The Dietitian
InBetween Non-GMO water and Organic beef tallow
Thursday, April 30th, 2026. I am currently searching online for where I can purchase some Korean Japchae Noodles with delivery to my middle of nowhere zip code. I love to shop in person, but the nearest Asian market is an hour away. Looking at the package picture, all written in Korean, I wondered if the noodles within were actually made of sweet potato, as I was looking for. I would have to find some ingredient list and dig further. Stick with me, I was inspired to write from InBetween today in part because of my inability to read Korean, but I am going somewhere with it, I promise.
I remember in 2010 when the non-GMO label came out, you know, that butterfly one. It was a big deal for me at the time because that was also the year I graduated from my Bachelor’s in Nutrition and Dietetics Program (Magna Cum Laude and the only Honors student in my class, not to brag or anything). I had returned to life as a student, in the United States, after eight years working in the Canadian banking world, and was graduating along with 82 other kids, each of them about 10 years my junior, during a time of great strides in the nutrition world, and in a country plagued by diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. It was my time to shine. The new 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans had just been published, the first products carrying the butterfly seal “Non-GMO” were being verified - more transparency for the public - and the new MyPlate simplified approach to building a healthy plate was about to get released. Universities everywhere were flooded with interest in the nutrition programs. Upon graduation, those students would have to be matched with a clinical dietetic internship. It was one of the most competitive years for the matching system, and with the huge interest in nutrition, there were only about half as many dietetic internship placements available nationwide for the number of graduates. I had been accepted at my first choice, taking one of 10 spots available when over 180 applicants were considered for that particular clinical program in central Illinois. I was going to change the world, I knew it.
Then it happened. That butterfly started appearing in some weird places. In the mid 2010’s, we started seeing the non-GMO label in unexpected places… like bottled water. I stood in front of the grocery store shelf looking at a product carrying a label that told the consumer no genetic modification was done to it. Please geek out with me for a bit….. The immediate thought crossed my mind: “Wait a minute… there is no DNA in water to be modified.” I second-guessed my thought for a moment, as I often do. But no, I was correct. That was the moment I realized that no amount of newly graduated Registered Dietitians was going to be able to stop a much bigger problem than obesity, diabetes, or heart disease: science illiteracy combined with fancy marketing.
Right around that time, a figure started showing up on my social media circles. Her name was “Food Babe” and she was “highly qualified” with that enormous following of hers to speak on all nutrition topics. Her specialty? The word TOXIC. Her greatest achievement? An exponential increase in the number of people at our outpatient services, who we would consider to suffer from a type of disordered eating. Orthorexia Nervosa is classified as an unspecified feeding and eating disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition, best summarized as an obsession with healthy eating with associated restrictive behaviors. However, the attempt to attain optimum health through attention to diet may lead to malnourishment, loss of relationships, and poor quality of life (PMID: 30766283). She was not the only one. New ones arrived after her, and now the kids who grew up with parent followers of Food Babe are teenagers showing up in clinics with full-blown disordered eating patterns too.
I will go on a tangent here to also share that a joke we had at the office around 2014 was that every time a patient mentioned something they heard on Dr. Oz, we ended up charging an extra 15 minute interval of time on the outpatient session, to undo the misinformation. The jokes on what he was preaching were a daily thing for us, and we even coined the term “That is very doctorozzie”. The guy is now the head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But anyway….
In the midst of the decade of fighting misinformation and trying to undo the damage to people’s health and their relationship with food, a member at our church approached me one day, asking if I would lead a new Bible Study because she thought I would be perfect for it. The book to be used was The Daniel Plan. I had not heard about it and had to search online for more information, which immediately led to the name Mark Hyman, who, of course, I had heard of. As a Registered Dietitian and Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist in the great state of Illinois, I knew better than to risk my licensure on promotion of non-evidence based nutrition guidance, which can also lead to harm. Needless to say, I did not lead the Bible Study. Mark Hyman was not the only one, and you can now find a huge collection of ways to eat “the biblical way”. Reminds me of the time we interns at the hospital tried deep fried crickets. Same as locusts, right? (They were very cheesy tasting btw)
Somewhere in the middle of the madness, science evolved (as it should and usually does) to show that the cholesterol in eggs did not directly raise blood cholesterol levels, and all heck broke loose. RDs everywhere started to spend hours counseling people that while yes, cholesterol in eggs was shown to not directly increase total blood cholesterol levels, egg yolks still contained saturated fat, which when consumed in excess, did still raise LDL. That is the “bad cholesterol” which is directly linked to heart disease. Americans everywhere just heard “eggs are now super healthy and science has failed us!” It was not unusual to see diet recalls in the office with patients eating 4-5 eggs a day, and since a lot of them got excited about things, coconut oil entered the picture (which is about 90% saturated fat), and now beef tallow (a little improvement at 55% saturated fat, but still way higher than the good boy EVOO with its 12%). The other day, my middle kid and I took the peddle boat to the lake. The wind was insane. We got a great workout but at the end, couldn’t get anywhere except a few feet back from where we started. Same feeling with the cholesterol and saturated fat stuff, folks.
Just last week here on Substack, I was reading a long post by a physician who was offering some radical ideas on how to eat for health. It was so innovative in her mind that she just had to share and make it free to all to read, instead of behind a pay wall, you’re welcome. Something about dividing our plate in half and filling half of it with produce, choosing to eat more fish, nuts and legumes, and using olive oil to cook. According to her post, she had just discovered this new way to eat, and as a physician, she highly recommended it. Against my own rules of not arguing nutrition online on other people’s post, mostly for my own sanity, I had to reply to that one. “You mean…. My Plate (released 15 years ago, loved by RDs and patients for its ease of use, and recently replaced by an upside-down, very confusing pyramid), and the Mediterranean eating pattern, which was found to be the best pattern for heart health back in the 1960s and has remained the gold standard ever since? You mean what Registered Dietitians have been saying for years, what scientific research has been saying for decades? That is your new and exciting discovery?” She is not a dietitian, so I am sure it will get lots of likes and shares.
I will stop here with the many examples of how I spent the best part of just over ten years from my graduation to my decision in 2021 to stay home with my kids, fighting a losing battle while getting paid some of the lowest salaries in the health care industry (a whole other post about for-profit healthcare systems can be made here). Because yes, the real nutrition experts, who need a Bachelor degree from an accredited school, a Masters degree, a one year clinical internship, and passing the grueling RD exam, for some, seven years of education, start off earning about 48K/yr. I made just a little over that with years of experience and an advance practice certification in pediatric nutrition (I proudly sported a “RD CSP LDN CLC” after my name, which was much longer than the cash in my bank account every month). I even had a niche job for which not many RDs are qualified, working in the NICU, which I loved - newborns rarely replied to my advice on rate of parenteral or enteral nutrition with an accusation of “you’re probably getting paid by big food”.
I often say, perhaps to feel better, that I will never stop being a Dietitian because I feed my family everyday, and will feed myself long after my kids are out of the house. The decisions I make daily on what to put on our table are not worthy of a Substack on pediatric nutrition, it would not sell. “Balance, variety, and moderation” does not generate clicks, it is too boring, too InBetween. The wellness industry has the world convinced that if you just use the right green powder, the correct pill at the right time of day, and those amazing IV infusions, while of course, snacking on organic beef tallow sticks, you are all set. And should they not work, you only have yourself to blame - the influencer has already moved on to the next selling item. Wellness for those of us RD’s InBetween, is a balance between body, mind, and spirit - so if what you are doing to achieve a “better” body is bringing your mind into a state of guilt, you missed the point.
So as I continue to refuse extremes in my InBetween life, I will continue to mix home made with a few convenience items, continue to add instead of remove or eliminate, and continue to sit down daily with my family for meals. I will always aim at combinations of taste and well-being, guilt-free experiences at the table, and never, never, never modify a holiday family recipe to make it “healthy” - whatever the current fad says it is. After all, have you ever taken a bite of an old holiday family recipe, closed your eyes, and felt grandma’s hug? That is wellness my friends. Pair that feeling with a side of real veggies, maybe tossed with some new to you japchae sweet potato Korean noodles, and enjoy a life of true wellness - feeling right at home, balanced, InBetween.
***
For evidence-based nutrition advice and commentary on current public health guideline changes at the DHHS, USDA and FDA, I highly recommend following Dr. Jessica Knurick, PhD, RDN here on Substack. Kuddos to her for continuing to fight the good fight.
*For further evidence-based nutrition advice for the general population, I also suggest Health Canada's Food Guide .