Personal Fitness Professional - January/February 2009 - (Page 26)

[NUTRITION SOLUTIONS] UTRITION BY JJ VIRGIN RESOLUTIONS ESOLUTIONS FOR CLIENTS “SMART” L ose weight, exercise every day, stop eating sugar: We’ve all heard and probably even made these commitments ourselves — I admit to failing two years in a row on my yoga commitment — but let’s face it: Are our clients keeping them? Our clients’ well-intentioned January “get healthy” plans often fall short because we don’t follow the SMART algorithm to setting and reaching goals: making sure the goal you set is Speciﬁc, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Trackable. One of our jobs as coaches is to help our clients set goals as well as attain them. Here are some simple (but not necessarily easy) SMART goals that you can use with your clients in 2009 to make a big impact on their health: 1. Take a high quality, professional brand daily multivitamin, mineral and antioxidant formula. Numerous studies show that Americans who don’t supplement are at a greater risk for heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers and that most fail to get the recommended RDI (forget the optimal level, this is the bare minimum needed for good health). If they keep forgetting, have them put their toothbrush on top of the bottle. 2. Make time for sleep. Failing to get the recommended eight to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep per night even if they are following a healthy diet and exercising regularly puts your clients at risk for obesity. Quite frequently, people are just not making time for sleep or are practicing poor sleep hygiene, which is impacting the quality of their sleep. 3. Thrive with ﬁve. If we took iceberg lettuce, ketchup and potatoes out of the American Diet, most people would not consume veggies daily. Rather than focusing on what your clients shouldn’t eat, focus on adding new veggies to their diet daily with a minimal goal of ﬁve servings daily of non-starchy veggies. If they are ﬁlling up on asparagus, they are less likely to pig out on the pie later. 4. Drink eight glasses of water a day — and more importantly, not in a phthalate-ridden plastic bottle. Obtain 16-ounce, hard, plastic bottles logoed with your business name on them, and have your clients track four bottles a day. Every time they guzzle, they will be reminded of you. 5. Find more ﬁber to ﬁll up on. The average American eats ﬁve to 14 grams of ﬁber a day (an apple has ﬁve grams). I move my clients gradually to 25 minimally and ideally 50 grams of ﬁber daily and consistently, which keeps other things consistent, too (hint, hint). And remember: Fiber is a natural appetite suppressant. 26 JAN-FEB2009 · WWW.FIT-PRO.COM JJ Virgin PhD, CNS, is a celebrity nutrition and ﬁtness expert, author, public speaker and media personality. She is a proud board member of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals (www.nanp.org), a professional organization dedicated to supporting the business growth and legal rights of allied health care JAN-FEB2009 · WWW.FIT-PRO.COM professionals using nutrition in their practices. 21 http://www.nanp.org http://WWW.FIT-PRO.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Personal Fitness Professional - January/February 2009

Personal Fitness Professional - January/February 2009 Contents Letter from the Editor, Writers Ready to Rock the Podium What It Takes to Change Fitness Marketing Makeover Be Better Top Club Building a Base of Special Populations The Balancing Act Take Action! Nutrition Solutions Datebook Journey to Success New on the Market The Four P's Exercising Your Influence No More Pain in the Back!

Personal Fitness Professional - January/February 2009

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