While searching for articles and topics to discuss in my blog, I came across another nutrition student's very intriguing blog entitled, "Confessions of a Fat Dietitian" (www.thefatdietitian.com). The purpose of her blog is to track her weight loss journey by listing foods she has consumed and counting her calories.
My question is, why does this nutrition student feel the need to lose weight? Is she doing so for health benefits, or to better fit into our "nutrition community". It is well documented that most nutrition students are Caucasian, middle class, and slim, because slim, in our society, equals healthy. Overweight individuals are seen as lazy, weak, and in terrible physical shape. In our cruel world being overweight is seen as having eating issues that need to be worked out. Who, then, would trust a fat dietitian?
In reality, I believe a fat dietitian would make an excellent dietitian. In fact, I would argue that an overweight dietitian would make for a much better nutritionist than her skinnier colleagues. Of course weight shouldn't matter when assessing one's job skills, yet in our profession, there seems to be no escape from this. We study food. We analyze BMIs, weights, calories, and nutrients. Our job is to be exerts in the field of health. There is an underlying role we must play in being a dietitian, and that unwritten job requirement is to be skinny. Yet, what are we, as future dietitians, doing to make sure we fit the job description? How many of us engage in unhealthy eating behaviours in order to be what society deems "healthy"? Are all of us naturally skinny individuals? I believe that there are dietitians out there that practice harmful eating habits in order to fit the mould. I would even argue that there are dietitians out there that suffer from anorexia and/or bulimia.
So who wants a fat dietitian? If a dietitian consumes nutritious foods and lives a "healthy" lifestyle consisting of regular physical exercise, social interaction, and has great mental well-being, who cares if she is overweight? As long as she is not hurting herself, I would much rather talk to a healthy fat dietitian than a skinny dietitian that binges and purges. I would much rather talk to a dietitian that appreciates food, embraces food, and loves food than a dietitian that worries about her weight. This is where the fat dietitian I discussed above is at fault. Why is she obsessing about her calories? Why is she not obsessing about living a healthy lifestyle?
Hi Leigh,
ReplyDeleteSorry it took me so long to respond, there wasn't a link in your comment so it took a little time to find your blog. I am a fat nutrition student, and I certainly do feel that it comes with some stigmas. However, I am not trying to lose weight because I don't like my thighs, or I want to fit into a bikini for spring break, or because I want to fit the dietitian mold. I am trying to lose weight because I am clinically obese, and I am concerned about my health in the long term. I do not need to lose only a few pounds, but a rather large sum of weight in order to have a healthy BMI (which I realize is not a foolproof tool). I often wonder what people think of me when they hear that I am a nutrition student, but that has not stirred my desire to lose weight. I agree with your post and think that you raise valid points, and I hope that my personal weight loss will help me better relate to future clients than someone who has never had a weight problem. I would love to discuss this further with you, and again I am sorry for the delayed response!
The Fat Dietitian
I myself am an overweight dietitian. I have struggled with the yo-yo weight loss/gain cycle for a long time but I am at a point in my life where I am eating healthy and starting a workout program. I was very overweight as a child and lost weight (the right way) my first years of college and decided to become a dietitian. In the process, stress got the best of me and I gained a large portion of what I lost back...which leads me to my current dilemma. I am a recent grad and new dietitian counseling people about healthy eating while I am overweight. Some people I talk to embrace my story and do feel more comfortable because I know what they are going through and have broken through this barrier in the past, but others simply look at me as a bad dietitian, almost with disgust. It's a struggle in that sense and I don't want to have to conform to society's standards but at the same time in the economic times we are in, I am afraid I will need to be thinner in order to market myself and build my career. There are times that I really do questions my own credibility and lose confidence. I would love to hear from other dietitians in my position and how they overcome these barriers. I don't use blogspot really but if anyone is interested in discussing this in further detail my e-mail is eat2live@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteI too am a 'fat' dietitian. I am actually boderline obese. I had a random patient at the clinic come up to me and tell me that I could use loosing weight myself. I was mad as heck. I gave him a firm but fitting retort and went about my business. It's affecting me mentally a bit. However, I know I am competent at what I do, after all...the field of dietetics is NOT ONLY ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS! Dietetics does not equal DIETING (to loose weight). There are lots of folks (slim and overweight alike) who need help in trying to lower their cholesterol...diabetics who need help lowering their A1C...kidney patients trying to keep certain blood values regulated...HIV/AIDS and cancer patients need individualised nutritional counselling based on their needs....and the list goes on and on....
ReplyDeleteImagine, I can't tell you how many times people come up to me and tell me that they didn't know that slim people can have bad lipid profiles...they thought only (and all) fat people have high cholesterol. How ridiculous and ignorant of such people.
After menarch, I was never ever a slim person, however, I was fit as heck. To me, IBW and BMI(to a certain extent) means nothing to me. I'm trying to get down to a resonable ideal muscle mass% and body fat%. My last year in college sabotaged my fitness goals so, apparently I'm just fat now...but I'm in the process of trying to get fit again......so soon hopefully, i'll be either fit and fat or fit and not-so-fat. I have a decent appreciation for my body size and shape, but I hate when asinine people try to get into my head and try to make me feel inferior about my physical appearance. I am quite competent at what I do and have the credentials and qualifications to show for it. If you are disturbed in some way about how I look...then LOOK AWAY! I prefer not to see you either!!
I am then to believe that all thin dietitian's binge and purge to say slim ? I know which dietitian I would visit !
ReplyDeleteI was the customer of a fat dietician and a naturally skinny dietician. Let me be entirely frank: if you are a dietician specialising in anything in health and you are not healthy then you are a hypocrite.
ReplyDeleteNo-one is telling you to purge (and how insulting that this post seems to assume anyone who is naturally skinny binges or purges) but most people expect you to set an example by geing a healthy weight, a healthy cholesterol level etc. If you have diabetes/PCOS/Cushing, we expect you to take your medications etc.
This is no different than expecting a doctor to NOT smoke. No, there isnt an expectation for you to look like Usher or Shakira but you must have your health under control if your job is to advise people on health matters.
My experience was thu s: the fat dietician looked at my food diary and questioned me on yoghurt and told me not to eat yoghurt (goodbye calcium). Upon informing her thar the yoghurt was homemade from milk, she realized that my food diary had only healthy food. So she decided to pressure me into admiting that I ate crisps and chocolate and didnt write it (I hate crisps and find chocolate too greasy unless it is cocao nibs).
OK, so. Where do i start? This was sent to me by a fitness friend. This is something that I would read over and forget about. However this is a subject that I am passionate about. I am a Personal Trainer and it’s my goal to make my clients to be as healthy as I can.
ReplyDeleteI have a personal moral in life. If I go and see a so called “expert” and they look worse than I do I walk right out the door again.
Obviously I have to look the part as a Personal Trainer. Who would train with a fat personal Trainer? NOONE!
Would you go see a dentist with bad teeth? NO
You wouldn’t choose a personal trainer because of their Bachelors in Maths (which is lucky)
As I dietician you should be some of the healthiest people on the planet!! “You are what you eat/what you absorb”
SO ether you don’t practice what you preach or what you were taught was wrong! I don’t care how many qualifications you have or where you got them!!
Just to show you people how uneducated you are, you are going to say “but you are a personal trainer and you exercise ten times a week”
WRONG AGAIN
I exercise no more than four.
Obvioulsy you are eating 5 times a day which is 35 times a week.
If I am training 4 times, that means the nutrition for me is 8.75 times more important than the exercise that I do!
Shame there isn’t an option to upload a picture. I practice what I preach!
You people disgust me!
First of all, the individual that wrote the comment above really needs to take a step back and maybe eat a slice of humble pie before you gear up for that next workout.....just saying. You are the one that is coming off uneducated. Although, in my opinion personal trainers often act like wanna be dietitians in the end, so maybe your rant is originating off a spark of envy.......comparing a overweight dietitian to a dentist with bad teeth or a smoking doctor is showing just how idiotic you really are and how much your really don't understand about nutrition.
ReplyDeleteI am a dietitian. No, I do not have a weight problem and nor do I binge or purge to keep my weight in check but I also realize with the number of years that I have been in this profession that the individuals weight is an important number to pay attention to. It is NOT the end all be all when it comes to considering how healthy an individual is. There are a number of overweight dietitians I personally know which to be honest are likely overall healthier then me. They do all the right things, regularly working out, eating extremely well. One should also remember, not all dietitians work within the field of counseling others on how to lose weight, some are in research, clinical nutrition support, sales, etc.
Do I feel that as a society we tend to judge a dietitian that is overweight....sure I do. I myself as a professional however know that overweight does not automatically equal unhealthy. I see it as part of my job to help educate individuals like the personal trainer above ( in my spare time, cause usually it's a lost cause) the flaws in there point of view.
I've been into natural bodybuilding since I was probably 19. I was sent to a dietitian when I noticed I had severe hypoglycemia with the absents of diabetes.
ReplyDeleteI had been half expecting my dietitian to be severely over weight, who would be treating me and my symptoms when I could probably run laps around her and not tire. To my surprise she was actually a fit looking woman! So I listened to what she had to say, sadly however her advice only made my symptoms a hell of a lot worse as she put me on a 200gram carb diet. Healthy carbs or not, any amount of weight lifting or cardio didn't stop my weight from climbing nor did it stop my body from becoming more insulin resistant on such a ridiculous diet.
Eventually I dropped her all together and began experimenting with my own diets of yes higher protein, higher healthy fats and moderate to low carbs. I even enlisted the help of a natural body builder in the states whos written his own books on nutrition and lifting.
My point being I don't care if a dietitian is over weight as clearly even if they appear healthy some of them still have zero clue as to what they are talking about.
I plan on attending university in order to become a registered dietitan, I'm just saddened by the majority of dietitians advocating the high carb lifestyle when clearly it is the main cause of type two diabetes and various other diseases.
Don't get me wrong, healthy complex sources are fine, but modestly for the sedentary population. Why are people piling carbohydrates on their plates when their bodies aren't burning any where near the amount they are consuming. Why are we shoveling carbs down diabetics throats when a proper diet/exercise program more moderate in carbs could potentially reverse diabetes?
Should we not be the folk who patients come to when theyve reached the point of "almost no return" and we tell them how to eat and get moving?
Just some food for thought. Skinny or not some dietitians are in fact clueless. Some people function better on low carbs, some on high carbs its that simple. We aren't all the same.
As for the girl with an eating disorder, no I don't think a fat dietitian is going to be of any assistance...practice what you preach
This article has really helped me, and all of your comments above, whether supporting or not supporting overweight dietitians has helped me, so thank you all.
ReplyDeleteLong story short, I am obese for many reasons (Child birth followed quickly by Mirena IUD, stopped working out consistently, large amounts of stress, desk job...) I was not always obese. I was actually quite fit and active before! Even though I was, I was never a slim jim. I was always short and curvy. I am young, so is the husband, and we have 1 daughter, with a son on the way. It took quite some time, like a degree in paralegal studies that just made me more miserable, and many life lessons learned to finally figure out that what I actually wanted in life was to help people.
I love fitness, the outdoors, yoga, biking, you name it. I realized that in my quest to better myself after I lapsed into a dark period of my life which helped me to become obese that I actually enjoyed all of those things. Yoga helped with depression, being outdoors took me away from a four walls and a window office life, and eating better did wonders for my health almost immediately. I decided that this is what I want to do, but the only problem is I am still overweight.
Being pregnant obviously you can't help but gain a little weight, and it's unhealthy to lose weight while pregnant, so I can't do anything about my weight right now except watch what I'm putting in my mouth and engage in light forms of exercise in the meantime, but I will be starting a program to become a dietitian a couple of months after my second child is born. Obviously I won't be the picture of health at that point, but I hope to be back to normal and able to maintain it by the time I graduate and am looking to become a dietitian. I was becoming worried that just entering into the program overweight would be difficult and I might be mocked, but I'm a bit more assured now that I can make it through. Also, just so you all know, I am not trying to lose weight just for this job. I genuinely have a passion for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and want to achieve my goals of becoming healthy.
A competent dietitian should be judged on the quality of his/her work, not her size. I am a fat dietitian, and let me tell you, I am far more competent than many, and certainly most personal trainers who give nutrition advice!
ReplyDeleteBeing overweight or obese has no bearing on someones ability as a dietitian. Dietary sciences are mostly theoretically based you won't be asked to showcase any semblance of physical prowess. So in reality, you can prescribe a diet or a lifestyle without having to adhere to it yourself. Are there obese dietitians who are competent? Absolutely! Are they the ideal role models for health and wellness? Probably not.
ReplyDeleteWhy not? What MAKES an "ideal" role model for health and wellness? Or should I ask, what do YOU think they have to look like to be an ideal role model?
DeleteI just don't know where to begin. Ok, I'm on the verge of being a fat dietitian....no, I'm fat and I want to be a dietitian....wait....I have ALREADY enrolled in the diet and nutrition classes in hopes that one day in the near future, I will be able to proudly sign RD behind my name.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm struggling. which is why I'm here in the first place.
You see, I will be in school with a bunch of the 20 year old, size 2 (been there done that), young ladies, and I KNOW in my heart, I will be talked about, probably behind my back, because of my weight, and how I shouldn't be in the program, because of my weight. This generation is all about weight and beauty, whether good, bad, real or fake. I'm neither thin nor beautiful, so do I need to reevaluate my career choice? There are so many good articles from people with good minds and hearts, on how weight shouldn't play a role. But it does. You can see it with all the OTHER articles and comments with the opposite view. I call discrimination because in my experience after being skinny my whole life and now being on the opposite end of the spectrum, I get bombarded with nasty comments from people who wrongly believe I sit and eat donuts all day. Quite the contrary. If I'm guilty of anything, it's not eating enough to induce my metabolism into a giddy-up mode. And it won't matter to those people that I am asthmatic and take steroids, or that I was born with a congenital heart arrhythmia or even that their comments depress me or hurt me. I'm fat. That's all they see. That's all that matters.
So again, I pose the question...should I drop out of the program and seek a degree in a different field just because I'm overweight? Will I need to worry about discrimination when it comes to the internship picks? Yes, I know, it's illegal to discriminate...but it happens.
Oh, did I mention that I'm also 56?
I find it funny how larger folks portray it as if there are only two things to choose from; either you are a fat dietitian who knows everything or you're a "skinny anorexic bitch" that binges and purges, is unhealthy, counts calories every second of the day and doesn't know what she's talking about.
ReplyDeleteJust like I wouldn't trust a fat doctor who smokes to tell me to lose the cigarettes and never eat at MC D's, I wouldn't trust a fat dietitian. One who cannot use the knowledge to better themselves, shouldn't tell others what to do, it seems hypocritical.
By the way, to the "curvy" lady above who said, and I quote: "If I'm guilty of anything, it's not eating enough to induce my metabolism into a giddy-up mode." do you even know how the human body works? Do you think that if you are not eating at all that you can keep your larger posture? If so, how many obese people were rescued from Jewish camps at the second world war? They ate next to nothing and were literally starving. They were just skin and bones. Those people were in starvation mode.
You not having your second double cream latte with extra chocolate sprinkles and cherry on top and a third muffin before 9 AM are not in starvation mode. I'm getting really sick and tired of these excuses. As a former fatso who went from obese to normal sized, I can't stand fat people lying like that.
Know how I lost the weight? I put down the fork and counted every single calorie that entered my body and started walking around the block. Like MAGIC I lost the weight, you should try it.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Jeff Pape, clinical RDN of 25 years. (Academy #695368) I've been trying to find out what percentage of dietitians are overweight and/or obese. Can anyone help me out? Maybe I'm searching Google with the wrong key words. A reference would be helpful to go along with the stats. Thank you. meatballsplash@gmail.com
This is stupid. While not all slim people are healthy, it's impossible to be eating healthy and having regular exercise then be fat. I don't give jack about these people's touchy feelies. If I'm a customer and I get a fat dietitian, I will not even consult said dietitian. One look and I'm out the door with my money.
ReplyDelete