Identifying reliable its sources documented nutrition information about yourself or to share with clients can be a challengeespecially in his fast-paced world online influencers. The ability to separate fact from fiction is a vital tool both for you and your customers.
Dominique Adair, MS, RD, has spent her career helping people help people eat better. Certified Fitness Professional, Clinical Lipid Specialist, Registered Dietitian and ACE Scientific Advisory Board member, Dominique is the Chief Clinical Quality Officer, leading a team of 300 registered dietitians at Nourish (www.usenourish.com), a technology-leveraged telehealth company that matches patients and customers RDs.
Here, Dominique answers our questions and offers some strategies for finding reliable content, specifying voices you can trust and knowing what makes a source credible.
When you read an article or blog, how can you tell if the information presented is reliable and evidence-based? There are strategies you can share that will help health and exercise advantages and their customers recognize good content?
A useful question to ask to separate fact from fiction is: Where/who did the information come from? If the organization is a national (or international), reputable organization, this is a principle. ONE very good The filter to put something is: “Will someone make a sale based on the information provided?” For example, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and the American Council on Exercise all distribute evidence-based nutrition information, but they don’t promote anything in the content that could bring them revenue. These organszions, and others, are essentially distribution documented education. However, a supplement company or a food company may distribute content that promotes the purchase of their products. That It does not suit does not necessarily mean that the information is not scientifically based, but the exercise professional needs to be much more careful with content that promotes a sale.
The second part is the “who”. Just like you will not go to a celebrity who is not a meniscus repair surgeon, you it should not go to a celebrity for nutrition advice or information. The professional to turn to for information on nutrition, diet and performance, diet and disease is the registered dietitian (RD). An RD is a certified health professional who applies evidence-based information about diet and nutrition to contribute to the health and well-being of individuals; groups and communities. The RD has at least a bachelor’s degree from an accredited dietetics program and has completed a supervised practice requirement, passed a national examination, and completes continuous professional development throughout their career.
Similarly, in the world of social media and influencers, how can professionals know when to believe what they are seeing?
This is related to what was shared above. A lot of what we see on social media is testimonials. But what people may not know is that behind the scenes these people are often paid, in dollars or productsmallto say good things about the product or program. Back to surgeon example: You will not let an influencer take out your affiliate because they have a million followers. Health and eexcercise Practitioners should use the same discretion when looking for (and pass on to their customers) nutrition advice and information.
How can practitioners discuss this topic with their clients, who may expect extreme or rapid results or is using potentially dangerous practices as part of their diet or exercise regimens?
I’m thinking about it is very common to want results yesterday, So health and excercise Professionals are already great at having these conversations and setting expectations. When it comes to the world of nutrition, of no difference. Explaining that sustainable behavior modification is what will pay off in the long run–the term wins is essentially it same conversation. That said, we know it too of it’s important to meet customers where they are. That It does not suit means I agree to a five-week, 50–kilograms of weight–loss target or a five-week 10goal – kilos-muscle gain. But, means we can use coaching skills like Mmotivating IInterviews to elicit empathy and support clients’ self-efficacy. You could say ssomething along its lines, “It sounds like are you really ready to make some changes. This is wonderful. Let make sure we focus on things that will produce a lot–achieving the goal of the term, to get the most out of your effort.“ Co-development SMART goals with the client can go a long way in talking about these unrealistic expectations and swapping them for goals that still feel exciting and motivating to the client.
There are sources you often use when searching for evidence-based content? For example, there are websites the social media accounts you can share with our readers?
In most cases, trusted websites end in .gov, .edu or .org. This does not mean that sites ending in .com or .net slope to be reliable, but should be carefully scrutinized based on the filters I laid out above. Here are some examples of reliable sources of nutritional information:
Furthermore, ID card encourage health and excercise professionals to take initial research into their own hands. For example, if you see a study mentioned in the popular press or on social media, go for it in PubMed to see if you can find the actual journal article cited. PubMed is a free resource that supports the search and retrieval of biomedical and life sciences literature aimed at improving health—both on a global and personal level. PubMed citations are mainly from the fields of biomedicine and health and related disciplines such as life sciences, behavioral sciences, chemical sciences and bioengineering. If you type the job title, or even just a theme (e.g., role of Piadministrative oneactivity in weight largeoss and weight Maintenance) and then type “erudite,“ the search engine should primarily pull documents from PubMed. eatrom there, you can follow the whole paper.
Finally, it can sometimes be difficult to put evidence-based information into practice. Do you have any suggestions for professionals looking to turn dietary guidelines or other evidence-based content into actionable steps for their clients?
It’s hard! I’ve built teams of clinicians nationwide for decades who have cared for tens of thousands of people and the consultants who do it best “please help me how.“
Psychologists refer to intention–action void, which is a fancy way of saying it, “Why don’t I do what I say I’m going to do?“ And the reason is simple and complex… Behavior change is very hard. When one health the excercise The professional reads a task or learns an instruction, he should think of ways that they can help this customer with the theoh. For example, we know that according to Nutritional Guidelines for Americans, adults should eat 1.5 to 2 cup equivalents of fruit and 2 to 3 cups of vegetable equivalents daily. But instead of making that the goal, keep asking how.
Iit may sound like this:
Proprofessional: You know it Guidelines I recommend 2 to 3 cups of vegetables a day. This is for illness prevention and hot weight gainwhere is tthe things you said were important to you.
Customer: OK, I’ll eat more fruits and vegetables.
Proprofessional: Exceptional. How will you do this?
Customer: Good, me first must take these foods to my house.
Proprofessional: I see. How will you do this?
Customer: Good my weekdays are very busy, but I could make Saturday or Sunday a shopping day.
Proprofessional: Looks like your weekends too quite full, So how will you spend time on the weekends?
Customer: I’m going to ask mine husband to watch the kids while I go to the gym on Saturday. THEon the way home, I will stop at the grocery store. Maybe me we can find a recipe with the products that we can all make together.
In this exchange, the professional has took it too far–level Guidelines and made it possible for one to apply them. They have helped in how without exceeding their scope of practice.
If you are interested in learning more about what the scientific the literature reveals about the intersection of nutrition and physical activity, sign up for the FREE ACE webinar with Title Nutrition and Physical Activity: When Science Meets Practicewhich will take place on March 13, 2024 at 11:00 a.m a.m. until 12:00 p.m. PDT. During this panel discussion, I will I’m learning about the distinctions between DIFFERENT TYPES research and how to use an evidence-based approach to help clients achieve nutrition and physical activity goals.
