When it comes to talking about nutrition and making nutritional changes, there is no shortage of self-proclaimed experts and weekend certifications on the subject. In the fitness industry specifically, there are dozens of certifications from personal trainer certification agencies and online courses from important-sounding organizations. There might even be a few nutrition certifications from medical doctors available online that ANYONE can sign up for and then call themselves a nutrition coach or “nutritionist”. The problem with this approach and the certifications is mostly, these certifications and the nutrition advice given by the certified to their client is unregulated which could potentially be harmful to the patient. Just because someone is good at doing their own nutrition (and they might look good or have a six pack), it doesn’t make them QUALIFIED to teach others about nutrition. Among industry experts and the medical community, Registered Dietitians are the only professionals qualified to work with individuals on their nutrition and here are a few reasons why.

1) Lab results
RDs might be the most qualified practitioners to review and interpret labs to provide lifestyle recommendations to alter the lab markers. If you have high blood sugar, high cholesterol and some other lab markers that you don’t quite understand, taking them to a Dietitian can help you get your questions answered and they will give you some lifestyle and nutritional changes to help improve those numbers. No nutritionist with certification can legally do this, and if someone is looking at your labs that isn’t a Dietitian or Medical Doctor, they could get into legal trouble for practicing what is considered “medical nutrition therapy”. RD’s are qualified to read and interpret labs because they are trained during college and in hospital settings to read and interpret labs over the watchful eye of Registered Dietitian preceptors.

2) Held to licensure laws
RDs must abide by industry standards and best practices meaning they could lose their License if they give out false or misleading information that could potentially hurt a patient (your nutrition coach has no such regulation protecting you from getting bad nutrition advice). RDs also abide by what is called Position Statements from their certifying body which help address public health issues but can exercise clinical judgment when it comes to providing the best possible care for a patient. There is far less bias from the RD to the client compared to a nutritional coach to a client due to the rules and regulations surrounding providing care based on the best available research (not cherry-picking studies that confirm their own bias).

3) Part of a healthcare team
Has a specific role to play in helping to improve the lives of the patient, and sticks to what they know, and refers out to the most qualified professional in the best interest of the patient. Works within their scope of practice so they can focus on getting the best possible results for the client because they master their craft. When a Dietitian refers out to someone else, you know they have your best interest in mind to help get you the help you need.

4) Nutritional agnostics

Registered Dietitians don't push a particular diet approach on a client but instead helps them find the best eating strategy for the patient based on their preferences, needs and clinical judgment. No crash diets, or being forced or coerced into eating something the client isn’t comfortable with, ie. omnivore being told to go vegan or vegetarian, or vegetarian being told to eat meat to improve their health. No one should be told to follow a generic meal plan written by a bodybuilder if the foods on the meal plan are outside of what a client is comfortable with eating. You deserve to have a professional work with you and come up with a plan together that will get you the most results in a sustainable and realistic way.

5) Trained to work with a wide variety of clients
Doesn’t just work with the sick or the fit, but trained to work with clients from all nutritional walks of life. If you have zero cooking skills or are a professional chef, a Registered Dietitian can help you improve your nutrition to a degree you can manage. Whether you are looking to improve your blood sugar and cholesterol numbers, address your weird stomach issues, improve your performance in the gym or improve your body composition, a Registered Dietitian can help.

With all of those reasons and the amount of schooling and hours individuals put into becoming Registered Dietitians, they do it because they really want to help people in the most complete and effective way. You wouldn’t trust your financial decisions to an individual with an unregulated certification, you would hire a professional. Take the guesswork out of nutrition and hire a professional, the only medically qualified expert on nutrition. -Shanti Wolfe, Registered Dietitian