Happy Registered Dietitian Day

Wednesday, March 11 is National Registered Dietitian's Day. A holiday to celebrate my profession and to highlight the value of our expertise.

Long ago, in olden days , there was a pretty standard job description for dietitians. Those among us who did not work in a clinical setting were considered "alternative". Nowadays, however, the profession all sorts of ways of delivering nutrition services from hospitals to schools, from private practice to coaching, from the gym to culinary schools, from college classrooms to television cooking shows--dietitians deliver nutrition messages in person, over skype, on television, on the radio and through their writing.

I am one of the writers. I do my part to influence people to live a healthy lifestyle with words. And there are many among us who have helped to make the message of how to eat right for health easier to understand through our writing.

The truth is I like to shake things up once in a while. Eating for health is not an all or nothing event. Some days are good, some not so good and some are downright outrageous. Some meals could win awards for healthiest meal in the world, others might win for most strange combination of foods that offer nothing but good taste and comfort. In other words, we all get out of whack sometimes. The secret is to realize when your eating is out of balance and to know how to bring it back. Knowledge is power. Use your nutrition knowledge for good. If your knowledge is a little shaky, then you might want to check out the American Dietetic Association Good Reading list at
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/nutrition_4927_ENU_HTML.htm where you'll find books on just about every nutrition topic from family nutrition to sports nutrition.

But the best way to make sure you make the best decisions for your health is to consult a Registered Dietitian.