Health-and-Fitness online information.

As a fitness instructor, you only have to teach for a few weeks to realize your impact as a health advocate extends far beyond your classroom. You are viewed as a model of health and fitness by your clients. As personal trainers, your entire lifestyle is under the public lens. Clients ask you about your eating habits, food choices and personal workouts. You're questioned about everything from amino acids to aqua jogging, from sports drinks to sports bras. As a professional, you do your best to seek out reliable information and develop a referral system for questions outside of your scope. In so doing, you, in the role of fitness professional, are a primary resource within the preventive health movement. What's more important, you are a critical link in the self-care revolution. It's time to recognize the fundamental importance of that role and place it in the larger context of social and political life in America.

Why do you do what you do? Apart from the basic survival needs of making a living, paying bills, feeding yourself and your family, human beings have core needs for belonging, self-worth and affection. When I ask fitness professionals why they choose this type of career, they invariably respond by describing a desire for empowering others to strive for a healthier, more active and enjoyable life. This is a profound act of being in service to others, which in turn serves you: it's an important way in which you get a sense of belonging and self-worth.

So, when you add it all together--your interest in fitness, your drive for fulfillment, your desire to help others--you work in a field that represents the cutting edge of health reform today. And that field, although supported by widespread populist appeal, is being countered by forces within the AMA and FDA that represent expensive, technology-driven, conventional crisis-oriented medical models.

Personal health and well-being has become a political issue in 1992 like never before. With the introduction of two House bills, HR 3642 and HR 1662, your rights as a consumer health advocate are being threatened. If these bills pass, you could be jailed for suggesting prunes for constipation, for talking about calcium supplements, for protecting your right to choose as a health/fitness consumer. These ridiculous pieces of legislation would force individuals to go to their physicians for prescriptions for vitamins, herbs and supplements. Simply expressing to a client that you believe anti-oxidants may help with endurance training puts you at legal risk. Protect your right to a worthwhile profession and the rights of others to easy access to nutritional information and health alternatives. Write to your senators and representatives and let them known your opinion.

Also, please write to American Fitness if you have any interest in supporting public policy for health promotion and physical fitness. In a future issue, I'll be reporting the actions of the Congress for National Health and Fitness, a forum of concerned citizens representing about 20 national organizations. In this election year, I invite you to get political. Your livelihood and your well-being depend on it.

# posted by Medical Information : 4:35 AM