WASHINGTON Steve Cooksey eats what he calls a cave man diet lots of meat and greens, no bread or pasta. He says it has helped him conquer life-threatening diabetes. <\/p>\n
But when he wrote about his experiences and offered advice on his Web site, officials in North Carolina said he was breaking the law by providing nutrition care services without a license. <\/p>\n
Charla M. Burill, the executive director of the North Carolina Board of Dietetics\/Nutrition, called Mr. Cooksey in January to tell him so. The conversation was by all accounts civil, and Ms. Burill had a state law on her side. <\/p>\n
About a week after they talked, Ms. Burill sent Mr. Cooksey pages from his site liberally annotated in red ink. She said that writing a blog on your beliefs was fine. But Mr. Cookseys Dear Abby-style advice column was unlawful. So was a paid life-coaching service. <\/p>\n
You are no longer just providing information when you do this, she wrote of the column and the service. You are assessing and counseling, both of which require a license. <\/p>\n
Indeed, a North Carolina law says that assessing the nutritional needs of individuals and groups without a license is a crime. Many other states license nutritionists and dietitians, but the North Carolina law seems to be among the stricter ones. <\/p>\n
In her markup of Mr. Cookseys site, Ms. Burill underlined examples of unlawful advice, including this one: I do suggest that your friend eat as I do and exercise the best they can. <\/p>\n
Mr. Cooksey reluctantly made the requested changes. Then he filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Charlotte, N.C., saying his First Amendment rights had been violated. <\/p>\n
Cookseys advice, his lawyers wrote, ultimately amounts to recommendations about what to buy at the grocery store more steaks and avocados and less pasta, for example. <\/p>\n
The First Amendment simply does not allow North Carolina to criminalize something as commonplace as advice about diet, they added. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\nNutrition Blogger Fights North Carolina Licensing Rebuke<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"