What is a Dietitian? Plus the Future of the DieTEAtian Series
This past summer, I came up with the idea to start this DieTEAtian series here on Tea & Things. Combining my love of tea with what I’m learning as a nutrition and dietetics major, DieTEAtian seemed like the perfect play on words. But you may have found yourself reading one of my posts and wondering, “What even is a dietitian?” This National Nutrition Month, I’m answering that question for you. I’ll also be talking about the future of the DieTEAtian series, so stay tuned until the end for that.
What is a Dietitian?
A dietitian is an expert on all things food and nutrition. They may work in hospitals, nursing homes, private practice, public health, media, research, sports, and beyond.
Registered Dietitian, sometimes called Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, is a protected term in the United States and many other countries. RD/RDNs must meet certain requirements in order to maintain that title. On top of that, most states have additional Licensure or Certification requirements. If you see LD or LDN after someone’s name, it means they are licensed to work as a dietitian in that state; CD or CDN is the same but the state uses certification instead.
Dietitian vs. Nutritionist
Remember in elementary school when your mind was blown that a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square? Well, I have another one for you. All dietitians are nutritionists, but not all nutritionists are dietitians.
As I mentioned above, Registered Dietitians have to meet certain requirements. Briefly, they are:
Currently, holding a Bachelor’s degree. As of 2024, a Master’s degree will be required. This must be through an accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics, which includes classes in science, medical nutrition therapy, and nutrition counseling.
Completion of 1200 hours of supervised practice through a Dietetic Internship. This includes rotations in clinical nutrition, foodservice, and community nutrition.
Passing a national examination.
Completing continuing education credits to maintain registration.
Nutritionist, on the other hand, is an unregulated term. Some states may have requirements, but most do not. Basically anyone could call themselves a nutritionist, regardless of education or experience.
Dietitians are committed to evidence-based practice. That’s not to say that all nutritionists aren’t, but they are certainly more likely to listen to popular media—which is filled with inaccurate (or at the very least exaggerated) information. This is why I recommend turning to Registered Dietitians for nutrition recommendations and advice rather than nutritionists.
The Future of the DieTEAtian Series
Due the pandemic, last year was the first summer in 18 years that I did not spend at my local day camp. While I was bored most of the time, I saw many of my peers starting their own nutrition Instagram accounts and blogs. I considered doing this myself, but then I had a better idea. I decided to combine everything I was learning in school with my love of tea, and use this to verify or debunk health claims and common beliefs about tea. And so the DieTEAtian series was born.
I absolutely loved it—at first. It gave me more things to blog about during the summer, which was the main goal. Then, I actually didn’t take any nutrition classes except for my fieldwork requirement during the fall semester, so blogging about the health benefits of tea kept my passion for nutrition going. The Detox-Free Healthy Tea Challenge then kept me busy over my winter break, and led to the amazing opportunity to be a guest on my first podcast!
But I haven’t been as motivated lately. I think this comes down to two reasons. First, I have run out of ideas to blog about. Second, I am currently taking two nutrition classes and getting ready to graduate, so blogging about nutrition sometimes feels like work rather than fun. On top of those reasons, I started posting DieTEAtian content on Instagram—which turned out to be harder than I thought it would be.
So What’s the Tea?
Well, I’m going to be putting the DieTEAtian series on the back burner for a little while. I will still add posts as I come up with ideas, but it won’t be an every-other-week thing anymore.
With that said, I am about to start working on something fun that is related to the DieTEAtian series over on Instagram. I am also in the process of trying out different sleep tea and tisane blends and herbs for sleep, so I will likely do a slightly-different kind of DieTEAtian post about my findings. I hope you’ll tune in for both!
—
Like this article? Read more like it here: