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March 9, 2016

Happy National Registered Dietitian Day!

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Happy National Registered Dietitian Day, my friends! I thought in honor of the “holiday” today I would share some of my best nutrition tips and RD-related advice here on the blog from over the years, plus links to some of my favorite fellow RD bloggers.

It’s crazy to think that I’ve been a dietitian for 3 years now – how time flies! In December 2012, I graduated with my Masters of Public Health in Nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In February 2013, I took and passed the exam to officially become a Registered Dietitian and shortly after started my own nutrition counseling private practice (AnneTheRD.com)! Since I changed careers to become a dietitian and was coming from an unrelated field, it took me 3.5 years total to complete the prerequisites, required coursework, and internship hours. It was a long road but clearly it was worth it – and in a few months, I’ll have been a dietitian for longer than it took for me to become one. 🙂

anne_mph_rd

I love being a dietitian. As you guys know, I’m not your typical dietitian in that I tell clients to quit calorie counting and throw away their scales and stop trying to eat perfectly or follow rigid plans (because being healthy means not always being healthy, in my opinion). I love helping others to improve their health in a balanced, sustainable, and non-stressful way through Intuitive Eating. I love networking with and meeting other like-minded dietitians. And I love that I worked hard and really earned the credentials to back up the advice that I give.

A couple quick tips:

  1. RD and RDN (Registered Dietitian Nutritionist) are the same thing. Interchangeable. But if someone is just a nutritionist without the “dietitian” part in there, that’s very different. To be a dietitian you have to do years of science-based coursework, a long internship program, and take a national exam. “Nutritionist” on the other hand can kind of mean anything – some have great credentials and extensive education, others may have just done a quick online course. Unfortunately there’s no real standard, so education and qualifications can vary greatly in the “nutritionist” umbrella. Just fyi.
  2. It’s spelled “dietitian” with two T’s and no C. 🙂

 image source

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Nutrition-Related Posts

Here are some of the best nutrition hot topic focused posts I’ve written over the years.

  • Should Everyone Go Gluten Free?
  • 7 Common Nutrition Myths (that you shouldn’t be fooled by!)
  • How to Get Rid of Sugar Cravings
  • The Sneaky Thing That Might Be Causing Your Stomach Pain
  • What Oils To Use When (e.g. high heat cooking vs. baking vs. salad dressing)
  • Why This Registered Dietitian Eats More Fat (guest post written by me on my friend’s blog about the science and history behind low fat diets – and why I don’t recommend them)
  • Trans-Fat: What It Is & How and Why To Avoid It
  • How to Interpret Blood Test Results
  • How to Eat for Running: Top 5 Nutrition Mistakes Made by Runners
  • Quinoa Nutrition Fun Facts and Recipes
  • How to Eat Intuitively | A Guide to Mindful Eating
  • How to Can Your Own Food at Home
    You can also see an example of my typical daily meals in this post: What I Ate Wednesday (RD Edition).

what a dietitian eats

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For Those Who Want to be Dietitians

Here’s How to Become a Registered Dietitian (coming from an unrelated field). When I first started looking into becoming an RD back in 2008, it was really frustrating because the information out there was confusing and not that helpful, especially for someone like me who wanted to become an RD from an unrelated field, not having taken much science in undergrad. So, once I figured it all out and was in grad school, I wrote that page to help others who were in the same boat. 🙂 See also: how to pass the RD exam.

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For Dietitians That Want to Start a Private Practice

I created a blog page on this topic: How to Start a Nutrition Counseling Private Practice.

I also highly recommend the book Making Nutrition Your Business – it was really helpful to me as I planned my business launch.

Two other books that were released more recently that I would recommend are Welcome to the REBELution: 7 Steps to the Nutrition Counseling Practice of Your Dreams and Pursuing Private Practice: 10 Steps to Start Your Own Business (<- the author of that book, Jennifer McGurk, was kind enough to answer questions from me when I was starting my own practice back in the day – love that she has come out with an official book now)!

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Great Blogs Written By Dietitians

There are a TON of great blogs/websites written by dietitians on the web, but here are just a few of my favorites that are frequently updated and feature great recipes and balanced nutrition content (with an intuitive eating/non-diet mentality focus). Some of them are recipe blogs/websites, some are lifestyle, some are a mix like me!

    • Avocado A Day Nutrition
    • Be Truly Nourished
    • Delicious Knowledge
    • Healthfully Ever After
    • Healthy Aperture – like Tastespotting but for healthy recipes!
    • Hummusapien
    • ImmaEatThat
    • Kath Eats Real Food
    • KH Nutrition
    • Lauren Fowler
    • Living Well Kitchen
    • love & zest
    • Make Healthy Easy
    • MJ and Hungryman
    • Real Talk RD
    • The Foodie Dietitian
    • The Lean Green Bean
    • The Real Life RD
    • Zen & Spice
    If you’re a dietitian blogger or know a great dietitian-written blog, please share a link to it in the comments! 🙂 Fellow dietitian Lindsay (already in the list above!) also has a great post from last year’s RD Day with links to pretty much all the dietitian bloggers on the web, if you’re interested: Dietitians Who Blog.
    Have a great day – and happy RD day to my fellow RDs! Thank you for working to make the world a healthier place. 🙂
- anne
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45 comments
  • Sana
    March 9, 2016 · 10:58AM:
    Happy National Registered Dietitian Day to you!
    Reply
  • Sarah @ BucketListTummy
    March 9, 2016 · 11:01AM:
    I'm a dietitian blogger :) Happy RD day, fellow UNC grad! :)
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 9, 2016 · 11:04AM:
      Yay - go UNC! Happy RD Day!
      Reply
  • Dietitian Jess
    March 9, 2016 · 11:05AM:
    Happy RD Day to one of my favorite blogger dietitians :) Thanks for sharing your tips for private practice- that's a goal I'm striving to make come alive this year!
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 9, 2016 · 11:17AM:
      Happy RD back to you as well, Jess! :)
      Reply
  • Lindsay @ The Lean Green Bean
    March 9, 2016 · 11:29AM:
    happy RD day friend. And thanks for the link love! I totally dropped the ball this year. Thought it was Friday and was totally planning to update the RDs who blog post!
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 9, 2016 · 2:40PM:
      Happy RD day! I was wondering if you'd be posting a new list or updating the previous one -- it's gotten huge! So many great blogs!
      Reply
  • Jennifer McGurk
    March 9, 2016 · 11:39AM:
    Happy RD Day Anne!!! I've been meaning to email you and say congrats for everything you have done with your career! Remember when we spoke maybe 3 years ago? You have done so much since then! I'm so impressed and not the least bit surprised. :) I just came out with a new book on private practice, Pursuing Private Practice: 10 Steps to Start Your Own Business and my next book Pursuing Private Practice: 10 Steps to Grow Your Own Business is coming out the end of April! (www.pursuingprivatepractice.com) I absolutely love helping RD's reach their dream goal of having a private practice. It's the best job! I would love to send you a copy to review if you want to? Just let me know. Happy RD Day to all the amazing dietitians out there! We rock.
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 9, 2016 · 2:39PM:
      I actually just got your email newsletter and added that book to my list of recommendations in this post before seeing your comment -- great minds think alike, apparently! :) I don't need to see the book to know that it's great since you wrote it! Thank you again so much for your help and the time you took answering my questions 3 years ago -- it meant so much to me. I'm sure your book will be a huge success and a great help to many!
      Reply
      • Jennifer McGurk
        March 9, 2016 · 2:49PM:
        Thank you Anne!! That's amazing :) So happy for all your success!
        Reply
  • Jill @ RunEatSnap
    March 9, 2016 · 11:47AM:
    Happy RD Day! Great post! I am a dietitian blogger but currently it's been more of a running blog while I am training for the Big Sur marathon. Trying to make a conscious effort to post more nutrition stuff! I love your blog, keep up the great work!
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 9, 2016 · 2:37PM:
      Awesome I'll check out your blog - clearly I enjoy running content too. :) Happy RD day!
      Reply
  • Caitlin @ HealthyBitesHouston
    March 9, 2016 · 12:01PM:
    Happy RD Day! My coworker and I are Dietitian bloggers at http://healthybiteshouston.com/ . We are fairly new, but love reading other RD blogs!
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 9, 2016 · 2:36PM:
      Great -- will check you out! Thanks -- happy RD day!
      Reply
  • Meme
    March 9, 2016 · 1:42PM:
    Happy RD day, lady! Thanks for including me in your list of fab blogs! All my faves :) xxxo
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 9, 2016 · 2:36PM:
      Of course! Keep up the great work and happy RD day! :)
      Reply
  • Heather Caplan @ Real Talk RD March 9, 2016 · 1:57PM:
    Love all of these lists! Good stuff all around :) Happy RD day!
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 9, 2016 · 2:41PM:
      Happy RD day my friend! Keep up that great Real Talk!
      Reply
  • Jen @ pretty little grub
    March 9, 2016 · 3:10PM:
    Happy Dietitians Day! Technically my day isn't until next week. Don't know why US and Canada can't just make it on the same day!
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 9, 2016 · 3:15PM:
      Seriously! Happy RD day anyway :)
      Reply
  • Lauren
    March 9, 2016 · 4:06PM:
    Happy RD day Anne! Great list of amazing dietitians there :)
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 9, 2016 · 4:14PM:
      Happy RD Day back! Keep spreading that wonderful intuitive eating and body kindness messaging!
      Reply
  • Kath
    March 9, 2016 · 4:13PM:
    Happy RD Day to you!! Thanks for including me in that great list!
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 9, 2016 · 4:14PM:
      Sure thing my friend! Happy RD Day!
      Reply
  • Roadrunner March 9, 2016 · 5:16PM:
    Congratulations -- on your day -- on all that you have achieved over the past three-plus years
    Reply
  • Rebecca
    March 9, 2016 · 6:54PM:
    Wow!!! Thanks for including our blog in your post! We're just so giddy to see BeTrulyNourished up here :) Happy RDN day to you too! And Melanie & I took the RD exam in 2013 as well :) It was a good year!
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 10, 2016 · 9:33AM:
      I just found your blog recently and am enjoying the great non-diet messaging! Keep up the great work! :)
      Reply
  • Molly March 9, 2016 · 7:21PM:
    Yessss. Two Ts, people!! When I give interviews I make a point to spell dietitian.
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 10, 2016 · 9:33AM:
      Love it :)
      Reply
  • Stephanie March 9, 2016 · 8:58PM:
    I'm a big fan of PreventionRD's blog and recipes.
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 10, 2016 · 9:32AM:
      Yes, great addition! Thank you!
      Reply
  • Kim
    March 9, 2016 · 9:18PM:
    Thanks for including me! What a good post to celebrate RDN day. I have loved following your journey to RD and all the things you do these days. I'm especially loving the recent growth of non-diet dietitians in our field--such a good community. Hope to meet you IRL one day! Are you going to SCAN symposium this year?
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 10, 2016 · 9:32AM:
      I'm loving all the non-diet mentality dietitians, too - so many great blogs out there! Unfortunately I won't be at SCAN this year as we'll be on vacation. I went last year though and loved it! I should be at FNCE, though. :)
      Reply
  • Ileana
    March 9, 2016 · 10:28PM:
    Happy RD day! It's definitely motivational to see posts like this while I'm in the trenches! (I'm in the UNC program and met you for a quick second at that Vapiano happy hour in January).
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 10, 2016 · 9:31AM:
      Yay -- happy RD to be day to you! Best of luck with the program and say hello to Chapel Hill for me - I miss it! :)
      Reply
  • Janine March 10, 2016 · 1:45AM:
    Continue to love your blog! Question: You and your hubby seem to have a lot of wonderful, fresh, healthy ingredients on hand for your meals that you are able to pull together quickly. Do you meal plan recipes in advance, and then shop each week? Or do you just use what you have on hand from your regular staple of ingredient options? Just curious how you pull that all together so beautifully.
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 10, 2016 · 9:30AM:
      Thank you for reading! We do a combination of Blue Apron (3 dinners per week) and then I buy a lot of standard staples that we use all the time at the store so we always have fresh stuff on hand to throw together our easy favorites. I always buy stuff for breakfast (bananas, eggs, oats, milk, sprouted grain bread, etc.), stuff for lunch salad bowls (greens, veggies, avocado, canned beans, 90 second plain brown rice, lemons for my dressing, etc.), and then sometimes stuff for either 1 planned dinner (a recipe I find online or am trying out myself to share on the blog) or just stuff to make our standard favorite dinners - chicken, veggies, quinoa, spinach to serve under meals, etc. We also usually have frozen veggies on hand. So yeah -- I don't really meal plan, just make sure we have some of our standard favorites around and available! Blue Apron helps a lot -- and we go out to dinner 2 to 3 times a week usually too.
      Reply
  • Kelli @ Hungry Hobby
    March 10, 2016 · 9:08AM:
    Happy RD Day (a day late)! Hope you had a great day! Fellow RD Blogger www.hungryhobby.net !
    Reply
  • Emily @ Zen & Spice
    March 10, 2016 · 11:42AM:
    Happy RD day!! :) Thanks for including me in your list!
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 10, 2016 · 12:03PM:
      Keep up the great work! :)
      Reply
  • Kris S March 10, 2016 · 2:37PM:
    Congratulations Anne the RD :D Proud of you my friend! :) big hugs!
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 10, 2016 · 3:24PM:
      Thank you my dear!! xoxo
      Reply
  • masala girl
    March 11, 2016 · 2:38PM:
    I can't believe it's been so long for you! I love you're approach <3 I'll hopefully be there in ~3 years!! :) :)
    Reply
    • Anne
      March 11, 2016 · 2:59PM:
      Yay! Enjoy your studies!
      Reply
  • Emily @SinfulNutrition
    March 12, 2016 · 9:43AM:
    Yay for RD bloggers! Great post Anne! :D
    Reply
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about Anne

anne mauney fannetastic food
Hi, I’m Anne! I'm a Washington D.C. based Registered Dietitian, mother, runner, and lover of travel, adventure, and the great outdoors. I've been blogging since 2009, sharing a mix of lifestyle content, recipes, and fitness tips. Come for the recipes – stay for the fun!
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anne mauney

I’m Anne, a Registered Dietitian and mother. I've been blogging since 2009 and love showing others that eating nutritious foods and staying active can actually be fun rather than overwhelming!

When I’m not writing or cooking for fannetastic food, you can find me running, coaching nutrition clients, or on an adventure with my family. Feel free to reach out - I'd love to hear from you!

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