Why you should be listening to me, not your mom, when it comes to nutrition.
Why do I feel that I should be writing and providing information related to nutrition? Well, let me tell you. I am a registered dietitian, which means I have spent countless hours, both paid and unpaid, on developing my knowledge base in all things nutrition. I have sat and passed a very long and stressful exam. I have gained experience through years of school, months and months of internships and I have spent my career in all aspects of nutrition, from food service, to working with eating disorder patients, to clinical nutrition, to becoming a diabetes educator, to building nutrition programs, such as the diabetes prevention program and my brand spanking new business from the ground up. (to see my job experience in more detail click here)
You might be saying, well my mom says she’s an expert in nutrition. Unless she is a dietitian, no. She might be an awesome cook but not a nutrition expert. Well, that lady at the gym selling me nutrition supplements is definitely a nutrition expert. Unless she is a registered dietitian, hell no! And hopefully no registered dietitian is trying to sell you non-regulated and under researched nutrition supplements at the gym! Or anywhere else! Registered dietitians are the one and only nutrition experts, no one else. We live, breathe, eat, sleep nutrition. We all have our different strengths and expertise but we are your go to for all things nutrition. So please stop spending all your money and time with people who are not experts and want you to buy their magic supplement (which we will get into later), they are impostors.
Unfortunately, dietitians are underutilized. Why? I'm not sure. There is a lot of nutrition information out there, a lot of misinformation and conflicting information. Nutrition is a HOT topic and people want to make money on the confusion. According to data by Marketdata Enterprises, Americans spend greater then $60 billion dollars annually trying to lose weight. $60 Billion Dollars! How crazy is that?! My own personal reasoning behind this craziness is the imposters telling you the "fastest way to lose weight" or selling "the magic weight loss pill". Health is not that simple, it takes TIME and DEDICATION to make lasting behavior change. Dietitians know this, and unfortunately this mentality doesn't "sell". This leads to multiple failed attempts by individuals to manipulate their weight, leading to distrust and desperation. With all this misinformation and imposters pretending to be nutrition experts, it muddles the truth and the science. Next time you have questions about anything nutrition related, questions on weight loss, questions on that nutrition supplement that your coworker is trying to sell you, PLEASE STOP and ask a dietitian. If you are reading this, then you have a dietitian you can ask, ME. Otherwise, you can find a registered dietitian near you online at https://www.eatright.org/find-an-expert. Or visit www.eatright.org for science based, factual, not trying to sell you anything, nutrition information!
Questions or comments? Ask away my blogees!