Nutrition has failed us.

My son walked into the kitchen while I was preparing dinner, removed his ear bud to say hello and, upon hearing the guest on a podcast I was streaming say the word “organic,” he rolled his eyes, replaced the ear bud and left the room. “I’m doing research!” I shouted after him, but I knew he wasn’t listening. He was tired of hearing about food, while I am ever curious. I will never know it all—nor do I want to. With all my education, years of reviewing research, conducting interviews, writing a food column, a decade of clinical practice and a lifetime of recipe experimentation, still my perspective feels limited.

I’m not a farmer, producer, chef or nutrition scientist. I’m not in the “food biz,” despite talking about food all the time (according to my kids). I’m not indoctrinated into a paradigm of nutritionism or a system of health that narrows my mind.

I’m just a nutritionist.

In my kitchen that day, alone, as the podcast episode continued, a Florida blueberry farmer said, “Nutritionists have let us down.” His statement caused me to stop chopping peppers to listen.

I’m just a nutritionist who is keenly aware of how nutrition is failing us.

He wasn’t talking about nutritionists like me, was he? He spoke of the unintended consequences of our food system—the health of our entire ecosystem. He, and the host, discussed how measuring food is futile—it’s simply too complicated. They described the loss of freedom to choose real, good food—the kind of food that makes us well.

Over these past weeks the idea of nutrition letting us down has permeated my mind and heart. Am I part of the problem or part of the solution, I wondered.

I’ve landed on a few ways I believe nutritionists, generally, are performing injustices to the biz of health and wellbeing. Please know, these are observations, not blame.

We repeat what has not worked in the past. We count calories, protein, calcium and water intake. We revert to numbers that quantify food, fluids, weight, age, risk. We aim for 20-30 grams of protein with every meal and believe data about protein quantities in a food is accurate, without asking where the information comes from, who conducted it, when, how often, with which measuring tools or how many samples and from exactly which sources. We download apps to calculate nutrition statistics, not realizing it’s the same, generalized data used everywhere and no one is questioning. In our obsession with information, we forget to ask ourselves how we feel which is, ultimately, the only observation that untimately matters.

We reduce food to the sum of its parts. We fixate on macros, micros and phytonutrients like antioxidants, carotenoids, flavanols, glucosinolates, polyphenols. We define foods as functional, processed and super. We categorize foods as “good” or “bad” based on whether they’re fast or slow, whole or ultra-processed, organic or conventional. We label food as gluten free, free range, grass-fed, low-fat, high-protein, rBST-free, biodynamic and regenerative to coerce healthy purchases, yet offer no definitions, clarity or education. We suggest food as convenience, fuel or medicine rather than nourishment and the sustenance of life.

We rely on a system that was not designed for wellbeing. Our conventional medical system was created out of necessity during wartime to treat wounded soldiers and to quarantine the sick. Coordinated bedside care was vital to save limbs, cure infections and nurse people back to health. Healthcare co-organized with scientists, academia and governments to control diseases and outbreaks. It has never blossomed out of a need to cultivate deep, inner wellness or to discover the true essence of food and vitality.

We resonate with influencers not messaging for your health. Frustrated with band-aids, chronic pain and surmounting symptoms, we go online. We google. We attract paid ads and health and wellness influencers telling us what worked for them. Often, their hacks and tips make sense. Often, they share protocols for a certain kind of person, symptom or pain point. Often, they’re still working on their own health issues, which is relevant because we’re all working on healing or overcoming something. Often, they’re qualified professionals. However, they are not giving you personalized guidance so, often, their free advice or expensive course offers a morsel of hope yet creates a cocktail of confusion.

We retain a diet culture not grounded in long-term wellbeing. We’re inundated with the benefits of a ketogenic, carnivore, vegetarian, vegan, Mediterranean, DASH, Autoimmune Protocol and Paleo diets. In non-Western fields, we recommend intermittent fasting, cleansing, detoxing, biohacking, functional testing and continue to suggest eliminating entire food groups, like legumes, grains or dairy. These trends perpetuate the endless cycle of not knowing what’s “right” for our bodies, contaminating our minds and contributing to the cycle of dis-ease.

We relegate health to diet. We still don’t trust natural rhythms—or ourselves. We treat lifestyle like a side-dish. We require scientific studies to tell us breathwork is healing and screens are harmful. We don’t trust seasons, celestial bodies or ancient traditions that have not yet been validated by modern science.

I continue to question how to move forth in such a complicated field of study, as a nutritionist who can trust my own wisdom and experience and guided to trust every client who visits me.  

We are given everything we need here on Earth. As we seek health, remember most modern food lacks the nutrients it’s designed (by Mother Earth) to proliferate. Instead, our food is designed (by humans) to prosper in quantity, not quality. Our food system is designed to feed the masses around the globe with more food, which has compromised the nutrient-density of food and, therefore, the health of the planet it’s meant to serve.

Until I understand more, I will endeavor to lift you up, unearth your innate wisdom, inspire your return to biological flow, and support the expansion of our intellect beyond comprehension and into deep-rooted, fruitful wellbeing.

References:

The Real Organic Podcast, episode #274 (May, 2026) with Hugh Kent: https://realorganicproject.org/hugh-kent-science-of-life-on-organic-farm/

 Originally written for and published by 5BGazette.com.