Whether you’ve just completed a functional nutritionist certification or you’ve been working as a functional dietitian for decades – it’s always helpful to have new materials to use with clients. This roundup of functional nutrition resources includes handouts, treatment protocols, and other resources that can be used in your work with clients. These options will help you save time and achieve better patient care outcomes!
Disclaimer: As with all articles, this is general information for educational purposes only and not individual advice or recommendations.
30+ Functional Nutrition Resources
The resources below are divided into helpful topic areas that you are likely to see in your work.
Elimination Diet Handouts and Worksheets
Elimination diets can help your clients to discover food sensitivities and intolerances that are affecting their overall health. These resources will help you walk your clients through the elimination and reintroduction process.
- Trigger Food Worksheet for Elimination Diets – This worksheet allows clients to identify trigger foods and symptoms so that you as the practitioner can determine which foods to include and remove during an elimination diet.
- Elimination Diet Food Plan – Save a ton of time with this done-for-you elimination diet plan! It’s a 4-6 week plan that removes the most common trigger foods (gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, shellfish and peanuts) to help identify foods causing symptoms.
- Food Reintroduction Tracker for Elimination Diets – As your client starts adding foods back in, they can use this to track symptoms to help you identify their problem foods.
- Elimination Diet 101 – Provide this overview handout to your client to help them understand why an elimination diet may be needed.
- Beginner Guide to Gluten Free Living – Identified gluten as an issue? This starter guide can be used with clients to walk them through how to eliminate gluten from their diet (without feeling overwhelmed).
- 1 Week Food/Symptom Tracker – This is a free resource you can download where clients can track the foods they eat and any potential GI symptoms they experience.
Gut Health Resources
A healthy gut is at the core of functional nutrition, impacting immune function, digestion, nutrient absorption, mental health, and more. The resources below will help you educate clients on the foundations of gut health.
- Introduction to Gut Health Presentation – Working with groups? Save time and download this done-for-you presentation that will help your participants learn all the gut health essentials.
- “From Bloating to Bliss” Gut Health Presentation – This is another great option for working with groups, and is unbranded so you can customize it to match your own branding.
- Functional Foods for Gut Health Handouts – Use this with clients to help them better understand the benefits of fiber, polyphenols, probiotics, and omega-3 fatty acids.
- Bristol Stool Chart – This one page flyer showcases stool textures that you can refer to with clients, making it easy for them to visually describe bowel habits.
- Gut Healing Tea Handout – Provide your client with information on gut-supporting herbs and steps to brew a gut-healing tea.
- 30 Plant Challenge Tracker and Food List – Help your clients work towards their goals of more produce diversity to support gut health by using this plant challenge tracker, where they write down each different plant they eat.
- Gut Health Client Education Package – This contains a variety of gut health handouts that can be provided to clients, including tips on nourishing flora and tips on stress management.
Women’s Functional Health Resources
Women have unique hormonal and metabolic considerations. Functional nutritionists can help women address these holistically. These resources cover topics like cycles, menopause, thyroid health, and more.
- Cycle Syncing Nutrition eBook – Help your clients enhance their hormonal health by learning how to fuel their bodies throughout each phase of their menstrual cycle.
- Guide to Cycle Synching Nutrition After Stopping Birth Control – If your client has recently stopped birth control, use this guide with them to help align their nutrition with their natural hormone fluctuations.
- Cycle Tracking Basics for Dietitians Slide Deck – This provides background information for you as the practitioner to learn more about cycle tracking methods and fertility.
- Better Period Breakfasts 7-Day Meal Plan – Provide this simple PDF meal plan to clients to add value to your sessions in supporting hormone and menstrual health.
- Nutrients for Hormone Production Handout – You can use this as an in-session or take-home handout to reinforce foods that support hormone production.
- Hormone Healthy Blood Sugar Balance Guide Book – This extensive PDF guide can be used with your clients to guide them towards food strategies that manage hormones and blood sugar levels.
- Guide to Hormone and Thyroid Nutrition – Great for use as background information for you as the practitioner, or as a take-home resource for clients.
Treatment Protocols and Cheat Sheets for Dietitians
Managing complex clinical conditions? These protocols and cheat sheets can help you to quickly determine proper evidence-based recommendations.
- Nutrition Treatment Protocols for 14 Conditions – From ADHD to Lyme disease to ulcerative colitis, this treatment protocol pack covers a variety of conditions – helping you save time and be more efficient in your work.
- Nutrition for Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Concussive Syndrome – This handout helps practitioners and clients learn about energy needs and supplement recommendations for these conditions.
- Antibiotic Support Protocol – Have a client on antibiotics? You’ll want to read this treatment protocol for nutrition and supplement recommendations to mitigate antibiotic-associated risks.
- Autism, Nutrition, and the Gut Microbiome Handout – Discover background information and potential interventions that will be helpful for use with clients.
Anti-Inflammatory Eating
Chronic inflammation can lead to many symptoms and may be responsible for the development of several health conditions. Use these resources to help clients eat more whole food choices and reduce inflammation in their diet, supporting a reduction in symptoms.
- Anti-Inflammatory Whole Foods Guide and Progress Tracker – Guide your client towards a more whole foods diet with guide and tracker, allowing for self-monitoring that will help them meet their goals.
- Anti-Inflammatory Foods List (FREE) – A simple handout that shares foods people can add to their diet (rather than eliminate) to help reduce inflammation.
- Anti-Inflammatory Eating Bundle – These handouts have excellent visuals that communicate concepts in an easy-to-understand way, including an anti-inflammatory food pyramid and a healthy plate breakdown.
- Anti-Inflammatory Food Plan – Grab this all-in-one plan with food lists, meal ideas, and a 4-day menu plan to guide your clients on starting an anti-inflammatory eating plan.
Stress Management Resources
While stress isn’t always thought of in the realm of nutrition coaching, it can have a major impact on the health of your clients. Below are key stress management resources that you can use in practice, but of course, a referral to a qualified mental health counselor can also be essential.
- Sleep, Stress + Activity for Gut Health Handout – These foundational pieces can impact gut health, try using this with your clients to identify a new habit in one or all categories to work on.
- 5 Mindfulness Activities to Reduce Stress – This handout walks you through practical stress-management activities that you can teach your clients, like progressive muscle relaxation and journaling techniques.
- Stress Management Handout Canva Template – This helpful 4-page handout can be edited right in Canva to fit your own branding and messaging.
- Manage Stress Powerpoint Presentation – If you work with groups, use this done-for-you presentation to save time when teaching about stress management. It comes with accompanying handouts too.
Sleep Resources
Quality sleep is essential for regulating appetite hormones and overall well-being – yet so many clients struggle to get enough. These resources can help you to educate and coach clients on getting more sleep to improve their health.
- Sleep quality log – This free resource can be provided to clients to help them track sleep and spot problem areas.
- Improving Sleep Quality Handout and Worksheet – Find both tips and Q&A style questions that can be used in a guided session or as homework. Editable in Canva!
- Cycle of Poor Sleep and Nutrition Handout – Help educate your clients on how poor sleep habits can negatively impact nutrition and health using the visuals in this handout.
- “Rest Your Best” Sleep Habits Presentation – Great for saving you time if you want to do a sleep presentation to a group you’re working with.
That’s a wrap!
Using done-for-you resources can save you time and help achieve better results for your clients. The resources above are just a handful of what we have available at WellResourced – be sure to browse around the site a bit more to find everything you need!
If you have any resources of your own that would be beneficial for dietitians working in the functional nutrition realm, you can open up your own virtual store right here on our website and make them available for purchase. Click here to become a vendor today!
Recommended reading
Ready to learn more? We’ve hand-picked a few favorites from the blog.
- How to Become a Functional Nutritionist – Becoming a functional nutritionist usually involves background education in nutrition or the medical field, followed by an approved program like…
- 7 Best Functional Nutrition Certifications – Read up on functional nutrition certifications to boost your career including the IFN certification, University of Western States program, COT in IFMNT…
- The Best Nutrition Coaching Apps for Dietitians & Trainers – Find out which nutrition coaching software programs will help you to streamline your nutrition business and save time.
