In today's culture, eating healthy is usually understood to mean eating less.

So what happens when you actually need to eat more?

And everything you've learned about good choices suddenly works against you.

Hello there, I'm Monica Reinagle, and this is the Nutrition Diva podcast, a show where we take a

closer look at nutrition news, research, and trends, and answer your food and nutrition questions.

And I recently heard from a listener who, along with her husband, had decided to adopt a vegan diet.

Now, they weren't trying to lose weight.

They just wanted to eat in a way that felt healthier and more sustainable.

But a year later, both of them have lost a significant amount of weight, and now they are technically underweight.

Now, one of the selling points of plant-based diets is that people who follow them tend to

take in fewer calories and are less likely to be overweight.

And this is an appealing message in a culture that assumes everyone needs to be thinner.

But for this couple, that feature turned out to be a bug.

And instead of steering them toward nutritious foods that are higher in calories, their

health care provider advised them to pick up some nutrition drinks or weight gain shakes,

highly processed products that aren't exactly my idea of good nutrition.

But here's the thing that we need to keep in mind.

Healthcare professionals have also been steeped in diet culture.

And especially for those of them who don't have training in nutrition and dietetics,

the idea of recommending high-calorie foods may seem like heresy,

even when it may actually be appropriate.

I see a similar phenomenon among people who are using anti-obesity medications.

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