Nutrition certification

So last weekend I did a 3 day course on nutrition and wellness. It was a course delivered by CAN-FIT-PRO and held at Ryerson University.

I had been planning to take this course since last year. I originally was looking for a general course to learn more about nutrition. I wasn't looking to be an 'expert' in nutrition or to get certified. But as it turned out, the CAN-FIT-PRO course was one that was available and reasonably priced.

I couldn't find the time last year to take the course given working and doing theatre. So this year, faced without a full time job or as much theatre involvement, I thought this was a good time to take some education. You'll see from past postings that I took a coaching course at George Brown as well.

So I looked back into this nutrition course earlier this year. I tried to get into the March session, but it was full and ended up in the July session.

I'm still not sure I want to get my certification. I mean I don't envision a career change into being a nutritionist or anything, but I do like to know that I have the self-confidence (and maybe a certificate) to talk amongst friends with a little authority.

The course was well attended. It had the requisite number of gym fitness trainers and few general interest participants.

The course tends to be more aimed at helping the gym folks pass the exam. It's not really about learning nutrition and wellness so much. We do go over the basics and from discussions I do pick up a few things.

But generally, I seemed to have most of this all covered. No big revelations on the nutrition side. Read Nutrition Action and Men's Health and you too will know most everything about nutrition.

I'm glad to know that I have a good grasp on this and that when I talk to others about this stuff, I'm not just making it up.

I just wish that with this knowledge came the ability to eat better and trim my waistline. I've eaten well for years, but still I haven't found a way to lower the amount of fat in body. And yes, I do go the gym and exercise. I think keeping cheat meals down to a minimum and having smaller portions may be the way to go.

But back to the course. Over the 3 days, I kept trying to determine if I should go for the certification. To get it, I would need to write an exam and update my CPR. Both cost a little more money. Now the course I'm in has prepared me to write the exam; I only need to book the exam and write it. There is a test and practical case exam too.

So I'm now trying to figure out if I really want and/or need to get the certification. It would serve to complete this little endeavour. I could tell friends to shut it when they start believing the fad diet stories. And I would feel a certain level of accomplishment. Ah, the accomplishment.

So I will likely go ahead and book the exam. Just another thing to put on my resume.

Balance

Do you have balance in your life? And by life I mean work and other endeavours during the day. Although it may seem that work takes up most of your productive time.

How many times have you gotten up at the crack of dawn, worked all day, actually late, then come home and just do not have the energy for anything. Not too productive on the personal side, is it?

We work to live, not live to work, or work for the weekends. Our jobs often define us, but is it the real you? Put your all into your job, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to promote working less or not as hard. Do your job to the best of your abilities.

But, find time to pursue happiness. In whatever form that takes.

For those us that are unemployed/searching for work or under-employed, it seems that I still have a full day of 'work' and feel tired at the end of the day. Why is that? Poor health or diet maybe?

Maybe. I haven't been hitting the gym as much lately as I usually do. Now does working out at the gym make me happy? Well, not 'happy' but happier that I'm on a path to bettering my health. I'm often asked if I love working out. No. But that achy feeling or tightness that reminds me that I have been working out, is nice.

First time I was laid off, I got in pretty good shape. I had a great routine for the work week: I hit the gym in the morning, planned a lunch date to continue networking, spent the afternoon job searching and reconnecting, and at night I pursued my real hobby, working in community theatre.

I find mindless working out good, but not really productive. I would go to the gym and do 30-45 minutes of either cardio or weights, but I never seemed to progress. And I certainly wasn't looking any better.

So, I had to get serious about working out. Start tracking my workouts and my eating. I currently have a Blackberry and use it as my MP3 player while working out (I can also check on work emails at the same time). So I needed something to build and track my workouts with. I finally landed on a great (Canadian built) site called GymTechnik. You can use it on your computer or on your mobile device. They have made some great updates and I find it very good.

So by putting some effort into planning workouts, I could start to see the changes and feel them. But one cannot stay in the gym all day. Got to put some time into the job search.

I would often found that if I tried to meet more than one person a day, such as have a lunch and a coffee in one day, I was overloaded! It's amazing how busy you can be when job searching. How do we ever manage full-time jobs, family, friends and fun?

Balance. It takes conscious effort to maintain it. And it's just not balancing the time, but the feel of what your body and mind need. Listen to your body - it knows what it needs. You'll feel better, really.