So I got back on Sunday from the National Association of Nutrition Professionals and I wanted to mention a few highlights from the lectures.

What did I learn?

Nitric Oxide plays a pivotal role in heart disease, energy, erectile dysfunction, athletic performance, immune modulation, strength and stamina. The lecturer, Dr. Carolyn Pierini, discussed how the English Olympic Team used foods high in Nitrates to increase athletic performance. Currently, I’m doing some experimentation with a few clients on my personal training programs, myself and my parents to see if any of us notice a difference by consuming these foods.

Dr. Elizabeth Lipski, discussed the effect our lifestyle and nutrition habits have on our genes. This is the study of epigenetics. The gist was that our habits affect our genes and then can be passed on to our children making them more susceptible to disease. Dr. Pottinger and the Pottinger’s Cats study came to this same conclusion. Basically he experimented with two groups of cats – one fed healthy food and the other fed non-healthy food. By the 3rd generation of cats, the cats were infertile and had many disease traits that humans have. Anyway, the point is that your behavior can adversely affect your kids and your grandkids.

The psychology of change was a big focus. What motivates people to change? The gist of this has much to do with connecting a person’s goals and dreams to their health program. In other words, “what do you want in life???”. Whatever that is, you could use a holistic health program as the bridge to attain your goals and dreams. Just having the mere idea of “I want to lose 10 pounds” probably is too weak of a motivator to change.

Biography: Shawn Phillips is a well-known Holistic Personal Trainer in Los Angeles and Certified Nutritionist specializing in body sculpting, nutrition, lab testing, and exercise coaching. For a FREE consultation call him at (310) 720-8125.