A friend recently related to me that a blood draw had indicated low Vitamin D levels. Okay, stop right there. I would like to have a TYS [told-you-so] moment. The nutritional and chiropractic community sounded the alarm about this even 4 years ago and were ridiculed for promoting D3 (cholecalciferol) supplements of a dangerous 800 IUs--that's 8 hundred international units--by the medical community. However, now the movement and research in the medical community has picked up steam. The Vitamin D test is standard fare when a patient is complaining of fatigue and exhaustion, especially in Northern climates. And do you know what the patient is told to do? Get Vitamin D3 shots of 50,000 IU weekly, averaging out to 7,100 IUs--7 thousand international units daily--for 8 weeks!
But I digress.
My friend was sharing on Facebook about her relief that there was an answer for her overwhelming fatigue. The many comments back ranged from other people wondering if that's what was wrong with them to sharing her relief to recommendations of their D3 supplement. Unlike my friend Donna's post, there were no armchair nutritionists providing free counsel for her.
But it got me thinking. With both credible voices and noise from Nutrition Nazis in the nutrition community, how do you know when one of them is worth listening to? I am very aware at how weird I am that I get off on learning about how nutrients work in the body. Not everyone is really into learning about nutrition--whom do you know you can rely on?
Here is a checklist of qualities I recommend in a Nutrition Professional or Nutritionist:
They have studied it. They don't have to have gone to Stanford, and they don't even have to have a 4-year degree. However, some accredited program will guarantee mainstream foundational understanding of human anatomy and the science and chemistry behind being nourished. Further, this program will fully encourage deep background checking into the health of the client.
Let me explain why having even a cursory understanding of what happens at a cellular level in the body is so important: it is the essence of what nourishment is. Everything we eat is a chemical--it's made up of atoms and molecules arranged a certain way. Our bodies recognize the elements (remember high school and the Periodic Table of the Elements in chemistry?) in certain ways. For instance, did you know that if you introduce a mineral like calcium into your system and there isn't enough acid present in your body, the mineral can't cross the cell membrane and therefore won't be absorbed and feed your body? That's why chelated calcium is so important. (And why I have no hesitation making a shameless plug for our OsteoProCare or OsteOmegaCare liquid calcium supplements.) I know that these products will be absorbed by people who are both health-compromised on a cellular level, and who are top performers.
If they haven't studied it, they have been at it legitimately for over 7 years. "Been at it" means that they have worked part time in some sort of industry where they assisted in providing nutritional counseling that had at least a 50% success rate with their clients. Why seven years? Because fads cycle at about that rate and every nutritional counselor needs to have fallen for a fad hook, line and sinker once in their life to be able to understand the psychology that goes on behind it in their own brains and in marketing. (Can you say, "Oat bran?")
We all have the men in our lives who coach their favorite football team religiously on Sunday afternoons...in front of the TV. They can recite every stat about players, tell them how they should have gone for a pass instead of running the ball, and get mad at the referees for silly calls. But somehow, when we know those men are in their own pick-up games regularly, or coach the local kid's team, or even attend live events regularly, it's easier to feel they know what they're talking about. They've gotten out there and are living it with others, not just applying it to their own lives.
They work in conjunction with other wellness providers. Perhaps the most ringing endorsement a nutrition professional can receive is from a chiropractor, but health clubs, fitness professionals, and medical doctors also work well. But it's not just incoming referrals, it's the outgoing ones they give. Have they networked enough to know which medical doctors value good health at all levels? Do they know products that will really help you out, and are those products diversified? When you contact people they have recommended, do those people know who the nutrition professional is?
They walk the talk. And I mean, really walk it. My son and daughter shared with me once how hard it was to take the health advice of one of their coaches, because he weighed over 300 pounds. Thankfully, they didn't just stop listening, despite his appearance, and I could in turn affirm a lot of what he was saying. I might even add a corollary to this one: they walk the talk very consistently. My kids know what I eat every day. They see that what I believe is important to me, even when I'm not wanting to eat good food. And, they hate me for that...in the way that let's them know it must be true.
Darren Hardy, in his book The Compound Effect, says, "Habits and behaviors never lie. If there's a discrepancy between what you say and what you do, I'm going to believe what you DO every time. If you tell me you want to be healthy, but you've got Doritos dust on your fingers, I'm believing the Doritos!" (This is a very motivational book, by the way, to keep doing the "little" things day in and out that get monotonous and boring.)
What about you? What are some things you feel are important to a respectable nutritionist/nutrition professional? Let me know in the comments below...