Diet problems? Hire a Food Trainer

Say goodbye to the old-school dietitian sitting behind your desk showing you what three ounces of lean meat look like (tape) and say hello to the growing new breed of practicing dietitians also known as “Food Trainer”.

Food trainer?

Provides user-friendly, take-home advice For virgin dieters, this new way of dieting combines time management, psychology, and sound eating advice, and offers it The disciples provided a variety of props to help them redo their diets from the inside out.

“The idea grew out of classic nutrition and what doesn’t work,” says New York City-based nutritionist Lauren Slayton, MS, RD, founder and director of Foodtrainers. “We looked at people’s complaints and experiences in the weight loss world, and it seems like people are looking for something personal and something that fits their schedule,” she tells WebMD.

< p align="left">“I said, ‘Tell me what doesn’t work,’ and we went from there,” she said. For example, she said, some people hate weighing and measuring their food, while others don’t like group settings.

The missing link?

Then they look at the schedule, Slayton said.

“The time management part of nutrition is often overlooked,” she says. “We’re constantly making suggestions that people are you and who you are, but the more resources you give them, like highlighted take-out menus and information on how to serve snacks, the success rate continues to rise,” she said. p>

Slayton and his colleagues have a few other tricks. A cheat sheet, available by subscription, lists the nutrition facts for anything from Halloween candy and protein bars to fruit. The group is finalizing a “happy hour cheat sheet” for those who go for drinks and appetizers after get off work.

Instead of sitting behind her desk, Slayton goes to the supermarket with her clients to help them choose healthy foods that fit their lifestyles. Slayton also provides her local clients with a copy of The Healthy Shopper, a guide to health food stores in New York, cheap sweatshirt wholesalers, and Connecticut, along with their addresses, delivery policies, and websites . p>

That’s the essence of food training, she says.

Troubleshooting

Like most nutritionists, Slayton and her colleagues focus on their clients’ goals—whether it’s increasing energy, losing weight, gaining weight, Cholesterol management, or prenatal or postnatal counseling.

But “we also focus on trouble spots,” she said. “Is it someone who grabs a child’s plate or someone who is engaged in late-night eating or workplace eating?” she said. “It’s not really about the food choices you make in a blue moon, like that birthday cake. It’s more about what your daily breakfast and snacks are.”

For example, “Are you a mom who needs to carry snacks with you when picking up their kids from school, or a business traveler who needs non-perishable snacks to take on a plane?” she said.

After the first visit, they will make changes slowly, such as spending a week adjusting their exercise routine to an appropriate level, and the next few days, they will make some food shopping, she said.

Apparently, she says, no diet will work without regular physical activity.

“We refer people to professional trainers who train people in classes in parks or in offices on a schedule,” she said. “Generally, we have exercise budgets for cardio, weight training, and stress management.”

Costs vary, but prices are similar to personal exercise trainers—starting at For $195 for a 90-minute initial consultation and $75 for a follow-up appointment. “Most clients come every month for a month, then every other week or every month [after that],” she said. “My favorite clients come back six months after losing weight before summer for fine-tuning,” she says.

Do-it-yourself diet training

But , if money or location makes it difficult to sign up with a food trainer, don’t worry, she said.

“If this idea resonates, do some self-reflection and find out what it is, not working in the past, look at it that way, not your neighbors,” she said. to lose 10 pounds,” she said.

From there, change only one aspect of your diet or lifestyle.

“Start by doing something non-emotional, like drinking more water throughout the day, and then let it start other healthy changes,” she says. “We’re not asking late night snackers or revellers to stop this behavior in the first place.”

Kerri Glassman, MS, RD, CDN, President, New York KKG Body Head of Fuel, she also does food training with her clients. “Through one-on-one consultations, I provide a comprehensive list of foods and places, and give restaurant recommendations,” she said. “We look at menus and browse through them, and train clients on how to eat at their favorite restaurants,” she said. Meals.”

Like Slayton, “I’m always asking what you’ve tried and what you liked and didn’t like about other programs,” she said.

Start from there and make small changes that will last and lead to bigger changes that end up being a whole new you, she says.

“I try to get people to change as much as possible while keeping their lifestyles the same as they started,” she said. “You can’t start by telling people who used to go to the corner deli for breakfast every day that they have to make an egg white omelet in the morning,” she said. “If you do that, they’ll do it for a week — at most.”

It’s like therapy, she tells WebMD. “We focus on emotional issues and how to deal with triggers,” she said. “If it’s hunger, and not diving into chocolate, how can we make other food options more appealing?”

Food trainers like Slayton and Glassman work with their clients Solve problems and help them develop strategies that fit their lifestyle and that last a lifetime.

Glassman developed a template for her clients to follow.

“Sometimes people follow it to T and others incorporate as many changes as possible,” she tells WebMD. “Once they lose weight, they can use it as a guideline forever. It’s like a to-do list for the day. A lot of times you get 85% of your errands done, but you run late at the dry cleaner and miss out Your last errand.”

“However,” Glassman said, “there is a structure and a guideline to keep you on track.”

Casey Kaehler, a personal exercise trainer in Hidden Hills, Calif., who also advises clients on healthy eating, says this hands-on approach to time management does work for healthy eating or exercise.

“If you have a show that you like to watch at night, I am not saying that you must exercise instead of watching it, but I recommend that you do abdominal exercises while watching commercials. muscle, that adds up to some type of conditioning program,” says Kaehler, author of several books including Real World Fitness: Fun and Innovative Ways to Help You Get Active at Home, Work, and with Your Kids i> .

“This is very important because most people don’t do any exercise, so if you can work out piecemeal and get into the habit of doing things according to your schedule, they It becomes a habit,” she said.

McTraining

She applies some principles of food training when her clients ask her questions about food.

“I drove by – been with my kids all the time; they might get a hamburger and fries, but I had grilled chicken breast with lettuce, tomatoes, no sauce sauce or salad without dressing,” she said. “So you can get what satisfies you