Do you design Nutrition Programs for your clients? If so what programs do you use or recommend?
With all due respect “Anonymous,” most trainers do understand legal risk in this profession, and many carry insurance. I have worked with literally hundreds of trainers from all over the nation over a 27 year span, and I have never known one of them that got sued talking about nutrition. You apparently know “trainers” (plural) that have been sued?” Really? How wacky are the trainers you are associating with? In fact, I have not known even one trainer in 27 years who has been sued for anything related to fitness and nutrition. Not saying that it can’t happen, but usually for a lawsuit to occur, the information given has to be really crazy and the damages caused have to be fairly significant. That is very very rare in this industry, even with many trainers saying crazy stuff. But the fact that you know “trainers” that have been sued really concerns me more about your associations. Humm. As I stated earlier, nutrition is very very simple. A plant-based diet is the healthiest diet for humans. Animal protein and dairy cause a multitude of health problems in human beings. To the extent that most trainers on this site simply have not a clue about this information is alarming to say the least. Furthermore, this training industry has exacerbated the problem by trying to limit the “scope of practice” to not include dietary advice. It is not possible to separate fitness and nutrition, and can easily be taught by a personal trainer. Most Registered Dietitians advocate the Food Pyramid, now food plate, which is so ignorant of correct dietary fact and science that it is mortifying. To consider government food recommendations the standard the optimal dietary health is equally mortifying. So really, the average trainer couldn’t do anymore damage to a persons health than your average R.D. Having said that, there are some good R.D.’s out there advocating animal free plant-based diets. The whole idea of limiting a trainers “scope of practice” is all about “turf control” by the American Dietetic Society, and nothing else. They push this idea that nutrition is somehow really complicated and way out of the scope of trainers, and that only R.D.’s should be able to do this. This is complete nonsense to say the least! Truth is, they don’t want the competition.
So many personal trainers and R.D.’s advocate dairy and whey protein drinks. Whey is dairy. It is a well known fact through much research that dairy is one of the most carcinogenic foods that a human can consume in his or her lifetime. But, trainers and dietitians both recommend this crap. Where is the outrage over this??? Or is everyone not aware of this and still in the dark ages about the subject? Simply put, humans should not be nursing a cow at any point in their life. We are not cows. Watching this video might be a start for many of you, http://www.milkdocumentary.com/ . I would also recommend reading, “The China Study.” the most significant dietary research ever conducted in human history.
Listen all of you potentially great trainers out there, quick referring your nutrition out to R.D.’s, educate yourself on the value of a plant-based diet, research the references provided above, quit being a victim to “not my scope of practice” nonsense, and start giving accurate dietary recommendations to your clients based on good solid science. Furthermore, make money for this service. Nutrition should be well within your scope if you will just educate yourself a little.
Websites to visit as well: www.drmcdougal.com, www.pcrm.org, www.wellnessforum.com. Good luck in becoming a knowledgeable and well rounded fitness professional.