āIf you see a fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.ā -Nassim Taleb
The health and fitness community is filled with many great people who provide useful information to apply to your life. Along with those great people, there are unfortunately those who arenāt as truthful and may just be looking to make a quick buck while selling you the ālatest and greatestā gadget or trend. The goal of this post is to highlight a few red flags when you are looking at new information or services.Ā
Things that could make someone or something a āfraudā:
Their thing is the ONLY thing. Ā No need for anything else.
Only selling āstuffā and you HAVE to buy certain things.
They/It can fix ANYTHING
Nothing to back it up (education, research, orĀ continued learning). They may say research but donāt provide it.
It is true that people in the health and fitness industry have to make a living so at some point you are going to have to pay money for someoneās advice. Ā There isnātĀ anything inherently wrong with this butĀ there are some things to look out for. Ā If all they are doing is selling you on something you have to have and if you donāt add it to your life you wonāt haveĀ success. Ā HUGE Red Flag. Ā Anything that is only financially incentivized is something you want to be very careful getting involved with.
Also, be leery of someone who can fix any and every problem with a specific type of treatment or specialized technique. Ā If that were truly the case they would be world famous, see 6 people a week and you and I probably wouldnāt have access to them. Ā There are aĀ lot of great practitioners out there but no one can treat everybody and fix everything. Ā Things are too complexĀ and people are too individual. Ā If they follow it up with you HAVE to come back over and over to keep the progress, be careful about just looking for a quick fix.
With all of this, you have to find people who have the information and knowledge to back it up. Ā While traditionally that comes with college and higher education itĀ doesnātĀ have to. Ā Years of experience, research, and knowledge gathering along with critical thinking can be sufficient but you have to do your due diligence. Ā Ask a lot of questions, get informed on your own and you can always ask them what they would do if they were in your situation to get a better feel.