Frequently Asked Questions
Is this program for you?
Option 1: Simply continue to see clients in the same way that you have been, perhaps feeling a bit uncertain about which diet to use and how to implement it, and likely getting less than the optimal results you’re looking for, struggling with compliance, and spending nights researching solutions online, and trying to find time to make handouts, lists, and guides for each client.
Option 2: You can decide to study all the information on this website and do the research yourself on the 12+ therapeutic diets. The graduates of our program actually TOLD us they were attempting to do this for YEARS before they found our program and it was overwhelming, lonely, and confusing. The information on each diet is scattered everywhere, and the online info is often completely wrong or misleading. Plus there are hundreds of books to read and summarize. And then you’ll have to create summary docs, symptoms charts, and “how to” handouts for each diet! That will take about… 5 years give or take. But you STILL won’t have the invaluable clinical experience and guidance from practitioners who’ve been using these diets for 20+ years!
Option 3: Don’t reinvent the wheel, enroll in the training! The hard work has already been done for you! It has taken years of time: practicing clinically, reading hundreds of books and research papers, studying science and biochemistry, listening to medical doctors and researchers lecture, and creating the client tools… Did I mention 15 years?! The information and tools come directly from real life clients which makes the information tried and tested. And, you’ll have an expert community of practitioners at your fingertips to connect with who you can ask questions to. Our graduates have told us that this resource alone was the worth the tuition of the course.
“My interest is Autoimmune,
will this program help me?”
“I work with kids,
which program is for me?”
“How does this course differ?
Why did you create it?”
1) What's the time commitment for this course?
When you enroll, you get full access to course and proceed through the training at-your-own-pace. Each person’s learning style and opportunities for study time vary. Some commit a few hours per month, some a few hours per week. Some go slowly, some dive in. You have unlimited access and no obligations to attend anything. Bonus meetings and special member presentations are recorded and archived, everything remains available as you proceed through the training, and you get all future updates!But as a rough idea, each module takes about 2½ hours to watch or listen to, and there are 12 modules. Additionally, there is reading and research you’ll be interested in exploring related to each module. A number of graduates studied 3 hours/1 Module per week, and completed the course in about 3 months. Others scheduled 2 hours a month and took over a year.
Some people don’t bother with the exam at all, if they don’t want/need the certification and have only focused on the specific modules they need for the scope of their practice.
Other students are studying individual modules as they need them for specific ailments in their clients. The course could be used as a powerful reference guide when certain conditions come up or when you suspect issues with certain compounds.
We’ve heard stories from members that have spent 1 year JUST implementing the powerful strategies and handouts they learned in ONE of the modules and found it transformational in their practice and personal health.
2) Do I need this training? IF I’ve already done a ton of training programs, completed a nutrition certification, and taken several other online courses. So I’m already familiar with and use these special diets in my practice.
Yes! All of our graduates already have a primary certification and education in nutrition. Most of our students are nutrition professionals and others are doctors or naturopaths, or Dietitans who use therapeutic diets in their practice and/or advise those in the optimal following of diets recommended by their healthcare team. Our graduates report that this training is like nothing else they have taken.
The course material goes far beyond what is taught in any nutrition school or certification program out there, or what you’re able to learn on your own.
For example, you may enroll already knowing about low phenol diets, but during the training program, you will learn details about how to help you clients implement that diet, how it works, why it works, what the underlying biochemistry is, so you can also determine nutrients they might need or additional support.
Julie Matthews, the course creator, has worked with these special diets for over 20 years, so she adds her clinical expertise to the 20-60 years of published data on each diet.
Another example is the Failsafe diet… you will learn many variations of this life-changing diet that are used in clinical practice, such as modified versions, Failsafe vs. Feingold diet, more restrictive versus less restrictive food lists, several ways to implement it depending on the client and other limitations, different strategies on how to challenge foods back in, troubleshooting which food chemical is the problem, implementing low salicylate only vs low amine only with a more strict and less strict list of foods.
In addition, the case studies will help you understand the thinking about how to apply the right diet or multiple diets into a strategic nutrition plan.
Diving deeper into each diet, you’ll also learn nutrients that can support the biological pathways to improve tolerance, lifestyle changes that support these pathways, other reasons they may be depleted, such as dysbiosis and how to address it, as well as how to implement this into a larger nutrition strategy plan.
All this detail learning how to make modifications for each client is based on many years of clinical experience and simply cannot be obtained from books or internet research!
Accelerate your learning by condensing Julie’s 20 years of clinical experience into a just a few months.
The training tools include: diet implement handouts, professional food lists, online questionnaire tools, and intake forms to make it more time efficient for you during consultations.
To assist your LEARNING and mastery of the materials, each module includes Study Guides, quizzes, workheets, and case studies.
3) How much of this course focuses on lab testing?
No problem! Only a small fraction of this course focuses on lab testing. We train professionals from many different disciplines. Some run lab tests and others do not.
It is not necessary to run labs to get all the valuable information you need to make diet and nutrition recommendations.
There are 7 factors I teach in my BioIndividual Nutrition training program and lab testing is only one of them. They include:
- Food cravings
- Diet record, food frequency
- Reactions to foods
- Common Symptoms
- Laboratory testing
- Genetics
- Client considerations
You can implement just a few of the 7 factors from the course and still obtain outstanding results with your clients!
4) Is this a nutrition certification program? Will I be certified in anything? I’m a health coach and I want nutrition credentials. Is this course right for me?
This course will NOT grant you credentials to practice nutrition in your state if you aren’t currently allowed to do so with your existing credentials. Yet, it will provide the tools and “graduate” level education that will augment your existing healthcare credentials.
In addition, the graduates of this training program will receive a certificate and may call themselves “Certified BioIndividual Nutrition Practitioners”.
The program is open to any professional in practice who is already making diet and nutrition recommendations.
Students who pass the course exam can become listed in our online Practitioner Directory!
5) I don’t do Facebook. Does that matter?
No, it is not essential that you participate our Private Facebook Group. About half of our members do and half do not.
If you are not currently using Facebook, and do not wish to use it, that will not impact your learning of the course material. The private FB Group is just an added benefit to our program but it certainly is not an essential part of it. The training material is taught through a dedicated member login page and not through Facebook.
However, if you are curious to connect with other practitioners who are enrolled in your course or want to check out the conversation topics and types of questions being asked, you may want to consider creating a private username profile (which you don’t share with any friends/family), and use it strictly to connect with our Private Group of BioIndividual Nutrition practitioners and students.
About Qualifications
Do you have to be a certified nutritionist?
No. The program is open to professionals in practice that make diet and nutrition recommendations. Our Members include nutrition consultants, dietitians, as well as medical doctors, naturopaths, nurses, health coaches, and more. You bring your own credentials – our program is not a credentialing program. It is an advanced nutrition course geared towards active practitioners from varied disciplines. The course provides acumen and tools that augment existing healthcare credentials. Practitioners can become listed in our Practitioner Directory.
Other passionate individuals can gain access to our courses: parents (Nourishing Hope MOMs) aiding the health of their families/children, special diet chefs, researchers, and others – who do not attain Certification through the Institute. The can however, appear in our Community Directory as valued community resource and support avenues.
Our Online Directory separates Practitioners from Community resources, so individuals /patients can find exactly the help they need.
Does this course certify me to practice nutrition in my state?
No. This training does not provide certification to legally practice nutrition. To practice nutrition, individuals must have a primary nutrition certification and must follow the laws in their state and country. SEE PREVIOUS QUESTION
Can people outside the United States participate in this course?
Yes. This course is fully online so people can participant from any country and any time zone. We have Members from 49 nations. And, as with those in the United States, you should ensure to follow the laws in your own country regarding specific scope of practice.
Who gets listed in the Online directory?
Practitioners can become listed in our Practitioner Directory when the pass the comprehensive exam after each course. Other individuals and resources can become listed in our Community Directory. SEE EARLIER QUESTION
What’s your speciality, focus and passion?
I am a health practitioner specializing in…
A wide-range of chronic diseases/disorders (clients of all ages)
