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Just Because You Eat…

Yum

January 3, 2019 By Laura Ligos, MBA, RD, CSSD 2 Comments

If you guys follow me on Instagram (if you don’t what’s up with that?!) you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been posting a lot of quotes on my feed. I’ve always been a quote person but I decided to get more regular with it a few months ago to keep me consistent and to give you content that was either light, funny, food related, OR super thought provoking.

This past week, I posted a quote that was far more thought provoking than I had imagined it would be. It struck a chord, and I’m so SO glad it did. If you missed it, or don’t know what I’m talking about here it is:

“Just because you eat, doesn’t mean you’re qualified to tell others how to eat.” said by yours truly. Feel free to share the quote with others (just give credit where credit’s due, ya know!?)

I figured since it struck such a nerve, that it was worth talking about again, this time on my blog in a longer format. It is worth saying again and again so I will continue to teach this and to preach it probably for the rest of my career.

Nutrition Expert Epidemic

I’ve written about the Nutrition Expert Epidemic before, so I won’t go too far down that rabbit hole. However, as a dietitian one of my main jobs is to help others learn how to eat appropriately for their health and their goals. This means that sometimes I have to help someone eat within a certain diet constraint that I, myself, may not follow. For example, I’ve had plenty of vegan clients that I have helped and I am not a vegan.

This is what happens when you are an expert and a professional, you put aside your own wants, desires, and beliefs to help others reach their goals and optimize their health. This is called a client-centric approach and is not learned overnight, it takes time, education, and a whole heck of a lot of experience. No online certification will do what experience as a professional will do.

Will my biased opinions come into play sometimes? Absolutely, I’m only human! However, I strive to make sure that I put the client’s needs first. It’s only fair to the client AND to their health. A lot of the time they ask what I do so I tell them, but with the caveat that it works for me and may not be best for them.

Just Because You Eat, Doesn’t Mean You are an Expert

Here’s where the lines get gray, crossed, & twisted. We all eat, or at least I hope we all eat. So, we feel as though in some way, shape or form we are an expert in food and what to eat. And for the most part you are your OWN expert in what to eat. That’s where the expertise stops, unless of course you are a professional in the field of nutrition.

What ends up happening is that we are so excited by the way that we eat and the benefits we have received by eating that way that we forget it may not be right for everyone. Many diets are ONE way to eat, they are not THE way to eat. We can actually sometimes do more harm by telling others how to eat even when we are innocently trying to help.

Share Your Story

I don’t want you to stop sharing your story of health & success. If you’ve had success eating a certain way, you should be allowed to share that story! Heck, if you haven’t had success and are frustrated, you should also be allowed to share that story.

Here’s where the sharing and the advice should stop.

Say someone asks how you achieved some health/fitness/aesthetic goal. You share your story and you tell them how you did it but you say “this is what I did, and what worked for me, if you want to make a change I’d suggest talking to a professional.”

That’s all.

Certainly they may pry for more information but that’s all you need to give them. Anymore and you could be entering territory where you don’t belong. You don’t know if that person has a medical history, is missing an organ or part of one, has a history of disordered eating or an eating disorder, has a family history (or genetic predisposition to something), and/or a digestive issue. Diet and dietary changes are FAR more complicated for most than what meets the eye. Do everyone a favor, tell your story but leave the rest to a professional, do no harm.

Stay in Your Lane

This is what I preach all the time. STAY IN YOUR LANE.

Have you ever yelled at someone while driving because they keep veering off into your lane?! Yeah, it’s frustrating!

That’s me when I see someone preaching advice in nutrition & diet when they have no education or experience to. I understand they are trying to help OR trying to promote themselves, but by veering out of your lane, you can do more harm than good and suddenly someone has followed you down a keto rabbit hole with a history of disordered eating and they are now afraid of all carbs, yea, not good.

Moral of the story?!

Just because you eat, does not mean you are qualified to tell others how to eat. Share your story but stay in your lane. That’s it! Happy to hear your thoughts on this.

xoxo,

Sassy

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Comments

  1. Jeremy Dubay says

    January 4, 2019 at 2:43 pm

    This is very accurate. I am down from 350 and when my friends see me they always ask what I am doing. I tell them I work with a R.D. I ask her opinion, because when I do not the results tend to be not what I expect. Recently I myself made this mistake. I returned to binge eating quickly. I appreciate Laura’s honesty.

    Reply
    • Laura Ligos, MBA, RD, CSSD says

      January 7, 2019 at 9:46 pm

      Thank you Jeremy! And I appreciate your honesty as well!

      Reply

@thesassydietitian

We’ve made it over a week together and it feels We’ve made it over a week together and it feels like it’s always been this way.

Motherhood is a wild ride & it’s only getting started. I have never been so tired & simultaneously so fulfilled in my life. That’s not to say it’s not filled with tears, worries and doubts but what fun would it be if it were all sunshine and roses anyway?

Going into this all I have felt so supported by friends going through this with me BUT I felt so unsupported by the general public. It seems like we want to fear and shame moms because misery loves company, right?!

The focus quickly shifts from mom to baby (still shocked that I only have an appointment at 6 weeks even though my body went through the biggest event of its life) and there also seems to be this shift from joy to shame & guilt.

Here’s some of what I heard from people:

😕Sleep when baby sleeps. You’ll never sleep again.
😕Don’t let baby sleep in a car seat, or a bouncer, or anywhere but their crib EVER. 
😕You’ll never have time to shower again, enjoy it now. 
😕Cry it out is cruel and harmful to the baby. 
😕Get baby on a schedule/never put baby on a schedule.

These are all things I heard and that truly led me to believe I was going to lose all sense of who I was and my life as I knew it.

What I wish people had said instead were:

🥰Your heart will grow bigger than you could imagine.
🥰You’ll cry the happiest tears you’ve ever cried.
🥰You’ll feel like a giant hole was filled that you didn’t even know was there.
🥰You won’t feel guilty about cleaning your house, it just won’t matter anymore.
🥰Babies pooping will make you laugh so hard you will feel like a kid again.
🥰You will have time to eat and shower and you don’t have to neglect yourself.

We need to do a better job of building each other up, supporting one another and our decisions while refraining from offering unsolicited advice and opinions. 

So for all you future mamas and new mamas out there, I see you, I’m proud of you and I cannot wait to share our stories with one another and the world.

Let’s stop fear mongering (just like the diet world) and start building one another up.

Xoxo,
Sassy & lil sassy man
🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s b 🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s been a long year of loss, unknowns and worry but it’s all been worth it to get to meet my lil man🥰
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Now time to introduce this sassy human who is already so well loved to the world...
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Introducing 

💙 Connor James Ligos 💙
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After an almost 24 hour labor, Connor joined us over a week past his due date on 2/12/21 at a whopping 9lb2oz & 22.5 inches long with a full head of hair and lungs to scream hello to us with.
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We are so in love already and cannot wait to share him with the world. Thank you for all the love and support from friends and family and to all those that helped us in the hospital. Holy cow labor & delivery teams are truly magical and I cannot imagine doing it without all of their support.
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Now back to snuggling this human of mine and trying not to cry at every last thing he does 🥰 
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Mom, Dad & Bode are all doing well!
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#babyboy #pregnancyafterloss #rainbowbaby #birthdayboy #birthannouncement
I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk t I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk to others about what worked for us. That's great!
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What's not great is when we push our nutrition and eating behaviors onto others ESPECIALLY when we are not qualified to do so.
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So often when people meet me for the first time they are worried to eat around me and/or buy groceries around me. My friends can attest I am not judgemental around food and will gladly eat that cake, queso dip or sip on that glass of wine right alongside of you. I am not the food police and do not offer unsolicited nutrition advice unless it's a client who is paying for my help OR on Instagram and other social media platforms where my goal is to educate.
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Why do I share this? 
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Because I see far too many people diving down diet rabbit holes, finding success & then claiming to be nutrition experts purely because something worked for them. 
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I've also seen this alot being pregnant, everyone wants to tell you what worked for them. IF you use that stipulation of "this worked for me" then fine, share away but if you start doleing out advice please pause, take a breath and think about NOT doing it.
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People are OVERWHELMED by diet culture and some so badly want to change but YOUR way is not the only way and it most likely is not what will work for your friend/coworker/cousin/neighbor so please, stop trying to be an expert in something you aren't.
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Got it!?! 
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Ok, carry on.
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xoxo,
Sassy
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#nutrition #nutritiontips #nutritionist #dietitianapproved #rdapproved #rdchat #dietitiansofinstagram #dietitian #dietitiansofig #albanyny #albanynutrition #albanynutrition
Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. I'm not saying you have to find perfect balance (does that even exist?) but I am saying that we shouldn't feel like either we have to eat perfectly or that we might as well give up.
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Instead we should look to the grey area in between for our nutrition guidance. 
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What do I mean?
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I mean that we need to realize that we can still eat cookies but we probably should throw some veggies in there. 
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We can have a glass or 2 of wine but we should probably also drink some water. 
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We can take rest days but we should also find ways to move our bodies regularly.
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And the list goes on.
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It's not about all or nothing it's about doing something daily to help your health and nutrition without it feeling like a set of rules or a free for all.
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How do we find that grey area in between?
👉🏻 stop hopping on and off fad diets
👉🏻listen and trust your self, not your coworkers and cousins 
👉🏻focus on the simple things (ie drinking water instead of worrying about supplements)
👉🏻work to remove guilt and shame around food & body
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Where do you currently fall Right now?!
🤪 all
👍🏻in between 
🙅🏻‍♀️ nothing 
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Xoxo,
Sassy
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#dietitian #dietitiansofig #dietitiansofinstagram #nutrition #nutritionist #nutritiontips #thesassydietitian #rdchat #realtalk

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