July 2, 2025 • 39 mins
Andres Ayesta is a Registered Dietitian, Sports Nutritionist, and founder of Planos Nutrition, where he helps men over 30 and busy professionals lose fat, improve energy, and build sustainable habits without restrictive diets or gimmicks. With over 12 years of experience and features in outlets like Forbes, CNN, and Men’s Health, Andres combines science-based strategies with real-world coaching to help people create results they can actually maintain.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
My name is Andres Augusta, I'm aregistered dietitian and
nutrition coach, and I'm based out of Tampa, FL and I own a
company called Planus Nutrition that specializes in helping high
performers improve the way that it lived their lives, optimize
their health for longevity, and ultimately accomplish their
(00:21):
goals in the best state of health and Wellness as possible.
My background is working with professional athletes back in
the day and now I just help a little bit of everyone.
So excited to be here. Andreas, thanks for being here.
And the listeners don't know that we had an awesome
conversation before, but we always do a discovery call with
(00:44):
everyone and you're just so wonderful to talk to.
Seriously. Just seemed like a really
awesome guy. And so I love having people like
yourself on. But I thought as I was thinking
about this, there's so much you could talk about clearly and you
have such a great qualified experience.
But as we're saying, I want to talk a little bit about the
(01:05):
slippery slope of scope of practice for fitness
professionals who desire to helptheir clients with nutrition,
but are always not so sure. And I think you have a good
insight in this because you havea fitness background, believe
you are CSCS certified as well. So you understand the fitness
(01:26):
side of it as well. So let's kind of launch into a
little bit from your perspectivehow fitness professionals can be
better about discussing nutrition with clients on a high
level and then we'll kind of getlittle bit into the weeds there.
Yeah. So let's kind of set the the
groundwork first and kind of explain why this is an issue.
(01:48):
The reason why this is an issue or or what it's become an issue
for the past few years is because if there are licensure
laws that protect the professional dietetics and what
can or cannot be provided from the nutritional standpoint.
Because ultimately it is it. It is something that can affect
(02:09):
somebody positively or negatively, depending on that
the advice that has been given, particularly when there's
underlying conditions and whether there's a disease or
chronic issue going on. And, and there's, you know, our
profession is equipped with the clinical knowledge to be able to
handle those things. Now, I'm not the conventional
(02:30):
dietitian that will go and say that you are not allowed to give
nutrition advice if you're not adietitian.
And in fact, I, some of the people that I looked up the most
or the highest to in terms that are provide and help people in
the coaching space are not dietitians.
They don't have a background in like they do have a background
(02:52):
nutrition training, but not likein the same dietetics route that
I took. So I'm the first one to tell you
that I don't necessarily believethat they're all dietitians or
only dietitians are the ones that need to provide nutritional
advice. But I think like, you know, the,
the big picture view, I feel like there's just so many people
right now doing that. And it's scary because there's
(03:14):
such a big amount of misinformation that we never
know when you're going to run into a piece of advice that, and
again, for people listening who are fitness professionals, you
never know when you're going to provide a piece of advice that
may have been well-intentioned but created a problem.
Like I'll give you a simple example.
You told somebody that they should be taking like X
(03:35):
multivitamin and it turns out that the person had a very
intense allergic reaction to something that was in that or
like something along those lines.
And then now you're held liable to that because you were the
trainer or the fitness professional that told him or
that heard that you should be taking that specific supplement.
(03:57):
So that's where like there's important to draw a line because
you can actually backfire for for the professional, not only
for the person being affected, but at the same time it can
really ruin somebody's career, which is I think what it's
important to be careful around it.
Yeah, I think there's, there's so much.
(04:18):
I don't know if controversy is the right word, but there's just
so much. You get this weird line that's
there. And I've seen this with so many
trainers as they desperately want to help clients with their
nutritional wisdom, their nutritional approach.
And on some instances they're hesitant to refer to dietitians
(04:41):
because they want to be, they want to have this whole Bank of
business. They want to be able to be
everything to the person they'rewith.
But what is just some maybe practical guidelines for fitness
professionals of what is appropriate and what is probably
not appropriate in terms of thatline when working with clients
(05:01):
to providing this information? Yeah, and.
I'm honestly hope I don't get introuble with my, my board.
Essentially, I, I don't, I, I, I, I feel like people can have a
little more leeway to provide nutritional advice more so than
what it's like required by licensure laws.
So, so let's just first, I guessunderstand like if you live in a
(05:23):
state that does not have licenselaw, licensure laws for I live
in Florida, for example. And this was a big topic of
debate in the dietetics world because of the fact that like
the licensure laws kind of got alittle bit more less restrictive
when it comes on to providing advice.
So now people that are not dietitians can do that.
And people got super upset aboutit.
(05:44):
And I personally, I was like, OK, like, listen, we need more
people providing nutritional like guidance because there's
not enough dietitians. And at the same time, this is
going to ruffle some feather feathers.
Not all dietitians are great dietitians.
That's just the truth, right? And I think there's a lack of
that. There's some distrust on, and I
get it on certain trainers and fitness professionals who know
(06:05):
their stuff and, and, and there's a hesitation in, in
recommending A dietitian becauseI know for a fact there's
people. And again, I'm not by, by any
means, I'm saying like I'm the best at it that people need to
kind of be wary still about the stuff that I say.
But I consider myself to be welleducated enough to provide and I
have the track record with my clients that I think supports
(06:26):
the fact that I do try to provide good advice.
It's ensuring that, you know, it's, it's, it's hard to, to
trust somebody, somebody out there that you don't know if
it's actually going to do a better job than you can.
So practical advice, what can somebody do when it comes down
to the number one, look into your life licensure laws within
your state. Because if you have a little bit
(06:46):
more leeway to be able to provide advice, then that comes
down to practical step #2 which is we'll get adequately
certified in something nutritionspecific.
For me, the best certification that is out there that I feel
like Encompass is a lot of like behavioral change and
nutritional coaching is Precision Nutrition.
(07:07):
I've fallen for years and I feellike they have one of the most
all the round, you know, certifications.
It's actually backed up by dietitians and by, you know,
physical or fitness trainers andat the same time pH DS.
So I feel like if you want to provide advice, be very well
educated on it. Practical study mark #3 is it's
(07:30):
basically a do not, do, do not provide advice based on your own
experience because that can thank you.
That's what most important social media do, right?
It's like, I got a six pack. I'm going to teach you how to
get a six pack look on my bikinibody.
Now I'm going to teach you how to do the same thing, like eat
these things. That is not sound advice.
(07:51):
That's just pro or girl science.Like it's not really something
that it's, it's, it's adequate. So get properly certified, have
and do all the things that you need to do to be adequate,
providing advice and be evidencebased.
I think those are like the most important steps that anyone who
has a personal personal trainingcertification or a background in
(08:15):
fitness and perhaps didn't really want to go the dietician
route. That's what I would do if I
didn't have my credentials, which by the way, I feel like,
you know, if I could go back, like I don't know if I would
have done this now, it kind of gives me a bit of a slant of, of
authority. But right now dietitians do not
get the best Rep. And I get why it's a very
tainted like organization, right?
(08:37):
It's supported by big, you know,Coca-Cola is one of their big
sponsors. So it's like you start to
question like, you know, a lot of times similar things.
And I do too. I'm not even a member of their
organization. I pay my dues because I want to
keep my hard work and all the hours that I put into it.
But I don't necessarily feel like it's it's a trustworthy
organization. And again, like they can come
(08:58):
after me if they want. I don't really care.
I love that honesty. That's what I want on here.
That's really amazing. I want to back up a little bit
on point #3 because this is, I think where we're getting into a
lot of trouble and our in our industries is that often what
trainers do and certainly what content providers do.
(09:19):
And I want to make this clear that content providers are not
necessarily service providers. They're content creators that
who often never actually work with anyone.
It's just stuff they do and they're telling you this often
is a problem with trainers too, is that I'm on this particular
dietary approach or nutritional approach, and I'm going to tell
(09:41):
you what I've done to help you get to where you need to.
Be is is. This something that do you think
that this is probably one of thelarger problems or is it just
overblown you think? No, it isn't big of a lot of
your problem. It's because of the fact that
fitness trainers are becoming content creators.
There's nothing wrong with that.I'm a content creator.
You're a content creator. Like, you know, we're OK right
(10:02):
now recording this part because we are creating content.
But the problem is the type of content that is created and
like, and what is it that you'repursuing with the content You're
creating? A content creator that now
started to make a living off of it because now this is a full
time balloon profession, which it's, it's funny that like five
years ago, people laughed about like the fact that people would
say I'm a content creator and people would laugh in their
faces. Like look at Mr. Beast, right?
(10:25):
Like this is one of the biggest,like most like multi millionaire
just creating videos. So it, it, it's, it's
understanding also that a content creator looks for
clicks, views, engagement, and they'll do anything that they
can to do to be able to accomplish that, whether it's,
you know, click bait stuff or like misinformation content or
(10:47):
whatever is the case, right? Because ultimately they're
trying to build an audience. So they can either sell them
something or that they can sell something in their account that
people can get paid for partnerships or, or whatever is
the case. Or, you know, and, and I get it.
I am, I'm a country creator. People reach out to me and I
have been paid by brands to workto, to do paid stuff.
So it's, it's again like a, a matter of numbers now.
(11:10):
It doesn't matter what the content is created now.
It's your responsibility as a fitness coach, as somebody that
is a service provider to make sure that the content you're
creating is not just simply in pursuit of like just increasing
your audience. Yes, it's important, but do it
so in an ethical adequate way, which I think it's where we
actually, we see so many blurredlines and content creators
(11:31):
nowadays, right? Because they have some of the
biggest follows when, when you look at, at somebody like, for
example, a little bit like the carnivore diet proponents who
have like 0 scientific like evidence to, to support a lot of
the claims, wild claims that they have.
And now they have amassed an audience of millions, right?
(11:52):
And people are listening to their advice and it's
technically nutrition advice fora lot of them, sometimes given
by chiropractors and by people that do not necessarily have the
background. Sometimes they do, sometimes
they don't. So I think it's, you need to 1st
be a fitness coach, a service provider, and then become a
content creator, but just makingsure that you're an ethical one.
(12:13):
The amount of times that people will tell me like even like
agency or like mentors that, youknow, I've worked with, you
know, you got to create this like colorizing content and you
got to like go against the grainand, and sometimes I do and
things that I truly believe in. But for me to say like, you
know, crazy wild claims and effort of like just me creating
polarizing contents where increase engagement and more
(12:35):
people see my stuff, I just don't have that in me.
And I don't feel like it's because I don't, I don't feel
like that's for the greater good.
And that's where I feel like I'mdrawing the line.
And I feel like a lot of good healthcare professionals,
fitness professionals, I think they should as well.
Gosh, this is a great line of conversation.
And you were saying, and when you said ethics, I said, Oh, we
(12:57):
have to go down this pathway a little bit.
And then you mentioned that you just don't have this in you.
I feel the same way. I was just telling my wife the
other day. I said, you know, one of the
reasons why I think that I struggle with like my YouTube
and stuff like that is like, I'mjust not willing to cross the
line other people are willing todo.
(13:18):
And because of that, it's, it hurts me somewhat in terms of
that aspect of clicks, views, things of that nature, because I
think we're all at the point we kind of know what would work.
We know kind of what would work and what would be outrageous.
So I'd love for you to talk a little bit more about what would
be. Obviously ethics can be very
(13:40):
personal, different people, but what type of ethics do you think
would work best for us as a profession to one have better
reputations as dietitians, fitness professionals and
beyond? I honestly feel like this is, I
think most people, especially inour field, I don't know about
you, but I think, I don't think nobody goes into personal
(14:03):
training just for the money, right, People?
People like it's, it's not like you're going to be paid millions
the moment that you become a personal trainer.
People do it because they care to help others.
They're passionate about fitness, they're passionate
about like improving people's lives.
That's ultimately their calling and why they decide to do it,
right? Like yeah, I'm sure some people
do it because they want to have like this massive online
(14:24):
coaching company or whatever is the case.
And sure, that's fine, but most people have the right intention
to be able to do it. So when I usually tell people
when I'm working and helping andsometimes like I on the side
kind of how people improve theirpersonal brands is to just be
yourself. Because I believe that
ultimately you being yourself and humanizing yourself in the
(14:45):
best way possible without havingto just be somebody who you're
not, which is usually what a lotof times all these content
creators end up becoming. That authenticity, I feel
creates more trust. Why do people want to work with
somebody right now in this like distrust?
We, I call it we, we, we're currently living in a, a trust
(15:06):
recession. I always call it, which means
that it's really difficult for people to trust somebody and
give them money in exchange of aservice because, well, people
got burned many times, scammed. And it's so easy nowadays with
technology, with AI, with so many different things like that.
And honestly, I personally, my, my business has struggled
(15:28):
because of that reason. I have conversations all the
time with people who tell me I, you know, they, they literally
this woman the other day said, I, no offense to you, but if, if
it wasn't because so and so recommended you, I would have
never put this conversation withyou today.
I was like, I totally get that. Like I, I have 1%.
(15:50):
So the way that you create that you establish that it's it's, I
call it like the the know like and trust factor, right?
KLT. So how do you develop that?
Well, people need to know you'reauthentic on it.
They need to just you need to belikable.
You need to make sure that you show up in the best authentic
(16:10):
version of you. And when you do those things,
people start to trust you and trust that the things that come
out of your mouth. But you have to do it from an
authentic standpoint. If all you do is creating
content or sharing things just simply for the click, the clicks
and the views and the likes, like that's not really
authentic. And ultimately, and this is
where you see people with, like,massive followings also that are
(16:33):
dead broke because they're really good at convincing their
audiences that they have, you know, like something worth like,
you know, sharing whether it's aspecifically in the fitness
world, right? They have the body and they have
all the different things like that.
And people like to like, OK, like, I wanna like this guy.
I really like to engage with their content, but they never
buy one thing from them because maybe they don't necessarily
(16:55):
trust and they like the guy, they like the woman, they they
like the thing, but they don't necessarily trust them enough to
actually do anything from there.And again, not that's not
everyone, but there's a big number of you will be surprised
of the number of people with hundreds of thousands of
followers who are not necessarily making a living out
of that because of the fact thatI feel like they're lacking
that. And at the same time, you can
(17:15):
see people with 1000 followers making millions, right?
Because they only need this 1000people that really like them,
that trust and that anything they say they will listen to
because they're loyal to them. And I feel that comes with that
comes down to authenticity. And I think that's the right and
ethical way to be able to to, I guess, like stand out within
(17:38):
this field, or at least it's theway that I tried to.
Right, authenticity is just a great word.
I think we we're I like trust recession too.
I haven't heard that. That's really awesome.
I'm going to use that give you credit for it.
Here it is. But I think what's interesting
about authenticity is kind of like when you see something and
(18:00):
it doesn't feel right, right. And it's like it's this uncanny
valley, like the robot is not a human because you know it's not
a human. There's something this is a big
tech thing trying to overcome the uncanny valley.
And I always think it's same thing with humans.
Is that you, you pretty, you kind of know when someone's
fake, you know, and, and but it's you have to like trust your
(18:22):
own intuition about it. And so I wonder in the world of
dietitians, how do we know how to trust dietitians and
providing good because diet nutrition is such a minefield,
just like fitness of information.
What makes a great dietitian? Someone who or a nutritionist,
(18:43):
someone who could be trusted andwho I feel like.
I feel like I want to spend timeand be a part of this person's
service. Yeah, so it's harder by the day
because of the fact of technology, like you said,
right? Like AI is taking the world by
its storm and it's difficult to know.
(19:03):
Like you can even make your own clone of yourself and you can
feed it a script nowadays and literally we'll talk just like
you. And it's no longer like that
little weird like, you know, image and then like that weird
mouth that kind of moves around.Like you could tell, totally
tell. It's like an AI thing.
Oh, it's very authentic. It looks like it's insane.
(19:25):
So it's hard to be able to like,you know, to trust.
And This is why I feel authenticity and being yourself
without the use of AI all the time.
I think it has its its merit. I think that's going to be a
very important commodity, right?Because everybody else is going
to be doing that, right. So it's going to really be
interesting to be able to hear somebody live and talking
(19:46):
through this stuff is not necessarily somebody that is
kind of speaking behind like, you know, a chat DBT prompt or
so. So I think that's that's a big
part of it that I think is key. Now, what separates a good
dietitian from somebody that is maybe a smokescreen?
I feel like, and this applies toany profession 1.
I feel like it's somebody that is not necessarily always
(20:08):
expecting something in return, right?
Like they're not always asking for something.
They're truly, truly providing value for the sake of providing
value, right? They're willing to to.
One of the things that they don't necessarily save, keep
like for me and my nutritional business and, and this is
something that I really strugglewith the beginning was I don't
want to provide too much free content because like, you know,
(20:29):
why would people want to work with me if I provide all this
stuff until I work with a mentorwho told me give out everything,
everything. And I was like, how would I, why
would I do that? Like people are not going to
want to work with me. That is exactly the reason why
they're going to work with you, because they realize that the
more you give, what else? I mean is this guy's giving away
so much stuff and imagine what it's going to be like if I
(20:52):
actually get to work with them. And it is, it's it's day and
night because ultimately people want to work with you.
It's not because of information.There's plenty of that that out
there. This is why I give out
everything to me, like to people.
I could jump on a call today andI literally kind of explain
everything to this person about like calorie deficits and all
that kind of stuff like that, which easily could have been
(21:13):
like a $300 session if I wanted to.
I didn't charge a dime. I just wanted to provide that
feedback because I know that person, what they got from that
conversation in exchange of nothing.
I didn't ask for anything. I didn't even ask for a sell.
I didn't even sold her on anything.
I literally said I have a program.
If you want it, let me know and I'll send you some details.
Great, because I know that person, the first, the first
(21:34):
individual they're going to think about whenever they truly
need somebody to support them. I know it's going to be me
because I know the value that I provided.
So I guess to be authentic, justprovide insane amount of value
in exchange for nothing. And I promise it's going to pay
off. Like even when you think it
doesn't, me coming into this podcast, me creating pockets,
(21:58):
you doing this stuff. Is anybody paying you to do this
episode? Nobody's paying you, right?
You do it for because you were trying to, you jump on a call
with me to try to make sure thatyou know this was going to be a
worthy conversation. That's this is stuff what
matters. And I feel like it's it, this is
currency that it's invaluable. So you want to make yourself
invaluable. Just provide value to those who
(22:20):
need it in exchange for nothing.I feel like that's honestly the
biggest differentiator. That's fantastic.
I love that. Yeah.
I mean, it's a great point. It's like I'd like yourself.
I think initially struggle with that.
And then I thought, no, I think just giving out all these
episodes and all of my content, my information, my wisdom, my
(22:41):
knowledge, it creates it. So it's a rope pull.
You start pulling people towardsyou and they go, oh, this, now
I'm seeing this person who's so trustworthy, like, look at them,
why would they do this? It creates intrigue also with
that, I want to kind of pivot a little bit because nutrition is
just ripe with so much content and information.
(23:02):
But I, I obviously, as you know,there is so many different
topics and nutrition that are going on right now.
And I feel like we're in this this area where different types
of approaches are very in vogue,whether it's carnivore, plant
based, pescatarian, whatever it is.
(23:22):
What's your kind of general philosophy or mindset related to
all these different approaches for individuals?
And, and different people I am, I was explained to people that
I'm diet agnostic, so I don't believe I don't have like a
specific diet that I preach or feel that anybody should follow.
(23:43):
I believe anybody should follow something that works for them
and that it's supported by science.
Those are my 2 requirements and even if it's not supported by
science, if it's not going to potentially cause any harm, I
think it's obviously something worth, you know, doing for, for
somebody they can actually sustain it.
(24:03):
So in fact, like right now I am doing a diet experiment.
I am going in a few days on a carnivore diet and not by
choice. I'm just testing things.
I'm trying to understand if the benefits that people are
claiming to have from carnivore,which is a huge topic nowadays,
(24:24):
come from the fact that people simply remove a ton of food.
So they shouldn't be consuming in the 1st place.
And then make this like 180 change or a night.
Or if it's a result of the fact that, yeah, eating just meat, it
has like this like magic if you know, Unicorn, like the fact,
you know, type of type of situation.
(24:45):
And to do that, I went on a Whole Foods diet for 30 days.
I tested everything before and then after.
And then I'm about to go on a carnivore diet for about 30 days
as well to really understand thedifferences.
So my philosophy about diets is the fact that number one, yes,
you got to do the one that worksbest for you.
And #2 it's also important to understand and learn how to run,
(25:08):
learn how to walk before you canrun.
A lot of these diets, you see people out there and like, they
require so many different, like I call them advanced eating
methods. And you know, anything advanced,
if you don't know the basic of basics of something, you should
start with the basics of something.
And people don't understand that.
So for me, we have to focus on just the very basics of
(25:30):
nutritional management and most people don't even understand
exactly what that looks like. So they look for band aids.
Now we live in the also revolution of weight loss drugs
which are available everywhere now.
And it's not just now doctor prescribed.
Now anybody can get it. Yes, supposedly through a quote,
UN quote Doctor Who's a just a nurse practitioner behind hiding
(25:53):
behind like a keyboard and then just simply prescribing left and
right as long as you paid for it.
And then like that's not teaching anybody how to eat.
It's just essentially shutting down their hunger.
And some people need it, don't get me wrong, but I had
conversations about this all thetime.
They're not is really fixing theroot cause of the problem, which
is learning, teaching people howto eat.
So for me, it's not about whether you do keto or
(26:16):
carnivore. It's like, do you actually
understand how those diets work in the 1st place, which
ultimately help you manage and control calorie intake?
Not because they're any type of magic in any type of way.
So that's why the way I believe you know, nutrition is I guess
my philosophy, you think about it and can be just simply
summarizing all foods can fit depending on your approach and.
(26:40):
What's interesting about nutrition is that it has such a
stronghold on people's identity.So when someone says I am a
carnivore or I am a vegetarian Iam a vegan, they assign an
identity to themselves that thisis who I am.
(27:01):
Why do we do this with nutritionso much more than we do this in
other in other areas besides maybe religion?
Well, that's why, why that's whywe use the word agnostic earlier
on because, because people get married to, to the thing that
created. Let me, let me put it this way,
(27:22):
let me backtrack. I think food is like the
foundation of a lot of things inour health, right?
It can make us, it can also break us, right?
If, if, if it didn't, we didn't have such a big problem in
America with obesity and all different things like that.
So, but it can also make us, it can actually completely change
the way that we feel and live. So when somebody is in pain,
(27:43):
struggling and, and lost and, and really in a bad place and
they did something that completely shifted and changed
that, whatever that was, they'regoing to be married to that
idea. And because this is what saved
them. So usually people find that in
(28:06):
religion, sometimes they commit to a path with God and now it's
now the religion becomes their thing.
Other people is, you know, a person they find a person that
completely changed their lives and they may end up marrying
them or just becoming really close to them, whether it's a
good or a bad thing, because sometimes it can go both ways.
(28:29):
The same thing this with diet. You may find the diet that
completely changed your way you felt give you energy, it changed
your body like it gave you confidence.
Wouldn't you want to just marry that into like, you know,
everything when he just gave youso much?
Now the problem is that you attach to it so much without
(28:52):
realizing that it wasn't really the diet that created this.
It was just the principle, right?
That that created that idea. And the people don't see that
because they're uneducated aboutit.
So now they are, they go around the world or, or I guess in this
case, social media comments praising this diet no matter
(29:14):
what it is. So, and now they're going to go
and looking for cue for, for clothes and, and for things that
confirm that belief. That's called confirmation bias,
right? Which is again, when somebody
will search for information thatconfirms their beliefs.
So again, like you said, they, it becomes their identities.
I am. It's not just necessarily like I
(29:35):
follow a carnivore. I am.
Yes. I am a carnivore, right?
So this is part of who I am because it changed my life.
And you should do the same. And everybody should be
following this, right? So that's where it becomes
dangerous is because now let's just put it this way.
When a fitness coach, for example, does something like
(30:00):
this and it changes their lives,he becomes he or she becomes
biased because maybe that's now what they're pushing.
There's a story behind this for me that honestly I'm not afraid
to share, which is in in 2017, Istarted working at a sports
facility that also had a clinical side of it that worked
(30:20):
with people with neurological conditions.
And they specifically worked on doing research around ketogenic
diets, which in a way they're similar to a carnivore diet.
So it was my job as a dietitian to coach them on how to follow a
ketogenic diet adequately. Now for me, I needed to under, I
have a thing where like if I'm going to coach or teach somebody
(30:41):
to do a specific diet, I have todo it myself to understand it
better. So I did it and I went in and
embarked on a ketogenic journey for about a year, going through
that process. And honestly, I felt pretty good
and I started noticing the shiftin the way that I was actually
coaching my clients. And I, I took note of that a few
months later where I was inclining myself towards
(31:02):
recommending maybe you should doketo.
Have you consider a ketogenic diet?
Have you considered that this isactually something that you
could do? And then until now that I
realized looking back, I was getting biased based on my own
experience just because it, and again, this is, this is what
happens with a lot of fitness coaches, which is again, like
their own experience dictates exactly what happens.
(31:24):
And again, it doesn't mean it doesn't just validate your
experience. You totally can can share what
worked for you, but you have to really disclaim or you have to
just provide that disclaimer. The fact that just because it
works for me doesn't necessarilywork for you could work for you.
But this is what I did. And I think this is a way that I
(31:45):
think a lot of coaches can also provide, not necessarily provide
advice, but just simply share experiences.
Hey, like I'm not telling you todo this.
This is what worked for me and Idid this and this and that and I
ate this and this and this way. Again, you should consult with a
dietitian or physician or a specialist in this stuff.
(32:06):
I just wanted to share my experience.
So Even so with me is as a dietitian and coaching people, I
would tell him like, hey, listen, like have you considered
this? Now this is something that's
worked for me or this is something that worked for this
client, potentially could work for you.
What do you think? Like what are your views on
this? Right?
Let the client let the person make the decision and just
(32:29):
simply provide the information so they can actually make an
adequate informed choice depending on on what it is.
So anyways, that's a long windedanswer to your question on what
do I believe in? No, it's great because it just
feels like our identities are sotied to, as you mentioned, these
(32:51):
dramatic changes that have such emotional connection to
existentially almost to who we are, that we feel very much like
I have to spread the gospel of this, right?
And so for a lot of nutrition, again, I'm making this
comparison, it functions a lot like religion and that you want
(33:11):
to convert people to that because this was so great for
me. There's no way it can't be great
for you. And the danger of that is that
there's so much diversity in humans, and what works for us is
that you may be lovingly wantingsomeone to do something that was
so great for you and completely be blinded to the fact that it
(33:34):
may be one of the worst things for them.
And there's never even thinking of that that's something that
you loved wasn't good for someone else because it feels
counterintuitive, like, well, itwas great.
It's like someone saying I, I love being in the ocean.
I've never experienced an accident on a boat in the ocean.
And your mind, you're thinking nothing ever happened.
(33:54):
Bad ever happens in the ocean. But yeah, plenty of stuff bad
does happen in the ocean. Just recognizing that it's not
always 100% amazing. Exactly.
And, and, and this is also the way that these like influencers
with massive follows actually build this cult.
I have gone on YouTube to createvideos reacting to other
(34:16):
people's stuff and particularly big influencers or big content
creators in the health and Wellness space.
And the amount of people that stand up for them, like in a
like their God type of way, it'sinsane.
It's like, man, like I wish people spoke about me that way,
(34:38):
right, and like these are peoplewere just you know, they're the
actual creators don't know thingabout them.
They don't know they even exist.No, right.
So so it's like, you know, how are you so going out of your
way? Well, most likely because one
change also their lives because they listen to their thing and
the one thing that they weren't that changed the content
(34:59):
creators life or the one that's influenced lives also changed
theirs, right. But The thing is you're not
paying attention to it's a it's a numbers game.
If you have 5 million followers and 1% of your followers had an
incredible change, 50 yeah, 50,000 people, right?
How much? 50,000 people?
It's a stadium. So you're going to have 50,000
(35:22):
people who completely change your lives because of it.
But what about the other 99% that potentially either didn't
follow it, we're not really paying attention, whatever.
Like when you take that amount of people and you start to see
what worked and didn't, then you're going to find that like I
had a quote with a client who were, or a prospect client who
(35:44):
wanted to, who just went on a diet call up to via, which is a
commercial diet weight loss program.
And, and the people who again, like it's a, their identity that
completely changed your lives, they're going in the comments
and telling you like, it's effective, it's sustainable if
you know how to do it and stuff like that.
But then there's another like for every comment they get like
(36:07):
that, there's at least like 5 or6 of people that would say, it
didn't work for me. I gained the way back or like
all the different things happen,right?
So, so then it's, it's a ratio that exists and I'm happy for
the people that worked. And when people started to go on
these different routes, I tell him like, I really hope he works
for you, but I hope that he works long term.
And I don't go against it. It's just simply the reality.
(36:29):
And This is why a lot of these Iprograms typically get so famous
because it's a numbers game. And that's where it, it, the
problem lies. It's not, it's not absolute.
I like to, if, if I'm going to help people, I'd rather just
take 10 clients that I know I can change 10 of their lives or
9 like 90% success rate rather than taking 1000 and only
(36:54):
getting like 90 people to changetheir lives because what happens
to the other 90%, right? So that to me is more important.
Yeah. And I, I feel very similar to
that and this is just awesome. So Andres, maybe it's just some
last takeaways, maybe top two orthree takeaways for fit pros to
listen and how they can just be better at disseminating or
(37:18):
providing some level of nutritional information and
coaching to their clients. Simplify people's lives.
I don't think you have to overcomplicate it just to simply
sound smarter or better. And sometimes that's needed.
But I think #1 advice is again, like simplicity is the ultimate
(37:40):
sophistication. So teach people the, I mean, if
you want to create a cult and followers of people, like teach
them the basic stuff, right? Like lift weights, move your
body, get enough protein, drink enough water, you know, get
fruits and vegetables. Like that's like universal stuff
that if everybody did it, you will probably better be better
(38:01):
off. But that's just the boring on
sexy stuff that nobody really like everybody knows but don't
necessarily do. In fact, I teach my clients,
like I call it the core 5, whichis literally 5 things that
everybody should do. And it's knows get protein, get
fiber, get enough water, move your body, get enough food.
Like that's, that's again, like do this for five for, for 30
(38:23):
days in a row. Like do these five things
without any details and see whathappens, right?
So focus on simplifying people'slives now overcomplicated.
And that would be #1 the second thing is, again, be you, be
authentic to your audience. And I promise like you have
something to share. And you don't have to have a
million followers to be able to,one, have a successful business
(38:45):
and two, to have people that actually know like you and trust
you, which is another big piece on the equation.
And #3 if you truly want to go astep further in terms of knowing
how to provide nutritional advice, at least get certified
on it. And at the very least, and then
like, if you really want to go all out, then go the full 9 and
(39:05):
become a dad, become a dietitian, which a lot of people
in the training side of things I've done, it's a long route.
But to me, I still do it again. I will probably still do it
again though. Even so I said earlier that I
wanted, but you know, I think it's it's rewarding and it's
definitely something that I feellike it will give you an edge
over people, in particularly because of the fact that I'm
sure, you know, people listeningto this will probably going to
(39:28):
be on the right side of the equation when it comes down to
dietitians are concerned. Andreas, thank you so much for
your time. Just awesome.
I'm so glad we met each other. Seriously, you're a good person
and and provide such great advice and you seem like a very
professional guy so I truly appreciate that.
Thank you so much. Yeah.
(39:50):
Thank you so much for having me,Doctor Parker.
And I'm happy to to share anything else for your audience
that they consider valuable. Thanks man, I really appreciate
it.
My name is Andres Augusta, I'm aregistered dietitian and
nutrition coach, and I'm based out of Tampa, FL and I own a
company called Planus Nutrition that specializes in helping high
performers improve the way that it lived their lives, optimize
their health for longevity, and ultimately accomplish their
(00:21):
goals in the best state of health and Wellness as possible.
My background is working with professional athletes back in
the day and now I just help a little bit of everyone.
So excited to be here. Andreas, thanks for being here.
And the listeners don't know that we had an awesome
conversation before, but we always do a discovery call with
(00:44):
everyone and you're just so wonderful to talk to.
Seriously. Just seemed like a really
awesome guy. And so I love having people like
yourself on. But I thought as I was thinking
about this, there's so much you could talk about clearly and you
have such a great qualified experience.
But as we're saying, I want to talk a little bit about the
(01:05):
slippery slope of scope of practice for fitness
professionals who desire to helptheir clients with nutrition,
but are always not so sure. And I think you have a good
insight in this because you havea fitness background, believe
you are CSCS certified as well. So you understand the fitness
(01:26):
side of it as well. So let's kind of launch into a
little bit from your perspectivehow fitness professionals can be
better about discussing nutrition with clients on a high
level and then we'll kind of getlittle bit into the weeds there.
Yeah. So let's kind of set the the
groundwork first and kind of explain why this is an issue.
(01:48):
The reason why this is an issue or or what it's become an issue
for the past few years is because if there are licensure
laws that protect the professional dietetics and what
can or cannot be provided from the nutritional standpoint.
Because ultimately it is it. It is something that can affect
(02:09):
somebody positively or negatively, depending on that
the advice that has been given, particularly when there's
underlying conditions and whether there's a disease or
chronic issue going on. And, and there's, you know, our
profession is equipped with the clinical knowledge to be able to
handle those things. Now, I'm not the conventional
(02:30):
dietitian that will go and say that you are not allowed to give
nutrition advice if you're not adietitian.
And in fact, I, some of the people that I looked up the most
or the highest to in terms that are provide and help people in
the coaching space are not dietitians.
They don't have a background in like they do have a background
(02:52):
nutrition training, but not likein the same dietetics route that
I took. So I'm the first one to tell you
that I don't necessarily believethat they're all dietitians or
only dietitians are the ones that need to provide nutritional
advice. But I think like, you know, the,
the big picture view, I feel like there's just so many people
right now doing that. And it's scary because there's
(03:14):
such a big amount of misinformation that we never
know when you're going to run into a piece of advice that, and
again, for people listening who are fitness professionals, you
never know when you're going to provide a piece of advice that
may have been well-intentioned but created a problem.
Like I'll give you a simple example.
You told somebody that they should be taking like X
(03:35):
multivitamin and it turns out that the person had a very
intense allergic reaction to something that was in that or
like something along those lines.
And then now you're held liable to that because you were the
trainer or the fitness professional that told him or
that heard that you should be taking that specific supplement.
(03:57):
So that's where like there's important to draw a line because
you can actually backfire for for the professional, not only
for the person being affected, but at the same time it can
really ruin somebody's career, which is I think what it's
important to be careful around it.
Yeah, I think there's, there's so much.
(04:18):
I don't know if controversy is the right word, but there's just
so much. You get this weird line that's
there. And I've seen this with so many
trainers as they desperately want to help clients with their
nutritional wisdom, their nutritional approach.
And on some instances they're hesitant to refer to dietitians
(04:41):
because they want to be, they want to have this whole Bank of
business. They want to be able to be
everything to the person they'rewith.
But what is just some maybe practical guidelines for fitness
professionals of what is appropriate and what is probably
not appropriate in terms of thatline when working with clients
(05:01):
to providing this information? Yeah, and.
I'm honestly hope I don't get introuble with my, my board.
Essentially, I, I don't, I, I, I, I feel like people can have a
little more leeway to provide nutritional advice more so than
what it's like required by licensure laws.
So, so let's just first, I guessunderstand like if you live in a
(05:23):
state that does not have licenselaw, licensure laws for I live
in Florida, for example. And this was a big topic of
debate in the dietetics world because of the fact that like
the licensure laws kind of got alittle bit more less restrictive
when it comes on to providing advice.
So now people that are not dietitians can do that.
And people got super upset aboutit.
(05:44):
And I personally, I was like, OK, like, listen, we need more
people providing nutritional like guidance because there's
not enough dietitians. And at the same time, this is
going to ruffle some feather feathers.
Not all dietitians are great dietitians.
That's just the truth, right? And I think there's a lack of
that. There's some distrust on, and I
get it on certain trainers and fitness professionals who know
(06:05):
their stuff and, and, and there's a hesitation in, in
recommending A dietitian becauseI know for a fact there's
people. And again, I'm not by, by any
means, I'm saying like I'm the best at it that people need to
kind of be wary still about the stuff that I say.
But I consider myself to be welleducated enough to provide and I
have the track record with my clients that I think supports
(06:26):
the fact that I do try to provide good advice.
It's ensuring that, you know, it's, it's, it's hard to, to
trust somebody, somebody out there that you don't know if
it's actually going to do a better job than you can.
So practical advice, what can somebody do when it comes down
to the number one, look into your life licensure laws within
your state. Because if you have a little bit
(06:46):
more leeway to be able to provide advice, then that comes
down to practical step #2 which is we'll get adequately
certified in something nutritionspecific.
For me, the best certification that is out there that I feel
like Encompass is a lot of like behavioral change and
nutritional coaching is Precision Nutrition.
(07:07):
I've fallen for years and I feellike they have one of the most
all the round, you know, certifications.
It's actually backed up by dietitians and by, you know,
physical or fitness trainers andat the same time pH DS.
So I feel like if you want to provide advice, be very well
educated on it. Practical study mark #3 is it's
(07:30):
basically a do not, do, do not provide advice based on your own
experience because that can thank you.
That's what most important social media do, right?
It's like, I got a six pack. I'm going to teach you how to
get a six pack look on my bikinibody.
Now I'm going to teach you how to do the same thing, like eat
these things. That is not sound advice.
(07:51):
That's just pro or girl science.Like it's not really something
that it's, it's, it's adequate. So get properly certified, have
and do all the things that you need to do to be adequate,
providing advice and be evidencebased.
I think those are like the most important steps that anyone who
has a personal personal trainingcertification or a background in
(08:15):
fitness and perhaps didn't really want to go the dietician
route. That's what I would do if I
didn't have my credentials, which by the way, I feel like,
you know, if I could go back, like I don't know if I would
have done this now, it kind of gives me a bit of a slant of, of
authority. But right now dietitians do not
get the best Rep. And I get why it's a very
tainted like organization, right?
(08:37):
It's supported by big, you know,Coca-Cola is one of their big
sponsors. So it's like you start to
question like, you know, a lot of times similar things.
And I do too. I'm not even a member of their
organization. I pay my dues because I want to
keep my hard work and all the hours that I put into it.
But I don't necessarily feel like it's it's a trustworthy
organization. And again, like they can come
(08:58):
after me if they want. I don't really care.
I love that honesty. That's what I want on here.
That's really amazing. I want to back up a little bit
on point #3 because this is, I think where we're getting into a
lot of trouble and our in our industries is that often what
trainers do and certainly what content providers do.
(09:19):
And I want to make this clear that content providers are not
necessarily service providers. They're content creators that
who often never actually work with anyone.
It's just stuff they do and they're telling you this often
is a problem with trainers too, is that I'm on this particular
dietary approach or nutritional approach, and I'm going to tell
(09:41):
you what I've done to help you get to where you need to.
Be is is. This something that do you think
that this is probably one of thelarger problems or is it just
overblown you think? No, it isn't big of a lot of
your problem. It's because of the fact that
fitness trainers are becoming content creators.
There's nothing wrong with that.I'm a content creator.
You're a content creator. Like, you know, we're OK right
(10:02):
now recording this part because we are creating content.
But the problem is the type of content that is created and
like, and what is it that you'repursuing with the content You're
creating? A content creator that now
started to make a living off of it because now this is a full
time balloon profession, which it's, it's funny that like five
years ago, people laughed about like the fact that people would
say I'm a content creator and people would laugh in their
faces. Like look at Mr. Beast, right?
(10:25):
Like this is one of the biggest,like most like multi millionaire
just creating videos. So it, it, it's, it's
understanding also that a content creator looks for
clicks, views, engagement, and they'll do anything that they
can to do to be able to accomplish that, whether it's,
you know, click bait stuff or like misinformation content or
(10:47):
whatever is the case, right? Because ultimately they're
trying to build an audience. So they can either sell them
something or that they can sell something in their account that
people can get paid for partnerships or, or whatever is
the case. Or, you know, and, and I get it.
I am, I'm a country creator. People reach out to me and I
have been paid by brands to workto, to do paid stuff.
So it's, it's again like a, a matter of numbers now.
(11:10):
It doesn't matter what the content is created now.
It's your responsibility as a fitness coach, as somebody that
is a service provider to make sure that the content you're
creating is not just simply in pursuit of like just increasing
your audience. Yes, it's important, but do it
so in an ethical adequate way, which I think it's where we
actually, we see so many blurredlines and content creators
(11:31):
nowadays, right? Because they have some of the
biggest follows when, when you look at, at somebody like, for
example, a little bit like the carnivore diet proponents who
have like 0 scientific like evidence to, to support a lot of
the claims, wild claims that they have.
And now they have amassed an audience of millions, right?
(11:52):
And people are listening to their advice and it's
technically nutrition advice fora lot of them, sometimes given
by chiropractors and by people that do not necessarily have the
background. Sometimes they do, sometimes
they don't. So I think it's, you need to 1st
be a fitness coach, a service provider, and then become a
content creator, but just makingsure that you're an ethical one.
(12:13):
The amount of times that people will tell me like even like
agency or like mentors that, youknow, I've worked with, you
know, you got to create this like colorizing content and you
got to like go against the grainand, and sometimes I do and
things that I truly believe in. But for me to say like, you
know, crazy wild claims and effort of like just me creating
polarizing contents where increase engagement and more
(12:35):
people see my stuff, I just don't have that in me.
And I don't feel like it's because I don't, I don't feel
like that's for the greater good.
And that's where I feel like I'mdrawing the line.
And I feel like a lot of good healthcare professionals,
fitness professionals, I think they should as well.
Gosh, this is a great line of conversation.
And you were saying, and when you said ethics, I said, Oh, we
(12:57):
have to go down this pathway a little bit.
And then you mentioned that you just don't have this in you.
I feel the same way. I was just telling my wife the
other day. I said, you know, one of the
reasons why I think that I struggle with like my YouTube
and stuff like that is like, I'mjust not willing to cross the
line other people are willing todo.
(13:18):
And because of that, it's, it hurts me somewhat in terms of
that aspect of clicks, views, things of that nature, because I
think we're all at the point we kind of know what would work.
We know kind of what would work and what would be outrageous.
So I'd love for you to talk a little bit more about what would
be. Obviously ethics can be very
(13:40):
personal, different people, but what type of ethics do you think
would work best for us as a profession to one have better
reputations as dietitians, fitness professionals and
beyond? I honestly feel like this is, I
think most people, especially inour field, I don't know about
you, but I think, I don't think nobody goes into personal
(14:03):
training just for the money, right, People?
People like it's, it's not like you're going to be paid millions
the moment that you become a personal trainer.
People do it because they care to help others.
They're passionate about fitness, they're passionate
about like improving people's lives.
That's ultimately their calling and why they decide to do it,
right? Like yeah, I'm sure some people
do it because they want to have like this massive online
(14:24):
coaching company or whatever is the case.
And sure, that's fine, but most people have the right intention
to be able to do it. So when I usually tell people
when I'm working and helping andsometimes like I on the side
kind of how people improve theirpersonal brands is to just be
yourself. Because I believe that
ultimately you being yourself and humanizing yourself in the
(14:45):
best way possible without havingto just be somebody who you're
not, which is usually what a lotof times all these content
creators end up becoming. That authenticity, I feel
creates more trust. Why do people want to work with
somebody right now in this like distrust?
We, I call it we, we, we're currently living in a, a trust
(15:06):
recession. I always call it, which means
that it's really difficult for people to trust somebody and
give them money in exchange of aservice because, well, people
got burned many times, scammed. And it's so easy nowadays with
technology, with AI, with so many different things like that.
And honestly, I personally, my, my business has struggled
(15:28):
because of that reason. I have conversations all the
time with people who tell me I, you know, they, they literally
this woman the other day said, I, no offense to you, but if, if
it wasn't because so and so recommended you, I would have
never put this conversation withyou today.
I was like, I totally get that. Like I, I have 1%.
(15:50):
So the way that you create that you establish that it's it's, I
call it like the the know like and trust factor, right?
KLT. So how do you develop that?
Well, people need to know you'reauthentic on it.
They need to just you need to belikable.
You need to make sure that you show up in the best authentic
(16:10):
version of you. And when you do those things,
people start to trust you and trust that the things that come
out of your mouth. But you have to do it from an
authentic standpoint. If all you do is creating
content or sharing things just simply for the click, the clicks
and the views and the likes, like that's not really
authentic. And ultimately, and this is
where you see people with, like,massive followings also that are
(16:33):
dead broke because they're really good at convincing their
audiences that they have, you know, like something worth like,
you know, sharing whether it's aspecifically in the fitness
world, right? They have the body and they have
all the different things like that.
And people like to like, OK, like, I wanna like this guy.
I really like to engage with their content, but they never
buy one thing from them because maybe they don't necessarily
(16:55):
trust and they like the guy, they like the woman, they they
like the thing, but they don't necessarily trust them enough to
actually do anything from there.And again, not that's not
everyone, but there's a big number of you will be surprised
of the number of people with hundreds of thousands of
followers who are not necessarily making a living out
of that because of the fact thatI feel like they're lacking
that. And at the same time, you can
(17:15):
see people with 1000 followers making millions, right?
Because they only need this 1000people that really like them,
that trust and that anything they say they will listen to
because they're loyal to them. And I feel that comes with that
comes down to authenticity. And I think that's the right and
ethical way to be able to to, I guess, like stand out within
(17:38):
this field, or at least it's theway that I tried to.
Right, authenticity is just a great word.
I think we we're I like trust recession too.
I haven't heard that. That's really awesome.
I'm going to use that give you credit for it.
Here it is. But I think what's interesting
about authenticity is kind of like when you see something and
(18:00):
it doesn't feel right, right. And it's like it's this uncanny
valley, like the robot is not a human because you know it's not
a human. There's something this is a big
tech thing trying to overcome the uncanny valley.
And I always think it's same thing with humans.
Is that you, you pretty, you kind of know when someone's
fake, you know, and, and but it's you have to like trust your
(18:22):
own intuition about it. And so I wonder in the world of
dietitians, how do we know how to trust dietitians and
providing good because diet nutrition is such a minefield,
just like fitness of information.
What makes a great dietitian? Someone who or a nutritionist,
(18:43):
someone who could be trusted andwho I feel like.
I feel like I want to spend timeand be a part of this person's
service. Yeah, so it's harder by the day
because of the fact of technology, like you said,
right? Like AI is taking the world by
its storm and it's difficult to know.
(19:03):
Like you can even make your own clone of yourself and you can
feed it a script nowadays and literally we'll talk just like
you. And it's no longer like that
little weird like, you know, image and then like that weird
mouth that kind of moves around.Like you could tell, totally
tell. It's like an AI thing.
Oh, it's very authentic. It looks like it's insane.
(19:25):
So it's hard to be able to like,you know, to trust.
And This is why I feel authenticity and being yourself
without the use of AI all the time.
I think it has its its merit. I think that's going to be a
very important commodity, right?Because everybody else is going
to be doing that, right. So it's going to really be
interesting to be able to hear somebody live and talking
(19:46):
through this stuff is not necessarily somebody that is
kind of speaking behind like, you know, a chat DBT prompt or
so. So I think that's that's a big
part of it that I think is key. Now, what separates a good
dietitian from somebody that is maybe a smokescreen?
I feel like, and this applies toany profession 1.
I feel like it's somebody that is not necessarily always
(20:08):
expecting something in return, right?
Like they're not always asking for something.
They're truly, truly providing value for the sake of providing
value, right? They're willing to to.
One of the things that they don't necessarily save, keep
like for me and my nutritional business and, and this is
something that I really strugglewith the beginning was I don't
want to provide too much free content because like, you know,
(20:29):
why would people want to work with me if I provide all this
stuff until I work with a mentorwho told me give out everything,
everything. And I was like, how would I, why
would I do that? Like people are not going to
want to work with me. That is exactly the reason why
they're going to work with you, because they realize that the
more you give, what else? I mean is this guy's giving away
so much stuff and imagine what it's going to be like if I
(20:52):
actually get to work with them. And it is, it's it's day and
night because ultimately people want to work with you.
It's not because of information.There's plenty of that that out
there. This is why I give out
everything to me, like to people.
I could jump on a call today andI literally kind of explain
everything to this person about like calorie deficits and all
that kind of stuff like that, which easily could have been
(21:13):
like a $300 session if I wanted to.
I didn't charge a dime. I just wanted to provide that
feedback because I know that person, what they got from that
conversation in exchange of nothing.
I didn't ask for anything. I didn't even ask for a sell.
I didn't even sold her on anything.
I literally said I have a program.
If you want it, let me know and I'll send you some details.
Great, because I know that person, the first, the first
(21:34):
individual they're going to think about whenever they truly
need somebody to support them. I know it's going to be me
because I know the value that I provided.
So I guess to be authentic, justprovide insane amount of value
in exchange for nothing. And I promise it's going to pay
off. Like even when you think it
doesn't, me coming into this podcast, me creating pockets,
(21:58):
you doing this stuff. Is anybody paying you to do this
episode? Nobody's paying you, right?
You do it for because you were trying to, you jump on a call
with me to try to make sure thatyou know this was going to be a
worthy conversation. That's this is stuff what
matters. And I feel like it's it, this is
currency that it's invaluable. So you want to make yourself
invaluable. Just provide value to those who
(22:20):
need it in exchange for nothing.I feel like that's honestly the
biggest differentiator. That's fantastic.
I love that. Yeah.
I mean, it's a great point. It's like I'd like yourself.
I think initially struggle with that.
And then I thought, no, I think just giving out all these
episodes and all of my content, my information, my wisdom, my
(22:41):
knowledge, it creates it. So it's a rope pull.
You start pulling people towardsyou and they go, oh, this, now
I'm seeing this person who's so trustworthy, like, look at them,
why would they do this? It creates intrigue also with
that, I want to kind of pivot a little bit because nutrition is
just ripe with so much content and information.
(23:02):
But I, I obviously, as you know,there is so many different
topics and nutrition that are going on right now.
And I feel like we're in this this area where different types
of approaches are very in vogue,whether it's carnivore, plant
based, pescatarian, whatever it is.
(23:22):
What's your kind of general philosophy or mindset related to
all these different approaches for individuals?
And, and different people I am, I was explained to people that
I'm diet agnostic, so I don't believe I don't have like a
specific diet that I preach or feel that anybody should follow.
(23:43):
I believe anybody should follow something that works for them
and that it's supported by science.
Those are my 2 requirements and even if it's not supported by
science, if it's not going to potentially cause any harm, I
think it's obviously something worth, you know, doing for, for
somebody they can actually sustain it.
(24:03):
So in fact, like right now I am doing a diet experiment.
I am going in a few days on a carnivore diet and not by
choice. I'm just testing things.
I'm trying to understand if the benefits that people are
claiming to have from carnivore,which is a huge topic nowadays,
(24:24):
come from the fact that people simply remove a ton of food.
So they shouldn't be consuming in the 1st place.
And then make this like 180 change or a night.
Or if it's a result of the fact that, yeah, eating just meat, it
has like this like magic if you know, Unicorn, like the fact,
you know, type of type of situation.
(24:45):
And to do that, I went on a Whole Foods diet for 30 days.
I tested everything before and then after.
And then I'm about to go on a carnivore diet for about 30 days
as well to really understand thedifferences.
So my philosophy about diets is the fact that number one, yes,
you got to do the one that worksbest for you.
And #2 it's also important to understand and learn how to run,
(25:08):
learn how to walk before you canrun.
A lot of these diets, you see people out there and like, they
require so many different, like I call them advanced eating
methods. And you know, anything advanced,
if you don't know the basic of basics of something, you should
start with the basics of something.
And people don't understand that.
So for me, we have to focus on just the very basics of
(25:30):
nutritional management and most people don't even understand
exactly what that looks like. So they look for band aids.
Now we live in the also revolution of weight loss drugs
which are available everywhere now.
And it's not just now doctor prescribed.
Now anybody can get it. Yes, supposedly through a quote,
UN quote Doctor Who's a just a nurse practitioner behind hiding
(25:53):
behind like a keyboard and then just simply prescribing left and
right as long as you paid for it.
And then like that's not teaching anybody how to eat.
It's just essentially shutting down their hunger.
And some people need it, don't get me wrong, but I had
conversations about this all thetime.
They're not is really fixing theroot cause of the problem, which
is learning, teaching people howto eat.
So for me, it's not about whether you do keto or
(26:16):
carnivore. It's like, do you actually
understand how those diets work in the 1st place, which
ultimately help you manage and control calorie intake?
Not because they're any type of magic in any type of way.
So that's why the way I believe you know, nutrition is I guess
my philosophy, you think about it and can be just simply
summarizing all foods can fit depending on your approach and.
(26:40):
What's interesting about nutrition is that it has such a
stronghold on people's identity.So when someone says I am a
carnivore or I am a vegetarian Iam a vegan, they assign an
identity to themselves that thisis who I am.
(27:01):
Why do we do this with nutritionso much more than we do this in
other in other areas besides maybe religion?
Well, that's why, why that's whywe use the word agnostic earlier
on because, because people get married to, to the thing that
created. Let me, let me put it this way,
(27:22):
let me backtrack. I think food is like the
foundation of a lot of things inour health, right?
It can make us, it can also break us, right?
If, if, if it didn't, we didn't have such a big problem in
America with obesity and all different things like that.
So, but it can also make us, it can actually completely change
the way that we feel and live. So when somebody is in pain,
(27:43):
struggling and, and lost and, and really in a bad place and
they did something that completely shifted and changed
that, whatever that was, they'regoing to be married to that
idea. And because this is what saved
them. So usually people find that in
(28:06):
religion, sometimes they commit to a path with God and now it's
now the religion becomes their thing.
Other people is, you know, a person they find a person that
completely changed their lives and they may end up marrying
them or just becoming really close to them, whether it's a
good or a bad thing, because sometimes it can go both ways.
(28:29):
The same thing this with diet. You may find the diet that
completely changed your way you felt give you energy, it changed
your body like it gave you confidence.
Wouldn't you want to just marry that into like, you know,
everything when he just gave youso much?
Now the problem is that you attach to it so much without
(28:52):
realizing that it wasn't really the diet that created this.
It was just the principle, right?
That that created that idea. And the people don't see that
because they're uneducated aboutit.
So now they are, they go around the world or, or I guess in this
case, social media comments praising this diet no matter
(29:14):
what it is. So, and now they're going to go
and looking for cue for, for clothes and, and for things that
confirm that belief. That's called confirmation bias,
right? Which is again, when somebody
will search for information thatconfirms their beliefs.
So again, like you said, they, it becomes their identities.
I am. It's not just necessarily like I
(29:35):
follow a carnivore. I am.
Yes. I am a carnivore, right?
So this is part of who I am because it changed my life.
And you should do the same. And everybody should be
following this, right? So that's where it becomes
dangerous is because now let's just put it this way.
When a fitness coach, for example, does something like
(30:00):
this and it changes their lives,he becomes he or she becomes
biased because maybe that's now what they're pushing.
There's a story behind this for me that honestly I'm not afraid
to share, which is in in 2017, Istarted working at a sports
facility that also had a clinical side of it that worked
(30:20):
with people with neurological conditions.
And they specifically worked on doing research around ketogenic
diets, which in a way they're similar to a carnivore diet.
So it was my job as a dietitian to coach them on how to follow a
ketogenic diet adequately. Now for me, I needed to under, I
have a thing where like if I'm going to coach or teach somebody
(30:41):
to do a specific diet, I have todo it myself to understand it
better. So I did it and I went in and
embarked on a ketogenic journey for about a year, going through
that process. And honestly, I felt pretty good
and I started noticing the shiftin the way that I was actually
coaching my clients. And I, I took note of that a few
months later where I was inclining myself towards
(31:02):
recommending maybe you should doketo.
Have you consider a ketogenic diet?
Have you considered that this isactually something that you
could do? And then until now that I
realized looking back, I was getting biased based on my own
experience just because it, and again, this is, this is what
happens with a lot of fitness coaches, which is again, like
their own experience dictates exactly what happens.
(31:24):
And again, it doesn't mean it doesn't just validate your
experience. You totally can can share what
worked for you, but you have to really disclaim or you have to
just provide that disclaimer. The fact that just because it
works for me doesn't necessarilywork for you could work for you.
But this is what I did. And I think this is a way that I
(31:45):
think a lot of coaches can also provide, not necessarily provide
advice, but just simply share experiences.
Hey, like I'm not telling you todo this.
This is what worked for me and Idid this and this and that and I
ate this and this and this way. Again, you should consult with a
dietitian or physician or a specialist in this stuff.
(32:06):
I just wanted to share my experience.
So Even so with me is as a dietitian and coaching people, I
would tell him like, hey, listen, like have you considered
this? Now this is something that's
worked for me or this is something that worked for this
client, potentially could work for you.
What do you think? Like what are your views on
this? Right?
Let the client let the person make the decision and just
(32:29):
simply provide the information so they can actually make an
adequate informed choice depending on on what it is.
So anyways, that's a long windedanswer to your question on what
do I believe in? No, it's great because it just
feels like our identities are sotied to, as you mentioned, these
(32:51):
dramatic changes that have such emotional connection to
existentially almost to who we are, that we feel very much like
I have to spread the gospel of this, right?
And so for a lot of nutrition, again, I'm making this
comparison, it functions a lot like religion and that you want
(33:11):
to convert people to that because this was so great for
me. There's no way it can't be great
for you. And the danger of that is that
there's so much diversity in humans, and what works for us is
that you may be lovingly wantingsomeone to do something that was
so great for you and completely be blinded to the fact that it
(33:34):
may be one of the worst things for them.
And there's never even thinking of that that's something that
you loved wasn't good for someone else because it feels
counterintuitive, like, well, itwas great.
It's like someone saying I, I love being in the ocean.
I've never experienced an accident on a boat in the ocean.
And your mind, you're thinking nothing ever happened.
(33:54):
Bad ever happens in the ocean. But yeah, plenty of stuff bad
does happen in the ocean. Just recognizing that it's not
always 100% amazing. Exactly.
And, and, and this is also the way that these like influencers
with massive follows actually build this cult.
I have gone on YouTube to createvideos reacting to other
(34:16):
people's stuff and particularly big influencers or big content
creators in the health and Wellness space.
And the amount of people that stand up for them, like in a
like their God type of way, it'sinsane.
It's like, man, like I wish people spoke about me that way,
(34:38):
right, and like these are peoplewere just you know, they're the
actual creators don't know thingabout them.
They don't know they even exist.No, right.
So so it's like, you know, how are you so going out of your
way? Well, most likely because one
change also their lives because they listen to their thing and
the one thing that they weren't that changed the content
(34:59):
creators life or the one that's influenced lives also changed
theirs, right. But The thing is you're not
paying attention to it's a it's a numbers game.
If you have 5 million followers and 1% of your followers had an
incredible change, 50 yeah, 50,000 people, right?
How much? 50,000 people?
It's a stadium. So you're going to have 50,000
(35:22):
people who completely change your lives because of it.
But what about the other 99% that potentially either didn't
follow it, we're not really paying attention, whatever.
Like when you take that amount of people and you start to see
what worked and didn't, then you're going to find that like I
had a quote with a client who were, or a prospect client who
(35:44):
wanted to, who just went on a diet call up to via, which is a
commercial diet weight loss program.
And, and the people who again, like it's a, their identity that
completely changed your lives, they're going in the comments
and telling you like, it's effective, it's sustainable if
you know how to do it and stuff like that.
But then there's another like for every comment they get like
(36:07):
that, there's at least like 5 or6 of people that would say, it
didn't work for me. I gained the way back or like
all the different things happen,right?
So, so then it's, it's a ratio that exists and I'm happy for
the people that worked. And when people started to go on
these different routes, I tell him like, I really hope he works
for you, but I hope that he works long term.
And I don't go against it. It's just simply the reality.
(36:29):
And This is why a lot of these Iprograms typically get so famous
because it's a numbers game. And that's where it, it, the
problem lies. It's not, it's not absolute.
I like to, if, if I'm going to help people, I'd rather just
take 10 clients that I know I can change 10 of their lives or
9 like 90% success rate rather than taking 1000 and only
(36:54):
getting like 90 people to changetheir lives because what happens
to the other 90%, right? So that to me is more important.
Yeah. And I, I feel very similar to
that and this is just awesome. So Andres, maybe it's just some
last takeaways, maybe top two orthree takeaways for fit pros to
listen and how they can just be better at disseminating or
(37:18):
providing some level of nutritional information and
coaching to their clients. Simplify people's lives.
I don't think you have to overcomplicate it just to simply
sound smarter or better. And sometimes that's needed.
But I think #1 advice is again, like simplicity is the ultimate
(37:40):
sophistication. So teach people the, I mean, if
you want to create a cult and followers of people, like teach
them the basic stuff, right? Like lift weights, move your
body, get enough protein, drink enough water, you know, get
fruits and vegetables. Like that's like universal stuff
that if everybody did it, you will probably better be better
(38:01):
off. But that's just the boring on
sexy stuff that nobody really like everybody knows but don't
necessarily do. In fact, I teach my clients,
like I call it the core 5, whichis literally 5 things that
everybody should do. And it's knows get protein, get
fiber, get enough water, move your body, get enough food.
Like that's, that's again, like do this for five for, for 30
(38:23):
days in a row. Like do these five things
without any details and see whathappens, right?
So focus on simplifying people'slives now overcomplicated.
And that would be #1 the second thing is, again, be you, be
authentic to your audience. And I promise like you have
something to share. And you don't have to have a
million followers to be able to,one, have a successful business
(38:45):
and two, to have people that actually know like you and trust
you, which is another big piece on the equation.
And #3 if you truly want to go astep further in terms of knowing
how to provide nutritional advice, at least get certified
on it. And at the very least, and then
like, if you really want to go all out, then go the full 9 and
(39:05):
become a dad, become a dietitian, which a lot of people
in the training side of things I've done, it's a long route.
But to me, I still do it again. I will probably still do it
again though. Even so I said earlier that I
wanted, but you know, I think it's it's rewarding and it's
definitely something that I feellike it will give you an edge
over people, in particularly because of the fact that I'm
sure, you know, people listeningto this will probably going to
(39:28):
be on the right side of the equation when it comes down to
dietitians are concerned. Andreas, thank you so much for
your time. Just awesome.
I'm so glad we met each other. Seriously, you're a good person
and and provide such great advice and you seem like a very
professional guy so I truly appreciate that.
Thank you so much. Yeah.
(39:50):
Thank you so much for having me,Doctor Parker.
And I'm happy to to share anything else for your audience
that they consider valuable. Thanks man, I really appreciate
it.
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