NC Threatens Local Blogger with Jail Time for Speaking His Mind on Nutrition!

This is why we need to stay on top of our Natural Health freedoms! You would think an individual could have personal opinions and talk about information that they have uncovered that helped them with a personal issue. Basically saying, “Look, this worked for me!” Well, apparently not if it crosses those in “power.”

State Threatens to Shut Down Nutrition Blogger

“The North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition is threatening to send a blogger to jail for recounting publicly his battle against diabetes and encouraging others to follow his lifestyle.

Chapter 90, Article 25 of the North Carolina General Statutes makes it a misdemeanor to ‘practice dietetics or nutrition’ without a license. According to the law, ‘practicing’ nutrition includes ‘assessing the nutritional needs of individuals and groups’ and ‘providing nutrition counseling.’

Steve Cooksey has learned that the definition, at least in the eyes of the state board, is expansive.

When he 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.”

I, personally, know the benefits of a lowered carbohydrate diet for those suffering from Syndrome-X conditions. It is a shame that we are no longer being allowed to simply express opinions on what has worked for us!