Mississippi Woman Wins Lawsuit Over ‘Vague Language’ Regulating Health Coaches

Mississippi Woman Wins Lawsuit Over ‘Vague Language’ Regulating Health Coaches
Donna Harris in Madison, Miss., in 2022. Courtesy of the Mississippi Justice Institute.
Matt McGregor
Updated:

A Mississippi woman has won a lawsuit against the state after health officials tried to shut down a weight-loss course she offered through her personal training business in 2020.

Even though weight loss has been a topic of conversation since the dawn of the convenient, sedentary lifestyle brought with it the side effect of obesity, the Mississippi State Board of Health (MSBH) argued that personal trainer Donna Harris’ course to help her clients lose weight required her to be a licensed dietician, based on the Mississippi Dietetics Practice Act (MDPA).