Skip to main content

I was Almost a Scofflaw

You've probably heard about the blogger Diabetes Warrior, a type 1 diabetic who's in hot water with the state of North Carolina for talking up the paleo diet that has restored his health. Officially, he's in trouble for giving medical advice, but come on: what are the chances he'd be in trouble if he had recommended a low-fat diet and healthy whole grains?

There but for the good sense of the Colorado legislature go I.

A few month ago, Rep. Massey introduced a bill to require licensing of dietitians, and defined dietetics as 

THE INTEGRATION, APPLICATION, AND COMMUNICATION OF PRINCIPLES DERIVED FROM FOOD, NUTRITION, SOCIAL, BUSINESS, AND BASIC SCIENCES, TO ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN OPTIMAL NUTRITION STATUS OF INDIVIDUALS THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT, PROVISION, AND MANAGEMENT OF EFFECTIVE FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICES IN A VARIETY OF SETTINGS.

Sounds like what goes on here and on a lot of other blogs. The bill continued,

A PERSON WHO WISHES TO PRACTICE DIETETICS IN THIS STATE SHALL APPLY TO THE BOARD, BY A DATE AND IN A FORM AND MANNER DETERMINED BY THE BOARD BY RULE, FOR A LICENSE AND SHALL PAY THE FEE DETERMINED BY THE BOARD. THE APPLICANT SHALL CERTIFY AND FURNISH EVIDENCE SATISFACTORY TO THE BOARD THAT THE APPLICANT MEETS ALL OF THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS:
(I) IS AT LEAST TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE;
(II) IS OF GOOD MORAL CHARACTER;
(III) HAS RECEIVED A BACCALAUREATE OR POST-BACCALAUREATE DEGREE WITH A MAJOR COURSE OF STUDY IN HUMAN NUTRITION,NUTRITION EDUCATION, PUBLIC HEALTH NUTRITION, FOOD AND NUTRITION, DIETETICS, OR FOOD SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT OR AN EQUIVALENT MAJOR COURSE OF STUDY AS APPROVED BY THE BOARD. AN APPLICANT WHO OBTAINED HIS OR HER EDUCATION OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES AND ITS TERRITORIES MUST HAVE THE APPLICANT'S ACADEMIC DEGREE VALIDATED BY THE COMMISSION AS EQUIVALENT TO THE BACCALAUREATE OR POST-BACCALAUREATE DEGREE CONFERRED BY A REGIONALLY ACCREDITED COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY IN THE UNITED STATES.
(IV) HAS COMPLETED A DOCUMENTED, SUPERVISED, PRE-PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE EXPERIENCE COMPONENT IN DIETETICS OF NOT LESS THAN ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED HOURS UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A REGISTERED DIETITIAN, A LICENSED DIETITIAN, OR AN INDIVIDUAL WITH A DOCTORAL DEGREE WITH A MAJOR COURSE OF STUDY IN HUMAN NUTRITION, NUTRITION EDUCATION, FOOD AND NUTRITION, DIETETICS, OR FOOD SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT. SUPERVISED PRACTICE EXPERIENCE MUST BE COMPLETED IN THE UNITED STATES OR ITS TERRITORIES. A SUPERVISOR WHO OBTAINED A DOCTORAL DEGREE OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES AND ITS TERRITORIES MUST HAVE THE DEGREE VALIDATED BY THE COMMISSION AS EQUIVALENT TO THE DOCTORAL DEGREE CONFERRED BY A UNITED STATES REGIONALLY ACCREDITED COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY.
(V) HAS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THE EXAMINATION FOR DIETITIANS ADMINISTERED BY THE COMMISSION.
Even most MDs couldn't recommend a diet under this bill. I wonder if vets would be allowed to tell their clients to stop feeding their dogs muffins. The bill was, after all, before the House Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources.There are some exemptions, but blogs about foods relieving allergies, improving lipids, eliminating GERD, and so on have to do with the medical benefits of diet.

Despite several dietitians (who else?) talking up the bill, it failed in a 9-3 vote. Otherwise, I'd be in contact with the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit "merry band of litigators" that takes on nonsense laws that chill free speech and drive honest people out of business.

Comments

tess said…
have you read Robb Wolf's post of yesterday, in which he makes some great points on this subject? ... here's to all us scofflaws! :-) (what a great word!)
Lori Miller said…
Thanks for the tip, Tess. I agree with most of what he says, but if it comes down to it, court battles will be necessary to maintain the right to free speech. Without that right, with LC and paleo blogs, podcasts and videos taken down, scholarships won't do any good, and may not even be feasible.

Aptly enough, the word "scofflaw" comes from the Prohibition Era.
tess said…
yeah, it was the "standing up as a group" and fighting back part i was referring to.... i think some civil-libertarian lawyers would lick their chops over this, especially when the ADA et al ARE NOT SUPPORTED BY THE SCIENCE. (that part always gets to me....)

Popular posts from this blog

What $115 Buys--Junk Food vs. Real Food

A lady recently went off about how little food $115 buys, complaining that the pile of (mostly) junk food she bought wouldn't make a week's worth of lunches and snacks for her children. Sad to say, but this looks like what I see in a lot of grocery carts.  Fat pic.twitter.com/qbM23ydaOq — shellshock (@shellshockkk) March 7, 2025 Coincidentally, I paid almost exactly the same amount today on groceries that would make lots of healthy lunches. It's filling food that won't leave you hungry every few hours for snacks. If we want to make America healthy again, this is the way.  

Celebrities Shilling for Big Soda

There's a push in Washington and ten states to ban soda (and other junk food) from SNAP, a program for low-income people to buy groceries. This seems like a no-brainer: the N in SNAP stands for nutrition, and soda doesn't have nutrients. It's liquid sugar, the last thing we need in a country full of diabetics. People can drink water for virtually nothing and save their SNAP money for actual food. Yet a number of posts from otherwise sensible accounts have opposed this.  Reporter Nick Sorter says that a company called Influenceable has been paying influencers to post these opinions. (Click on the link for the full thread.) 🚨🧵 EXPOSED: “INFLUENCEABLE” — The company cutting Big Checks to “influencers” on behalf of Big Soda Over the past 48 hours, several large supposedly MAGA-aligned “influencers” posted almost identical talking points fed to them, convincing you MAHA was out of line for not… pic.twitter.com/PpPwH9lHGe — Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 22, 2025 Sorter adds...

$17/pound chips! Real food is cheaper

 My latest video on YouTube: Real food is generally cheaper than junk food--the pictures prove it. I took these at Kroger and from their website in March 2025. Prices are either straight from the tags or calculated based on product weight.  Music: On We Go (ClipChamp)  First photo by AS Photography: https://www.pexels.com/photo/vegetables-stall-868110/

Not Only Cheaper, But Easier

A while back, I wrote about saving money on break time coffee and snacks. I haven't done very well putting it into practice. But a post by James Clear today got me thinking about it again: Warren Buffett uses a two-list system to prioritize things. Check it out --and follow the instructions. Using Buffett's two-list system, two of the goals I ended up with were taking care of myself and saving $400 more per month than I already am. As I said, I've been wanting to save money, and the system made me really focus on this. I came up with 11 money-saving ideas, six of which had to do with food. Buying hamburger in bulk. Ranch Foods Direct sells one-pound packages of 80% lean pastured ground beef in bundles of 20 for a lot less than Whole Foods. Sprouts only carries super-lean beef that's grass-fed, and it's more expensive, too.  Not driving to Whole Foods. Whole Foods is out of my way, and saving a weekly trip saves gas. Coffee at home, tea at work. Tea is fr...

1972: Carole King, M*A*S*H and...Food for 2014?

I feel well enough to try Atkins induction again. The palpitations are gone, even without taking potassium. My energy level is back to normal--no more trucking on the treadmill early in the morning  to burn off nervous energy or emergency meat, cheese and mineral water stops after yoga. It's back to lounging around to Chopin and Debussy in the morning and stopping at the wine bar for pleasure. I'm using the original Atkins book: Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution from 1972. While looking in the book for a way to make gelatin (which is allowed on induction, but Jello(TM) and products like it have questionable ingredients), I felt the earth move under my feet : those recipes from 42 years ago look delicious and they're mostly real food. It makes sense, though: the cooks who wrote the recipes probably didn't have had a palette used to low-fat food full of added sugar or a bag of tricks to make low-fat food edible. Anyone who writes a recipe called "Cottage Cheese and...