Buyer Beware!
Christine Hale CCP
B.S. Exercise and Sports Science
A.A.S Clinical Paramedic Science
Pn1 Nutrition Certification
B.S. Exercise and Sports Science
A.A.S Clinical Paramedic Science
Pn1 Nutrition Certification
There is some harsh reality coming your way. Part of my goal with What the HALE Fitness and Nutrition is to give people access to legitimate, science-based, fitness, health, nutrition, and wellness information and resources. What you are about to read is part of the ugly truth about the fitness, health, nutrition, and wellness industry.
The fitness, health, nutrition, and wellness industry are a multi-billion dollar a year industry that, for the most part is highly unregulated. Yes, there are some aspects that are regulated by the government, but, in general, it’s a free for all.
Because of this lack of regulation, there is a TON of pseudoscience, false information, scams, and potentially harmful products, services, and companies that have no issue selling snake oil to the trusting customer. Unfortunately, the internet along with social media has helped perpetuate these issues.
What, may you ask am I talking about?
I’m talking about anyone that can call themselves a trainer without the proper education or certifications. I’m talking about anyone who uses pseudoscience and/or cherry picks information to sell or promote health, fitness, nutrition, or wellness products. I’m talking about anyone who dispenses health, fitness, nutrition, or wellness information and/or products with no education, no certification, or outside their scope of practice. I’m talking about anyone who uses confirmation bias, anecdotal evidence and suffers from Dunning-Kruger Effect, to promote or sell anything in the health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness industry. I’m talking about social media influencers.
The reality is that you most likely know some of these people. They may be friends, co-workers, family, even celebrities. Some of these people may be extremely educated in various fields, even the health field, but operating out of one’s scope of practice is not only ethically wrong but can also lead to serious negative health issues, perhaps even legal action.
I’m asking you to be SKEPTICAL when looking at health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness products. If it looks or sounds too good to be true, IT IS! There are NO quick fixes when it comes to health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness results!
I’m asking you to utilize your CRITIAL THINKING SKILLS when someone is trying to sell you something in the health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness industry. These are a few of the questions that should pop into your head EVERY TIME you see or want to try products/services in the health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness industry. What are their qualifications or education in these fields? What do they have to gain from me purchasing their product(s)? Are their products safe? Do their products or the companies behind them have lawsuits against them? Do the products have negative side effects? Are the products backed up by science-based (peer-reviewed) evidence? Do the products actually do what they are advertised to do?
I’m not here to bash your choices, or ridicule your choices, or make fun of you. I’m here to be a source of science-based logic, evidence, and reason. I’m here to encourage you to think outside the box and outside your comfort zone. You have the choice to spend your money where you want, you have the choice to put whatever you want into your own body, and you have the choice to treat your body however you want to. However, if you want to make the choice to change parts of your life in regard to health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness, being skeptical and using critical thinking skills is essential to success.
In future posts I will discuss more in detail many of the topics I covered in this overview. Correct knowledge is power; power to make the most informed decisions about your health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness!
Definitions and terms:
The fitness, health, nutrition, and wellness industry are a multi-billion dollar a year industry that, for the most part is highly unregulated. Yes, there are some aspects that are regulated by the government, but, in general, it’s a free for all.
Because of this lack of regulation, there is a TON of pseudoscience, false information, scams, and potentially harmful products, services, and companies that have no issue selling snake oil to the trusting customer. Unfortunately, the internet along with social media has helped perpetuate these issues.
What, may you ask am I talking about?
I’m talking about anyone that can call themselves a trainer without the proper education or certifications. I’m talking about anyone who uses pseudoscience and/or cherry picks information to sell or promote health, fitness, nutrition, or wellness products. I’m talking about anyone who dispenses health, fitness, nutrition, or wellness information and/or products with no education, no certification, or outside their scope of practice. I’m talking about anyone who uses confirmation bias, anecdotal evidence and suffers from Dunning-Kruger Effect, to promote or sell anything in the health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness industry. I’m talking about social media influencers.
The reality is that you most likely know some of these people. They may be friends, co-workers, family, even celebrities. Some of these people may be extremely educated in various fields, even the health field, but operating out of one’s scope of practice is not only ethically wrong but can also lead to serious negative health issues, perhaps even legal action.
I’m asking you to be SKEPTICAL when looking at health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness products. If it looks or sounds too good to be true, IT IS! There are NO quick fixes when it comes to health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness results!
I’m asking you to utilize your CRITIAL THINKING SKILLS when someone is trying to sell you something in the health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness industry. These are a few of the questions that should pop into your head EVERY TIME you see or want to try products/services in the health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness industry. What are their qualifications or education in these fields? What do they have to gain from me purchasing their product(s)? Are their products safe? Do their products or the companies behind them have lawsuits against them? Do the products have negative side effects? Are the products backed up by science-based (peer-reviewed) evidence? Do the products actually do what they are advertised to do?
I’m not here to bash your choices, or ridicule your choices, or make fun of you. I’m here to be a source of science-based logic, evidence, and reason. I’m here to encourage you to think outside the box and outside your comfort zone. You have the choice to spend your money where you want, you have the choice to put whatever you want into your own body, and you have the choice to treat your body however you want to. However, if you want to make the choice to change parts of your life in regard to health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness, being skeptical and using critical thinking skills is essential to success.
In future posts I will discuss more in detail many of the topics I covered in this overview. Correct knowledge is power; power to make the most informed decisions about your health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness!
Definitions and terms:
- Dunning-Kruger Effect: (taken from Psychology Today) bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area. This tends to occur because a lack of self-awareness prevents them from accurately assessing their own skills. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/dunning-kruger-effect https://www.britannica.com/science/Dunning-Kruger-effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
- Confirmation bias: the tendency for a person to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias https://www.britannica.com/science/confirmation-bias https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/201504/what-is-confirmation-bias
- Anecdotal evidence: evidence in the form of stories that tell what has happened to them, such as personal testimonies. A type of logical fallacy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anecdotal%20evidence