When we don’t prioritize burnout prevention, the consequences can be severe. Trust, here, and do what I say, not what I did :)

When I graduated from school I was beyond thrilled to finally begin my nutrition career. Fueled by excitement, determination, and an overabundance of energy, I dove headfirst into building my private practice. During the week, I juggled dropping off and picking up my son from school with client sessions, but also offered client sessions at night and on Saturdays to account for the “time lost” during the day. Most weeknights I stayed up until 12 or 1 a.m. working on my business creating a website, developing marketing materials, and researching potential referral partners. Within just a couple of months, I was completely burned out and, due to the sleep deprivation and resulting immune system effects, gave myself shingles at age 37. That experience taught me a hard but valuable lesson: success isn’t sustainable if it comes at the cost of your health and well-being.

The world of nutrition is evolving rapidly, and artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a powerful tool for personalizing dietary recommendations. As a Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS), I use AI in my client sessions to streamline research, find tailored recipes, and create food lists that align with specific dietary needs, allergies, and health goals.

But while AI offers many advantages, it also comes with risks—including misinformation, lack of evidence-based recommendations, and HIPAA compliance concerns. In this blog post, I’ll break down how AI is revolutionizing personalized nutrition, how I use it responsibly in my practice, and what every nutrition professional should keep in mind when leveraging AI for client care.

As a Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) or CNS candidate, you want to stay informed about the latest nutrition research to provide evidence-based recommendations to your future clients. However, keeping up with new studies, clinical guidelines, and emerging trends in biochemistry, metabolism, and clinical nutrition can feel overwhelming—especially when juggling practice management, coursework, clinical hours, and exam prep.

Fortunately, there are efficient and strategic ways to stay up to date without drowning in information. In this guide, we’ll cover how to create research alerts, find high-quality evergreen trainings, and organize information into actionable protocols—so you can build a solid clinical knowledge base without spending hours sifting through studies.

When Sarah, a CNS candidate, first started preparing for her exam, she felt completely overwhelmed. “I didn’t know where to start,” she admitted. “There was so much material to cover, and I wasn’t sure if I even remembered half of what I learned in school.” After reassuring Sarah that nearly everyone feels this way about the CNS test (you’re not alone!!!), we started to explore the different steps to make studying for the CNS exam manageable.

At Clinician’s Incubator, we have a tried-and-true set of steps we use with every exam prep cohort. Let’s break them down together so you can feel confident on exam day.