What I'm Really Thinking: The Nutritionist

Clients tell, I want to improve my health when really they want a better body but wont say it for fear of seeming vain

I often sit in the clinic chair feeling embarrassed or frustrated. Embarrassed because the nutrition industry has let so many people down so badly; frustrated at how resistant people are to changes that will improve their own health. I never suppose, How on earth did you let yourself get like this? because the reality is more complex. Stress, trauma and social anxieties all drive how we eat.

I work with all kinds of clients, from athletes to post-operative referrals. Most tell, I want to improve my health, when really they want a better body but wont say it for fear of appearing to be vain. Often they know what they should be doing, but arrive expect either a miracle or some secret way to get the job done more easily. I cant blame them. The food and diet industry, of which I am a part, drives fads to boost sales, and reports every new breakthrough based on research that, taken in isolation, means very little.

With its miracle weight-loss answers and gimmicks such as juicing and superfoods, the nutrition world is a apparently endless bullshit machine. Bogus claims about chlorophyll oxygenating the body or chocolate being an octave of sun energy arent simply riling, theyre dangerous; they displace useful, evidence-based information and turning people off the more sensible aspects of the industry. The populace are being exploited, and that upsets the good practitioners.

There wouldnt be opportunities for these people if the industry were properly regulated. Nutrition therapists seems to think that simply because they own a mouth and a colon, theyre experts; but owning a vehicle does not construct you a mechanic.

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