Do you want to help people live a healthier lifestyle? If so, you might want to consider pursuing an online nutrition degree so you can start a career as a dietician.

In the most general sense, dieticians are responsible for planning food and nutrition programs for their clients. Not only does this include planning meals ahead of time, it also involves supervision of meal preparation as well as supervising the actual serving of the meals.

If you love food, check out these schools that offer nutrition degrees online:

Kaplan University Online
Penn Foster Career School
University of Phoenix

There are actually four major categories of career paths that you might follow after earning an online nutrition degree. The first career path is that of a clinical dietician. A clinical dietician is responsible for serving patients in nursing care facilities, hospitals and other similar settings. In order to develop the best program possible, clinical dieticians must first assess the nutritional needs of their patients. Based on these needs, the clinical dietician then develops a nutrition program and monitors its success. Some clinical dieticians may specialize in working with a particular group of patients, such as diabetic, overweight patients or those who are critically ill.

After earning your online nutrition degree, you might also choose to become a community dietician. In this capacity, your job is to counsel groups or individuals in order to help promote better health and to prevent disease through better nutritional habits. Community dieticians typically work for home health services, public health clinics or health maintenance organizations. Those who work for home health agencies may also provide elderly patients and individuals with special needs with instruction regarding grocery shopping and food preparation. They may also provide instruction to parents with children who have special dietary needs.

Management dieticians differ from community dieticians in that they oversee meal planning and preparation on a large scale. This may include meal planning for facilities such as schools, cafeterias, health care facilities and prisons. In addition to planning meals, management dieticians are responsible for overseeing food service workers, for making certain safety and sanitary regulations are properly adhered to and budgeting for the purchase of equipment, food and supplies.

The last category where you may decide to work after earning your online nutrition degree is that of a consultant dietician. Consultant dieticians work on a contractual basis and typically work for either health care facilities or in a private practice. They may provide consultation to supermarkets, sports teams, wellness programs and any other business where nutrition may be a concern.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual income of dieticians and nutritionists was $46,980. Those who worked in outpatient care centers earned the most, with an annual median income of $49,950. Those who worked for the local government, on the other hand, earned the least with a median annual income of $43,250.