Who Can You Trust For Nutrition Advice?

Someone tells you to “just eat less,” “fast longer,” and “drink more water” and it sounds like harmless motivation until your body has a medical condition that changes the rules. We walk through a real clinical moment that stuck with me: a patient who came in for cholesterol management, but her medications and a physician-ordered fluid restriction pointed to a much bigger cardiovascular picture. She didn’t even lead with “heart failure,” which is more common than you’d think and exactly why evidence-based nutrition assessment matters.

We unpack how bad nutrition advice becomes dangerous when a plan ignores symptoms like dizziness, weakness, or feeling unwell, or when a so-called professional waves away medically prescribed restrictions. If the scale isn’t moving, the internet often pushes more restriction: lower calories, longer fasting protocols, harder workouts, more water. But “generic” advice is never truly generic when you add heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, pregnancy, eating disorder history, surgery recovery, or medications like diuretics that can swing weight day to day. Sustainable health is not the same thing as chasing rapid weight loss.

We also clear up the confusion around credentials and titles. Registered dietitians are trained in physiology, biochemistry, disease processes, medical nutrition therapy, and supervised clinical practice, and we’re taught when to collaborate with physicians and the rest of your healthcare team. The word “nutritionist” can mean very different things depending on where you live, so we share practical questions to ask before you pay for a program and the biggest red flags to avoid, from guaranteed results to fear-based “toxic food” claims.

If you want smarter, safer nutrition guidance you can actually trust, listen now, then share this with someone who gets health advice from social media. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what’s the biggest red flag you’ve seen in nutrition coaching?

Thank you for listening. Please subscribe to this podcast and share with a friend. If you would like to know more about my services, please message at fueledbyleo@gmail.com

My YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0SqBP44jMNYSzlcJjOKJdg

Transcript

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Who Are You Taking Advice From?

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Hey hey, welcome back to Simple Nutrition Insights. I'm Leonila Campos. And today I want to talk about something that I think we need to discuss more openly. Who are you talking or who are you taking nutrition advice from? Because nutrition advice isn't always harmless. Sometimes bad nutritional advice is simply ineffective. You try something, it doesn't work, and you move on. But sometimes nutritional advice can become dangerous. Especially when the person giving it doesn't understand your medical conditions, medications, lab values, or other physiology behind what is happening in your body. I recently encountered a situation that really stayed with me. I'm changing and omitting details to protect the patient's privacy, but the lesson is incredibly important. A patient came to me for cholesterol management. On the surface, this standard is straightforward. But as a registered dietitian, I'm not just asking, what do you eat? I'm looking at the whole clinical picture. What medical conditions do you have? What medications are you taking? What have your doctors told you? Do you have any dietary or food fluid restrictions? What symptoms are you experiencing? What does your weight history look like? What have you tried before? This particular patient was taking medications that immediately made me pay closer attention to her cardiovascular history. She was also following a physician prescribed fluid restriction of about 1.5 liters per day. She didn't initially tell me I have heart failure. And that is an important point. Patients don't always know their complete diagnosis. They don't always remember the terminology. Sometimes they haven't fully understood what they've been told. That is why clinical nutrition care requires investigation. A medication list isn't just a list of names that we put into the chart. It gives us clues. A fluid restriction isn't something we ignore because

A Cholesterol Visit Reveals Heart Failure

SPEAKER_00 2:22

we're focused on weight loss. Those pieces of information matter. Then we started talking about food, since it is a nutrition appointment. As we discussed eating balanced meals and establishing a more consistent eating pattern, I noticed that she seemed apprehensive. So instead of simply telling her what she needed to do, I asked questions. Tell me what concerns you about these. And that's when she started a previous experience, or that's when she shared a previous experience with someone she had worked with for nutrition and weight loss. According to the patient, she had previously been placed on a very low calorie eating plan. When her weight wasn't decreasing as expected, she said she was encouraged to fast for an extended period of time. But here's the part that concerned me the most. The patient reportedly told this person that she wasn't feeling well. She also explained that she had been instructed for medical reasons not to drink more than approximately 1.5 liters of fluoride per day. And according to the patient's account, those concerns were essentially dismissed. The message she received while the professional, which is a major red flag. Being the professional doesn't mean ignoring the patient. Being a health care professional doesn't mean that we know what somebody's feeling better than they do. It doesn't give us the permission to override medically prescribed restrictions. And it certainly doesn't mean that weight loss should be pursued at any cost. If someone tells me I'm dizzy, I'm weak, I'm not feeling well, my doctor told me I have a fluid restriction, I'm taking these medications, those aren't inconveniences getting in the way of a weight loss plan. That's clinical information. It may mean I need to modify my recommendations. It may mean I need more information. It may mean I need to communicate with the patient's physician. And sometimes it means I need to stop what we're doing and refer the patient back to their medical team. That is part of practicing irresponsibly. Weight loss is not always the first priority. This is another important conversation. We have become so accustomed to treating the number on the scale as the ultimate measure of health that people can be encouraged to do increasingly restrictive things simply because the scale isn't moving. Eat less, cut more carbs, skip breakfast, fast longer, drink more water, exercise harder. But what if the person has heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, a history of eating disorders? They're pregnant, they're eat taking medication that affects their food or hydration, they're considering they're recovering from surgery, they're an older adult at risk of losing muscle. Suddenly, generic advice isn't so generic anymore. The same recommendation can have very different consequences depending on the person receiving it. This is where qualifications matter. A registered dietitian doesn't simply learn which foods contain protein, carbs, fat. Our training includes physiology, biochemistry, clinical nutrition, food science, disease processes, medical nutrition therapy, medication and nutrient

When Weight Loss Advice Gets Dangerous

SPEAKER_00 5:52

considerations, nutrient assessment, counseling and supervised clinical practice. And importantly, we are trained to recognize when something is outside our scope and when another healthcare professional needs to be involved. That doesn't mean registered dietitians are the only people allowed to talk about food. There are wonderful chefs, trainers, health educators, nutritionists, and other professionals who can provide valuable information with their areas of expertise. The problem happens when general wellness advice crosses into medical nutrition therapy without the appropriate training. There is a big difference between here are some ideas for adding veggies to your meals, and here's how you should eat while managing heart failure, diabetes, kidney disease, or any other medical condition. Those are not the same thing. And let's talk about the word nutritionist, which I do get asked that quite often. This can be confusing for consumers. Registered dietitians are regulated professionals credential with specific education, supervised training, and credentialing requirements. We nowadays, we at least have to have a and master's degree. Of course, have a bachelor's degree in food service, food, food science, nutrition. And on top of that, now the requirement is to also have a master's degree. And in order to become a dietitian, you have to have, you have to do an internship, 1200-hour internship, and then pass a really difficult board exam. So we go through a lot of training and education. The word nutritionist by itself doesn't necessarily tell you that educational clinical training, that that someone has a clinical training or education. Depending on where you live, regulations and titles can differ. So don't be afraid to ask, what are your credentials? Where do you receive your nutrition education? Are you trained to work with my medical condition? Are you licensed or credential where you're where you live? A qualified professional shouldn't be offended by those questions. And I love those answers. When a client or when someone asks me, what's the difference between dietitian and nutritionist? Right, I always refer back to education, right? Because that's what it is. We have all the education, right, all the training to become registered dietitians. And it is a lot of work. We go, we cover so much science that it's almost like leading to the pathway to become practically a medical doctor. So here are some red flags I want you to watch for. Be cautious when someone tells you to ignore your physician's medical instructions. Dismisses symptoms such as dizziness, weakness, fainting, significant fatigue, or feeling unwell. Continually lowers your calories because the scale isn't moving, pushes increasingly long fasting periods without considering your medical history, tells everyone to drink huge amounts of water without asking whether they have a fluid restriction. Promises rapid or guaranteed weight loss. We cannot guarantee weight loss, right? Our bodies are so different. And in this particular case, when there is a fluid restriction because there is a heart problem, congested heart failure, kidney disease, anything along those lines, and they're on, let's say, a diuretic, the weight is going to change. It's going to go up and down day by day, right? And so we cannot just focus on the weight itself, right? In this, in this in these cases. Or if this person uses fear to convince you that normal foods are toxic or dangerous, that alone is a huge red flag. It's something that I talk to my patients a lot all the time, right? We cannot put foods into categories. This is bad category, this is good category, right? It creates such a strong emotion. And it's this feedback, these cycle where we usually put the categories into the foods that we really enjoy into the bad category, right? And so we do tend to eat it, then we feel really guilty about that. So that's a huge reflect, right? If someone tells you that, that's already like, okay, no, we're not gonna go there. Or if someone discourages you from communicating with your healthcare team or responds to your concern with some version of, I'm the expert, just do what I say. Healthcare should not work that way. Good nutrition care should be collaborative. When I work with someone, I bring my expertise in nutrition. But the patient brings the expertise too.

Dietitian Vs Nutritionist And Credentials

SPEAKER_00 10:33

They know their body, they know their culture, they know their schedule, they know their finances, they know which foods they enjoy, and they know when something doesn't feel right. My role isn't to dictate what someone eats. My role is to take the science, their medical information, their goals and the real life and help them find an approach that works safely and sustainably. Sometimes that might mean weight loss, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the priority is controlling blood sugar, sometimes it's lowering cholesterol or maintaining muscle. Sometimes it's getting enough nutrition after surgery. And sometimes the most responsible nutrition recommendation is before we make this change, I need you to talk with or I need to talk to your physician. That's not a weakness, that's responsible healthcare. And I collaborate with a lot of in the healthcare team, right? If I see that someone needs additional support, I always encourage them to, let's say, talk to a therapist, right? Or or I help them with that referral. Or if someone needs to find a new provider, right, I encourage them to find a new provider. So it's this is a collaborative approach, right? The same thing with the patient, right? When I come in or when someone comes in into my office, we are working together, right, to help improve your health, to help improve your life, or help you achieve your goals. But I'm not here to dictate, right, or to tell you what to do. I am here to work with you, right, and create a plan that's gonna that's going to fit into your day-to-day life, right? That we might adjust later on. And so keep definitely those things in mind. My final message here. Please be careful about where you get your nutrition advice. A large social media following is not a credential. It doesn't matter if someone has 10 million followers, right? Sometimes their advice is completely wrong. But that doesn't mean that because they have so many followers, they have credentials, right, to give you that advice. And that that advice is actually correct. It's science-backed, right? They have the education to provide that that advice. A personal weight loss transformation is not clinical training. Selling a nutrition program doesn't automatically make someone qualified to treat a medical condition. And confidence is not the same thing as competence. Even if someone is so conf confident, right, at selling you something, it doesn't mean that they have the training, right? They're not competent to treat your condition or to help you with a specific medical condition. If you have a medical condition or you're taking medications, nutrition can absolutely be part of your treatment, but it needs to be individualized. Ask questions, check credentials. This is called due diligence, right? You do your due diligence to find out that whoever you're you're paying, whoever you're working with, they're actually who they say they are, who they say they are. Tell your healthcare providers what supplements you're taking and what diets or fasting protocols you're following. And if someone is giving you nutritional advice and dismisses your symptoms or tells you ignore medical prescribed restrictions, that is not something you should simply push through. Nutrition should search support your health. It should never require you to ignore it. I hope this episode was insightful. And again, I'm not here to

Red Flags To Watch For

SPEAKER_00 14:12

be negative, right? Or bring anyone negative negativity in in any way. But I think this is so important, especially in the era of like, you know, social media, AI influencers, right? I'm not saying that there are not professionals that are influencers, right? But again, you have to do your due diligence and check, okay, is this person legit? Is the advice that they're giving me aligned with my goals, aligned with my mission, right? Aligns with my ethics. And if that is the case, right, still doing your due diligence to make sure that there are actually someone that can provide that advice. Man, I have heard so many stories, but I think this is the story that really hit me. Also, because the patient told me, the client told me that she was paying this person, right, to give her that advice. And it's interesting because, you know, at the end of our um our session, she was like, Well, how much uh do you accept car? Like, how much do I owe you? And I told her, you don't owe me anything, right? We're gonna build insurance. And if there's anything that the insurance doesn't pay, right? It's a copy or whatever, then I will let you know. Um, it's so important to, I mean, there's so many people that they they've taken advantage of, right? And I'm so glad that this patient didn't say, no, I had a bad experience with a nutritionist and no, I'm not going to go with a dietitian, right? Or a nutritionist, because sometimes that can be seen as the same. Of course, it is not the same. But I did tell her, you know, thank you so much for still coming to the appointment. And I am so glad that you did not, that that bad experience, right, did not hold you back to come to this appointment. Because that can definitely be the case, right? If we categorize, let's say, everyone that gives you valid advice as like, oh, the all the nutritionists give me valid advice, right? Then you're not gonna go to your appointment because your doctor won, and actually I'm so happy that her doctor recommended her to see a dietitian to help lower cholesterol, right? So I'm glad that the doctor, kudos to those amazing health professionals that are sending referrals to dietitians because it is a collaborate, a collaboration, right, for the overall well-being of the patient. So I'm glad that she came in, right? And we were able to like see eye to eye and I was open, right? I always introduce myself as a racer dietitian. If someone has questions about what the difference is, then this is an opportunity for me to tell them. But please be careful out there, right? With any advice that you see, with any nutrition, because I almost feel like anybody and everybody, when you're doing something for your health, for your nutrition, for your wellness, everybody's an expert at that point, right? So sift through all the noise and the information and just focus on the advice that is actually coming from a credential and someone that has had the training.

Due Diligence And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Anyway, I hope you all are doing well. I know I haven't done an episode in a while, but this is such a great opportunity to start back up. So take care. I'm Daniela Campos again, registered dietitian and founder and owner of Fueled by Leo Inc. If you have any questions, if you need anything, let me know. Remember to share the episode, comment, like it, all the things. Okay, take care. I'll talk to you soon. Bye bye.