Hello! Happy you are here to read this super helpful blog post!
Taking advantage of the National Nutrition Month, I want to touch base and share my thoughts on this topic.
I did a poll recently on stories and asked the reasons why you have not consulted with a dietitian.
All of you voted for the option of: "I don't like the restrictive diets".
This is a very COMMON misconception about the real job a dietitian performs on a daily basis.
Many years back, lots of popular diets started to pop up and several dietitians recommended them as they "showed results" even when they were not sustainable or nourishing.
As science and research advanced in many ways, calories and weight alone were not considered the most important factors that determined someone's health. That said, the recommendations varied greatly and it has been a tough task trying to remove the established "diet culture".
My job as a dietitian does not involve recommending the most restrictive or "effective" diet to lose the highest amount of pounds in the shortest period of time. What my job
involves is being a guide for you and educate you in topics like: learn how to read nutrition facts labels, build balanced meals, adapt foods from your culture into a balanced diet, consider your budget to develop menus that are nourishing, recommend safe supplements when you need them, facts about specific foods, anthropometric measures that may indicate true progress other than weight or BMI, etc.
Basically, adapting nourishing foods to you. It is common to do it backwards and try to suggest products that may be considered "healthy" but they might be out of someone's budget or that don't match with a specific culture.
As a dietitian, every recommendation that I give is based on accurate and recent evidence. It is truly important for dietitians or any other health-care provider to be up to date with important topics to educate their clients/patients with this information. Science is typically very dynamic and studies have to be performed frequently to determine if there is a change in the usual practice. That being said, not everyone is qualified to recommend nutrition tips as there is plenty of information on the internet that may not be very accurate and could guide you towards unhealthy practices.
I hope that this solves this question and if you are wondering how to improve your diet, reach out to me through my email: andrea@thblissfuldietitian.com or via DM on Instagram. I would love to help you figure out a nourishing way to eat that works for YOU!
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