bite my words

Dispelling nutrition myths, ranting, and occasionally, raving

Tag Archives: exercise


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An open letter to personal trainers

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Dear personal trainers,

I am begging you to please stop giving your clients nutrition advice and meal plans. Unless you also have a degree in nutrition you are often causing more harm than good.

As a dietitian, I know my scope of practice. I have never provided clients with exercise advice or training routines. This, despite the fact that I feel like I know a fair bit about exercise and fitness. I realise that there are others, such as yourselves, who are far more qualified to provide that expertise.

It’s hard enough to combat the nutrition misinformation provided by the media, celebrities, and the general populace, without having to deal with misinformation provided by other healthcare professionals.

Please stop telling your clients that sweet potatoes are a “super food” and “regular” potatoes are nutritional no-noes. Please stop telling your clients that carbs are the food of the devil and that protein shakes are suitable for everyone. The diet you follow for a fitness competition is not actually healthy and is not advisable for the general population. Please stop telling your clients to eat tuna at every meal as part of a detox diet. Besides the fact that there is no such thing as a detox diet, tuna, with its mercury content is not going to do anything to aid in detoxification. Just stop.

Sincerely,

Diana Chard, RD


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Not so sweet sweat

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I was struggling for blogspiration this week. Fortunately a friend and fellow dietitian came through by sharing this post about Sweet Sweat with me.

This product purportedly encourages localized fat-loss during exercise. The post claims that if you touch an area of your body with little or no fat that it will be much warmer to the touch than an area of the body with “stubborn fat”. This difference (which I’m not buying – my tummy feels warmer than my arm) is attributed to the “fact” that there is less circulation to the area of your body with the greater amount of fat. Supposedly, applying Sweet Sweat to your troublesome areas before a workout will increased the circulation to the area and thus the fat will pretty much melt away.

What are the magical ingredients in Sweet Sweat? Their website doesn’t say. It doesn’t really matter anyway. Lotion or no lotion, you can’t target specific areas of your body to reduce fat. If you want to know the truth about exercise and health you should read The Cure for Everything by Tim Caulfield and  Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights by Alex Hutchinson. The short of it is that you can’t control which areas of your body to lose fat from when you’re working out. The harder you exercise, and the healthier a diet you consume, the more likely you are to achieve the results you want. Sweet Sweat is not going to help you reach your fitness goals.


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What’s the benefit of exercise?

I was listening to the radio the other day and they were interviewing a Dr who conducted some research on a physical activity intervention on elementary school children. The segment was introduced as being about obesity. I can’t recall exactly what the intervention was but, naturally, it had no effect on obesity levels in the children.

I know that obesity is the big thing right now (pun totally intended) but I think that we need to stop approaching every study about exercise and nutrition as a weight loss intervention. We already know that diet generally accounts for about 80% of the weight loss equation. Therefore, logically, physical activity interventions are unlikely to have a significant effect on weight.

This focus on obesity causes us to lose focus on other benefits to be had from physical activity. Just because children didn’t lose weight from the intervention doesn’t mean that such interventions aren’t worthwhile. Benefits of physical activity and exercise include: increased healthspan, decreased risk of many chronic diseases (e.g. depression, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, some forms of cancer, osteoporosis, dementia), stronger immune system, increased energy, better quality of sleep, etc. I always say that exercise is my drug of choice.


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What I hate about New Year’s resolutions

I know that as a dietitian you would think that I would be all gung-ho about people making New Years resolutions to eat healthier/lose weight/exercise more. Then again, if you know me, or read my blog, you probably won’t be all that surprised to learn that I am not a huge fan of these sorts of resolutions.

I keep overhearing people talking about their resolutions to “go on a diet”, to “lose ten pounds”, to “go to the gym”. They kind of make me want to tear out my hair. It’s all I can do to keep my mouth shut by biting my tongue. I’m all for people becoming healthier. I wouldn’t have studied nutrition if I wasn’t. I’m also a huge fan of exercise and active transportation. And I practice what I preach. However, I view these types of resolutions as pretty much guaranteed to fail.

There is absolutely no point in resolving to do something that you hate. If you don’t like going to the gym or running or whatever exercise you’re resolving to do, you’re not going to stick with it. Pick something that you will actually get some enjoyment out of. Try different things. Sometimes it’s going to be a battle but it shouldn’t feel like torture to lace up your sneakers.

Diets are the dreaded “D” word. I wish I could remove that word from our vernacular. Dieting has become synonymous with deprivation. I also don’t think that anyone views a diet as a permanent change. Sure, you can lose weight through depriving yourself of calories or food groups but odds are you’re not going to be able to continue to do so for the rest of your life. As I’ve said again and again: if you want to see sustainable weight loss, you’ve got to make sustainable changes.

These resolutions are also fairly vague. If you do want to improve your health try to focus on reasonable goals that you might actually stick with. One year I resolved to do yoga at least once a week because I felt I needed to improve my flexibility. And yes, I did stick with it; not because I love yoga (I don’t) but because I’m stubborn and sometimes it’s for my own good. Suggested realistic resolutions: aim to cook at least X number of meals at home a week, bring a lunch to work at least 4 days a week, only buy coffee out once a week, switch to drinking your coffee black, aim to add an extra serving of vegetables or fruit every day, try a new (to you) fruit/vegetable/grain/other whole food every time you go grocery shopping. Resolutions should be about making your life better.


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Follow Friday: @sweatscience

Interested in learning more about the latest fitness research? Then you should check out Alex Hutchinson’s blog Sweat Science. His writing style is accessible to even the least scientifically inclined athlete. He’s also the author of a great book: Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights: Fitness Myths, Training Truths, and Other Surprising Discoveries from the Science of Exercise. 

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