The American Dietetic Association, also known as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, is feeling extremely threatened these days and apparently has for quite some time.
With it’s nutritional advice increasingly being ignored and even laughed at by a public that is waking up to the fact that its recommendations run completely contrary to the diets of healthy, disease free Traditional Cultures and hence will not help them lose weight, control blood sugar, and prevent cancer and heart disease, the ADA is resorting to illegal black hat tactics to stifle the competition.
The first shot across the bow resulted in the attempted muzzling of blogger Steve Cooksey by the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition. Board censors issued a list of demands to Cooksey in a nineteen page, manifesto style letter which included a markup of his own blog in handwritten red pen like a high school term paper. He was told he must comply with the Board’s demands or else face up to a month and a half in prison.
Prison – for blogging? America, Land of the Free Muzzled and Home of the Brave Fearful?
Now, leaked documents by outraged members of the American Dietetic Association itself have blown the lid off the nationwide attempt by the ADA to corner the market in health and nutritional advice.
In an article written by Michael Ellsberg of Forbes magazine earlier this week, Ellsberg quotes from these leaked documents which show without a shadow of a doubt that the ADA:
“Openly discusses creating and using state boards of dietetics/nutrition (including in NC and in every other state in the union) for the express purpose of limiting market competition for its Registered Dietitian members.”
“Openly discusses a nation-wide plan of surveilling and reporting private citizens, and particularly all competitors on the market for nutrition counseling, for “harming the public” by providing nutrition information/advice/counseling without a license–through exactly the same means by which Cooksey was reported to the NC Board. Again, for the explicit purpose of limiting marketplace competition.“
The smoking gun document leaked by the ADAs own members is published on the website of the Alliance for Natural Health, an organization highly critical of the ADA.
In essence, this document discusses, complete with color coded charts, how the ADA can work across all 50 states in order to support the creation of licensure laws and dietetics boards similar to that of North Carolina in order to limit competition and create an ADA monopoly on nutritional advice.
Spy for the ADA and Win a Free Conference Registration!
A second internal ADA document leaked by a disgusted member described tactics for spying on those perceived by the ADA as competitors in the field of nutritional counseling, who are arrogantly referred to as “uneducated wannabees”.
There is even a “Documentation of Harm Contest” (page 2) contained in the brochure for the Michigan Dietetic Association’s 2006 Conference in which attendees are told that they can win a free conference registration if they turn in the most information about unlicensed people who provide nutritional advice to the public. This information would be used by the State Board of Dietetics and Nutrition to potentially infringe upon these people’s right to free speech a la Steve Cooksey.
The actual Documentation of Harm Form can be downloaded and viewed from the Forbes magazine website.
Milton Friedman, author of Free to Choose and economist extraordinaire, once wrote that the public rarely if ever exhorts legislative pressure to license an occupation as a result of harm that has been done.
Au contraire. Friedman notes that the forces for licensure nearly always come from members of the occupation itself seeking to establish monopolistic control.
These leaked documents of the American Dietetic Association illustrate the perfect example of exactly that to which Mr. Friedman referred.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
I love your blog and just went over to Diabetic Warrior and signed up for daily emails. I have been on a paleo style diet for 2 weeks and the results have been amazing! Weight is coming off and the highest my blood sugar has been was 157 – I was always in the high 200s with the ADA diet. I have been a diabetic for over 20 years and have finally “wised up” with help from people like you. Thanks so much!!
I am an RD and I LOATHE the ADA. I have not been a member in so long I still call it the ADA. It has actually been renamed the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND).
I have to be licensed in my state. From what I understand, the licensing means that non licensed nutrition counselors can not call themselves a “Dietitian”. I could be wrong but that is how I understand it. Also, it may be different in his state. It is my understanding that anyone can give nutrition advice (and charge for it) but they just can not do it as a “Dietitian” unless they are licensed. My guess is, they thought they could bully this guy and it looks like they thought wrong!
Great article, Sarah. Bravo. Keep up the good work. As always… follow the money!
Oh, so this is what happens when corporate control of our govt is given to big business ( in this case the industrial food businesses ).
Someone has to eat all that uber – processed ( mostly corn, soy, HFCS and franken fats ) crap.
How else is the bottom line going to stay in the black?
It’s not a problem that is defined by “big business” or “big government.”
Too much power concentrated in the hands of too few people always results in the individual being crushed. It’s a basic pattern of human society. Big business in a capitalist society is not interested in individual freedoms, it is only interested in the bottom line profit. And big government in a more regulated society is not interested in helping the individual citizen, it is only interested in expanding control.
The ADA is not part of the industrial food business as far as I can tell, but they are simply following the same pattern that power seeking groups have always followed.
Medieval guilds had an intricate system of apprenticeships and mastery that wielded tremendous political influence within their community. They used that influence to pass laws to make it illegal to sell or manufacture unless you were part of their guild. Likewise for the modern labor union, and so on for the modern corporate entity. When they can, they will purchase sufficient influence to shut any new doors of competition.
So the fix isn’t to focus on “big business” as too many people only have one answer for “big business” and that’s more government. Which, ironically in light of your post, is exactly what the ADA is doing. They are the exact, modern equivalent of the medieval guild. They are protecting their own interests at the expense of the individual and the public in general, and they’re doing it through an expanded government role in our daily lives i.e. controlling our speech.
I agree in part.
The ADA is being handed down marching orders which comes from the govt. A govt bought / sold / operated by big business and special interests. Their ‘ concern ‘ for the individual, as you posted, is only to crush them. Their crushing of said individuals results in protecting and bettering their own interests and not the people.
I do not necessarily advocate for more govt regs, only that the govt do what it is suppose to do. That is to protect its populace. It cannot do that when it is run by the private sector. The solution is to get private sector influence out of our govt.
This post is very unsettling to me. I am a nutrition/dietetics student. I am getting this degree only so that I have the credential – I have zero interest in practicing healthcare in the way the AND wants us to. I’m wondering what my options are if I want to do a holistic-type program after I graduate with this BS degree. Will I be able to do anything without the RD credential? I loath the idea of having to pay for and endure a CADE-accredited nine-month internship where they will continue their brainwashing and indoctrination that they’ve employed every step of the way in my education. But if I don’t do the internship and become an RD, I don’t want the “officials” breathing down my neck and not allowing me to offer my services for a fee. If anyone has career advice for me it would be appreciated!
Get through the internship and get the RD. Pick a short one. You are going to have a much easier time with the RD. There are more and more of us within the AND that don’t agree with its actions. There are many subsets, listservs, and groups that you can become involved with – you don’t have to join AND. In fact more and more of my RD colleagues are not joining.
Hats off to you, Nicole. Way to see the value in a hard earned certification yet being willing to stand your ground when the politics get in the way of a good thing. My best to you!
I too have my RD and do not agree with all the AND is doing. It is important to note that many of the natural health care “credentials” out there lack true training and regulation. Please be careful in choosing someone who will provide diet and lifestyle advice as it can be harmful if they do not really know what they are talking about (this includes others who practice nutrition counseling as well as RDs). RDs have a great wealth of education behind them that can be used for positive change. The amount of background and foundation education (i.e. a bachelor’s degree) is something that is lacking in many of the other “credentials”. All that to say, I am not an RD who personally adheres to nor advises others to follow the AND recommendations. In an ideal world, the entire healthcare community would come together to merge these two fields of thought.
Megan, the situation varies from state to state. I recommend reading the comments on the subject from Diane Miller, posted above, and following and/or joining her health freedom organization to learn what’s going on nationwide and what you can do.
http://www.nationalhealthfreedom.org
Thank you for the post as this hits close to home, I have someone close to me who suffers from type 1 diabetes and I can’t even begin to tell you the struggle it has been.All the publications and information regarding diabetes has been mediocre and mostly useless and I always had suspicions that they are not being honest. I have yet to see a dietitian I can agree with in fact I laugh at their suggestions to put it mildly.I want to reach over and tear up the magazines in the checkout lane at the grocery stores that feature diabetic recipes, what’s on the front page? a huge slice of cake.Those who participate in misleading the poor suffering people should automatically receive the worst case of type 1 diabetes so they can eat their cake with frosting.
The bottom line is, there is a right to free speech. If I want to blog about how a diet of nothing but chocolate is great for you, that’s my right.
Thanks for this interesting and disturbing post. It’s clear we have to be vigilant in protecting our rights, and being well informed is the first step.
Umm, you seem to have Friedman’s point correct, but maybe it’s your use of “au contraire” which of course means “to the contrary” or something to that effect.
Friedman was of course saying that history has shown that rarely, if ever, does a genuine grass roots movement rise up and say “Give us legislation to save us from this group of people.” And you correctly point out that this is exactly what is happening now.
For those not usually interested in economics in general, this is an age old problem that goes all the way back to ancient guilds, modern trade agreements, tariffs, etc. What Friedman was saying is that whenever someone is suggesting legislation to protect us, the public, you need to look a little closer and see who stands to profit.
The Cato Institute is a good place to start for those that are interested in learning more about this kind of stuff, and no, it’s not as dry as it sounds. Anyone drink raw milk, or wish they had more access to raw milk? Look into who’s keeping you from such a basic right in your state. It will be the association of dairy men who have already invested millions in their operations and don’t want the competition from raw milk dairies and has nothing to do with health at all.
All I can say is, “Amen” to that. Well said. I ove Friedman. Wish he were still alive. He was a VERY wise man.
Better no regulations than bad regulations?
Do you know how many regulations are just ignored? Do you think the fracking and the poisoned GMOs are going to go away when you let the market take care of everything? It’s not all comsumer driven, you know……
After all…their mission is to get more people to join their ranks right? Oh the humanity!