When Steve Cooksey was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, a registered dietician advised him to eat a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. Rather than follow that advice blindly, Cooksey read the available scientific literature and decided to do roughly the opposite of what he’d been advised.
He proceeded to lose 78 pounds on a high-fat, low-carb diet that was nearly absent of processed foods. Cooksey’s blood-sugar level dropped into the normal range, and he was cleared by his doctor to stop taking insulin.
The legal basis for the letter is a North Carolina law known as the Dietetics/Nutrition Act. It’s one of 47 state laws that criminalize the giving, by “unlicensed persons,” of nutritional advice regarding a medical condition.
Such laws are in place largely due to lobbying efforts by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), the professional organization that represents the nation’s registered dietitians. (Until recently, AND was known as the American Dietetics Association.)
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