"Nutritionists on speed dial"

I didn't create this article title, and it's not exactly accurate: the actual description is of clients who take cell-phone photographs of their meals and send it to their nutritionists for comment.

Here is the description of the service, available in Canada and Japan, from an innovation website called Springwise:

"Most dieticians agree that food awareness and healthy eating habits beat a fad diet any day. The problem is that most people don't have the discipline, time or interest to continuously track what they're eating and how many calories each meal or snack adds to their daily intake. A practical solution has been launched in Osaka, where a Tokyo medical equipment maker is working with public health officials to help consumers keep tabs on what they're digesting. How it works? Before lifting their chopsticks, users take a picture of their meal with their cellphone's camera. They send the picture to the system, and nutritionists analyse the meal and its nutritional value, following up with advice on necessary adjustments. Feedback follows within three days. Users can also get more information online, and upload photos from digital cameras. The system is being trialled with 100 cardiac, diabetes and obesity patients, and is hoped to rein in growing health problems caused by growing waistlines in Japan, especially of men in their 20s and 30s.

A similar commercial service has been available in Canada and the US for a while. Canadian MyFoodPhone also gets users to send in pictures of what they're eating, creating a running nutrition diary. Once a week, a nutritionist advises the client on how they’re doing and what they need to improve. "

What do I think, as someone who talks weekly and daily to clients about their food, exercise, time management, stressors, and other lifestyle issues? It's an interesting idea, to have actual 'proof' of what a client eats. (I myself have taken photos of my own interesting meals).

Here's a deeper thought:

The cell-phone-meal-photo would only work if the client truly listened to the nutritionist's advice about each meal. Only then would the analysis be a tool to wean the client from ongoing need for analysis, to soon be able to make quality nutrition decisions for him/herself - for the rest of his/her life.

This is what I love about being a coach. Every day I think about helping others create their lives anew, and hoping everyday that soon they will not need me anymore. I tell my beginning clients: "My goal is to get rid of you." Most of my past clients don't realize that I celebrate when they leave me, only because I know that they can live their own lives without help.