We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lexi Zadak Schmidt. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lexi below.

Lexi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Over the course of your career, have you seen or experienced your field completely flip-flop or change course on something?

In my industry of nutrition and wellness, especially within the fitness world, best practices, data, research, information…etc is constantly changing. ‘What’s the latest diet trend?’ ‘What’s the best way to lose fat?’ ‘What foods should you avoid and what foods are considered superfoods?’ There are so many buzzwords that trend and the constant ebb and flow of information can be incredibly overwhelming to the public, especially to those who are trying to find answers and solutions to their health problems.

One of the biggest shifts I’ve personally seen (and for the better, I think) is a shift away from macro counting and relying on apps such as MyFitnessPal. Back in 2016 when I started out as a nutrition coach, macro counting was the thing to do! If your clients weren’t tracking their macros, what were you even doing with them? And if you as a coach weren’t tracking macros, you weren’t leading by example. “Weigh and measure your food to the exact gram,” and “Earn your cheat meals,” were things you’d constantly hear.

While this method of coaching is still very commonly used, it is no longer the main approach. Nutrition coaching has become more holistic! Coaches are now being educated and trained on topics such as hormone health, metabolic health, gut health and liver health. We’re taught how to analyze blood panels and look at other aspects of a client’s life, such as sleep, stress and environmental factors, not just what they’re eating and how they’re moving.

Personally, I’m SO happy to see this shift. Constantly tracking food, trying to stay within a calorie limit and then monitoring scale changes is extremely toxic! It leads to obsessive behaviors and an unhealthy relationship with food. Health is NOT just about hitting your macros in order to drop 5% body fat. Health is how much energy you have, how well you sleep, how recovered you feel after workouts. Health is your libido, your mood, your mindset. Health is all encompassing and this shift where our industry is now starting to recognize that is very exciting!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a Holistic Health & Wellness Coach who uses nutrition and other lifestyle changes to help people reach their personal health goals. I work one on one with clients to develop an individual plan and protocol for them to follow with my guidance that is based on their current health status, lifestyle, needs and goals. My spectrum of expertise is quite wide as I work with a lot of performance athletes but also many individuals who are just looking for lifestyle changes to improve their quality of life. I specialize in hormone and gut health and take a deep dive into every aspect of my clients’ lives to identify major roadblocks that may be affecting their success. This includes looking at lab work, assessing sleep quality, physical and psychological stressors, current or potential health conditions, activity level, body metrics and more.

A commonality among most of my clients is that they’ve unfortunately been steered in the wrong direction by other medical professionals. If they have a hormone imbalance or a gastrointestinal issue, they’ve either been dismissed by their practitioner, or given medication to “solve” their problem. While this may temporarily eliminate a symptom or complaint that the client has, it doesn’t get to the root cause of WHY they’re feeling this way or having these issues. That’s where I come in! By taking a holistic approach and looking at all the factors I mentioned above, I’m able to see their health through a different lens and create a comprehensive plan to help get them to where they need to be.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Without a doubt, being able to relate to your clients on a personal level is absolutely vital for being successful in this field. This is one of the main reasons I do all my coaching sessions either in person or via phone calls as opposed to strictly online. I want to get to know my clients on a personal level, learn about their life, know their hobbies and interests and find out what motivates them. On the flip side, it’s also important to show your weaknesses as a coach. This means admitting when you made a mistake or admitting you don’t know the answer or solution to something. This also means being transparent about your own personal struggles with your health. I battled orthorexia for years and sharing that story has allowed me to relate to so many people that I’ve worked with. Because of all this, so many of my clients have become good friends of mine over the years and I feel really lucky to be able to say that.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

Absolutely!!! And this is actually my second career. I was a Special Education Teacher for 5 years after graduating college but I was also coaching CrossFit part-time. Luckily I stumbled my way into Nutrition through the gym I was coaching at. I became instantly fascinated by nutrition and how you can manipulate food to optimize performance and recovery. This concept continued to intrigue me to the point where I took my training even further to learn how nutrition can affect ALL aspects of health (sleep, stress, hormones, gut health, mood, brain health…etc) and decided to leave teaching to start my own business. I always knew I wanted to be in a profession that personally helped make a difference in people’s lives. I just shifted from teaching kids how to read to teaching adults how to fuel their bodies so that they can optimize their health!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lzsnutrition.com/
• Instagram: lexi.z.schmidt.nutrition
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lzsnutritionltd