This fall, to abundant media fanfare, the American Heart Association announced "reduced guilt" guidelines that reflect what some nutritionists have been saying for years: that for people in normal health, eating a balance of nutritious foods over the long run is more important than obsessively trying to avoid high-fat or high-calorie treats each day. It’s certainly the message that Heidi Skolnik ’83, M.S. ’84, has been trying to get across --- not to the couch potato lobby but to a well-toned clientele that includes professional athletes in the New York Giants, New York Mets, and New Jersey Nets organizations.
A consultant on exercise physiology, corporate fitness, and nutrition, Skolnik has recently been quoted in such publications as Rolling Stone (alongside Richard Simmons and Joycelyn Elders), the New York Times, and Marie Claire. In the last few years she has also appeared on national TV shows, including NBC Extra and The CBS Morning Show.
Her acknowledged expertise stems from her educational and professional background. At Ithaca Skolnik was a planned studies major, doing work in holistic health, dance therapy, exercise, and nutrition, and then earned a master’s degree in sports medicine. After receiving a second master’s in nutrition at the University of Bridgeport, she joined the management team at the Sports Training Institute, which administers fitness facilities nationwide.
She is now vice president and director of nutrition for Plus One Fitness Clinics, a New York City wellness firm. (The firm was founded by Michael Motta, M.S. ’78; its chief operating officer is William Horne ’68, M.S. ’71.)
It would be wrong to attribute Skolnik’s success simply to what has been called the "consumer-friendliness" of her message. She herself explains her wide following offhandedly: "One opportunity leads to the next." But more importantly, she is an outstanding educator --- a nutritionist with a coherent philosophy and an aptitude for clear communication. She presents the big picture, one that places eating --- and athletic performance --- within the wider context of life.
According to a 1995 newspaper article that credits her with helping Giants teammates "evolve from the dark-ages ‘steak and potatoes’ mentality to the modern belief that you are what you eat," Skolnik’s achievement includes feeding minds as well as stomachs. She approaches eating habits as social and emotional. Taking into account the food preferences athletes grew up with, she helps them learn to eat well within the conditions of their current lifestyle (young minor leaguers, for example, typically are constantly on the road and financially strapped). Because she believes "there’s no one healthy diet," her recommendations for quantities and proportions of such macronutrients as fats, carbohydrates, and protein vary for the individual athlete. And she allows the occasional indulgence.
Skolnik’s sensible guidelines for good nutrition apply to the rest of us as well. In her workshops for nonathletes, she often asks participants to form a mental image of "the ideal person." Then she asks them to imagine "the healthy person." She finds that people’s images of beautiful and healthful appearances often don’t match because the "ideal" is defined as abnormally thin. But images of the healthy person are likely to fall within a broader weight range and, she says, "we all can reach for that."
"Eating should be a pleasure in life," Skolnik affirms. "People don’t want to feel guilty about eating, and I think we shouldn’t." Now even the American Heart Association appears to agree with her.
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