Lyssie Lakatos & Tammy Lakatos-Shames: The Nutrition Twins
Author's Review: Tammy & Lyssie Lakatos, The Nutrition Twins
Like Steve Collins of The Way Up health-coaching program, Lyssie and Tammy Lakatos started off in the industry with certifications and credentials to lay the foundations of their careers. However, unlike Steve Collins and Rebecca Ammeter, the Twins don't necessarily use digital platforms and technologies to make their services stylish or trendy--the Nutrition Twins utilize digital resources simply to allow them to reach a wider client base more efficiently and effectively and to use their skills to help build innovations in the field of nutrition on a more formal organizational level. They serve on many health and nutrition boards, such as the American Council on Exercise (ACE), and often collaborate with other certified experts in the industry to construct new specialized programs, contribute to professional and scientific journals, and make advances in discovering the most effective principles that people should live by in order to maintain optimal health and extend the length of their lives. Recently, the Twins have even been collaborating with others in the development of a new headset/app technology
called BitBite that helps monitor users' eating patterns by analyzing chewing sounds (on an app) through sounds recorded by microphones in off-the-shelf headset devices. According to BitBite's LinkedIn page, "BitBite knows when, where, what and how the user is eating. Analysis of this data allows BitBite to send real-time dietary advice on how to eat healthier." The Twins are also in the process of developing a "Cookin' Good" recipe app based on the recipes found in the "Cookin' Good" section of their website. I think that overall, the Nutrition Twins are doing a commendable job in keeping up with and adapting to changes in the health and fitness industry with the production of new technologies and resources to improve efficiency of certain operations within the field. However they have a much more mature, plain appeal that is more likely to attract parents and older adults than individuals in other demographic groups.
Program Summary
Who are the Nutrition Twins?
The "Nutrition Twins" are twin sisters who grew up sharing a passion for health and fitness (like my own twin sister and I did) and are now both nutrition and fitness experts and media icons with multiple certifications within the industry: they are both Registered Dietitian Nutritionists, Certified Dietitian Nutritionists, and Certified Fitness Trainers. This implies that they have each had extensive education and experience with nutrition counseling (more information on credentials here) and fitness training. However, these women's resumes don't end there--they are also frequent media spokespersons, product spokespersons, authors of several books and
contributing articles in health publications, bloggers for modernmom.com, and nutrition experts/editors for health websites such as "Fitbie" and even applications such as "The BitBite." They also own and operate a private nutrition practice in Manhattan, NY.
How do they utilize various digital spaces and technologies in their daily job performance and in furthering their careers within the health and fitness field?
In addition to contributing to many nutrition and fitness publications and blogs, Lyssie and Tammy also maintain and write for their own blog regularly through their main website, which is divided into the categories "Cookin' Good," "Lookin' Good," "#AsktheTwins," "Recipes," "Fitbie Articles," and "Motivation/Inspiration." Through this blog the twins are able to market all of their services and provide all of the resources they have to offer in one place.
Cookin' Good
Here the Twins promote their 3 books: The Veggie Cure, The Secret to Skinny, and Fire Up Your Metabolism, all of which are available to download as e-books on various devices. They also compile printable recipes and guides for grocery shopping, healthy substitutes and cooking swaps, using cooking tools in the kitchen, measuring tips, and more.
Lookin' Good
In this part of the blog, the twins endorse their services as nutritionists within their private practice which is headquartered in Manhattan. They offer highly-individualized "health problem-busting" one-on-one (or two-on-one) consultation sessions that include an initial consultation and several follow-up consultations. These sessions are customized to the needs of individual clients to cover or treat anything from weight loss to increasing energy, increasing body mass, behavior modification, sports nutrition, elevated cholesterol and blood pressure, heart disease, vitamin supplementation perscriptions, restorative toxin "flush," pregnancy, body imaging, and more. They also offer a specific program for clients living in New York City called "Nutrition in the Real World: How to Live Healthfully in NYC--A Land of Many Temptations!" which is a special 5-session package in which the twins teach clients how to make healthy choices and lifestyle
adjustments every day while still getting everything they want out of living in the city. For those clients who do not live in New York City, Lyssie and Tammy are available for Skype and phone counseling sessions as well, serving to elevate their brand and spread their expertise beyond New York.
This section of the blog also includes a category with
links to tutorials for some of their favorite exercise moves, inlcuding pictures
and descriptions of how to do each one correctly; more recipes specifically for people trying to lose weight; and detox guidelines and sample plans.
Finally, the Nutrition Twins promote blog readers' subscriptions to their e-mail newsletter in this part of the blog, which includes fitness tips, recipes, and exercise tutorial videos every week.
This section acts as an archive for videos of all of the Nutrition Twins's media appearances. Posts include a link to the video (posted to their Youtube channel) with a short description including the main points made in addressing the issues or topics in the video.
Recipes
This section contains 103 pages of recipes from all over the Nutritoin Twins site in the format of a running feed showing the most recent posts first and the oldest posts last.
Fitbie Articles
This section contains a running feed of all of the twins' articles they write for Fitbie (msn.com's health site).
Motivation/Inspiration
This section contains a feed of motivational pictures and quotes as well as fit tips for daily activities and detoxing.
Social Media
The twins maintain a presence on all of the most popular social media sites, and links to their accounts/pages are available on every page of their blog. They are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, LinkedIn, and Youtube.
Merchandise
The Nutrition Twins have an online store through their website where they sell merchandise with motivational quotes (such as the one pictured on the right) on t-shirts, water bottles, totes, etc., their books, and other nutrition-related resources like Wellness Planners.
Check out the Nutrition Twins' full website at http://nutritiontwins.com