[angelsandfairies]

Has anyone every tried a Dietician to help them lose weight? Be worth the extra $ to spend for a little help? Anyone else have any additional professional help that I can possibly consider? Thank you everyone in advance.

[nelie]

I think if you don't have a good grasp on nutrition and creating balanced, lower calorie meal plans then a dietician can help. If someone wants to lose weight but unsure where to start, I'd recommend a dietician.

[geoblewis]

I think if you know nothing about nutrition, you have specific health issues that diet helps to manage and you feel you need more support in the form of a prescribed diet, a dietitian can help. Understand that registered dietitians must adhere to specific guidelines with regards to diet, mostly a low fat diet that usually means sticking to the latest food pyramid or plate diagram.

All that sort of information is easily available online for free. Check out http://www.eatright.org/ and http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/publication.../policydoc.pdf. But if you need and actual person to talk things over and help you stay accountable, by all means, go for it.

Dietitians are required stick to those guidelines only. It is why they are licensed, and are considered a part of mainstream medical practices, like doctors. A nutritionist not licensed but may follow similar guidelines. They, however, are more free to make their recommendations based on alternative medicine.

[bargoo]

My physician sent me to a dietician one, I don't think it helped. As has already been mentioned all the info you need is available free.

[Scarlett]

It really depends on the dietitian, some are very good at what they do and others not so much (like most health professionals).

The thing about the government guidelines is only half true. Dietitians are allowed to "meet you where you are" and the good ones really keep up with current research. They have some freedom to make recommendations based on different studies even if it goes a little against the current guidelines. The guidelines change with the research as up until 2005 the recommendation was 5 servings of fruits and vegetables then it changed to 7-10 servings per day. They also have more medical knowledge to look at bloodwork charts and whatnot to determine if you have any deficiencies.

I personally would rather work with someone who has a degree in the field and is licensed vs. a "nutritionist." The term nutritionist is not regulated in many states meaning most anyone can call themselves a nutritionist with no qualifications.

Sometimes they are very good at recommending strategies and recipes to help you succeed. If you can find a good one, I say go for it.