Wanna be a dietitian? Read this disclaimer first.

So you want to become a dietitian. Good for you. You want to help people be healthier and stronger. You want to save the world of its nonorganic ailments to be cured by food prescriptions. Your ambitions come from a good place and I am not here to change them. Instead I am here to warn you of the life you will experience upon passing your RD exam. I have compiled a few drawbacks of the profession. I feel an ethical obligation to share them with you now:

–hope no one recognizes you in mcdonalds parking lot
–get used to others continuously checking out your food purchases including your choices at restaurants adn the grocery
–while meeting new people at dinner parties, get used to this reaction when introduced as a dietitian, “I am sorry. I usually do not eat this way. I just haven’t eaten all day!” Like we care…
–Become skilled at redirecting conversations with new people to avoid to “What do YOU do for a living?” question.
–Once it is asked, take a deep breathe. You are going to need it once they ask you about how they can lose weight.
–Budget longer time at the grocery. I believe it is tough enough to have the societal food police yelling out the should’s and should not’s of food choices; imagine having all that knowledge readily available in your head. If only we could invent a button to turn off the RD button once we clock out for the day. Everytime I go to the grocery with my husband, he groans when we get to the yogurt section: it is a 20 minute committment for me to make a choice.