A
little background. Last week (has mercury unretrograded? hope so) Carolyn and I
received more than a few emails from clients saying, “my trainer told me to
buy”. We dutifully checked out said product and found nasty ingredients or
something super processed. Thus this post. We totally get that that there is an
overlap with fitness and nutrition but…I’ll get Carolyn take it away.
When in doubt we refer out to doctors, acupuncturists, yogis, and
even stylists and organizationalists. We also love trainers and fitness instructors,
for so many Foodtrainers’ clients they’re the other piece of the fit puzzle. But
when some start dropping nutrition instructions when they should be teaching
how to lift weights, I have some issues. Would you ask your therapist for
workout tips? OK, ok once my old therapist “prescribed” me yoga (followed soon
after by Xanax if we’re being honest) but for the most part, professionals
should stick to their field, right?
Lauren and I always preface our (very minimal) exercise
recommendations with “we’re not trainers” because we think expertise is
essential. We love reaching out to our favorite exercise professionals when we
need fitness facts for our newsletters or posts. We went to school for a
loooooong time to get to the nutrition expert level. We learned how meds can
interact with nutrients, gained an understanding of blood work and lab values
etc. So when instructors make weird food
or supplement or, maybe worst of all, cleanse recommendations in the middle of
a Soul Cycle class, it makes us a little grouchy. The same can be said for
doctors who get on average a week, maybe two of nutrition education tops.
There are the examples of trainers who do it right though the
badass Holly Rilinger was writing a post on her experience with juicing but she
asked for my nutrition input. YES! And another trainer-friend of Foodtrainers
gave us one of my favorite exercise quotes “you cant out train a bad diet”.
Hallelujah!
But whether it’s coming from a trainer, a chiropractor, a fit
friend or an insta-crush:
- If a product looks sketchy it probably is
- If your diet is on track you don’t need to be loading up on countless, expensive supplements
- Just because it worked for someone else doesn’t mean it will work or last for you
- If you have any health condition, take meds or even other vitamins all of these things have to be evaluated when you make dietary changes
Listen, in the world of insta and twitter there are lots of
health enthusiasts that can easily be mistaken for experts. So look for
credentials, ask for research, and then you can always ask us on twitter
@onesmartbrownie @Foodtrainers
What do
you think? Should trainers provide nutrition information or not? Where is the
line? Perhaps encouraging hydration or breakfast eating is ok but what about
specifics? And what about RDs, where should we curb our exercise advice?
