Celebrating the "Power of Nutrition" and the Business of Becoming an RDN
This year’s National Nutrition Month’s theme is “Discover the Power of Nutrition.” Nutrition has the power to help individuals and communities thrive.
The nutrition profession offers diverse career pathways spanning clinical care, community health, education, research, industry, leadership, and private practice, allowing Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs), also known as Registered Dietitians (RDs), to grow and evolve their careers over time.
RDs leverage “the power of nutrition” while delivering evidence-based medical nutrition therapy (MNT) across the diabetes care continuum.
Nutrition is both a challenge and an opportunity for individuals living with diabetes and can have direct impacts on health outcomes.
Dietitians, Certifications, and Job Opportunities
As of February 2026, more than 113,900 RDNs are credentialed in the United States.1 In 2025, just over 8,600 RDNs also held the Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES) credential, representing approximately 45% of all CDCES professionals2. Employment for dietitians is projected to grow by 6%3. However, the field has recently seen a decline in new graduates, likely due to post-pandemic enrollment shifts and the 2024 transition to a required master’s degree4. Supervised practice hours and passing the national examination continue to be required. Despite these challenges, the RDN credential remains the gold standard for evidence-based nutrition practice and new career opportunities continue to evolve.
Dietitians in diabetes care practice in a wide range of settings, including hospitals and outpatient clinics, primary care and endocrinology offices, federally qualified health centers, public health programs, academia, digital health, industry, community-based organizations and more. Increasingly, entrepreneurship has also emerged as another pathway. Approximately 12% of RDNs in the United States are self-employed.5
ADCES recently launched an Entrepreneurship Community of Interest (COI) group, leaning into this growing career trend. For many dietitians, private practice offers an opportunity to meet an unmet need or specialization, schedule flexibility, and a space to design new programs and interventions.
Innovation Born From the Gaps In Access
Both the American Diabetes Association and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommend referral to MNT for individuals with diabetes, yet fewer than 10%6 receive these services. Barriers include limited access to RDNs within health systems, fragmented referral networks, and inconsistent insurance coverage for nutrition care.7 These gaps in access were a key motivator for my own entrepreneurial venture, reinforcing that many successful innovations are often driven by unmet needs.
In 2023, I founded Nutrition for Daily Living to help address access barriers within my own local community. Building a business required learning the business of nutrition including marketing, finances, legal requirements, and navigating insurance for MNT. What began as a part-time side hustle has now become a full-time practice, enabling me to work towards my goal of delivering personalized care while fostering long-term partnerships with clients. No matter your setting, innovation can start with awareness and creativity and when paired with courage, it can open doors to meaningful impact and success.
The Importance of Dietitians Within Diabetes Care
Dietitians in diabetes care play an important role in advancing our profession by bridging nutrition innovations, clinical care expertise, behavioral strategies, and collaboration with patients, communities, and care teams. With the increasing complexity of diabetes management, RDNs bring essential skills in leadership, problem-solving, and patient-centered care. Individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit, no matter the care setting, can pilot new approaches, identify unmet needs, and design new care models. As we celebrate National Nutrition Month together, let’s recognize the many important contributions RDNs provide in transforming diabetes care.
References:
- Commission on Dietetic Registration, Registry Statistics. Downloaded on January 19th, 2026 from https://www.cdrnet.org/registry-statistics.
- CDCES statistical data. Downloaded on January 19th, 2026 from https://www.cbdce.org/reach-the-cdces-audience.
- Dietitians and Nutritionists, US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Downloaded on January 20th, 2026 from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/dietitians-and-nutritionists.htm.
- Become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist downloaded on January 20th, 2026 from https://www.eatright.org/become-an-rdn
- Dosedel, Erik. Compensation and Benefits Survey 2021. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2021;121:2314-2331. 10.1016/j.jand.2021.08.113.
- Alison B. Evert, Jackie L. Boucher, Marjorie Cypress, Stephanie A. Dunbar, Marion J. Franz, Elizabeth J. Mayer-Davis, Joshua J. Neumiller, Robin Nwankwo, Cassandra L. Verdi, Patti Urbanski, William S. Yancy; Nutrition Therapy Recommendations for the Management of Adults With Diabetes. Diabetes Care1 January 2014; 37 (Supplement_1): S120–S143. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc14-S120
- Moloney L, Rozga M, Steiber A, Handu D. The Effectiveness of Medical Nutrition Therapy in Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Disease: A Position Paper of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2026 Feb;126(2):156219.
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