[quote]johnnychimpo wrote:
[quote]frederickson wrote:
poliquin tends to make unsupported and outrageous claims, but don’t think for a second that a medical degree is in any way a nutritional qualification.
most md’s don’t know anything - and i mean NOT A FUCKING THING - about nutrition. it is most often an elective in medical school curriculum, and it is an afterthought (3 or 4 credit hours, max) in schools were nutrition is required.
before anyone starts huffing and puffing at me, i do have doctor after my name. most of my nutritional knowledge was self-taught and researched for my dissertation. the vast majority my physician colleagues (and even some phds) are clueless about nutrition, still touting low-fat diets and the food pyramid idiocy.[/quote]
I’m currently in medical school. I can agree, medical school has so far taught me very little about nutrition and nothing beyond the food pyramid. However Poliquin is discussing biochemical and physiological aspects of digestion, and is obviously talking out of his ass. A nutritionist is most likely far more qualified to produce a sound dietary plan than I ever will be. However when it comes to understanding how the body works, doctors do have the upper-hand. Through our education we have the ability to read and comprehend the textbooks and studies that people like Poliquin obviously misinterpret.
I’m posting this to counteract the impression that people seem to have of doctors being clueless about nutrition, injury rehab, or anything else related to health for that matter. There is a reason we go to school for upwards of 10 years, and PT’s and nutritionists can get their “degrees” in a few months. We spend that time building a deep foundation that gives us the ability to speak authoritatively on most things having to do with the human body.
People are smart enough to realize their mechanic isn’t qualified to design a race car, and that the kid selling them concrete down at the Home Depot isn’t capable of building a skyscraper. But somehow everyone seems to believe that some nurse, the trainer at the gym, or some asshole on the internet knows more than a doctor would about the human body. [/quote]
Actually, at Stony Brook University Hospital Department of Family Medicine, they are now giving future MDs THREE courses on nutrition, thanks to my former dietetic internship director and professor who’s teaching the classes.
Registered dietitians actually study sites of absorption too. I’ve had courses in medical nutrition therapy, anatomy & physiology, biochemistry, microbiology, and advanced nutrition metabolism.
It’s clear that Poliquin is off his rocker, as is the rest of the pseudo-healthcare professionals out there (Paul Chek comes to mind).
I’m also getting quite sick of people ripping on registered dietitians for things they’re not even involved with. I remember reading an article on here that started out with something like: "What I discuss here isn’t approved by the American Dietetics Association, which is why it makes it even more suitable for us… " - clearly a snide remark intended to ridicule we registered dietitians.
I find it quite amusing that a writers and forum members on a bodybuilding site rip on RDs when 1) a tiny minority–maybe a fraction of a percent–of RDs are even involved in sports and bodybuilding dietetics and 2) RDs not involved will tell you to go elsewhere if you question them on that field of dietetics.
Do these people think that we RDs run around telling patients, co-workers, clients, and consumers–some of whom are deathly ill, dirt poor, in trouble, or demented out of their gourds–in hospitals, ICUs, CCUs, outpatient clinics, college classes, nursing homes, foodservice operations, kitchens, WIC clinics, and food banks saying shit like: "Alright, this is what you do for your post-workout meal… The Anaconda Protocol seems to be working well for some people; give it a shot… For your next show… "
NO, we don’t!
So such criticism isn’t even warranted - criticism applied to people who don’t even bother with the field being spoken of.
And I don’t know what RDs people on here speak to secondary to all the talk of us being a bunch of carby-chomping, fruit-juice-guzzling, out-of-date, Food Guide Pyramid-loving jagoffs! Most of my professors and colleagues are open to studying and talking about different dietary protocols.
Actually most savvy nutrition professionals are now in favor of the Mediterranean Diet model, an approach to eating that is similar to the approach touted on here by Lonnie Lowery (an RD himself) and John Berardi. And new pyramids coming out are further stressing the importance of physical activity and decreasing the amount of starchy carbs everyone’s consuming in enormous amounts. A diagram depicting physical activity has replaced the starchy carb/grain diagram in some pyramids.
