You have to be an NSCA member to look at this forum, but this discussion sheds a lot of light on this topic.
Nutrition Guidelines for Personal Trainers
In 2005 the NSCA tried to create guidelines for personal trainers that outlined what they could and could not say about nutrition. It was shot down and never implimented as far as I know. It's mostly about liability issues and a whole lot about a turf war with dieticians and what they consider to be their domain.
I agree with, and suspect a lot of personal trainers agree with, this commentary (which comes from the FemaleMuscle site's getting certified section):
Quote:
All personal training certifications include nutrition as part of their curriculum. However, personal trainers are usually advised (warned, even) by their certifying organizations to give only general nutrition guidelines to their clients. They recommend that trainers focus on exercise prescription while leaving the detailed nutrition programs to highly trained nutrition specialists such as RD’s and CCN’s.
In my opinion, the qualifications and education required to give nutrition advice should depend on who you are giving the advice to. Are your clients going to be athletes, bodybuilders, the obese, the elderly, first-graders, or kidney patients? A certified personal trainer, especially one with a degree in exercise science and years of practical experience, would be more than qualified to discuss basic nutritional needs for healthy people in non-clinical settings. RD’s and CCN’s have the specialized training necessary to prescribe a wide variety of nutritional programs including clinical and medical cases. On the other hand, most RD’s, due to their conservative and traditional educational background, would not be the best people to turn to if a client’s goal was bodybuilding, fitness or figure competition. The best advice for personal trainers who do nutrition consulting is to always keep in mind the limitations of your knowledge and expertise and be careful not to overstep your bounds.
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Not overstepping your bounds happens to be very, very vague. These topics will continue to be discussed in the March 2007 NSCA Personal Trainers Conference in Las Vegas. I do not plan to attend, but will be looking for the review information after the conference. I don't, however, expect there to be any definitive outcomes.
What I actually do regarding nutrition advice for my clients adhere's to what is outlined in the NSCA Nutrition Guidelines for Personal Trainers, even though it didn't make it to an official status.