It Starts With Why
I help people navigate the complexity and confusion surrounding common health and performance advice, and help them to focus on building the essential elements so that they can increase their energy and capacity for life.
Jamie Scott is a university-trained Nutritionist, holding post-graduate qualifications in both Nutrition Medicine, and Sport & Exercise Medicine, as well as undergraduate degrees in both Science (Human Nutrition) and Physical Education (Sport Science).
Setting a Direction
I first started training people in 1994, working in a Dunedin "big-boy" gym to pay my way through university. It wasn’t glamorous. Despite my official job title of 'gym instructor', I actually spent most of my time picking up weights after the gym members, realigning the dumbbells and barbells for the OCD gym owner, making protein shakes for the "big boys", and scrubbing toilets and the shower block after the 9pm closing. I knew that learning how the human body worked and using that knowledge to help people’s health was what I wanted to do as a career, and if making protein shakes and cleaning toilets was a stepping stone to that, so be it. Eight years, two undergraduate degrees, and a couple of post-grad diplomas later (I started at Otago expecting to just finish a 3-year degree), I started that career in earnest…
Starting Out
Over the past 25 years, my career has spanned a number of roles in the ‘health & fitness industry’, including personal trainer, group fitness instructor (spin and circuit classes), rehab assistant embedded in a physio clinic, nutritionist, manager of personal trainers (I don’t recommend that one much), and a manager of a new start-up gym (I don’t recommend that one much either).
I’ve been involved with high-performance athletes across various sports, from strength coach and nutritionist to sprinters in a track cycling squad, to NZ-rep Ultimate Frisbee and canoe polo players.
New Horizons
From 2009 to 2016 I was the lead researcher/writer, presenter, and programme developer for one of New Zealand's largest workplace wellness providers before moving on to develop content for an international audience, researching and developing a USA-based behaviour change programme designed to get people doing less Face Time and more face-to-face time (‘More Social, Less Media’). More recently, I was the main researcher and draft writer for the book, 'The 4-Season Solution', a book on biorhythms, seasonal health, and human connection.
Sharing Knowledge & Ideas
I’ve been fortunate to have had many opportunities to travel and speak to various groups and conferences across the United States of America, Australia, and here at home in New Zealand, as well as give countless podcast interviews on a wide range of topics, with each experience having given me the opportunity to share knowledge and ideas with a wide range of individuals - from everyday folk, to health professionals, practitioners, academics, and researchers.
I’ve been on both sides of the lectern, attending many events and conferences as both student and speaker as part of my ongoing professional development. I’ve worked behind the scenes too - organising and hosting international conferences for other health and fitness professionals to share their knowledge and ideas at. I love to read research, synthesise ideas, connect dots, and deepen/broaden my knowledge and understanding.