Why Are So Many Dietitians "Anti-Diet"?
If you follow any Dietitians on social media, you may have noticed a rise in the amount of nutrition professionals that call themselves “Anti-Diet Dietitians”.
This stance on diets may leave you feeling confused (and rightfully so)... ‘That doesn’t even make sense. The word diet is in their title.. and isn’t that what they do?! Prescribe diets?’
HERE’S THE LOWDOWN:
While Registered Dietitians are the nutrition & diet experts, diets are not always the answer or the preferred course of action when it comes to nutrition intervention.
RDNs are skilled in a lot more than just DIETS. We are skilled at motivational interviewing, nutrition counseling, managing foodservice operations, providing medical nutrition therapy, biochemistry, food science, food safety, understanding data and statistics, nutrition education, community outreach & nutrition systems….the list goes on and on.
There is definitely a time and a place for prescribed diets. In the clinical setting, dietitians are more likely to “prescribe” or recommend specific diets to patients that are sick or recovering.
For example, a patient who is admitted to the hospital after having a heart attack or cardiac exacerbation will likely be on some sort of “cardiac diet” during their hospital stay. This could mean an individualized diet with a possible fluid restriction, lower sodium, and lower saturated fat than the average hospital meal.
The dietitian will also hopefully get a chance to talk to this patient & provide a nutrition education about their disease state and recommend modifications they can make in their everyday life to help keep their condition/symptoms under control.
There are many diets that can be prescribed to patients in hospitals and healthcare settings (diabetic diets, renal diets, cardiac diets, altered consistency diets, allergy free diets, etc.)
ON THE CONTRARY:
☆ There is a big difference between prescribed diets in medical facilities like hospitals & the FAD DIETS that we read about in magazines and on tv shows.
In our everyday lives where we are not in a confined healthcare setting under care of many health professionals, diets are not sustainable or needed.
Fad Diets are usually followed for weight loss, changes in appearance, or in hopes to become healthier. Some examples of fad diets: Atkins, South Beach, Whole 30, Keto, Blood Type, Paleo... the things that most fad diets have in common is the removal of a food group/macronutrient & reduction in calories.
Fad diets are the diets that so many dietitians (like myself) are not usually fond of. Fad diets are not successful or sustainable & yo-yo dieting can lead to a plethora of problems including: metabolism changes/issues, changes in mental health, changes in perception of body, rapid weight loss or gain, eating disorders, vitamin or mineral deficiencies, and lack of enjoyment and nourishment from the food you’re eating.
Like many dietitians, I work in this field because of my love for food and caring for people. I believe YOU are worthy of more than just a quick fix, short-term, fad diet! I believe you are worthy of information & tools that will help you live a healthy life long-term.
This is why so many dietitians are “Anti-Diet”. It would actually make more sense to say that many dietitians are “Anti-FAD-Diet” because there is definitely a time and a place for diets (the time and place is usually in a healthcare facility where nutrition intervention is needed for positive health outcomes).
We care about you! We want you to care for yourself, not just because you have an important event coming up that you want to look GREAT for…. but because you deserve to live the healthiest happiest life you can, long-term.
This means doing some research, listening to accredited health professionals like Registered Dietitians, learning about basic nutrition & making conscious decisions about the food you’re eating, but also not restricting yourself or depriving yourself of food you love!
I hope this helped clear up some of the confusion regarding Ant-Diet Dietitians. What are your thoughts on Anti-Diet nutrition professionals? Leave me a comment below. XOXO
