Health at Every Size and the Truth About Dietitians vs. Nutritionists: What You Need to Know for Inclusive Care
If you've ever felt unsure about who to trust with your nutrition—especially during eating disorder recovery or while healing your relationship with food—you’re not alone. In today's social media-driven world, misinformation is everywhere. And when it comes to nutrition, the difference between a registered dietitian (RD or RDN) and a nutritionist matters more than ever.
The science of food and nutrition exists in order to help prevent and reduce the risk of disease. In order to achieve this goal it is vital that providers are relaying evidence based recommendations and overall care.
At Note to Self Nutrition, our goal is to provide trauma-informed, inclusive, and evidence-based nutrition care grounded in Health at Every Size (HAES®) and Intuitive Eating. This post breaks down the differences between dietitians and nutritionists and offers guidance on finding providers who truly support food freedom and body autonomy.
What Is Health at Every Size (HAES)?
Health at Every Size® (HAES®) is a weight-inclusive, social justice-based framework that challenges the idea that health can be determined by body size. HAES-aligned care prioritizes each individual’s lived experience, body autonomy, and access to compassionate healthcare.
Core Principles of HAES®:
Healthcare is a human right for people of all sizes.
Wellbeing and healing are both collective and personal.
Care must be free from anti-fat bias.
Health is a sociopolitical construct shaped by societal values.
What HAES-Aligned Nutrition Care Looks Like:
Exploring food behaviors and relationships—not weight or BMI
Referring to weight-inclusive providers
Centering trauma-informed and anti-oppressive practices
Asking consent before discussing sensitive topics like weight, trauma or health history
Actively working to unlearn internalized bias and acknowledging privileges
Rejecting BMI as a health metric
Centering each client’s lived experience and body autonomy
Continuing education on inclusive, anti-oppressive practices
For more on the updated HAES® framework, visit ASDAH.org. Or visit our blog post “What is Health At Every Size?”
Intuitive Eating and Food Freedom
Intuitive Eating is a non-diet, evidence-based approach to healing your relationship with food, created by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. It's not about weight loss or food rules—it's about reconnecting with your body’s internal cues like hunger, fullness, and satisfaction.
A common misconception is that Intuitive Eating just means “eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full.” While that's part of it, the foundation is interoceptive awareness—your ability to feel and respond to physical sensations. Diet culture often disrupts this connection, pushing people to rely on external rules instead of their own bodies. Intuitive Eating is broken down into 10 principles, they are as follows:
The 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating
Support Interoceptive Awareness:
Honor Your Hunger
Respect Your Fullness
Discover the Satisfaction Factor
Movement – Feel the Difference
Remove Obstacles to Awareness:
Reject the Diet Mentality
Make Peace with Food
Challenge the Food Police
Cope with Emotions with Kindness
Respect Your Body
Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition
For more on Intuitive Eating, we recommend the Intuitive Eating book and workbook. Or, check out our blog post “What is Intuitive Eating?” for more details.
Dietitian vs. Nutritionist: What’s the Difference?
When interested in exploring the Intuitive Eating principles, an individual may seek out a registered dietitian or a nutritionist, thinking that they are synonymous. However, these terms are not synonymous and are quite different. A Registered Dietitian (RD), also known as Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) is an individual who has completed a program that has been approved by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND). Classes that ACEND requires include food and nutrition science, life cycle nutrition, anatomy, chemistry, clinical and client services, and food systems management. Upon receiving their degree in dietetics, individuals must then apply and be accepted into a Dietetic Internship (DI). Dietetic Internships involve 1200 hours of supervised practice in various settings including clinical rotations (hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, treatment centers, and pediatrics), community nutrition rotations (schools, food banks, community centers, etc.), food service management (menu planning, food safety, quality control, etc.). Part of the DI also includes classes and lectures providing adequate information for students to excel in their rotations.
Upon completion of the DI and a Master’s Degree (new regulation in January 2024), individuals are eligible to sit for the RDN national registration exam that is administered by the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR). The exam encompasses all information learned from undergraduate, graduate, and DI studies. In 2024 the passing rate for the exam on the first attempt was 64.5%, proving how difficult the exam is.
Once an RD is credentialed, in order to keep their credential in active status they must complete 75 continuing education credits every 5 years along with paying a fee yearly. Depending on the state that an RD is located in they may need to also obtain and pay for state licensure.
A Nutritionist, on the other hand, is a non-regulated term. Therefore, anyone can call themselves a nutritionist if they so desire. In the medical field nutritionists are not recognized as healthcare professionals and therefore are not covered by insurance.
A comparison chart infographic titled "Dietitian vs. Nutritionist." The chart lists key features in the left column and compares Registered Dietitians (RD/RDNs) to Nutritionists across several categories:
A Registered Dietitian is a regulated healthcare professional trained in clinical nutrition, eating disorder care, chronic disease management, and more. A “nutritionist” is an unregulated title, meaning anyone can use it, regardless of education or experience.
Why Inclusive Nutrition Care Matters
Not all dietitians are HAES-aligned. Traditional dietetics education often lacks trauma-informed or weight-inclusive training, which can lead to unintended harm—especially for those in larger bodies or with a history of disordered eating.
To find a HAES-aligned provider, visit the HAES provider directory on ASDAH.org
Red Flags to Watch For:
Focus on weight loss as the primary goal
Promoting restrictive or fad diets
Shaming specific foods or macronutrients
Lack of formal credentials
Green Flags in Inclusive Nutrition Support:
Uses trauma-informed and inclusive language
Supports body diversity and autonomy
Offers flexible, judgment-free guidance
Does not pathologize food choices
Your Next Step: Find Support That Honors Your Body
At Note to Self Nutrition, we believe everyone deserves nutrition care rooted in science, respect, and compassion. Whether you’re healing from an eating disorder or seeking weight-neutral support for a chronic condition like diabetes or heart disease, HAES-aligned care can make a life-changing difference.
Ready to connect? Reach out to Note to Self Nutrition to find inclusive support tailored to you.
We’d Love to Hear From You!
Note to Self Nutrition LLC is an outpatient dietetics practice specializing in the treatment of eating disorders, women’s health and fertility including PCOS, endometriosis, and hormonal imbalances, diabetes and prediabetes, disordered eating, along with other chronic health conditions such as heart health, hypertension, and kidney disease. Owner and dietitian Lauren Hirschhorn-Tieu is passionate about empowering individuals to build trust with their relationship with food and their body. Lauren provides multiple services including nutritional counseling, recovery coaching, supervision and nutrition presentations. In person availability is offered in Denver. Virtual telehealth services are offered in Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, Colorado, and Florida. We would be honored to join you on your journey to discovering food and body peace!
Contact us for more information regarding our services offered. To schedule a discovery call please visit this link. Be sure to visit our website and sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of the page.
