newlifeforhealth.com -- Why R.D.'s?

Why R.D.'s?

Because N.E.W. LIFE is dedicated to assisting people
in making lifelong behavior change with
correct, understandable nutrition information.
Registered Dietitians are the nutrition experts.

Why is there so much misinformation and confusion in nutrition?

You do not need a license to "practice" nutrition (yet) in our country. All it takes is a catchy name, an energetic publicist, and an inspiring personality and you too can be a successful diet book author. Your readers, however, will succeed only temporarily, if at all. Furthermore, many of the popular diet book recommendations are actually harmful to individuals, either directly giving harmful dietary advice, or indirectly sabotaging optimal nutrition. Americans love the "magic bullet" quick fix, especially to weight problems. They are easy prey to the next new diet recommendation, whether or not there is any proof to the claim. N.E.W. LIFE programs are only taught by Registered Dietitians (R.D.'s). A Registered Dietitian must complete approved coursework and a minimum of a bachelor's degree (they often have a Master's or Ph.D.) from an accredited college or university, complete a lengthy dietetic internship, pass a rigorous Registration Examination for Dietitians, and complete 75 continuing education credits every 5 years to maintain registration. Registered Dietitians are uniquely trained to provide the highest quality nutrition education available in these United States of America, and also administer the specific “medical nutrition therapy” (the recent term adopted with Medicare coverage for Registered Dietitians) necessary for disease management.

Media writers with little or no understanding about nutrition misunderstand, oversimplify and miscommunicate nutrition facts and science.

Nutrition sells. Headlines draw attention, and the more controversial the better.

Growing lack of trust in "the medical establishment". This opens the door to opinions.

Book authors (who stand a lot to gain monetarily) are boldly (or ignorantly) misrepresenting experts in order to promote their own theories! (Example: Gerald Reaven's work on "Syndrome X" and hyperinsulinemia miscommunicated by high-protein diet book authors. He was so frustrated by the misrepresentations that he wrote his own book called Syndrome X: Overcoming the Silent Killer That Can Give You a Heart Attack. There are others!)

Example: Framingham Massachusettes Heart Study

The original "conclusion":
"Type A's" were supposed to die from heart attacks earlier.

The truth:
We don't hear about "Type A's" and their dire outcome anymore.
After over 30 years have "washed out" the confounding variables we realize that it's not that we have stress that is the risk factor but rather how we handle it:

a) Is stress a burden or a challenge? b) Are you bitter or forgiving?

Reporters take the conclusion from a study and publish it prematurely and/or publish a fact out of context. Nutrition is a young science. When researching the unknown or little understood in science, at first studies inevitably yield conflicting results. It is only when a question has been looked at for a longer period of time (and other studies eliminate confounding factors and replicate conclusions) that the truth becomes clear.

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[Home]
[About N.E.W. LIFE]
[What's an R.D.?]
[Nutrition Bites]
[The Seed (Blog)]
[Class Schedules]
[Online Classes]
[Individual Counseling]
[Food Diary Evaluations]
[Nutrition Seminars]
[Dietitian's Page]
[Resources]
[Class Resources (Login/Logout)]

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