FitSugar

Dietitian vs. Nutritionist

FitSugar — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 09:30:00 PDT

A dietitian is an expert in food and nutrition. They give dietary advice, help promote healthy eating habits, develop specific diets for people, and participate in nutrition research. In the U.S., nutrition professionals include the registered dietitian (RD), and the dietetic technician, registered (DTR). They are regulated by the American Dietetic Association (ADA). They must meet strict educational and professional prerequisites and pass a national exam before they are registered dietitians.

Nutritionists are health specialists who are interested in food and nutritional science, preventative nutrition, diseases related to nutrient deficiencies, and the use of food and nutrients to cure disease and ailments.

They also are not regulated. They have varying degrees of education in nutrition – some have very little and some have a masters or phD. Since the term "nutritionist" isn't regulated, anyone can call themselves a nutritionist and dispense nutritional information without having any education whatsoever - they even write books.

Fit's Tips: If you want advice on your diet, food, or nutrition, I'd see a dietitian unless a nutritionist could prove to you how much education they've had.

Source

Fat-Proof Your Life

Health — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:06:06 PST

We are pumped to share one of our favorite stories from Health.com here on our site.

By Maridel Reyes

It's true that there are certain times in your life when extra poundage seems to appear out of nowhere . . . and settle on you. In fact, experts have honed in on the exact moments when you're most vulnerable to weight gain.

"Life transitions, having a baby, and going through menopause cause many women to pile on pounds," says Susan Albers, PsyD, author of But I Deserve This Chocolate!: The 50 Most Common Diet-Derailing Excuses and How to Outwit Them. "But with planning and prep, you can stay thin."

We asked top experts for their strategies to help you ward off weight creep - and even shed pounds - at these tricky stages. Solutions ahead.

Getting married

Heavier ever after? It can be the flip side of wedded bliss: "Six out of 10 of my clients come back heavier after the honeymoon," says celebrity fitness and wellness guru David Kirsch.

Health.com: 25 Diet-Busting Foods You Should Never Eat

Young newlyweds pack on an extra six to nine pounds in the five years after getting hitched compared to singletons, according to research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And most of that gain happens in the first year of marriage.

"Couples start to mirror each other's eating habits," explains Albers. "You might be matching him calorie for calorie without realizing it."

Learn how to keep the pounds down postmarriage and in the mommy years, after the break.

Foods That Can Make You Look Pregnant

Shape — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:29:06 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar.

Over the weekend, I saw a photo of a female celebrity (who is in a relationship with a male celeb) leaving a café with the caption, "Baby bump?" and I had to refrain myself from shouting out loud, "Come on, can't a girl eat without the world thinking she's having a baby?!"

The truth is having a perfectly flat stomach all the time just isn't normal. After you eat or drink, food and liquids naturally expand your stomach and intestines, so at least a little "bump" is inevitable every single day. So if you regularly get stalked by paparazzi or you have family members who are anxiously awaiting news of a new addition, here's the lowdown on when you might get mistaken for being pregnant:

See which foods may make you look pregnant after the break!

Brownie Recipe With an Unexpected Secret Ingredient!

Zelana Montminy — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:15:39 PST

Who doesn't love a brownie? Nutritionist and registered dietitian Cynthia Sass has created a recipe to healthify the treat: she adds spinach to the batter. Fear not! Your taste buds will have no idea these brownies are fortified with green stuff. Watch the video to learn just has she does it! To see the recipe keep reading.

Dietitians Dish: Bloating Foods

Guest Writer — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:00:49 PDT

The following post was written by the registered dietitians of C & J Nutrition, Stephanie Clarke and Willow Jarosh. We turned to them for their expert advice to answer a FitSugar reader's question.

Hi,
I am dealing with some serious bloating issues and it isn't pretty - especially since it's Summer and I plan to hang out in a bikini as much as possible. Can you tell me what foods cause bloating that I should be avoiding? Also, are there any foods out there that alleviate bloating? Thanks!
- Puffy Tummy

When dealing with bloating you need to approach the problems from a couple of different angles to find the source of the problems and figure out what is causing the bloating. A common cause we see with our clients is eating too much, too fast. The remedy for this is to slow down and be more conscious both before and during eating. Don't let yourself get famished between meals - because then you'll want to eat a ton of the first thing you see, quickly. Have a snack in between meals so that you're hungry but still able to make wise portion decisions and slow down at meals. In other words, try eating smaller amounts more often.

If your bloating is PMS-related, skip sodas/carbonated water/etc., as the same bubbles that give carbonated drinks their fizz can enter our digestive tract and cause bloating. Also go easy on salty foods/snacks - too much salt causes our bodies to hold onto water, leading to that puffy feeling of fluid retention. Finally, don't skimp on protein and your meals and snacks. Protein can actually help pull excess water out of your body (especially handy during water-retention prone PMS time).

Keep reading for a few more tips and foods to avoid.

Creative Ways to Get Your Full Serving of Fruit Every Day

Zelana Montminy — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:03:43 PST

It's not always easy getting the recommended daily allowance of fruit, which is something that registered dietitian Cynthia Sass knows all too well. Watch as Cynthia shows us some unique and creative ways to sneak Winter fruit into our diets this season.

Do Popular Weight-Loss Diets Work?

Shape — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:15:48 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar.

There's a mountain of evidence that suggests that fad diets don't function as permanent weight-loss solutions. So why do we continue to flock toward them when we know they're not very effective? After rounding up the top 10 searched diet plans on Yahoo! and noticing that almost every single one was a fad diet (such as the Atkins Diet, or HCG Diet), we wanted to know more about why we're drawn to these popular diet plans. So we went to Holly Herrington, a Registered Dietitian at the Center for Lifestyle Medicine at the Northwestern University Medical Faculty Foundation to get her take on these plans and whether they really work for weight loss.

Find out what - if any - fad diets work after the break.

Smart Snacking With Tips From C&J Nutrition

Guest Writer — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:10:24 PST

The following post was written by C&J Nutrition, a duo of registered dietitians based in NYC and LA, to help you get a handle on this week's Get Fit For 2011 giveaway snacking challenge.

We are big fans of snacking. Why do we love snacks? Our top 3 reasons are . . .

Knowing we'll be having a snack in between one meal and the next makes it easier to stop eating a meal when we're "satisfied" versus "full."
Snacking keeps us from arriving at meal time ravenous - helping to avoid "grab the first thing I see and eat a lot of it" situations.
Snacks help us fit in nutrients we may not otherwise get enough of in our meals. Low on calcium-rich foods in meals? Try yogurt as a snack. Not fitting many veggies into meals? Pair some crudites with hummus. Short on fruit? Dip apple slices into peanut butter.

We're regular snackers and suggest AT LEAST one snack per day to all of our clients. We recommend pairing two of the three main nutrients (carbohydrates, fat, protein) together into a snack. Other than this general premise, we get pretty creative with our snacks and hope you take some of our ideas and give them your own awesome spin.

Apple slices with peanut buttery dip
Baby carrots and grape tomatoes with hummus: Pair 1/2 cup grape tomatoes with 1/2 cup baby carrots and 1/4 cup Tribe Origins hummus. (Tribe doesn't use any artificial preservatives!)

Keep on reading for more snack ideas!

How Celebrity Trainers and Nutritionists Stay Healthy During Holiday Shopping

Leta Shy — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:34:15 PST

If you still haven't picked up all your presents, you're not alone. On any trip to the mall, you'll be among similarly fraught people trying to check off their lists before all the gifts need to be stacked under the tree.

But unlike the rest of of those shoppers, you don't have to make your holiday shopping trip hectic, stressful, and fast-food-filled. We asked a few celebrity trainers, nutritionists, and dietitians to tell us what they pack in their purses to ensure that they stay healthy, happy, and stress-free during this hectic shopping season. Read on for their advice and recommendations!

The No-Diet Trick to Reducing Belly Fat

Shape — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:07:27 PST

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. This week Shape turns to Cynthia Sass, a registered dietitian with master's degrees in both nutrition science and public health.

In a new study published in the Journal of Obesity, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco found that mastering mindful eating and reducing stress effectively prevented weight gain, even without dieting, and that the women who experienced the greatest reduction in stress lost the most belly fat. In a nutshell, mindful eating is about being aware of your eating patterns and thoughts rather than acting on autopilot.

In this study, 24 of the 47 stressed, overweight or obese women were randomly assigned to practice mindfulness, while the other 23 served as a control group. The mindful group participated in weekly sessions for nine weeks, which included an intense meditation retreat, stress reduction, learning to recognize hunger and fullness, and become more aware of taste. They were asked to spend 30 minutes a day meditating and practicing mindful eating. These women experienced significant reductions in cortisol, a stress hormone linked to an increased appetite and more belly fat, and were able to maintain their body weight while reducing belly fat. In contrast, the women in the control group continued to put on pounds and saw no reduction in cortisol.

If you're like a lot of my one-on-one clients you may be thinking, "I don't have 30 minutes a day to meditate!" I hear you. But in my private practice I have found that a little mindfulness goes a long way. Check out my previous post about how practicing eating slowly, even just once in a while, can help raise your eating antennae. You can even practice by eating chocolate!

Learn more about how chocolate helps with losing weight after the break!