Today we’d like to introduce you to Blair Solberger.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My love and passion for nutrition is a very personal journey. It began around 11th grade when my doctor told me I was “morbidly obese.” I thought he was a jerk, but I came to find out that was a medical diagnosis. It’s now called obese class III, but I disagree with the change because hearing the word “morbidly” shocked me into changing my life. It made it sound like I was dying or something. From there, I started down a personal path of lifting weights and paying attention to what I ate a bit more carefully. I wound up losing over 100 lbs and gaining a lot of strength! One of the funniest things to me in this journey is that the decision to study nutrition and become a dietitian wasn’t entirely my idea (I was originally an English major). I was hanging out with my friend, Sarah, between classes and she asked about how I lost all the weight. When I finished telling her about it, she said, “you know your eyes really light up when you talk about nutrition.” I told her how much I loved it, and she commented back with “why don’t you study it?” I was dumbfounded that I hadn’t thought of it. So, three credit hours shy of graduating, I picked up my intro to nutrition class, and I was in love. I wound up earning my bachelor’s in dietetics and my master’s in the sports nutrition/exercise physiology from Florida State University. From there, I wound up interning at a high-end athletic training facility in Gulf Breeze, FL, called EXOS. Working 12+ hour days unpaid was pretty brutal, but I loved the impact I had on the clients. I had the pleasure of working with a host of draft prospects for the NFL combine as well as a large number of USSOCOM soldiers who were aiming to get back to duty. The long hours and hard work paid off because my mentor saw my love and attention to what I was doing and was able to help get me and interview with the Miami Dolphins. I have never been interviewed so hard in my life, but I must have done well because they hired me as the Team Sports Nutritionist in 2018. I also got a job working for an EXOS location down in Miami and was able to balance both positions. I loved having both jobs because EXOS in Miami was more heavily involved with general population nutrition and training with some athletes sprinkled in, while the Dolphins was much more large scale and team focused.
Ultimately my time with these companies led me to start my own practice. While working for the Dolphins, I noticed that I didn’t get to spend as much time with the players as I think nutrition requires. It felt more like barking orders and handing out diet plans when I could see them as opposed to educating and inspiring. It’s hard to get guys on board with making changes to their food choices when you only get a few minutes in the athletic training room between meetings. Food is so special to most people that they aren’t just going to make changes because I told them to. They have to understand why and trust that I have their best intentions at heart. I decided to start my own practice for a variety of reasons. I want to have a more meaningful and lasting connection with my clients so that they can learn and become confident and self-sufficient. I want to help a variety of people, not just helping athletes perform better. Whether weight management, health complications, or just trying to be proactive about your health, nutrition plays a major role. I am very passionate about the health risks retired athletes face and want to help them transition from elite machines to long-living, healthy humans. Thirty-five is old for a professional athlete but not for a person. I also still want to help develop athletes, whether aiming to get recruited to a college program, improve their race time, or make a professional roster. I want to make sure it’s done right.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have definitely been some obstacles in the journey. The largest one that stands out was actually dropping out of grad school my first time around. I lost my dad to prostate cancer during my second semester. I tried to power through while his health was declining, but my grades were slipping. One of my major professors noticed, and I decided to let my teachers know what was happening. I actually wound up getting asked to withdraw by my major prof. She told me to stay home with my family and got me academically withdrawn and refunded. Thanks, Dr. P! I moved to Philadelphia because I had never lived outside Tallahassee. I met a friend who was studying prostate cancer biomarkers. During my year living there, we had such awesome scientific conversations that I got inspired to go back to school and finish my calling. There were a few other struggles like being an unpaid intern, stress, and mental health/mindset challenges, but nothing quite as noteworthy.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Human Element Nutrition?
The Human Element Nutrition is focused on putting the client first. The most important part of nutrition is the person working with us. This is really true of almost all business. In a world where personal trainers, CrossFit coaches, and just about every other person on Instagram offer diet plans or weight-loss challenges, our focus is on education and understanding. We aim to lay a foundation of truth about nutrition basics, help reframe negative mindsets, and identify self-destructive behavior. Buying a diet plan from someone you want to look like doesn’t help in the long run because there is a personal bias and lack of individualism. What works for one person doesn’t work for everyone, and quick fixes don’t actually fix anything. We offer several services. Our main focus is our one-on-one counseling. We work with individuals to identify their needs and help them feel confident about their relationship with food. This is one of the most secure ways to reach your goals in the long run and to make sure future goals can be met. We also offer small group and corporate wellness services. This is perfect for companies, neighborhoods, apartment complexes, etc., to create a wellness environment in their community. This takes the form of fun, interactive presentations, cooking demonstrations, and Q&A sessions. We have programs geared towards athletes. We work with athletes from youth development, off-season/free agent return to play, military, and retirement from athletics to really help progression from one phase to the next in an athletes career. Finally, we offer a trainer/coach nutrition certification program. If personal trainers, coaches, and gyms are going to give nutrition advice, we want to make sure what they are offering is correct. If you asked ten different trainers for nutrition advice, you’d get pretty different answers. This program aims to teach how food affects our bodies, dispel myths that circulate wildly, and educate on when to refer out to a dietitian.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I actually run my own podcast about nutrition. It’s called The Human Element, but it’s easiest to search my name (Blair Solberger). We’re on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube. I mainly read sci-fi and mystery as an escape from the stress of our world. I think people undervalue the power of developing your imagination through fiction. The books and podcasts that have helped me most are more geared towards mindset and vulnerability than nutrition. The Book by Alan Watts, Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, and The Life Coach School podcast by Brooke Castillo.
Contact Info:
- Email: humanelementnutrition@gmail.com
- Website: www.humanelementnutrition.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehumanelementnutrition/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HumanElementNutrition
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXcLhkkRkYrud1VZ9J0Cs2g?view_as=subscriber
