletic performance, debunking weight myths while noting that carbohydrates provide energy for performance and come from plants through photosynthesis, while animal foods lack them.

Explore simple and complex carbohydrates, including monosaccharides like glucose, fructose, and galactose; disaccharides such as sucrose, lactose, and maltose; and oligosaccharides and polysaccharides like starch and glycogen, providing energy.

Explain glycemic response as the magnitude and speed of blood glucose changes after eating, influenced by carb type, portions, cooking, ripeness, fat or protein content.

Explore how glycemic index ranks carbohydrate foods on a 0–100 scale by their impact on blood glucose, and how fat, protein, fiber, and drinks alter GI and health implications.

Learn how glycemic load uses glycemic index and carbohydrate quantity to predict blood sugar. Beets show that low glycemic index foods can spike blood sugar when portions are large.

Discover how carbohydrate needs vary by age, sex, activity, and goals, and learn to balance carbs within 45 to 65 percent of daily calories for a well-rounded diet.

Discover how to time carbohydrates with your goals, prioritizing complex carbs in every meal while limiting simple carbs, apply pre- and post-workout strategies, and target 45–65% of daily calories.

Explore how fats and lipids function as a major macronutrient, support cellular membranes, provide essential fatty acids, and enable fat-soluble vitamin transport. See how lipid intake shapes energy use.

Explore the major lipid types in the diet and body, including triglycerides, fatty acids and essential fatty acids, trans fatty acids, phospholipids, and cholesterol.

Identify triglycerides as the body's main dietary and storage fat, composed of three fatty acids linked to glycerol and stored in adipose tissue as energy reserves.

Explore fatty acids as core components of dietary fats and distinguish fats from oils by texture. Learn about saturated and unsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and their cardiovascular implications.

Explore essential fatty acids, including omega-3s (ALA, EPA, DHA) and omega-6s, their dietary sources, and roles in inflammation and brain health, plus the omega-6 to omega-3 balance.

Learn about trans fatty acids, an unsaturated fat turned solid by hydrogen, used in spreads and shortenings. Recognize how they raise bad cholesterol and cardiovascular risk.

Discover how phospholipids build cell membranes with a hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tails, forming a flexible bilayer that transports fats and emulsifies fats and oils, with lecithin in foods.

Explore cholesterol, a sterol and lipid found in cells, produced by the liver and from animal foods, with roles in membranes, hormone production, and LDL/HDL transport.

Include healthy fats at each meal and snack—olive or avocado oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, and omega-3 sources like fatty fish—while targeting 20–35% of calories and limiting trans fats.

Explore micronutrients, including fat- and water-soluble vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and water, focusing on sources and functions for bone and immune health.

Explore how digestion turns food into nutrients from mouth to intestine, detailing chewing, peristalsis, stomach acids, chyme formation, and absorption at the brush border with villi and microvilli.

Chewing begins protein digestion, while stomach acid and pepsin denature proteins; pancreatic enzymes and brush border peptidases in small intestine convert them to amino acids for absorption into bloodstream.

Digesting carbohydrates begins in the mouth with salivary amylase, breaking starch into maltose, then pancreatic and brush border enzymes produce absorbable monosaccharides.

Trace the digestion of triglycerides from mouth to small intestine, with lingual and pancreatic lipase, bile emulsification, and absorption of fatty acids and glycerol.

Explain how body mass index estimates weight status and its limitations, including muscle mass and fat distribution, and suggest waist-to-height ratio as a more comprehensive measure of belly fat.

Assess waist circumference thresholds (40in for men, 35in for women) to gauge abdominal and visceral fat linked to risks like heart disease. Track body composition and measurements to monitor progress.

Measure body fat percentage to guide health and fitness goals using skinfold calipers and a three-site method for men (chest, abdominal, thigh) and women (triceps, supra iliac, thigh).

Set smart dieting goals by applying specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound criteria to improve your nutrition and well-being, break goals into actionable steps, and regularly review and adjust progress.

Explore how resistance training and nutrition drive muscle hypertrophy through progressive overload, compound lifts, caloric surplus, protein intake of 1.6–2.2 g/kg, sleep, and consistent recovery.

Discover muscle building foods that provide high quality protein, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals to support growth and recovery. Include chicken, fish, eggs, dairy, tofu, and legumes.

Design a post-workout meal that optimizes recovery by timing within 30 minutes to 2 hours after exercise and includes carbohydrates, high-quality protein, a small amount of fats, plus hydration.

Understand that fat loss is more than calories; stabilize insulin, eat slow-digesting foods, and balance protein, carbs, and fats to preserve muscle while burning fat.

Compare body fat and pure fat. Pure fat has nine calories per gram (~4100 per pound); body fat is 87% fat and 3555 calories per pound, Vishnevsky's 3500-calorie rule.

Create a fat loss diet by estimating total daily energy expenditure, setting a sustainable calorie deficit, and applying calorie cycling with weight training to preserve lean mass.

Reassess calories and macronutrients, increase activity, and vary workouts to break fat loss plateaus. Strength training, high-intensity interval training, intermittent fasting, hydration, sleep, and stress management support sustainable weight loss.

Prioritize whole, minimally processed foods, emphasize nutrient-dense calories, plan meals, and combine diet with exercise to create a calorie deficit, while tracking intake and progress.

Explore famous diets and their principles, from appetite reduction to calorie, carb, or fat restriction, with examples like Mediterranean, gluten-free, paleo, keto, intermittent fasting, and vegetarian.

Explore the Mediterranean diet, a plant-based pattern emphasizing fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, olive oil, nuts, fish, and lean poultry, with herbs and moderate red wine.

Adopt a gluten free diet by avoiding gluten from wheat, barley, and rye, and choose naturally gluten free grains, proteins, dairy, fruits, vegetables, and gluten free flours.

Explore the paleo diet, a Paleolithic eating pattern that mimics hunter-gatherer meals, emphasizing lean meats, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits in moderation, while avoiding grains, dairy, and processed foods.

Explore the keto diet, a high-fat, very low-carbohydrate plan that induces ketosis to burn fat for energy. Identify macronutrient targets and include or avoid foods, plus key benefits and risks.

Explore intermittent fasting, an eating pattern that cycles fasting and eating, with forms like 16/8, 5:2, eat-stop-eat, alternate-day, and warrior diets.

Explore the vegetarian diet spectrum, including lacto ovo, lacto, ovo, and vegan patterns, detailing meat exclusion and dairy or egg inclusion, with plant-based protein sources like tofu and tempeh.

Explore why men lose weight faster than women by examining metabolic rate, lean muscle mass, hormones, fat distribution, and responses to exercise, diet patterns, and lifestyle.

Explore how men and women share core nutrition principles while addressing gender-specific needs. Learn about calories, macronutrients, micronutrients, and life-stage factors like iron, calcium, and zinc for individualized diets.

Explore how calorie balance, not carbs alone, drives weight gain. Compare whole, unprocessed carbohydrates to refined varieties, and explain glycogen storage and water weight in balanced nutrition.

Assess detox diets and their limited evidence, noting the body's natural detoxification via the liver and kidneys and toxins. Avoid nutrient deficiencies; adopt a balanced, sustainable eating plan.