Why Work With a Registered Dietitian?

Access to information has never been easier with social media, artificial intelligence, Google, and similar resources right at our fingertips. It is so convenient to pop a question into Chat GPT and have the answer within seconds, or to look up a hair tutorial on Tik Tok and save the trip to the hair stylist. You can even ask google to show you a recipe that meets your macro goals and it will provide you with the recipe, grocery list, and nutrition facts. So when it comes to your health, why would it be worth your time to meet with a registered dietitian (RD), rather than following your favorite influencer for nutrition advice? 

The short answer is, RDs are professionals. Would you ask your dentist to help you with your taxes? Or your primary care physician to fix your plumbing? Of course not!! So why give your blind trust to a stranger on the internet, your friend who is a nutritionist, or a faceless AI app when it comes to your health? We wouldn’t! Not convinced yet that meeting with a RD is worth your time? Well here is the long story why you should only trust a RD with your diet and nutrition related goals. 

                  We already told you that RDs are the professionals when it comes to nutrition, but let’s back up that talk with some facts. Dietitians must pass a long list of coursework, either in undergraduate school or during a separate post-grad program, to be RD eligible. These classes include biology, chemistry, physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, lifecycle nutrition, advanced nutrition, food science, food safety, community nutrition… just to name a few. In summary, dietitians have a well diversified education preparing them for the nuances of nutrition related care. 

As of 2024, all RDs are required to hold a Masters Degree to be eligible for the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) exam, which is the national board exam for dietitians and our credentialing organization. In addition to the Masters degree and specific coursework listed above, dietitians must complete a minimum of 1,200 hours of supervised practice by an accredited program to be eligible for the CDR exam. When you tally up the time it takes to complete all schooling and professional experience to become a RD, it equates to about 6 to 7 years. So yes, we are the experts!

Can you guess the requirements for becoming a nutritionist rather than a registered dietitian? A little hint… it is none of the above! The title of “nutritionist” is very broad. A nutritionist may have completed an online course in an hour, or completed an undergraduate degree in nutrition, or may have completed all of the steps a RD has, but did not take the exam to become credentialed as a dietitian. Since there is such a wide spectrum of the knowledge a nutritionist can have, we feel safer suggesting individuals seek nutrition advice from registered dietitians, like the ones on the SkimWellness team, to ensure you are receiving care from a licensed and credentialed professional. 

Again, you would not trust your dentist to give you advice about filing your taxes, so do not trust just anyone to give you advice about your diet. Plus, working with a credentialed professional, like an RD, means they have the potential to bill insurance! Here at SkimWellness, we offer insurance checks to see what your insurance plan covers for nutrition visits. Our clients pay anywhere from $0-$15 out of pocket when working with us through their insurance plans.  Improve your health by working with an expert for free?! Yes please. Contact us through our website with the front and back of your insurance card, your date of birth, and your preferred dietitian to work with and we will get right back to you with your options!

Now that we covered why you should entrust your health with a professional rather than someone who simply has your personal body goals on social media, let’s talk about everything a registered dietitian can help you achieve when it comes to diet and lifestyle. Remember the long list of requirements to become an RD? Well, they are good for something! RDs have a wide range of skills that help you prevent disease, treat chronic conditions, improve body composition, improve gut health, reduce inflammation and autoimmune flares, fuel for sport, support healthy pregnancies, manage weight, and so much more. You may not have even made a connection yet between your uncomfortable GI symptoms, your acne prone skin, your constant fatigue, and your diet, but RDs can and do, daily! Here at SkimWellness, our dietitians excel at finding the intersection between sports nutrition, eating disorders/disordered eating, and integrative health. We would love to help you connect those dots and help you thrive in every aspect of your life.

Your journey to improving your health is constantly changing with the seasons of life, so your approach to diet and lifestyle should change too! Registered dietitians are equipped with the knowledge and skills to adapt with you. Often when you see health advice online, or from an untrained health care provider, it is a one size fits all approach. RDs are trained to assess all factors contributing to your specific signs and symptoms and create tailored plans accordingly, knowing they might, and likely will, change. We even offer lab testing and interpretation to take a deeper dive into your root cause when it comes to GI and hormone health. Uncovering root cause problems through science backed testing means root cause solutions, no bandaids or fad diets here! We want to give you a sneak peak into the cases our registered dietitians work with here at SkimWellness, so here is a list of frequent problems we help our clients overcome:

• How to improve athletic performance while healing my gut 

• How to improve my relationship with food and exercise

• How to resolve my digestive issues without cutting out food groups

• How to get restful and restorative sleep instead of feeling fatigue even after getting 8+ hours of sleep each night 

• How to achieve my body composition goals without counting calories

• How to stop the binge and restrict eating cycle 

• How to fix my irregular periods and severe menstrual cramping 

  
  

  But do not just take our word for it. This is what our clients have to say about working with our registered dietitians at SkimWellness!

           Results like this happen when you entrust professionals with your health! Let us help you distinguish between the noise online and the science backed protocols when it comes to improving your relationship with food, exercise, and your body. We are here to make nutrition less complicated, to bust some nutrition myths, and to hold your hand every step of the way. Our dietitians are well prepared to help you uncover the root causes to your unpleasant symptoms and get you on a path to recovery that is sustainable. 

Resources:

https://www.eatright.org/become-an-rdn