…and recognising them as clickbait
(see what I did there 🙂)
After speaking to a new client the other day, I had to write this blog.
A previous PT had recommended put him on all sorts of specific nutritional interventions like kale, Himalayan salt, apple cider vinegar.
This is very common in the Fitness industry. Trainers like to make it seem that they know something that no one else does. So they want to recommend some niche new ideas.
Often they are just regurgitating whatever they heard on Instagram/Joe Rogan podcast etc. and calling it “evidence-based” or “science backed” simply because the person who said it on a podcast said the words “studies have shown”.
If you have been seeing lots of these recommendations floating around, and feel exhausted at the thought of all these weird things you’re going to have to work into your diet or combine into a big smoothie. You can breathe a sigh of relief. There are no magic bullets in nutrition.
Can kale contribute to a healthy diet?
Sure it can. But it can also contribute to an unhealthy diet, or contribute nothing at all. Context is everything here.
Healthy:
Improving a diet that is low in vegetables, micro nutrients and fiber by adding, for example, kale.
Neutral/pointless:
Adding kale to a diet already containing sufficient micro nutrients and fiber.
Unhealthy:
Putting pressure on yourself to get unnecessary amounts of kale into your diet (especially if you don’t like kale). And feeling concerned for your health when you can’t do it.
Or... prioritizing kale at the expense of other foods which would provide nutrients not present in kale
The same goes for supplements.
More is not always better when it comes to amounts of nutrients. Overconsumption of some micro nutrients can lead to various issues including difficulty to absorb other micro nutrients.
The human body and its systems are infinitely complex.
You will notice that the higher a qualification someone has the more vague their advice will be.
This demonstrates their knowledge that we can rarely make absolute statements when it comes to humans, health, or nutrition. If you see people making such absolute statements, consider that a red flag.
So what advice would i give?
My personal method is to try to tick as many of the following boxes as I can as often as I can…
-A balanced diet of whole foods including colours
-enjoying my diet
-fueling my training and recovery
…and not worry about the times where I can’t do some / any of those things.
What boxes do you like to tick with your diet?
Leave a comment below to let me know.