Blogging about a Diet Can Get You Thrown in Jail in North Carolina

[Swiper]

The state of North Carolina has its own "Board of Dietetics and Nutrition"--of course it does--and it has decided that one bloggers right to free speech ends where the North Carolina Board of Dietetics and Nutrition's officious overbearingness begins, as I think Oliver Wendell Holmes (or was it Oliver Wendell Douglas?) once wrote.

Here's the naughty bits, as reported in Carolina Journal:

[When] Steve Cooksey...was hospitalized with diabetes in February 2009, he decided to avoid the fate of his grandmother, who eventually died of the disease. He embraced the low-carb, high-protein Paleo diet, also known as the “caveman” or “hunter-gatherer” diet. The diet, he said, made him drug- and insulin-free within 30 days. By May of that year, he had lost 45 pounds and decided to start a blog about his success.

But this past January the state diatetics and nutrition board decided Cooksey’s blog — Diabetes-Warrior.net — violated state law. The nutritional advice Cooksey provides on the site amounts to “practicing nutrition,” the board’s director says, and in North Carolina that’s something you need a license to do.

Unless Cooksey completely rewrites his 3-year-old blog, he could be sued by the licensing board. If he loses the lawsuit and refuses to take down the blog, he could face up to 120 days in jail.

The board’s director says Cooksey has a First Amendment right to blog about his diet, but he can’t encourage others to adopt it unless the state has certified him as a dietitian or nutritionist.

Seems he came to their attention after contradicting a local hospital's director of diabetes services at a local meeting, and handing out cards about his site. What did the Board find objectionable about Cooksey's site?

Cooksey posted a link (6.3 MB PDF download) to the board’s review of his website. The document shows several Web pages the board took issue with, including a question-and-answer page, which the director had marked in red ink noting the places he was “assessing and counseling” readers of his blog.

“If people are writing you with diabetic specific questions and you are responding, you are no longer just providing information — you are counseling,” she wrote. “You need a license to provide this service."

The board also found fault with a page titled “My Meal Plan,” where Cooksey details what he eats daily.

In red, [Dietetics and Nutrition Board director] Burril writes, “It is acceptable to provide just this information [his meal plan], but when you start recommending it directly to people you speak to or who write you, you are now providing diabetic counseling, which requires a license.”

The board also directed Cooksey to remove a link offering one-on-one support, a personal-training type of service he offered for a small fee.

Cooksey posts the following disclaimer at the bottom of every page on his website:

“I am not a doctor, dietitian, nor nutritionist … in fact I have no medical training of any kind.”

The bureaucrat speaks!

Charla Burill, the board’s director, told Carolina Journal she could not discuss the details of Cooksey’s case because his website is still under investigation, but agreed to talk about the law in the hypothetical....

Burill said [Cooksey's] disclaimer may not protect a nutrition blogger from the law.

“If I’ve given you reason to not worry that I don’t have a license because I have all these other reasons I’m an expert, you could still harm the public,” she said. “At least you’re not trying to mislead the public, but you’re trying to get the public to trust you.”....

Burill said if Cooksey refuses to come into compliance with the law, the board could file for an injunction.

The paleo diet--a passionate fad and/or lifestyle change of an enormous number of folk I know concentrated in the world's of libertarianism, futurism, space, and your basic "new digital economy" (does that still exist?) and the places where all those interests intersect--may or may not save you from diabetes, give you the pep you need, or revert you back down the evolutionary chain, or whatever it's supposed to do.

But that someone should be able to describe his experiences with it and advocate for his own good results should go without saying, though my saying that may well contradict a directive of the California Board of Going Without Saying.

The board's review of Cooksey's site. in remarkably official-looking pen scrawls in margins of a printout of the site.

Read Cooksey's site if you care to--it ain't illegal (yet).

In a previous century, I wrote about the Federal Trade Commission's power to essentially censor speech when it comes to claims about chiropraxy.
http://m.reason.com/26821/show/b6ace...b3a71a82d3274/

[Triple-H_2005]

What horse shit!

I know that the government and the healthcare industry want to keep the population unhealthy, but I didn't think they'd go to these lengths to do it.

[Friendly Milkshake]

Cooksey posts the following disclaimer at the bottom of every page on his website:

“I am not a doctor, dietitian, nor nutritionist … in fact I have no medical training of any kind.”

at least he put this up....another way to waste money! also bringing him into the limelight! great job inbreds!

i guess Carolinans must eat BBQ and coleslaw to keep there economy running...and he was about to fuck shit up for them!!

[Triple-H_2005]

Cooksey posts the following disclaimer at the bottom of every page on his website:

“I am not a doctor, dietitian, nor nutritionist … in fact I have no medical training of any kind.”

at least he put this up....another way to waste money! also bringing him into the limelight! great job inbreds!

i guess Carolinans must eat BBQ and coleslaw to keep there economy running...and he was about to fuck shit up for them!!

Actually, many of us prefer our barbeque without coleslaw...it's actually pretty healthy when eaten right out of the smoker and when one eschews the fries and hush puppies.

And, as an aside, most states have similar laws....not just us "inbred" yokels.

[swingslammer]

So what does that mean for a site like this? Where does that leave us? Hmmmmm

[KnightXavi]

Actually, many of us prefer our barbeque without coleslaw...it's actually pretty healthy when eaten right out of the smoker and when one eschews the fries and hush puppies.

And, as an aside, most states have similar laws....not just us "inbred" yokels.

True. Plus coleslaw is a awful side to proper barbeque. IMO, it hides/ruins BBQ's real taste. I like to taste my meat.

[Darin Starr]

Many states have a 'law' like this on the books, but enforcement is very spotty. This dude got unlucky, but it makes me a bit paranoid. The state board of dietetics wants a monopoly on nutritional advice which is ridiculous. If someone gives me some ibuprofen for a headache are they now 'practicing medicine' and eligible for jail time?

[Johnny Bravo]

LOLmerica.

[Rackyourweights]

His diet must really be effective for these so called "experts" to be so threatened by it.
"Hey....don't tell people with diabetes how to cure themselves with food! Then they won't need us anymore!"

[gabe_peterson]

Dr Connally said on a show with Dave that if Doctors were going to use nutrition to treat patients in place of medicine that most Doctors would have to go back to school for a number of years to do so.

I've spoken with nutritionist as a nurse and they are taught a lot of good info, however the whole diabetic thing never sat well with me as a Keto guy.

[Triple-H_2005]

Dr Connally said on a show with Dave that if Doctors were going to use nutrition to treat patients in place of medicine that most Doctors would have to go back to school for a number of years to do so.

I've spoken with nutritionist as a nurse and they are taught a lot of good info, however the whole diabetic thing never sat well with me as a Keto guy.

Dr. Connelly is EXACTLY right. After 8 years of nutritional discussions with physicians (when I do lunch for a Doc's office, I always bring my own food, this always elicits a conversation about nutrition), I have come to the conclusion that I wouldn't trust 99% of physicians to give any truly good nutritional advice. To anyone. Ever.

It's appalling to see just how deficient today's medical "professionals" are when it comes to nutrition.

[M. Vince Goodrum]

What horse shit!

I know that the government and the healthcare industry want to keep the population unhealthy, but I didn't think they'd go to these lengths to do it.

North Carolina is a state that has way too many problems with enforcing laws without any serious thought. When they passed a law charging taxes on affiliate links, they didn't realize or just was too fucking retarded to realize that you can't take 7% of a product to which you're only going to make 5-10%

As a result, my affiliate accounts on Bodybuilding.com and Amazon were cancelled. Didn't make much money but it was still money to pay bills