You are not helping me.

I love it when "nutrition experts" - self appointed, mostly - pass on the ole' chestnut of wisdom to "avoid too much of x."

How is this helpful in any way?

"Too much" of something is, by definition, too much. You can have too much of anything - water, salt, skittles, physical activity, in-laws - anything! I've never once heard anyone say, "I'm going to try to have too much of this," or, better yet, "I'd like a little bit more than too much, please."

By saying, "Avoid having too much fruit in your diet," a nutritionist is simply using a vague description of a non-quantifiable amount to sound like they know what they're talking about.

Why is that?

Maybe it's because they were educated in a barn.

It's not as implausible as it sounds. Up here in the Great White North, there is no federal standard for the title of 'Nutritionist'. According to the Dietitians of Canada (seems like a good source): "The term Nutritionist is not protected by law in all provinces..." And, in fact, the Ontario College of Dietitians clarifies the issue (for Ontarians) further, saying: "...people do not require any training to call themselves a nutritionist." Consider the number of nutritionists out there spewing forth advice on what you should and shouldn't put in your body.

That is to say that there's nothing stopping me from opening a "Nutrition College," spending all the course time teaching students to horse-back ride, and then issuing one hundred percent authentic pieces of paper saying "Certified Nutritionist."

I'm sure that most nutrition institutions aren't so malicious and disingenuous. But the point is - they could be. And you'd never know.

The problem here is that nutritionists then go out in to the world and tell other people what's healthy and unhealthy for people without, necessarily, having the slightest clue what that science behind their advice is. I've heard nutritionists say things that are blatantly contradictory to peer-reviewed research papers, and people believe them. It's frightening.

So next time someone tells you what to eat, or not eat under the authoritative guise of being a 'nutritionist' - be wary. Especially if they're using vaguely ambiguous terms that could mean anything. Or nothing.