You Are What You Eat

We’re 3 weeks into January and a lot of us are right into our January health kicks, which isn’t a bad thing… But I get the feeling media outlets are taking advantage of that right now. 

Loads of people have been bringing up Netflix’s ‘You Are What You Eat’ doco - (which I’m hesitant to delve into what my thoughts are - mainly because I’m sceptical of any nutrition documentary that gets uploaded to Netflix so I tend to avoid watching them). 

Newspapers are previewing diet related articles on their front pages, and probably every social media fitness influencer you follow will be giving you their two cents about how to shed the Christmas kg’s, live to 100 years old and find eternal happiness in the process. 

Most of the time, the articles that get published in newspapers aren’t wrong, or bad advice.

And I genuinely would have no doubt that ‘You Are What You Eat’ does have a conclusion that reaffirms a lot of what evidence based nutrition tells us (even amongst whatever biases the producers may have, and the other information I can guarantee you that it leaves out).  

Social media is different, because anyone can post anything. I’m going to assume that you knew that already - and you’re able to take things that people who have no qualifications other than a million followers and big muscles say with a grain of salt ;)

Basically - it’s all a lot right now. We’re getting told what to eat, how to exercise, what to do - left, right and centre, and I think it’s worth being mindful about the effect that it’s having on us.

It’s confusing AF. You’ve got the carnivore diet influencers telling you that lettuce is poisoning you on one side, and then you’ve got the whole-food plant-based crowd on the other, telling you that cheese is clogging your arteries and giving you cancer. You’ve got the gym bro’s shouting ‘it’s just calories in, calories out’, and then you’ve got the holistic health gurus telling you that your hormones are unbalanced and all the chemicals everywhere are the reason why you’ve probably ever had any kind of health issue ever (what shampoo are you using btw? Oh, and that fluoride toothpaste is definitely blocking your third eye). How is anybody supposed to know who to trust, and on top of that - where are all of these different opinions even coming from?

It feels like a lot of pressure. The messaging makes us feel like dieting in January should just be a no-brainer. What do you mean you don’t want to become the best version of you this year by completely changing everything that you’re doing right now because it’s all extremely bad for you? 

It’s like we can’t escape from being made to think about dieting and exercise all the time. There’s always somebody at the office talking about their new diet, there’s always going to be that annoying 6 pack guy who pops up in every YouTube video ad, there’s always a new ‘interesting’ article, a new documentary, a new book, a new expert to follow - and in January it just all seems so heightened. It becomes impossible to escape messaging that tells us that we must be doing something wrong, even if we’re trying the best that we can to look after ourselves. 

More importantly, none of this ‘info’ takes into account anything to do with mental health, finances, workload, cultural background, chronic health concerns or injuries, having to look after children, and having a life that actually brings you joy. 

I recognise the irony of me ranting about the volume of people dishing out health advice in January - whilst being someone who people pay to give health advice. It’s giving ~trust in meeee, sssssss~ (you know, that serpent in Disney’s The Jungle Book?). 

I’m definitely not saying that everybody else out there is trying to scam you, or giving bad advice. 

But I am saying it’s important to be aware of the different ways that people will villainise foods that you eat, products that you use and things that you do - in order to sell you something else - be it a book, a program, or a supplement. And a lot of the time, what they’re villainising, are foods and things which are completely harmless - even beneficial. 

If you want to get healthier in January and reboot your routine - I am all for it. Trust me, I want you to get healthy and feel your best!

It’s just so, SO important that when you’re planning your strategy… that you personalise it based on what is realistic for YOU. That you’re honest with yourself about what the ‘low hanging fruit’ are in your lifestyle.. The big rocks which you know you can easily change that are probably holding you back.

You don’t need to ‘cleanse’. You might just need to start bringing lunch to work and eating dinner at home. Or waking up earlier to get a walk in more often. Or cutting back (not necessarily cutting out), on alcohol, takeaways or processed food.

Or you might not even need to do any of these things, because you do feel content with how you are, and you feel good about your routines at the moment. 

Either way, your decision to take action towards your health this year should feel like it is completely your decision… It’s when you really own that it’s something you’re doing for you, that you’re more likely to be consistent with it. 

If you do have feelings of wanting to make changes to your lifestyle right now, do they stem from a belief that you should be doing something right now, or because you genuinely want to? 

Lastly - if you were honest with yourself about your habits and your lifestyle, in what ways do you feel like your habits might not be serving you? 

Whatever comes up for you, I encourage you to spend time breaking it down into where this habit of yours comes from, and why you think it’s unhelpful for you (along with why perhaps it might have been serving you in a different way). If I get any replies saying that their ‘lettuce eating habits’ are most likely the root of their problems, please visualise me virtually slapping you (gently) in the face.

My role as a nutrition and fitness coach is to help you get more clear on whatever’s holding you back with achieving your goals, and design a strategy with you to overcome that. 

I’m always here if you’re curious about having more of a chat.

L x