Edit 07/21/2025: For the record, while it would be great to have different types of people in the field–I still don’t disagree with most of what I wrote below in 2017, I am against systemically racist and sexist policies within organizations (DEI) that hire and allocate money only for certain types of people based on
At the time this is written, it is still too early to tell whether or not the replacement for the Affordable Care Act will result in the loss of coverage for preventative healthcare services or not. President Trump has stated that some parts of the healthcare law will remain. What worries me, as a practice
Some people prefer calorie counting, others like the hand portion size approach, and others like intuitive eating. It is also myopic to think that people are overeating meat portions, vegetable portion sizes, and grain portion sizes as opposed to junk food portion sizes and alcohol. Sure, it can happen, in a few cases, I guess.
I get to work with a lot of women who want to lose weight on the fitness side as a personal trainer and on the nutrition side as a registered dietitian. Most women who come in to “lose weight” really just want to change their body composition, and it is interesting to see whether people
There have been a lot of headlines this week regarding red meat causing cancer. Any time you see the words “cause cancer,” your antenna should go up as something being a bogus, yet catchy headline. Certainly, it makes professionals and non-professionals read that article, the former of which to find which studies they are referencing,
This is something I see over and over again, so excuse the rant post. Everyone thinks they are an expert on nutrition these days. You can find nutrition information all over the Internet telling you how to lose weight and exercise. Everyone believes it is really simple science of calories in = calories out. We
I am frustrated by the lack of clear information on food allergy, intolerances, and sensitivity testing on the Internet, so I am writing this post to show what I have seen as someone who works with those who may have had these tests in their past. First off, we all know someone who believes they
The United States educational system allows you to pursue graduate degrees in many fields without the prerequisite background. This is very true for degrees in the health sciences. Typically, a master’s degree is about 36 credits and includes research-based coursework, which is often not practical to working with clients. A master’s degree without a bachelor’s
Preface I haven’t ever hurt myself or got knee pain from running on a treadmill. I know a lot of people who scorn the treadmill as bad for your knees. This post will discuss how I run on the treadmill. It will also discuss how I see other people running on the treadmill as well
Background As some of you may or may not know, I have alluded to the fact that I have a history of being a gamer. A pretty hardcore gamer. One semester at Penn State, I raided in classic (vanilla) WoW (World of Warcraft) as a human female frost mage against Ragnarok (a fire elemental that takes
I thought I’d share this experience with those who may benefit. In case you don’t know, I personal train as an employee for about 15-25 hrs a week at the University of Texas at Austin department called RecSports. I work with faculty, staff, students, grad students, UT community members, friends, family, and others who decide
I would just like to say that I find calorie burn information deceptive and ineffective, bordering on misinformation, considering it is an estimate off an equation even if you are hooked up to a VO2/CO2 analyzer. It’s like telling everyone to get on a 2000 calorie diet–assigning a specific number to a generic, abstract idea. These
Fitness series managed and edited by David Robbins, a kinesiology graduate who was kind enough to feature me in this video on low and high row on a Hammer Strength brand machine at the Recreational Sports Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Share on
Video series managed and edited by David Robbins, a UT kinesiology graduate, who kindly featured me as expert on the subject. Great compound exercise for the shoulders. Share on
The University Health Services of University of Texas at Austin did a fitness video series for Fitness on the Forty Acres, managed by David Robbins, a kinesiology graduate who helped organize the series. He was nice enough to feature me as expert. Share on
Serving sizes. Arbitrary quantities of food we can measure out to determine the nutrition within a set volume or mass of food. These work great for people who are analytical and thinking types. What about for the rest of the population? I believe in multiple intelligences. Some people are adept at verbal communication, some are skilled at
Most people I discuss nutrition with have heard of the Food Guide Pyramid, possibly MyPyramid, but even fewer have heard about MyPlate, which is the current national nutrition education tool for general population nutrition guidance. This post discusses my criticism of MyPlate after a brief criticism of the other nutrition teaching tools. The Food Guide
I am often surprised by the number of people who claim that diets don’t work. Perhaps there is a miscommunication on what they mean by that. If anyone would clarify that for me in the comments, I would love to have a discussion on that. All diets work. You will lose weight if you change
Preface When you’re trying to lose weight, how many calories is too low? This question seems simple up front, but upon researching for “the correct” answer, I found that it comes down to what is called “clinical judgement.” There are a variety of ways to assess how many calories you should be eating, called calorimetry,
According to research, drinking moderately may reduce risk of disease and mortality. This week, it is linked to a reduced risk of heart failure. Not drinking or drinking too much is supposed to be worse than moderate drinking in terms of risk of disease. This is often shown in association studies (observational studies). Not cause and
In an effort to become a better personal trainer and registered dietitian, I decided to embark upon a weight loss journey on November 1, 2014 that ended December 15, 2014. Granted, I didn’t need to lose weight for any health reasons, but I tend to go on some sort of a reduced calorie modified version
Many people will amp up exercise in an attempt to lose weight because they know the law of thermodynamics that states that calories in must be fewer than calories out. Knowing this, they will drastically reduce dietary caloric intake by adapting strange diets they won’t be able to stay on for the rest of their
Personal trainers are the experts on how to get healthy, fit, gain muscle, and lose weight. Or so much of the public thinks who didn’t do their research. Unfortunately, MOST personal trainers are given WAY too much undeserved credibility. A quick Google search will show you how many certifications are online. Freelance personal training, which
I see weight lifters, bodybuilders, and personal trainers promoting individual amino acid supplements, such as glutamine, leucine, or BCAAs. BCAAs are branched-chain amino acids, specifically leucine, isoleucine, and valine. What I would like to know is if there is research that differentiates between having dietary protein and having specific amino acids. Because, frankly, it baffles
If you follow health news, there are often articles that discuss how much exercise it will take to burn off a cheeseburger. The motivation behind these articles is to dissuade you from having that cheeseburger, logically at least, because it supposedly takes a “5.6 mile hike” required to “burn” it off. When I see these
Do: 1) Wipe down your equipment after use. 2) Re-rack your weights at the appropriate places. This goes for dumbbells and plate weights. So many times people “nest” plate/barbell weights between other sizes. It makes it hard to get to the ones you need without taking all of them off the peg. 3)
Last week I discussed why you shouldn’t freak out about the latest news about artificial sweeteners. This week, I will give a bit more information on the study, now that I have obtained a full-text copy of it from professional resources. Specifically, I will let you how much the humans were consuming and real food
Edit 9/25/14: I have received a full-text copy of the study and made a follow-up blog post to this one on the human intervention part of this study as well as quantified the amounts of saccharin you must eat to experience the effects the humans achieved in the study. One of this week’s catchy nutrition-related
A study posted on Medline this past week about fat shaming not motivating people to lose weight, possibly even causing more weight gain is the impetus for this blog post. People who are overweight and obese are intimately aware of their body type. Telling people that they are overweight or obese adds insult to injury.
I recently answered a media query for health professionals on the best ways to improve your immune system. I was NOT made aware that I would be put on a supplement website. If you know me, I’m NOT a big fan of MOST supplements. I received no form of remuneration other than my website being posted
The best health and wellness advice. Keep your eye on the prizeFocus on where you want to be and break it down into the smallest, most attainable steps you can achieve. Discipline takes care of the rest.– Joey Gochnour, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Personal Trainer Read more: http://beautyhigh.com/fitness-and-wellness-experts-share-advice/#ixzz3Bhyc0RYO I do not agree with the detox girl’s discussion on
As part of my training to become a registered dietitian nutritionist, I was required to attempt the Food Stamp Challenge. For five days, I was allowed $21.90 to spend on all food for all meals and snacks. At the time of the assignment, $22.50 was the actual amount you would get on food stamps for
