NUTRITION EDUCATION/COACHING
Certificate of Achievement
Program Details
The Cuesta College Nutrition certificate program offers students a variety of interesting and challenging courses for students to learn about chemicals and nutrients in food and their effects on the human body and the world. The study of nutritional science contributes to preparing students for careers as nutritionists, registered dietitians (RD), food scientists, or other dietetics professionals. Cuesta College offers a Nutrition certificate that provides a broad foundation in a practical andpersonally applicable exposure to a variety of scientific areas of nutrition such as chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, anatomy, physiology, and biology. Popular topics include microbial pathogens, environmental contaminants, nutrigenomics, macronutrient balance, energy metabolism, obesity, global issues, biochemistry of exercise, and micronutrient and phytochemical utilization. Students in the program learn how the scientific method and process contributes to nutritional requirements and how nutrients function from a cellular to more practical level, and then apply this knowledge to their own health. The program ultimately helps students understand the role of nutrition in disease prevention throughout the lifecycle and as an impact on society as a whole. Select Cuesta College Nutrition courses meet college requirements in GE, Liberal Arts, and Diversity and are offered in both face-to-face and Distance Education modalities. Select Nutrition courses are also a part of 10 degrees and certificates at Cuesta College. Students finishing this certificate will be better prepared to educate and coach peers one-on-one, give practical advice on nutrition when combined with personal training certifications, and work for community partners in nutrition education entry level jobs.
NUTRITION EDUCATION/COACHING Pathways
Pathways listed below are for the catalog year 2026-2027. Maps for previous years are available on each pathway page. What is a catalog year?
Featured Careers
Find your calling. Explore high-earning careers with entry-level data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Chefs and Head Cooks
Associate's degree, Certificate after high school
- Job growth: Rising
- Low salary: 36,000
- High salary: 96,030
- Average salary: 60990
- Job growth:
- Low salary:
- High salary:
- Average salary:
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
High school diploma/GED, Certificate after high school
- Job growth: Stable
- Low salary: 26,800
- High salary: 48,320
- Average salary: 36450
All Careers in NUTRITION EDUCATION/COACHING (8)
| Family and Consumer Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary | Doctoral degree, Master's degree | Stable | 77,280 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dietitians and Nutritionists | Certificate after college, Master's degree | Rising | 73,850 |
| Chefs and Head Cooks | Associate's degree, Certificate after high school | Rising | 60,990 |
| First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers | High school diploma/GED, No high school diploma/GED | Rising | 42,010 |
| Dietetic Technicians | Associate's degree, Certificate after high school | Stable | 37,040 |
| Cooks, Restaurant | High school diploma/GED, No high school diploma/GED | Rising | 36,830 |
| Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria | High school diploma/GED, Certificate after high school | Stable | 36,450 |
| Cooks, All Other | - n/a | - n/a |
Program Pathways Mapper incorporates information from O*NET Web Services by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Learning Outcomes
Learning outcomes help you work towards your educational goals.
- Develop a basic understanding of the basic chemical structure of the six classes of nutrients and the substances therein; their action, interaction, and balance in relation to health and disease; and the process by which the human body ingests, digests, absorbs, transports, utilizes and excretes food substances.
- Evaluate and analyze the diets of peers and give thoughtful and practical advice for improvement.
- Evaluate food customs of a specific culture and incorporate sources based on reliability and credibility; Assess the stigmatization, prejudice and/or discrimination experienced by individuals or groups who choose to adhere to non Western and/or non dominant food practices and recommend strategies to facilitate their acceptance.
- Explain the basis of the scientific method as it is used in developing hypotheses and theories, then apply the scientific method-based research, such as in peer-reviewed intervention, epidemiological, lab, and case studies, to the critical evaluation of nutrition-related literature and media, thus differentiating between proven scientific based research and myth.
- Judge the effect of nutrition, hydration, and lifestyle factors that contribute to chronic diseases (and leading causes of death in the United States), then establish goals and assess one�s own diet for nutritional adequacy, practically apply lifestyle changes, through food label-reading, food safety practices, and altered dietary choices, which are personalized for the individual�s nutrient and phytochemical needs based on health status, body weight differences and goals, optimal sports performance, differing lifecycle stages, and differing environmental conditions.