Everyone is getting fitness conscious and apart from making a beeline to the nearest gym,
people are religiously consulting a nutritionist for advice on their diet, eating
habits and even lifestyle, to a large extent. Proper nutrition is essential to
healthy living and overall well-being. A nutritionist can play an important
role in your health by evaluating your diet and offering you personalised
advice. Based on your health goals or medical needs, the nutritionist can make
recommendations and put together meal plans. Nutritionists work in many
settings, including hospitals, schools, health departments and private
practices. But of late, gyms have been increasingly getting a nutritionist on
board and this, apart from being of assistance to its members, makes for a
great asset and USP to the gym.
Danees Kazi, rehab and personal fitness
trainer, Fitness Five, Campal, says, “To achieve any fitness goal – be it
losing weight or building muscle, 70% is dependent on diet and 30% depends on
your gym routine. The workout part is easier, but to maintain a strict diet
requires a great deal of self control. Having a nutritionist at the gym can
make a world of a difference. Simply put, a particular workout plan is not
going to be suitable for everybody. Similarly, a particular diet plan may not
be effective on everyone. We understand this and therefore we are in the final
stages of getting an in-house nutritionist for the gym.”
Luana Mascarenhas, Dietician, Qua Nutrition, has seen a healthy
surge in people seeking professional advice from her in Goa. As opposed to 3-4
new faces every month, Luana now has about 7-8 new walk-ins to her clinic in
Caranzalem. She says, “A lot of people rely on the internet to find out what
foods to eat, what to avoid and so on and so forth. But what people do not
realise is that there are complex prerequisites that determine whether or not
something that works for person A, will work for person B. For example, a
person is looking to lose weight, but has some medical issues like a thyroid
condition, or polycystic ovary syndrome in case of women, that prevent them
from losing weight. Only a nutritionist can help you understand which foods are
good for this and which foods can aggravate the situation.”
Aparna Korgaonkar’s increasing stress levels were adding to her
woes, making her goals of weight loss difficult to achieve. That was until this
homemaker from Ponda sought the advice of her nutritionist that resulted in
making substantial changes to her dietary habits. Korgaonkar says, “In India,
free unqualified advisers are aplenty. But it is only when you start consulting
a professional nutritionist that you realise what it is that you were doing
wrong. Having a dedicated nutritionist is not a luxury anymore, it is almost a
necessity.”
According to experts, with the rate of comorbidity going up and
increased preference to sedentary lifestyle, medical conditions such as
metabolic syndrome are coming up in a big way. Earlier, the benchmark for
people getting these disorders was 40 years; today it has reduced to 26 years.
So an average Indian can have medical conditions like diabetes and hypertension
at as early as 26. This makes it very important to have professional advice of
a nutritionist who can tell you what the stress factors are, how to handle
stress, how to prevent the onset of diseases if genetically predisposed to
them, etc.
Generalised
nutrition is out, customised nutrition is in!
