The Truth About Being a Nutritionist, and Why I'm Changing Paths
Initially, when I decided I wanted to become a nutritionist, my motives to do so were self-centered and unhealthy. I wanted an excuse to be hard on myself and something to “force” me to stay skinny. It had little to do with helping others establish a healthy life and everything to do with me wanting to look and feel more confident with my own body.
However, once I restored my balance and came to understand and appreciate my body for all that it does, I realized that what I wanted to do was help others do the same. I wanted to help others learn how to listen to their bodies, eat intuitively, stop dieting, and start living and loving life. THAT was the dream. So, you’re probably thinking—Sam, so why aren’t you becoming a nutritionist anymore?! —and here’s why…
Think of a friend, a family member, or anyone you may know who goes to see a nutritionist. Now think about what they want to get from going to a nutritionist. Let me tell you, it’s NOT information. The job sector of nutrition has gone from the pursuit of promoting health and longevity to the pursuit of promoting a magical weight loss secret.
Now, when people go to see a nutritionist their goal is to lose weight… people are paying money to watch the number on the scale go down. They are not paying to learn to listen to their bodies, live a nutritious or healthy balanced life, and they are most certaintly NOT paying to hear that no diet will ever be a long term answer.
People want an easy fix to a problem they don’t even have. The problem isn’t that you can’t control your eating, the problem is that you TRY to control your eating. TRUST YOUR BODY! Have a little faith and know that just like when you were a baby, your body knows when it needs fuel, it knows when it needs rest, and it knows when it’s had enough. LISTEN to what its telling you and follow it—I promise it won’t fail you.
However, people don’t want to hear this. People don’t want to hear that it could take years to learn how to comprehend your bodies signals, to eat intuitively and live balanced. People want a quick and easy way to shed pounds. So, yes, I can help you lose x amount of pounds in x amount of days, but I'm not going to. I won’t sit here and get paid to do something I don’t agree with. I don’t care who "guarantees" they've found the solution, a diet will only lead to weight gain down the road and yo-yo dieting in your future. I will not stand by and watch as people form an unhealthy relationship with food, and I will most certainly not help them to do so.
Nutrition is about health and longevity but that’s not what people want to pay for. They want the secret to shedding pounds but all they’re really shedding is a healthy mentality towards food and exercise. I can’t and won’t promote that. As of Monday, I will have begun my track to receiving my masters in clinical social work in hopes of preventing that. For now, I'll be blogging from NYC as I pursue a greater passion here at the University of Columbia. I'm off to do some more exploring, talk to ya soon!
xoxox, Sam
