You may have heard that Steve Cooksey of Diabetes-Warrior.net received a letter back in January from the North Carolina Board of Dietetics and Nutritionists explaining to him that he and his website were being investigated. What was Steve doing wrong, you ask? Well, Steve was sharing his story with his readers and suggesting that they might benefit from following a similar path. And he was doing it without a license! You can read all about it here.
Apparently, Steve sharing advice about diet – whether he offered it for free or charged for it – was a crime and they could take a him to court over it. After he made some changes to his website Steve was told he was in “substantial compliance” with North Carolina law and they closed the investigation. You can read more about that here.
While the North Carolina Board appears to be finished, Steve isn’t. Steve is launching a major battle for Internet freedom and free speech that could impact the millions of people that share advice online everyday, in places like blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. He’s joined the Institute for Justice in filing a lawsuit that challenges the government’s authority to censor ordinary advice and, as a memo I received from the Institute of Justice states, “seeks to answer one of the most important unresolved questions in First Amendment law: When does the government’s power to license occupations trump free speech?”
Mark Sisson is the founder of Mark’s Daily Apple, godfather to the Primal food and lifestyle movement, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Keto Reset Diet. His latest book is Keto for Life, where he discusses how he combines the keto diet with a Primal lifestyle for optimal health and longevity. Mark is the author of numerous other books as well, including The Primal Blueprint, which was credited with turbocharging the growth of the primal/paleo movement back in 2009. After spending three decades researching and educating folks on why food is the key component to achieving and maintaining optimal wellness, Mark launched Primal Kitchen, a real-food company that creates Primal/paleo, keto, and Whole30-friendly kitchen staples.