Common Misconceptions about Dietitians

By: Alyce Reichenbacher

I love being a part of the dietetics profession and I cannot wait to one day have MS, RD at the end of my name. However, sometimes others make assumptions about my nutritional choices due to my association with dietetics. For example, I will be in line at a buffet and the person in front of me says “don’t judge me, I know it’s bad” as they reach for the chocolate chip cookie at the end of the table. Or I walk into a patient’s room and they refer to me as the “food police.” Or I order boneless buffalo wings with ranch instead of the house salad when I’m out to dinner with friends and get a look from them like wait you eat THAT, I thought you were in dietetics. I’ve started to feel like the average person perceives dietitians as judgemental fitness freaks that force you to eat kale and quinoa for each meal.

No fear, I am here to squash those misconceptions of Registered Dietitians (RDs) and bring some truth to the profession. Here is a list of five commonly faulty thoughts about dietitians.

1. Dietitians eat healthy 100% of the time and think you should too
1. Not everyone is perfect! We all deserve to treat ourselves once in a while and I am a firm believer that we need to feed our body and our soul. Depriving ourselves of things we love is not only torture, but it will most likely force us to binge later on. As dietitians, it is our job to help our clients and patients still eat the foods they love while keeping their body healthy. That advice goes for us, health professionals, as well. I most certainly do not eat healthy for every single meal. What is life without chocolate peanut butter ice cream or a barbeque chicken pizza every once in a while? The most important advice we can give you is to enjoy everything in moderation. When it comes time to have that special treat, appreciate it! Take pleasure in treating yourself to a favorite food on occasion.
2. We know everything when it comes to food
1. As much as I would like to say that statement is true... it is not. Especially as a Dietetic Intern, I feel like I have only scratched the surface on food and nutrition. It is such a vast subject and I have so much more to learn. That being said, eventually we all find our niche. It is common for RDs to specialize in a certain area which can cause them to not stay as up-to-date on information in other areas. For example, a RD who works in an eating disorder facility is not always up to speed on the most recent recommendations in sports nutrition. Because it is such a dense field, we may not be able to answer a specific question right off the bat if it is in an area we are not as familiar with. However, we often know where to find science-based answers or can direct you to someone who can!
3. Our field is “black and white”
1. Is red meat bad for me? Will intermittent fasting help me lose weight? Should I take a multivitamin? Sometimes I struggle when people ask me questions and the answer is often “it depends.” There are so many aspects of a person’s health that you have to consider when talking about nutrition. Every client has different dietary needs, goals, lifestyles, and food preferences. What works for one person most likely will not work for the next. In addition, each RD has their own beliefs and backgrounds. Luckily, we are trained on how to tailor unique advice for every individual using evidence-based research.
4. Dietitians are the same as Nutritionists
1. Registered Dietitian, Nutritionist, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist? It’s confusing to know which term is correct. If someone claims to be a Nutritionist, he/she could be a qualified professional but they could also be someone who took a class or two on health and wellness. There really is no accreditation for being a nutritionist and there is no regulation on who can call themselves nutritionists. Registered Dietitian, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, RD, RDN, and Dietitian are all ways of saying the same thing. An RDN is someone who has completed a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and dietetics, completed an ACEND-accredited supervised practice program (fancy way of saying internship) where we accomplished at least 1,200 hours of supervised practice, and passed a national examination often referred to as the RD exam or CDR. 
5. All we do is meal plan and get people to lose weight
1. That is the same as saying all photographers do is point and shoot; when really, there are countless things that need to happen. The photographer has to find the correct lighting, backgrounds, and position characters the way that best suits how the shot needs to be captured etc. In fact, most dietitians do not create meal plans for their clients. This is because meal plans can be a temporary and unrealistic way of fitting a person’s lifestyle long-term. Our goal is to make life changing and sustaining tweaks to your diet and/or lifestyle in a way that is healthy, maintainable, and individualized to you. Not to mention, RDs work in a vast array of settings. Weight loss is only one area in which they specialize in. Other careers in dietetics can include working in a cancer center helping patients maintain good nutrition to keep fighting, in a children’s hospital calculating tube feedings for kiddos who are too ill to eat, in a private practice setting delivering corporate wellness speeches to big companies, in a food service operation as a chef or menu designer, in a diabetes clinic teaching those newly diagnosed how to work their pumps and count carbohydrates, in a nursing home working to keep the geriatric population happy and healthy, in a OBGYN office providing women with prenatal nutrition, and the list goes on and on. We often wear many hats and our days consist of so much more than typing up meal plans and telling people calories in equals calories out.

I hope these few points help to clear your mind about dietitians and can also allow you see how expansive this profession really is! We are non-judgemental, pro-quality of life individuals just trying to make the world a healthier place, one whole food at a time!