Everyone is different; everyone has different health needs, different energy requirements for activities, different social situations. Therefore one diet does not fit all and is not suitable for everyone. When giving dietary advice, dietitians take all this into account and give personalised nutritional advice. Recently on twitter, there have been people that have been slating dietitians because we do not support their way of eating for everyone! These people are often passionate about their way of eating or their particular diet, which if it works for them, that is great. But this does not mean it is right for everyone! Sarah and I have a chat about this in our YouTube video below.

Dietitians are trained to degree level and we use research, evidence and guidelines to tailor nutrition advice to individuals or the population. The key point is that we give individualised advice, which means not everyone will need the same diet advice. For example, people with metabolic syndrome or diabetes may benefit from reducing the carbohydrates in their diet but on the other hand, people with certain disorders that can’t metabolise fats properly will need a high carbohydrate, low-fat diet. We may advise someone wanting to increase the fibre in their diet for bowel problems to eat more fruit and veg, but advised someone with kidney failure and a high potassium to reduce their fruit and veg intake! As dietitian’s we don’t advise what someone should eat based on the latest fads or trends, but we look at the person as a whole and then look at the evidence in the literature to show that the diet advice we are giving is safe, nutritionally complete and it works for that person. So if you hear someone proclaiming that their way of eating is the only way to eat then be a little weary. If you need help with what you should be eating, then speak to a dietitian or registered nutritionist or at least check out the nutritional qualifications of the people you are getting the advice from!