As dietitians, we all hear crazy stories from our patients about the things they’ve been told regarding their health. Sometimes the things they say are so disturbing, we bottle them up inside and try, with all our might, to pretend like we never heard them say it. But, others are funny enough that we have to share with everyone around us! We’ve been compiling some of the favorites that we’ve heard from other dietitians so that we can share them with you here on the blog. Have you heard any of these?

• “Bananas are the worst food you can eat because they have an enzyme in them that makes you fat!”
• “I heard it’s not healthy to shake salt on my food, so I spoon it on instead.”
• “I thought it’s not good for you to have fruit after 2 pm?”
• Patient in a wheelchair, with 2 below-knee amputations was sucking down packets of mayo in the hospital cafeteria, telling people freely “I have diabetes and can’t eat carbs”.
• This is not from patient, but from a pharmacist (not a technician either) “About 6-8 years ago, when we all were learning about Lipitor interaction and cautioned to not consume grapefruits.”The pharmacist said to not have grapefruit, but you can have grapefruit juice because juice is not the same thing.”
• “Well I’m probably not going to lose much weight now because it’s winter time.  Your metabolism slows down because your body has to preserve the fat because it’s cold.”
• Anything that begins with the phrase “But I heard on Dr. Oz…..”
• “Clear colored soda doesn’t have any calories”
• I had an MD tell me (on TV!) that eating a potato will “make you fat”
• .”Don’t combine fruit with proteins when eating.  When you do this the fruit stays in your stomach longer and rots. Always eat fruit by itself.”

And the #1 urban legend goes to this gem of wisdom…

• I replace all sugar in my recipes with brown sugar instead”, with the person thinking this now made them a whole grain

Because we all know that if it’s brown, it’s a whole grain… right? Thank you to everyone who shared your best RD Urban Legends with us! We got a kick out of reading all of them! Do you have any stories to add to this list? If so, please share them in the comments below or email us at info@ncescatalog.com. We could all use a good laugh today!