There are no prerequisites for the Nutrition Certification. But we always encourage preparing for a career in nutrition by familiarizing yourself with the many nutrition courses NASM has to offer. 

Learn about the role of a Nutrition Coach and how the NASM Nutrition Certification can help enhance your career. 

Understand a Nutrition Coach's scope of practice, professional expectations, and differentiate among related nutrition professions.

In this chapter, you'll learn the importance of evidence-based practice as a nutrition specialist, the difference between basic scientific principles and methodology, and how to define scientific research processes. 

Understand the effects of nutritional intake on individual health, identify the role of dietary habits in overall health, and describe factors that influence dietary patterns. You'll also be able to recognize the dangers of a one-diet-fits-all approach and identify how different factors can influence eating patterns. 

This chapter explores how macronutrients fuel activity and bodily functions, as well as how to balance the energy in versus energy out equation. You'll understand the First Law of Thermodynamics, energy balance, and energy systems. 

Protein is an important macronutrient that many bodily functions depend on. Learn the structure and function of protein, total daily protein requirements, and methods for establishing protein requirements in a dietary program. 

Carbohydrates provide energy for the body. Understand their structure and function, the digestion and absorption process, daily carbohydrate requirements, and more. 

Dietary fat has many important functions. In this chapter, you'll learn about the function and intake recommendations, healthy versus unhealthy fats, as well as key myths and hot topics related to fat. 

This chapter explains the digestion and absorption process of alcohol, as well as the physiological effects and methods for accommodating alcohol in a dietary program. 

Micronutrients help maintain the metabolic processes required to produce energy. Understand the difference between water-soluble vitamins, fat-soluble vitamins, and minerals, identify common food sources, and learn to calculate daily recommended intakes and the values for each micronutrient. 

In this chapter, you'll learn the compartmental aspects and shifts of water in the body following significant sweat losses. You'll also discover methods to help decrease excessive hypo- or hyper-hydration and learn about proper hydration strategies. 

Discover appropriate nutrient-timing strategies for performance and for altering body composition, as well as the role that nutrient timing plays within an overall nutrition strategy. 

Understand the role of supplementation across various goals, explain the strength of the evidence base for commonly used supplements, and learn to communicate with clients about the pros and cons of supplementation. 

In this chapter, you'll learn how psychology affects fitness and wellness. Identify barriers to diet and exercise, common eating disorders, and common client types used to develop customized programs. 

It's important for Personal Nutrition Coaches to communicate in a way that positively influences adherence to their programs. You'll identify strategies for building rapport and use effective communication skills to elicit behaviour change. 

This chapter explains motivational interviewing and strategies that are used to help clients understand the underlying reasons for their own change while affirming their motivation. 

Understand different types of goals, the benefits of effective goal-setting, methods for providing feedback and tracking progress, and identify obstacles commonly encountered when setting goals. 

 In this chapter, you'll discover a step-by-step approach to assessing dietary intake and monitoring body composition. You'll compare body-composition assessment methods and understand the importance of consistency and accessibility.

Learn about the labelling standards for food and supplement products, as well as portion size recommendations. 

This chapter explains strategies that can help clients make healthy food choices in everyday situations, such as at the grocery store or dining out. 

Learn the latest facts regarding diets and how they impact health, body composition, and athletic performance. This chapter explores many different diets and provides details regarding their safety and effectiveness. 

An in-depth approach to explaining the science behind many of the nutrition hot topics and controversies faced by clients today. 

This chapter examines the science and psychology of weight-loss plateaus and how to help clients avoid this vicious cycle. 

 Nutrition Coaches must have a foundational level of knowledge regarding nutritional science and behaviour psychology. However, knowledge without action is virtually useless, especially when helping clients achieve their health-and-wellness goals. This chapter puts all of this knowledge into practice and details a step-by-step process for nutrition programming.

After the completion of the course, you will take an online final exam. The test is 100, multiple-choice questions. You are allowed to go back and reference the course while taking the exam. The exam is timed and cannot exceed 90 minutes. To pass, you need a score of 70% or higher and you have up to 3 attempts to pass.