Is Your Nutritionist a Quack?

How To Tell a Fake From the Real Deal, or RD (Registered Dietitian)

Americans are now spending more than $30 billion annually on weight-loss products and services. “A significant portion of this money goes, unfortunately, to people who have no real education in nutrition and health,” states Jay Kenney, PhD, RD, FACN, Nutrition Research Specialist at the Pritikin Longevity Center® & Spa.

“In most states you don’t even need a license to call yourself a nutritionist, which means that anyone, including people with little or no formal education or training, can set up shop as a nutritionist,” warns Dr. Kenney. “It really is a case of ‘buyer beware.’”

There are huge risks, and not just to your wallet. A quack nutritionist may blame a symptom of a serious health problem on the lack of some nutrient and try to sell you a bunch of supplements to correct it. In some cases, time spent fiddling around with such cockamamie cures delays legitimate treatment, allowing a disease to progress to the point where it may do permanent damage to your body.

So whom can you trust for reliable nutrition advice? Always rely on the most qualified professionals in the field of food and nutrition. They are called registered dietitians (RD), like the registered dietitians at the Pritikin Longevity Center.

RDs (the Real Deal)

Registered dietitians in the U.S. must meet the following criteria to earn the RD credential:

• Receive a bachelor’s degree from a U.S. regionally accredited university or college and course work approved by the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education of the American Dietetic Association (ADA).
• Complete a CADE-accredited supervised practice program at a health-care facility, community agency or a foodservice corporation or combined with undergraduate or graduate studies. Typically, a practice program will run six to 12 months in length.
• Pass a national examination administered by the Commission on Dietetic Registration.
• Complete continuing professional educational requirements to maintain registration.

RDs at Pritikin

When visiting Pritikin, you can schedule one-on-one appointments with one of the Center’s RDs.  It’s the best place to do so because the RDs at Pritikin have full knowledge of your health history as well as practical Pritikin skills, like grocery shopping, restaurant eating, and cooking. They can design an eating plan that is not only the healthiest for you but also the most doable for your lifestyle.

The Pritikin RDs have also completed advanced training and hold graduate degrees in their fields.

RDs at Home

If you’re looking for a registered dietitian upon your return home from Pritikin, “do be careful, especially if you’re a vegetarian or are interested in finding support for our program, because conservative attitudes still prevail among many registered dietitians,” warns Jeffrey Novick, MS, RD, Director of Nutrition at Pritikin.

“Some dietitians still think, for example, that a healthy low-fat or vegetarian-based diet may not be nutritionally adequate, which is really a shame because a low-fat or vegetarian-style diet that follows Pritikin recommendations has plenty of variety and is full of the nutrients our bodies need. And some foods, like artery-clogging red meat and cheese, should not be eaten ‘in moderation’ – in fact, the less, the better.”

"Quack Nutritionist - 5 Red Flags of a Phony Nutritionist" Continues...

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