Article by Dr. Tim Leeming. Exercise Nutritionist, Chiropractor.
We’ve all sat on the nutritional rollercoaster at some stage. Some of us are constantly stuck on it, riding front row, craving the next popular trend in food and health! Pun intended…
Not many would argue that the path to understanding how to eat for optimal health is like that of a swing or a pendulum. Cycling back and forth between extremes, from one thing to the other. Low fat to high fat. Carb loading to low carb. Macro counting to forgetting macros altogether. These are just some of the more popular examples from the past few decades or less.
We’ve all sat on the nutritional rollercoaster at some stage. Some of us are constantly stuck on it, riding front row, craving the next popular trend in food and health! Pun intended…
Not many would argue that the path to understanding how to eat for optimal health is like that of a swing or a pendulum. Cycling back and forth between extremes, from one thing to the other. Low fat to high fat. Carb loading to low carb. Macro counting to forgetting macros altogether. These are just some of the more popular examples from the past few decades or less.
| I have an admiration for anyone who is constantly searching for a better way to nurture and look after themselves and the people around them. I can completely understand how difficult and frustrating that can be. It winds me up in some way or another almost every single day, because I am just as connected to the thread of content on social media as the next health junkie is! Outside of social media we are under attack from TV and radio, billboards, pop-up ads on the internet and – of course – the very shelves from which we purchase our foodstuffs from: supermarkets and shops. All of these mediums are sending us various mixed and conflicting messages about what to eat. The following are a few very simple but wholly effective tips for deciphering the marketing madness and sifting through BS to find what you are looking for. Whenever you are faced with a new food product, programme or service – be it a sports drink, a supplement, a diet or a method for eating – apply these questions and concepts. When trying to decide how to eat in the healthiest way for you – regardless of whether that is for sporting performance or anything else – be sure to use the following ‘filters’. | Webinar: Navigating the World of Food If you want to hear WHY it is more important now, than ever, to eat REAL FOODS for health and performance, then join us at this talk! Tim will cover the WHY and HOW to keep it clean and natural, with a holistic approach to overall wellbeing. Tim Leeming will talk about his four pillars of health and high-performance, as well as how to better understand foods and food labels, the supplements you take, and how you can maximise your performance! Monday, October 1. 7:00pm. Click here to register |
Who stands to gain from it?
Sure, there is likely some benefit for you in buying that new gut health supplement (albeit a short-lived and expensive benefit), but how much financial gain is the marketer making? I’m going to hazard a guess that they’re turning and churning unfathomably large profits! With all that money in question, do you think the company making and marketing the product or diet is more concerned about your health or their margin?
Excuse my cynicism, but the reality is that the food industry is BIG business! On the other hand, if someone is telling you to eat wholefoods – like fresh, seasonal vegetables from your local farmer’s market – again have a think about what they stand to gain versus what you can gain from that advice.
Is it applicable to your whole life?
In other words, does the advice, service or product serve the bigger picture? Can it be expanded and applied to other aspects of your lifestyle. In my opinion, a good diet or method for eating – or even just advice from someone – should be based upon principles or a philosophy that permeates widely to all corners of your life.
At the risk of seemingly endorsing any one particular method, let’s use Paleo as an example. A Paleo style of eating lends itself to a broader focus on other elements of life, such as sleep, movement and community interaction.
I am not saying that Paleo is the one and only way to go – I personally do not follow a strictly Paleo way of life – but I like that it embodies exactly that; a way of life and not just a means to an end (e.g. a short-term fix to achieve weight loss or some other objective metric). The same can be said for Vegan, Vegetarian, some nutritional or supplement companies and some social media stars who promote all of the above! On the other hand, some of the pages I see on Facebook and Instagram certainly don’t pass this test.
Look for recurring themes
While Paleo enthusiasts throw proverbial stones at Vegans, and the Vegetarians among us sit across the table with their knickers in a knot about steak-eating farmers, there is something important to be learned from it all. If you step back and begin to look for themes, there are aspects that all of the above parties can agree upon.
The promotion of eating mostly plants is not unique to Vegan or Vegetarian diets. In fact, basing the large majority of what you eat on plants (i.e. vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts) is fairly well agreed upon by Vegans, Vegetarians, Paleo, Whole 30, FODMAP, some progressive supplement companies… the list goes on. The idea that we should eat mostly wholefoods and minimal processed/packaged foods is also a common thread among all of the above.
Another example of an emerging theme among such interest groups is the irrelevance of counting macronutrients or calories. For decades, the idea of closely watching and carefully calculating calories has pervaded health-interested groups worldwide. Not so much anymore!
These themes exist for good reason. The point here is that if the next diet or superfood supplement you are looking at buying into is full of completely novel ideas that are unique and not shared by any other methods or products, then chances are it’s just another well-marketed fad and you’re about to be jooped! A fun activity can be spotting the Instagram stars who have been similarly fooled into promoting these short-lived trends…
Use these three principles next time you’re unsure about a food or diet and you’ll make a more well-rounded decision that is conducive to a healthier life altogether. What other things do you think about when you see a new product?
Article by Dr. Tim Leeming. Exercise Nutritionist, Chiropractor.
[email protected]
@realfoochiro
Sure, there is likely some benefit for you in buying that new gut health supplement (albeit a short-lived and expensive benefit), but how much financial gain is the marketer making? I’m going to hazard a guess that they’re turning and churning unfathomably large profits! With all that money in question, do you think the company making and marketing the product or diet is more concerned about your health or their margin?
Excuse my cynicism, but the reality is that the food industry is BIG business! On the other hand, if someone is telling you to eat wholefoods – like fresh, seasonal vegetables from your local farmer’s market – again have a think about what they stand to gain versus what you can gain from that advice.
Is it applicable to your whole life?
In other words, does the advice, service or product serve the bigger picture? Can it be expanded and applied to other aspects of your lifestyle. In my opinion, a good diet or method for eating – or even just advice from someone – should be based upon principles or a philosophy that permeates widely to all corners of your life.
At the risk of seemingly endorsing any one particular method, let’s use Paleo as an example. A Paleo style of eating lends itself to a broader focus on other elements of life, such as sleep, movement and community interaction.
I am not saying that Paleo is the one and only way to go – I personally do not follow a strictly Paleo way of life – but I like that it embodies exactly that; a way of life and not just a means to an end (e.g. a short-term fix to achieve weight loss or some other objective metric). The same can be said for Vegan, Vegetarian, some nutritional or supplement companies and some social media stars who promote all of the above! On the other hand, some of the pages I see on Facebook and Instagram certainly don’t pass this test.
Look for recurring themes
While Paleo enthusiasts throw proverbial stones at Vegans, and the Vegetarians among us sit across the table with their knickers in a knot about steak-eating farmers, there is something important to be learned from it all. If you step back and begin to look for themes, there are aspects that all of the above parties can agree upon.
The promotion of eating mostly plants is not unique to Vegan or Vegetarian diets. In fact, basing the large majority of what you eat on plants (i.e. vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts) is fairly well agreed upon by Vegans, Vegetarians, Paleo, Whole 30, FODMAP, some progressive supplement companies… the list goes on. The idea that we should eat mostly wholefoods and minimal processed/packaged foods is also a common thread among all of the above.
Another example of an emerging theme among such interest groups is the irrelevance of counting macronutrients or calories. For decades, the idea of closely watching and carefully calculating calories has pervaded health-interested groups worldwide. Not so much anymore!
These themes exist for good reason. The point here is that if the next diet or superfood supplement you are looking at buying into is full of completely novel ideas that are unique and not shared by any other methods or products, then chances are it’s just another well-marketed fad and you’re about to be jooped! A fun activity can be spotting the Instagram stars who have been similarly fooled into promoting these short-lived trends…
Use these three principles next time you’re unsure about a food or diet and you’ll make a more well-rounded decision that is conducive to a healthier life altogether. What other things do you think about when you see a new product?
Article by Dr. Tim Leeming. Exercise Nutritionist, Chiropractor.
[email protected]
@realfoochiro
| Webinar: Navigating the World of Food If you want to hear WHY it is more important now, than ever, to eat REAL FOODS for health and performance, then join us at this talk! Tim will cover the WHY and HOW to keep it clean and natural, with a holistic approach to overall wellbeing. Tim Leeming will talk about his four pillars of health and high-performance, as well as how to better understand foods and food labels, the supplements you take, and how you can maximise your performance! Monday, October 1. 7:00pm. Click here to register |  |
