The best vegan nutritional experts all have something in common; they are all highly qualified to provide advice on following a plant-based diet. However, with diversity of plant-based beliefs in the vegan world, and different approaches to eating a healthy vegan diet, each nutritionist has their own unique way of reaching particular groups of people.
What is a Vegan Nutritionist?
Vegan Nutritionists typically work with individuals to teach them more about plant based nutrition, food and health. Their focus is on food behaviour and nutrition to educate about how to eat a plant-based diet to maximise nutritional benefits as well as individual goals. This includes working with individuals to devise and implement meal plans that improve the individual's or family's nutrition.
Plant based nutritionists focus on overall health conditions, nutrient deficiencies, eating disorders, nutrition during pregnancy, vegan kids nutrition, sports nutrition, food allergies, and more to tailor a vegan diet to meet individual needs.
With that in mind, each Vegan Nutritionist offers unique ways to include a plant-based diet for various people with diverse needs.
Should I see a vegan nutritionist?
Seeking the advice of a nutritionist or dietician has its advantages, especially if transitioning to a plant-based diet creates stress or anxiety. Many people choose to start eating plant-based for several different reasons. Some people, for instance, change their diets for health reasons, while choosing a plant-based lifestyle of compassion for animals. Regardless of your reason, starting a plant based journey is easier for some people with the assistance of a vegan nutritionist.
- Chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart problems, cholesterol, cancer, etc,
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Eating disorder or food addiction
- Vegan prenatal nutrition
- Raising plant-based children
- Sports nutrition/Bodybuilding
- Weight-loss
- Food allergies, intolerances or sensitivities
- Irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease
- Improve physical, emotional and mental well being
- Animal compassion
- Environmental reasons
What Do Nutritionist & Dietitian Credentials Mean?
When it comes to selecting someone to help you navigate nutrition and how to eat the right foods on a plant based diet, it's often confusing if you don’t know the difference between a nutritionist and a dietician.
RDN: Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
A food and nutrition expert who has met the minimum academic and professional requirements to qualify for the credential “RDN.”
Issued by the Commission on Dietetic Registration, this credential means the individual has completed a minimum of a bachelor’s degree at an accredited university, completed at least 1,200 hours of supervised practise (internship) and passed a national examination.
RD: Registered Dietitian
A health professional with special training in the use of diet and nutrition to keep the body healthy. A registered dietitian may help the medical team improve the nutritional health of a patient. Synonymous with RDN.
LDN: Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist
The L.N.D., R.D. are marketed as nutrition-dietetics experts and both credentials are required for employment in the healthcare industry and preferred for most other employment opportunities in foods and nutrition. This person is licensed to practice nutrition in a specific state.
LD: Licensed Dietitian
The credentials "L.D." or "Licensed Dietitian" are used to assure other health professionals and consumers that the individuals providing nutritional care meet the standards of the state in which they practice.
MDA: Master of Dietetics Administration
A Master of Dietetics Administration has a professional degree signifying thorough training in management and leadership in food and nutrition program administration..
Nutritionist
The label “nutritionist” does not carry any specific meaning. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist without any specific training or education or simply a person who studies or is an expert in nutrition.
MS: Master of Science
A Master of Science is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree.
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Tracye McQuirter
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Tracye McQuirter is a 34-year vegan activist and best-selling author, an award-winning public health educator and a speaker. Through her work, she has helped hundreds and thousands of people adopt and maintain plant-based diets. Tracye has worked to promote veganism and healthy eating habits within communities for more than two decades. She is also a strong advocate for social justice and believes that everyone has the right to live a healthy, happy life. And, Tracy is also the founder of 10,000 Black Vegan Women Movement, a program equipped with nutritious meal-prep tips, wholesome recipes, and grocery shopping lists.
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Taylor Wolfram
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Taylor Wolfram, MS, RDN, LDN is the owner of Taylor Wolfram LLC, a weight-inclusive nutrition therapy practice. She believed each individual has the ability to maintain a healthy body and achieve a state of well-being independent of their weight through a plant-based diet.Taylor specializes in vegan and vegetarian nutrition and created the Anti-Diet Vegan Nutrition Online Course, a go-to resource to help people ensure they are meeting all of their nutrient needs as vegans. She is passionate about helping people develop a healthy relationship with food and their bodies.
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Jennifer Rodriguez
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Jennifer Rodriguez, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (Dietista), is the founder of Food is Vida. As a Latina businesswoman, Jennifer started Food is Vida with the mission to offer nutrition educational support and professional food photography services to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Jennifer loves teaching about plant-based nutrition, how to prevent illness with preventive nutrition, and promoting healthy food relationships.
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Gracie Pascale
Gracie is a Registered Dietitian, Nutritionist with a life's mission to help others find healing and vitality by completely reforming their relationships with food and their bodies. She is based in San Diego, California.Gracie is the girl behind BabyByChickpeas. She believes in putting an end to the diet culture by learning to eat a whole foods plant based diet, and disregarding the inconsistent information about nutrition within our society and culture. Her focus is on nature and how we are supposed to eat rather than succumb to fad diets and misinformation about diet and nutrition.
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James Marin & Dahlia Marin
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James and Dahlia Marin are the co-founders of Married to Health, a nutrition program that specializes in plant-based diets for those with SIBO/IBS. They met while attending Bastyr University, where they both studied integrative dietetics. Their mission is to prevent, treat, and reverse disease through an integrative approach to health that uses the best of everything - whole food plant-based nutrition, Eastern modalities, and Western techniques.
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Catherine
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Catherine is a registered dietitian with a plant-based focus. She loves to share tips and recipes that make living a balanced plant-based lifestyle easy. Her mission is to help people with the amount of plants on their plate, with the goal of sustainable success. Catherine shares her personal and professional experiences on her blog and across social media, in the hopes of making the transition to plant-based eating easier for everyone.
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Emily Levy
Emily is an Accredited Practising Dietitian with a passion for plant-based nutrition. Her goal is to help people eat a diet that promotes health and longevity while minimizing the chance of developing chronic disease. She believes a plant-based approach to eating is the way to achieve this goal. Emily’s approach to plant-based eating is to help people learn how to eat a healthy, balanced plant-based diet. Her goal is to help people live their healthiest, most fulfilling life while fueling their bodies with optimal nutrition. She believes that adopting a plant-based diet is one of the single most powerful ways to improve overall health.
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Whitney and Alex
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Whitney and Alex are Registered Nutritionists, Certified Personal Trainers, and the founders of Plant-Based Juniors. As mothers of plant-based children themselves, they started PBJs as a resource for families who want to raise their kids in a predominantly plant-based way. They provide families with everything they need to know about plant-based prenatal and pediatric nutrition, while sharing their own experiences with their own families and children. With recipes and a variety of tips, these two women provide the keys to helping families add more fruits and vegetables to their plates, as well as removing processed foods and replacing them with healthy alternatives.
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Gena Hamshaw
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Gena Hamshaw is a registered dietitian with nearly ten years of experience in nutrition counselling. She earned her Master’s of Science in Nutrition from Teachers College, Columbia University, after which she completed her dietetic internship with rotations at Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, the John Theurer Cancer Center, East River Gastroenterology, and the Institute for Family Health. Gena holds a premedical, post-baccalaureate degree from Georgetown University.
Her goal is to help make vegan cooking accessible, rewarding, and fun. Gena believes that when we satisfy our appetites, the fullness of our lives follows suit. Her focus is a plant based diet combined with mindfulness and self care for an overall healthy approach to daily living.
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Alyssa Fontaine
Alyssa Fontaine is a plant-based Registered Dietitian who has been working in the field of nutrition since 2014. After studying nutrition at McGill University, she started working in private practice, managing a team of 70 dietitians. Alyssa completed her MBA in 2020 and used this knowledge to start her own online plant-based nutrition business. She now works full-time on nutrition consulting and content creation for social media. Her focus is to work individually with people to help people change their eating habits through a motivational and non-judgmental approach. She works with people to achieve individual goals based on each individual rather than whole group philosophy.
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Nicole Stevens
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Nicole Stevens is a vegan Registered Dietitian who created Lettuce Veg Out to empower vegans to live a balanced life. Nicole has a Master of Science in Nutrition and is dedicated to cutting through the inaccurate and potentially harmful nutrition information online. She promotes sustainable, inclusive eating patterns that are easy to follow and are not restrictive. She believes veganism is not about a diet, but rather compassion for animals. Nicole helps people who struggle with cooking, and give people confidence to cook plant-based by providing easy recipes anyone can make.
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Rhyan Geiger
Rhyan Geiger is a Registered Dietitian and online vegan nutrition coach. Rhyan founded Phoenix Vegan Dietitian to help others transition to a vegan lifestyle with confidence.
Rhyan understands the struggles of transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, as she herself made the switch 5 years ago. She knows that balanced eating makes you feel amazing and empowered, and is excited to help others achieve these same results. Her nutritional sessions focus on making cooking fun and teaching people how to deal with and learn about their relationship with food. She helps people learn to eat vegan, help maintain and manage healthy habits, and other helpful tips for people transitioning to a plant-based diet.
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Sharon Palmer
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Sharon Palmer, RDN is The Plant-Powered Dietitian. She is a registered dietitian nutritionist with more than 20 years of experience in the field of plant-based nutrition and sustainability. Sharon recently completed her Master of Science in Sustainable Food Systems from Tufts University. Sharon has built a career combining her two great loves: nutrition and writing. She has authored over 1000 articles in a variety of publications, including Better Homes and Gardens, Oprah Magazine, and LA Times. Her work has also appeared in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Time magazine, and other top media outlets. Palmer believes, “No matter what your eating style, you can make a difference on your own health, as well as the health of the planet, by eating a diet filled with more whole plants." She has written, My Go Vegan Challenge which offers essential tools, nutritional tips, how-to's and all the recipes you need to power up for your first month and beyond.
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Julieanna Hever
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Julieanna Hever, known as The Plant-Based Dietitian, is a registered dietitian with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre from UCLA and a Master of Science degree in nutrition from Cal State Northridge. Julieanna has authored seven books, including the brand new Choose You Now Diet, The Healthspan Solution, Plant-Based Nutrition (Idiots Guide), Vegiterranean Diet, and two peer-reviewed journal articles on plant-based nutrition for healthcare professionals. As the host of The Choose You Now Podcast, Julieanna interviews top experts in plant-based health and wellness to help listeners take control of their own health.
She believes diet is the number one cause of early death and disability in the world. Her focus is that diet is a habit, and she helps people change their habits to eat more plants with the goal of achieving optimal health.
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Karla Moreno-Bryce
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Karla Moreno-Bryce is a vegan Registered Dietitian who supports moms to help their kids grow and develop well on a vegan diet. As a mom herself, Karla understands the importance of supporting vegan moms just like you in feeling confident and proud of following a vegan diet for compassion for animals.
Karla has a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Anthropology from the University of California Santa Barbara, and is credentialed through the Commission on Dietetic Registration. She provides nutrition counselling and education to individuals, groups, and businesses with an emphasis on plant-based diets.
She specialize in vegan nutrition for kids to help support parents in feeling confident feeding their kids for proper growth and development.
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Ginny Messina
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Ginny Messina, MPH, RD is a dietitian, vegan, and animal advocate. She is the author of numerous books on vegan nutrition and ethics. Ginny's other passion is animal rescue; she has served on the board of directors of Alley Cat Rescue and was a founder and long-time board member of Olympic Mountain Pet Pals. Ginny devotes her career to giving people the tools they need to adopt a healthy vegan diet and to ensure that they will stay healthy and happy for the long term.
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Sheri Goodman Graham
Sheri Goodman Graham is a Whole Foods Plant-Based Enthusiast and Personal Coach. Dietitian RD with over 25 years of experience, Graham has spent the last 10 years researching and studying health, practising a lifestyle of plant-based foods, yoga, walking and meditation. Teaching clients how to find calm and joy in their lives through these practices, Graham is passionate about transitioning people to a Whole-Foods Plant-Based (WFPB) diet for optimum health and permanent weight loss.
Her focus is on diet and nutrition, movement, lifestyle and mindset. She works individually with people to develop personal plans which address individual needs and goals while helping people with a whole body and mind approach. Her success stories are amazing.
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Roshni Sanghvi
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Roshni Sanghvi is an award-winning plant-based sports nutritionist and a renowned body transformation specialist. She is recognized for her top-class nutrition diet plans, which have been proven to reverse diseases like PCOS, Diabetes, Thyroid, and more.
Her unique approach is more focused on helping people adopt a healthy lifestyle. Her simple, easy, and holistic methods are loved and recommended by many. She is also considered and awarded the title of Best Nutritionist In Bangalore for Weight Loss by Gold's Gym India.
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Pamela Fergusson
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Pamela Fergusson is a highly experienced dietitian who has dedicated her career to help others improve their health through better nutrition. With over 15 years of experience, she has worked as a lecturer in nutrition at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK and Ryerson University, Canada. In private practice since 2006, Pamela currently works in British Columbia, Canada.
She has been featured on several prominent podcasts and blogs, including the Food Heals podcast, the Our Hen House Podcast and the No Meat Athlete podcast and blog. As a dietitian who loves healthy food, Pamela wants to share in your journey to improved health.
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Brenda Davis
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Brenda Davis, RD, is one of the leading plant-based pioneers and an internationally acclaimed speaker. Widely regarded as a rock star of plant-based nutrition, she was referred as “The Godmother” of vegan dietitians by VegNews.
As a prolific nutrition and health writer, Brenda has authored/co-authored 12 books with nearly a million copies printed in 15 languages. Brenda has been promoting plant-based diets since making the transition herself in 1989; her goal is to make this world a more sustainable, health-supportive, and kinder place.
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Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
Rhyan Geiger, RDN
Thank you so much for this round-up and including me!
Kathy Carmichael
My pleasure. I appreciate all the good work you do. Thank you for all you do to help people be healthy!