This crap is getting ridiculous

Below is an excerpt from an email I got this morning promoting yet another new “Amazing, break-through” nutrition info & diet product.  I’ve left out the lead-in copy, but you can get the idea of the approach they’re taking with this part…

In it, Mike shares the shocking truth about the “healthy” foods in
your home that are without a doubt KEEPING you fat, or at least
substantially slowing your progress:

Stuff like:

*Whole Wheat Breads & Crackers
*”All Natural” Peanut Butter
*Canola Oil
*ALL Soy products
*Salmon & Tilapia
*Most store-bought Nuts
*Protein Bars

Commence sarcastic rant:

OK…so really…”without a doubt KEEPING you fat”?  Sure, that must be the case.  These “healthy” foods definitely have to be the reason you’re still fat (I love that they’re assuming I’m fat, too, by the way).  I’m sure it has nothing to do with the total quantity of food.  Nah, that would be just too damn simple.  And it must be magic or wizardry that I was able to lose 15 lbs. of fat (5% of my bodyfat) in 3 months eating everything on this list aside from soy products - including eating natural peanut butter, “store bought” nuts and protein bars (quest brand) pretty much daily.  Yeah, that must have been magic, because how could I possibly have lost all of that fat eating these “forbidden” foods?

And of course “store bought” nuts are bad…OF COURSE!  Like, duh, who in the hell doesn’t know that?!?  I mean, if I go foraging through the brush and gather them on my own, well, then, that’s perfectly ok and they’d suddenly have no effect on my fat loss.  Got it!  Oh, and who could have forgotten that salmon & tilapia are keeping you fat.  All other things that swim in the ocean…apparently good….salmon & tilapia, however…nope, they’re the “bad” fish.  Yep, my mom always warned me to stay away from the likes of them.

*end sarcastic rant

Ok, in all seriousness, though, this kind of crap is so annoying and frustrating.  So many nutritional plans and products now promote fear of certain foods and encourage a completely negative mindset about nutrition. I’m getting so irritated with this approach and how it leaves so many people confused about nutrition and afraid to eat nearly 90% of foods out there.

The overgeneralization and claim that certain foods prevent you from losing fat, while others promote more fat loss around your midsection, blah, blah, blah, is sooo beyond the point of what really matters.

Listen, “foods” are not bad.  Food is not your enemy when it comes to helping you reach your goals.  It’s your ally!  There needs to be a lot more focus on helping people establish a “healthy” relationship with food, not scare the sh*t out of them about eating this food or that food.  If you don’t like a certain type of food because of the way your body reacts to it or the way it makes you feel, then by all means, avoid it.  That’s a learning process by trying things over time and seeing what works, what doesn’t, what you can tolerate well and what you can’t.

Everyone’s body is different and therefore will react to certain foods differently.  I get that & I completely get people wanting to avoid processed foods as much as possible.  It’s not like that doesn’t make good sense.  But, these types of messages (the above excerpt) and generalizations create far more of a problem than they actually do to truly help people.  Unfortunately, simple and helpful, “long-term” solutions don’t sound very interesting, aren’t easily marketable, and therefore people like this can’t make money off of them.  

Please, please, please don’t buy into the hype of this type of junk and instead focus on establishing a better relationship with food and changing your actions and behaviors to positive, productive, healthy ones.  This will take you so much further toward your goals and maintaining them in the long run than falling prey to yet another “best ever” nutrition product.

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  1. fitness-swagger reblogged this from warrior-fitness
  2. forever-athlete said: i got that email too. It is ridiculous to blame being ‘fat’ on a short list of foods and not dietary & exercise habits as a whole.
  3. nopityfitness said: Dude, quit being so fat and eating protein bars. Obviously they are keeping you obese.
  4. moremuscles said: Makes me sad when I see people giving up certain foods for Lent. It just promotes an unhealthy mindset and associating foods as “good” or “bad”
  5. warrior-fitness posted this

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