• Fad diets are not sustainable in the long run
• Restrictive diets are exhausting – mentally and physically
• Diets are not prioritized properly
• Diets ignore the fact that eating is a pleasure
• Diet will not make you happy and will not solve your life problems

What separates a good nutritionist from one who doesn't care about your health but only about your money? Above all, honesty, setting realistic goals and expectations, and distancing yourself from the ever-emerging fad miracle diets.

A truly competent nutritionist won't lure you into beguiling you with visions of losing a dozen pounds in a few weeks or getting a six-pack in a month. Instead, they'll help you permanently change your eating habits and teach you how to distinguish between what has a real chance of success and what's just a pipe dream. Today, we present a list of things only a good nutritionist can tell you. Note: Some of these truths are very uncomfortable...

1. Diets are not sustainable in the long term

People who seek nutritional counseling after trying (and failing at) various fad diets often feel bad about themselves, saying they don't have the willpower to lose weight. Yet, in most cases, it wasn't the person who actually failed, but the diet: too restrictive or too impractical to be sustained long-term.

2. Restrictive diets are exhausting – mentally and physically

Very strict diets with specific rules ("only eat thing X at Y o'clock," "eat only vegetable soup all day," "eat only protein-rich foods for three days in a row," etc.) are not only very difficult to maintain (because what will you do if your friends invite you over for dinner?), but they also don't teach proper eating habits. Even worse, too few calories weaken your body instead of strengthening it, and it teaches you to listen to it and correctly detect signals about hunger and satiety.

3. Diets are not prioritized correctly

Many people turn to nutrition counseling to shed unwanted pounds, but when setting this goal, it's important to remember that the essence of nutrition should be achieving and maintaining optimal health, not a wasp waist. Remember, there are no "good" or "bad" foods, just the wrong way to eat them. A competent nutritionist should consider other aspects of lifestyle in addition to diet , especially sleep habits and stress management or physical activity.

4. Diets ignore the fact that eating is fun

Even people who say they eat to live, not live to eat, won't deny that food can be a great pleasure. Depriving yourself of it—whether through inappropriate calorie restrictions or by choosing only "super-healthy" but not very tasty or filling foods—is a recipe for failure.

5. Diet will not make you happy or solve your life problems

Faded miracle diets are often advertised with the promise that following their recommendations will, simply put, lead to happiness. In practice, this is usually not the case: The strict, almost religious rules of unreasonable diets place a psychological burden on us, not on us. Every "sin" against a diet causes us to feel guilty and simultaneously damages our self-esteem, so that any potential health benefits (or rather, lost weight) seem insignificant compared to the psychological damage caused by the diet. Remember: nutritional counseling is not psychotherapy, but at the same time, diet shouldn't make us feel guilty!