Florida Health Coach Threatened with Jail Time for
Helping People Make Healthier Food Choices

May 3, 2018

When it comes to government interference, it seems like the southern state of Florida just can’t say “No.” In recent years, the state has continuously come under fire for trampling all over the rights of private citizens – particularly when it comes to food and health freedoms. A Florida health coach is under attack for offering clients advice on how to incorporate healthy foods into their daily lives. You’d think the government has better things to do than crack down on health and wellness, but apparently not.

Heather Kokesh Del Castillo first began her career as a health coach in 2014, back when she still lived in California. She was a privately licensed health coach and operated her own business on the West Coast for years, before moving to Florida. That was when all the problems began.

Holistic health coach under attack

As Reason.com reports, it appears that a local registered dietitian sought to eliminate a little competition by reporting Heather to the Florida Department of Health. The licensed health coach was then cited and fined by the state government for offering nutrition advice without a license. The department underwent a “sting operation,” posing as a potential client and then slapping Heather with fines. In Florida, the “unlicensed practice of dietetics or nutrition is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and $1,000 in fines per offense.” The Department of Health can also seek out civil fines of up to $5,000 per day that the “violation” occurs.

Though Heather never once described herself as a nutritionist or dietitian, the government also presented her with an order to cease and desist providing nutritional advice to her clients. Now, she is looking to fight back against this egregious case of government overreach, with help (and legal counsel) from the Institute for Justice (IJ). As IJ notes, “Occupational licensing boards are increasingly operating as special-interest censors, while licensed practitioners – eager to keep out would-be competitors – often scour advertising spaces in search of people to file complaints against. And this problem is particularly acute for military families like Heather’s, for whom frequent moves often lead to conflict with state licensing boards.”

Heather’s holistic health coach license didn’t preclude her from offering nutritional advice in California, but in the state of Florida, it seems as though she’s viewed as nothing more than a snake oil salesperson.

As the IJ contends, if Heather were to put all of her advice into a book and advertised it, there’d be no issue with the government. While working with her clients as a holistic health coach, Heather helped create personalized exercise regimens and showed them how to incorporate more nutritious foods into their diets. Most everyone knows that they should be eating more fruits and vegetables, but actually incorporating these foods can pose quite the challenge for many people. And according to IJ, Heather’s clients were more than appreciative of her advice – with many seeing great success.

The crackdown on health freedom

Occupational licensing is a growing phenomenon here in the United States; the Institute for Justice says that roughly one out of every four American workers needs some sort of government-issued license to do their job. And for military families like Heather’s, such draconian licensing practices can be exceptionally burdensome, as most every state has different laws. IJ states, “When the U.S. military relocates service members from one state to another, their spouses are often subject to new licensing laws that didn’t exist in their previous state of residence, and their existing professional credentials often aren’t transferable to their new state.”

Florida’s crackdown on nutrition doesn’t just extend to people proffering nutritional advice; the state has also come under fire for targeting and fining families for growing edible gardens on their own property. While proponents of occupational licensing may say that health coaches like Heather are a danger to society and use the convention of a college education and a license to proclaim she’s unqualified to provide nutritional advice – all of this is indicative of a much larger problem: Tyranny.

Only a tyrannical government would see fit to not only prevent people from sharing holistic health advice, but also outlaw families from growing their own, pesticide-free food on their own land. Ultimately, Heather’s clients sought out her expertise of their own volition – they chose to work with a holistic health coach, rather than registered dietitian, for their own reasons. Since when is it the government’s place to say whom you can and cannot do business with? And further, what qualifications does the government have when it comes to health? With the rising rates of obesity, diabetes and other grave conditions, it would seem that fewer people ought to be following the government’s convoluted health advice.

Two sources for the above article include:

IJ.org, which says, in part...

Do adults have the right to talk to other adults about what to buy at the grocery store? That’s the question raised by a federal lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice on behalf of Florida-based health coach Heather Kokesch Del Castillo.

In 2014, Heather left an unfulfilling career to found Constitution Nutrition, a business that specializes in providing one-on-one health coaching for paying clients. As a privately certified health coach, Heather operated successfully and without complaint – first in California and then in Florida – for nearly four years. But in May 2017, Heather was forced to shut down completely, after a licensed dietitian filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Health alleging that Heather was engaging in the unlicensed practice of nutrition/dietetics.

Although Heather has never held herself out as a licensed nutritionist or dietitian, the Florida Department of Health slapped her with an order to cease and desist providing nutritional advice and demanded that she pay over $750 in fines and costs. She would have to spend years of her life and thousands of dollars getting a degree and in training to become a licensed dietitian. Without any realistic options, Heather did as the state ordered and shut down. And she has been turning away willing clients ever since.

Unfortunately, Heather’s situation is not unique. Occupational licensing boards are increasingly operating as special-interest censors, while licensed practitioners – eager to keep out would-be competitors – often scour advertising spaces in search of people to file complaints against. And this problem is particularly acute for military families like Heather’s, for whom frequent moves often lead to conflict with state licensing boards.

But this sort of censorship cannot be squared with the First Amendment. Advice about what people should eat to stay healthy is as old as language and the government has no power to give any group a monopoly on advice about such a common, everyday topic.

That’s why Heather is fighting back. On October 3, 2017, Heather joined with the Institute for Justice to file a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida to strike down Florida’s unconstitutional restrictions on who can give safe dietary advice that customers want to buy. Together, Heather and IJ will vindicate her right – and the rights of all Floridians – to offer nutrition advice and health coaching without the fear of being prosecuted or shut down by the government.

Reason.com, which says, in part...

The State of Florida is threatening a woman with jail unless she stops suggesting to people what to eat. To clarify: Heather Kokesch Del Castillo of Fort Walton Beach is not wandering around the supermarket in giving unsolicited advice. People have been asking her – and paying her – for dietary and nutritional advice. Though all she is doing is talking to people as a health coach, the state has declared her an unlicensed dietitian and fined her more than $750. She faces misdemeanor charges if she doesn't shut her mouth, with further fines of up to $1,000 for each incident and possibly even a year in prison.

Here's a similar article about a Naturopathic doctor forced to shut her clinic for helping people outside the bounds of established medicine.