Conversations with clean eating / industry morons

I'll go on record as saying that I utterly fucking despise about 90% of this stinking industry, the people in it and all that they stand for.

That is... not so much the local trainers taking people to the park or the gym or whatever for a work out. I mightn't think someone's approach to training is the best and most efficient but if they're well intentioned, getting people into some healthy activity, making it enjoyable and keeping it safe all power to them. Personally... I got my own way of doing things that I believe in, but I'd never say it's the ONLY thing that will work or that anyone else is obliged to do the same.

I'm talking about the self branded "diet and exercise" guru types all over the internet. I hate that the majority of the exercise business is more about "what'll people sign up for?" than "what do people actually need to do to meet their goals?" as well... which is why there's a new dance based fitness craze every couple of years that makes some people a fuck tonne of money but delivers nothing in terms of physical results to clients. It explains why gym chains in the US ban any serious types of lifts and market on the basis that they're NOT for people serious about health, fitness or training for any sort of result or goal.

I fucken hate all of that shit but most of all I hate the aforementioned gurus on the internet and their disciples in the business spreading their disordered, damaging, unfounded bullshit fkn ideas to the unsuspecting public at large. What I believe happens is that new people with good intentions go out and get a certification and set up business as a trainer. Usually, they come out of the certification process still bewildered about how to help people, which is a whole other issue I should write a post about soon as well. So, with the best of intentions they join some networking group to learn from people who are already in the business and BOOM that's when it happens, they're easy pickings for jerkoffs marketing some special dieting system or other based on a bunch of half truths, bro-science or flat out eating disorder based "logic".

You can go through the testimonials on my various websites, the comments on my facebook and so on... and you'll see that in almost every case I have coached my clients to success based on INCREASING their calorific intake and DITCHING any restrictive notions they had about "good" or "bad" foods. You can see messages I've got from people who have finally achieved their goal figure, stopped feeling guilty or ashamed about eating, and stopped hating themselves for failing to meet some impossible standard of "clean eating" that was never necessary in the first place. You don't see so many of the messages from people who tell me that reading my free program has helped them beat the binge eating disorder they developed by trying to follow ridiculous "clean eating" protocols created either by scam artists or by orthorexic trainers trying to normalise their own disordered way of thinking by spreading it to other people. I keep that shit private.

And yet despite all of that, cretins in the industry want to argue with me that you can't be successful in weight loss and body composition goals with a flexible approach to dieting (IIFYM). I've proven it a dozen times over as have the other 10% or so of knowledgeable, ethical & empathic trainers who use a similar approach.