Being healthy should be easy, but many of us are struggling with health issues, excess weight, or sub-optimum energy levels.
Troubleshooting the whys and whats of your unique challenges can consume your free time and still leave you feeling like you aren’t getting the improvement you need.
Life can be short, and wondering how to feel better is not worth it. You deserve progress. Sometimes, consulting a professional is the best way to achieve results.
The Paseo Club is your home base for fitness, health, and community in the Santa Clarita Valley. We offer facilities for tennis, pickleball, fitness, Pilates, yoga, and swimming. We also offer nutrition consultation services to help you live a sustainable and successful lifestyle!
In this article, we will share what a nutrition consultant does, what sessions with a consultant cover, and how treatment can benefit you.
What is a nutrition consultant?
A nutrition consultant is a professional who helps individuals develop nutrition plans that address their unique concerns and goals. Consultants have a college degree or certification.
What does a Consultation Cover?
You can receive guidance about several different topics when you meet with a consultant. Whether you are a parent looking for help for the family, a young athlete wanting to get an edge on your performance, or a senior wanting to learn about elder nutrition, a qualified nutritionist can help you.
- Nutrition for Athletes
- Personal Nutrition & Meal Plans
- Family Meal Plans & Raising Healthy Kids
- Allergens, Sensitivities, & Food Intolerance
- Drug Interactions & Weight Loss Medication
- Different Stages of Life — Menopause, Pregnancy/Post-Natal, & Teens
- Special Diet Plans — Low Carb, High Protein, FODMAP, diabetes, autoimmune, & anti-inflammatory
What are the 7 Benefits of Nutritional Consultation?
1. Family Support
The teenager only wants burgers, the middle one eats mac and cheese, and the toddler throws anything green on the floor. What are parents to do?
Learning to make healthy, quick meals that kids actually like is the tragically exhausting puzzle almost every parent faces.
Most 8-year-olds don’t need nutritional consultants, but sometimes their parents do. Meet with a consultant to learn about children' s needs and learn favorite meals that are both healthy and kid-friendly.
2. Personalized Care
There are hundreds of books, articles, and blogs about nutrition. Reading them can become a time vortex, leading you to lose hours of your precious time as you try to make sense of all the advice.
Working with a nutritional consultant allows you to work one-on-one with a certified professional who saves you time and customizes recommendations based on your unique needs.
3. Professional Guidance
Although generalizations can be made (eat lots of veggies), eating right is more nuanced than most people think. A 16-year-old tennis player has different needs than a perimenopausal woman, who has different needs than a 65-year-old man with diabetes.
Working with a nutritionist means you receive a program tailored to help you accomplish your specific goals.
4. Accountability and Partnership
Changing habits is difficult. It requires implementing new plans, troubleshooting obstacles, willpower, and dedication. Research shows that people are more successful implementing healthy lifestyle changes, such as exercise, a good diet, or smoking cessation, when they have support and someone to be accountable to.
As an adult, especially a male adult, there is a lot of pressure to never ask for help. Yet, this belief system holds people back from living better and more healthfully.
Setting your pride aside opens the door to a partnership that can make all the difference in the world.
5. Sustainable Lifestyle Choices
Weight loss is one of the most common reasons people seek nutritional consultation. We’ve learned that weight loss is as simple as calories in and calories out, but this simply is not true.
Instead of turning to the grapefruit diet, Atkins diet, no-carb diet, or any of the other dozens of impossible-to-maintain options, talk to a professional who can help you make long-lasting, healthy choices that will keep you from yo-yo dieting.
6. Specialized Diets and Health Issues
Research shows that approximately 33 million people (about 11 percent of adults) in the United States have at least one food allergy. Learning to work around gluten intolerances, dairy allergies, nightshade sensitivities, and the like takes time and effort. A nutritional consultant can help you navigate these specialized diets and get you on track.
Likewise, if you need to make dietary changes due to heart disease, high cholesterol, prediabetes, diabetes, a consultant can guide you to the foods that will best support your health, including developing menus and meal programs.
7. Drug Interactions & Weight Loss Medication
Many people take medication for mental health, heart health, diabetes, thyroid issues, or weight loss. These can impact your metabolism and can require dietary changes. Learn what changes you need to implement and how to eat wisely and healthily for your condition.
Developing Wellness Strategies to Meet Your Individual Needs
You no longer have to wonder what your macros should be, how often to snack, or if carbs are good or bad. Working with a nutritional consultant takes the guesswork out of how to best take care of yourself.
Leah Smollin is a Nutrition Consultant and the Group Exercise and Pilates Manager at The Paseo Club. She earned her B.S. in Dietetics and Food Science from California State University, Northridge, and has helped hundreds of clients make healthy, informed, and sustainable lifestyle choices over the years.
If you would like to meet with Leah, she offers free 30-minute consultations to club members and non-members. These zero-cost meetings allow you to share your history, goals, and concerns. From there, you can choose from one of three personalized consultation packages — a 5-session package, 10-session package, or individual sessions from the a la carte option.
The Paseo Club is your home away from home with all the fitness, social, and luxury amenities you could want. Schedule a tour and discover all eight acres of the club, or simply become a member today and get instant access to the club.
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