Hi Friends! Hope you’re having a fantastic week! Before I get started with this post… congrats to Jess for winning my Erin Condren Planner Giveaway! Thanks so much to everyone who entered!!
This weekend I was able to stop by the a local health and fitness expo in Charlotte and I wanted to share a few of my thoughts on the day.
I considered renting a booth at the expo but since I had never been before, I wasn’t sure if it would be worth the investment. As a new small business owner, I’ve really tried to focus on keeping my business lean; this means evaluating every expense and determining whether it will enrich or promote my business. Since I really wasn’t sure what the expo was all about, I decided to go as a visitor instead.
I really, really enjoyed chatting with all of the health and fitness professionals in Charlotte. I met so many cool people, including a blog reader who is an RD student! There were booths, fitness classes and lectures/demonstrations. I even met a local male dietitian, which is pretty rare in our field. One thing the fitness expo reminded me of is that health and wellness comes in all different forms. I chatted with the owners of a local martial arts studio and even a roller derby team. These are two types of fitness that wouldn’t really appeal to me, but they are promoting physical activity- and that’s what’s important. In a time where we associate the term “physical activity” with the gym, it was a nice reminder that physical activity should really be about what you enjoy and what fits into your life.
On a less positive note… I was really surprised at all of the booths with gimmicky-type diets, shakes and supplements set up at this expo. As a dietitian, seeing people without a nutrition background promoting products that are not supported by scientific evidence was really disappointing. Guys, if something is offering a quick fix or instant weight loss then it probably isn’t healthy or maintainable. These types of products are ultimately intended for sales, not for longevity or health. Don’t do that to yourself! It made me feel better to talk to a lot of my health/wellness/nutrition colleagues afterwards who felt the same way.
Back to more positive things, I wanted to share a picture of my dinner from last night. I made taco meat in the slow cooker (half black beans, half turkey meat- that’s why it looks black) and served it with lettuce, tomatoes, cooked onions and peppers, salsa, greek yogurt in place of sour cream and some tortilla chips. I talked about how to make the beans and meat in the slow cooker on Snapchat the other night! You can follow me there at ggnutrition
What have you been eating this week? leave me a comment and let me know!
-Sam
So excited to win- thanks!! (PS my husband didn’t believe they made planners that expensive lol). I’ve never thought of adding black beans in- great idea!
I think evaluating individual expenses is a great approach. It’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement of a new venture and spend irresponsibly.
I get super frustrated with all the quick fixed out they. They don’t work – if they did, we’d all be skinny/healthy/whatever.
It frustrates me to hear people without the proper education promote “health” products or diets that are completely fad, without scientific evidence, so I can only imagine what it must be like for you to hear those types of things! I have been all about the avocados this week, just can’t get enough :)
Since i came to the expo later, I didn’t explore too much, but I loved chatting with the CLT Fitness crew. I was also happy to see companies targeting activity and healthy habits for kids! Sorry I missed you!