1. “Oh great, you can help me lose weight.” The worst place to tell someone you are a Dietitian is on a plane when you are stuck in the same seat for hours and you have to listen to someone telling you how they are trying to lose weight when all you want to do is sleep!
2. “I don’t understand why I can’t lose weight…” during conversation over dinner in a restaurant, they tucked into a three course meal while I only had one…
3. “Phew, I can have a piece of cake because the Dietitian has had one!” This is uttered quite a lot in our office.
4. “What do you think about the [inset latest fad] diet? People always want to know what I think about the latest fad diet which they think is the latest miracle cure to weight loss. Unfortunately my answer is often the same… healthy eating is always the best!
5. “I wouldn’t be able to do your job as I would have to think about food all the time!” You may think that, but often I am so busy at work that I don’t have time to think about my own food until lunch time.
6. “I thought Dietitians only ate salad!” I would wither away if I only ate salad. I also need carbohydrates and protein.
7. “How do you manage to keep so slim…?” Well… I did go to university for 4 years to study nutrition and dietetics and I do discuss diet and health every day at work…
8. “Do you tell people how to lose weight?” Most people think Dietitians just advise on weight loss, but there is so much more to a Dietitian! Most clinical Dietitians who work in hospitals work in nutrition support (feeding patients up) rather than obesity services.
9. “I have an intolerance to wheat / lactose / gluten.” During conversation people like to tell me about their food intolerances and what foods they avoid.
10. “What is the worst food you can eat?” ‘Everything in moderation for a healthy diet’ is a Dietitian’s motto!