<p>Obviously, majors in both nutrition and psychology could allow you to prepare for both career interests that you mentioned (eating disorders and international nutrition). However, it might be difficult to complete majors in both of these fields, due to the number of credits that a major in nutrition requires, both in nutrition courses and in courses in supporting sciences.
To do clinical work in nutrition, you need to complete a post-BS dietetic internship to become a registered dietitian. Work as a dietitian certainly includes some aspects of nutrition counseling, but probably does not provide sufficient training in behavior change methods to work with behavioral aspects of eating disorders. (Some graduate programs in nutrition might provide subspecialty options in behavioral aspects.) For that, you would need a graduate degree in psychology (generally, a doctorate). Becoming both a registered dietitian and a clinical psychologist would be a fabulous combination. You probably could enter a Psychology Doctorate program with nutrition major and a psychology minor. Though it’s very competitive to enter a doctoral program in clinical psychology, especially a research-practitioner program, you probably could enter a PsyD program or a program in applied behavior analysis. For your stated interests, a technical background in nutrition and supporting sciences might give you an admissions advantage, particularly in a subspecialty program, such as health psychology. So, I would recommend a major in nutrition and a minor in psychology. If you did a major in psychology with a minor in nutrition, it would provide you with a background to pursue graduate study in psychology and give you a better understanding of nutrition, but you wouldn’t have the advantage that a dietitian has in being able to prescribe diets. (For specialized training, there probably are some pre-doc or postdoc internship opportunities in eating disorders clinics, however.) In actual practice, however, if you worked in an organizational setting (e.g., a hospital), you might have to choose being either a dietitian or a psychologist as your scope of practice might be limited to what the hiring department allows, unless you find a job in a specialty eating disorders clinic.</p>
<p>With a nutrition major, you also could pursue your interest in international nutrition. You couldn’t follow that path with a psychology major and you might not be able to do that with only a nutrition minor. I think you will find, however, that some of the elective coursework in nutrition and related areas will diverge for an applied focus on eating disorders/dietetics and an applied focus on international nutrition.</p>
<p>Here are some possible pathways:
Psychology Major + Nutrition Major + Dietetic Internship + Psychology Doctorate
Psychology Major + Nutrition Minor + MS Nutrition/Dietetic Internship + Psychology Doctorate
Nutrition Major + Psychology Minor + Dietetic Internship + Psychology Doctorate
Psychology Major + Bioscience Major (or, possibly, just pre-med requirements)+ MS Nutrition + Psychology Doctorate
Bioscience Major + Psychology Minor + MS Nutrition/Dietetic Internship + Psychology Doctorate
Bioscience Major + MS Nutrition/Dietetic Internship + Psychology Doctorate
Biopsychology Major (with adequate chemistry and biology coursework)+ MS Nutrition/Dietetic Internship + Psychology Doctorate</p>
<p>Another alternative to a psychology major or minor is a major or minor in human development. Programs in HD often are offered in schools of human ecology, which also might offer nutrition programs; this may or may not facilitate a double major in those fields. Also, keep in mind that, depending on the structure of a particular university, nutrition programs/departments for an MS in nutrition can be found in schools of human ecology/consumer sciences, schools of health professions, schools of agriculture, or schools of public health.</p>