On this episode of The Paleo View, Stacy and Sarah are joined by Diana Rodgers of Sustainable Dish to talk about why it’s okay to seek medical attention and not feel ashamed about it. While Paleo can be a very helpful diet for people who are suffering, it’s not a panacea. It is always appropriate to seek medical attention if you can’t fix what’s wrong with you with diet and lifestyle changes alone.

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The Paleo View (TPV), Episode 199, Diana Rodgers and Embracing Modern Medicine

• Intro (0:00)
• News and Views (1:18)
  • We are joined by Diana Rodgers, newly minted Registered Dietician and blogger at Sustainable Dish
  • Diana and Emily Deans just posted an amazing article called Unicorns and Rainbows: The Myth of the Paleo Panacea
    • Paleo will not necessarily solve all of your medical issues
    • There is no shame in seeking medical attention!
    • The goal of Paleo is not to make anyone feel “less than”
    • Diana was inspired by a patient who had Cyclothymia and was worried about going on an antidepressant
    • If you had a heart condition would you stick it out and hope Paleo would make it go away? No way!
    • Modern medicine, with all its criticism from the Real Food Movement, has some great stuff going on!
    • Remember: What’s your goal? Because none of us are making it out of here alive.
    • The search for the optimal human diet is not instead of modern medicine, it’s in addition to it. Find a balance and take advantage of medicine when it is appropriate.
    • The good news: there is no chronic condition that a healthy diet, proper sleep and sufficient activity will not improve.
    • You have not failed if you have to take medication! No moral judgment for medical intervention
    • Even if you choose to go off medication, do it with doctor supervision to monitor for the potential bad effects of going off medicine
    • Read Matt’s blog post about his psychiatric conditions here and here. Remember: It’s super hard to stay off medication for him!
  • It’s amazing how we now have tons of medical professionals in Paleo now! Diana is now a Registered Dietician after a long process
    • Controlled nutrition and IV nutrition save lives!
    • How do you sit in a classroom and listen to things you disagree with? It was really hard for Diana to “waste her time” learning for her RD.
    • By the third week, Diana couldn’t hold her tongue all the time. Luckily, she could text Mat Lalonde (Harvard lecturer, scientist, Kraken) (she trades organ meat from her farm for unlimited texting!)
    • Everything in moderation drives us crazy! It’s not great advice that candy and junk food can be a part of a healthy diet because most people can’t effectively moderate.
    • Diana is a big believer in a period of cleansing like Whole30.
    • The saturated fat is fine new ideas hasn’t made it into her RD classes.
    • Studying for test is hard! She had to figure out their “right” answer because anything she believed would probably be wrong!
    • They wouldn’t accept many of her undergrad classes and she had to start over at Biology 101!
    • Even though she was a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner in practice, none of her experience would count towards her RD.
    • She had a hard time getting an internship because she couldn’t move due to family and farm. So she made sure to get all A’s so she could get an internship in Boston, but was still rejected a lot (maybe due to her Paleo presence on the internet
    • She got into an ISPP (Individualized Supervised Practice Pathways) instead. Allowed her to pay for supervision and allowed her to set her own flexible internship. She paid 6500 dollars!
    • She worked in a community capacity, in a food service capacity and in a medical capacity rotation. Part of her rotation was with Dr. Alessio Fasano, a noted scientist and doctor that studies Celiac disease! Sarah is amazed by that!
    • It was really depressing to talk with dying patients without any opportunity for real food resources.
    • Diana has a couple of offices she works out of, and is taking patients!
    • She’s glad she has a Nutritional Therapy and real food background before she started getting her RD.
    • Diana’s post is “How I Became a Real Food Nutritionist/RD”
    • Over half the states say that only an RD can give nutrition advice, so you have to be careful when writing about nutrition on the internet.
    • And now she can give advice as an RD, and she can accept insurance! She also works with patients online!
    • Diana’s website (with free ebook!) is at Sustainable Dish
    • Her books are Homegrown Paleo, about a local, sustainable, and real food and “The Lunchbox Book” Paleo Lunches and Breakfasts on the Go
    • It’s spring! So start your garden and find a farmer!
• Thank you for listening!
• Outro (33:31)