\n\u2022 This flawed idea usually goes hand-in-hand with the equally flawed \u201cthere is no such thing as a bad food.\u201d There are some \u201cedible food-like products\u201d which have no business going in your body. They are not made of the stuff that sustains life. The major problem is that there are all kinds of weird \u201cfood\u201d products with distorted chemicals that can disrupt your physiology. And the resulting dietary imbalances rapidly generate inflammation and a kind of hormonal static that can take weeks or months to clear. Eating a healthy food doesn\u2019t work miracles in a positive direction\u2014that\u2019s just normal. That\u2019s what your body expects\u2014the only dramatic reaction that occurs is to unhealthy foods. A single dose of healthy food is one step forward. But a single dose of unhealthy food is more than one step back\u2014it\u2019s more like 10 big steps back.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The other problem is how do you define \u201cmoderation.\u201d I have big hands so does 1 \u2018palm sized\u2019 serving of bad food mean the same for me as a person with smaller palms? Having any type of junk food once a day isn\u2019t moderation; it\u2019s a habit. That\u2019s your lifestyle. The other flaw is in people who eat ice cream once a week, but also eat a white bread once a week and fries once a week, etc. Because each item is eaten once a week, this is interpreted as moderation. Add them all up across the week and what have you got?? No, it\u2019s not moderation.<\/p>\n
\u2022 And lastly, keeping unnatural, unhealthy foods as a part of your life on a \u201cmoderate\u201d basis keeps your taste buds and your brain\u2019s reward system craving them. When you only have these foods occasionally, they don\u2019t create the same intense cravings for more. This makes your life harder because you must walk around resisting temptation at every turn instead of no longer feeling a temptation.<\/p>\n
\u2022 We are unhealthier as a society than we have ever been, which clearly suggests that this \u201ceverything in moderation\u201d idea isn\u2019t working out so well.<\/p>\n
CLEANSING\/DETOX\/FASTING PROGRAMS<\/strong> \u2022 Anyone recommending one of these programs to you is either selling them or is emotionally invested in their benefit. We make almost all decisions based on emotion\u2014despite telling ourselves how rational we are\u2014and once someone has decided to spend their money on a cleansing program, they must believe they work to avoid feeling duped and like they made a poor decision.<\/p>\n \u2022 If you don\u2019t put toxins into your body in higher-than-average amounts, there is no need for special detox routines. Don\u2019t \u201ctox,\u201d and there is no need to \u201cdetox.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 An exception to this is for people with medical conditions such as a liver dis-function or someone with fatty liver disease (the result of too much sugar, alcohol or degraded fats in their diet.)<\/p>\n COUNTING CALORIES (AND THE \u201cCALORIES IN VS. CALORIES OUT\u201d MYTH)<\/strong> The laws of thermodynamics make the premise that \u201ccalories in vs. calories out\u201d look true to people who don\u2019t understand thermodynamics in biology. The problem is that we humans are self-aware. This seemingly small psychological truth has massive implications for our biology. In 2011, Yale University demonstrated that your belief about the healthfulness (or lack of it) of a food affected your body\u2019s hormonal response to that food. Groups of people all fed the same amount of calories (actually, the exact same food), had significantly altered appetite-hormone responses due to what they read on fake food labels the researchers had made up. The \u201chealthy\/low-calorie\u201d version left subjects hungry sooner after eating than the \u201cunhealthy\/high-calorie\u201d version.<\/p>\n This would be impossible in the simplistic worldview of the energy balance equation where \u201ca calorie is a calorie.\u201d If you believe you ate something healthy, you will get hungry again sooner. When we study thermodynamics in nature and in the lab, this doesn\u2019t happen. We humans are unique in our ability to consciously contemplate our world and the food we eat. And our thoughts about what we eat can affect our body\u2019s reaction to it. It can be helpful to track what you eat to look for patterns of habits, but it is futile to track calories. Always choose real, quality foods first. This will give your body accurate chemical signals. It is apparent that 100 calories of sugar does not have the same affect on the body as 100 calories of broccoli so why do we continue to promote this flawed idea that it\u2019s all about calories when it is really all about quality?<\/p>\n WEIGHING YOURSELF EVERY DAY<\/strong> If you have kids, you don\u2019t measure their height every day. You don\u2019t really need to track the daily fluctuations in your pension plan. The value of weight as a measure of health is limited. Sure at 130 kilo\u2019s, some weight needs to come off\u2014that amount of weight is never healthy and obesity always promotes disease in a body. A daily change to weight just does not have a major implication on the direction of your health. The emotional reaction to the daily measurement, however, is often very significant. An emotional high or a low that has no real significance physically is of little value in developing a healthy mindset.<\/p>\n The other major problem is that weighing yourself daily disconnects you from how you physically feel on a daily basis. And this is essential for making permanent lifestyle change. In the years I\u2019ve been a fitness professional working with clients who want weight loss, every person I\u2019ve ever worked with who has a weight-loss goal is really seeking a better experience in their body. The exact form of that experience differs from one person to the next. But a number on a scale is not the real motivator\u2014even if it appears an individual is heavily focused on it. WRAP-UP<\/strong>
\n\u2022 It is a shame these programs continue to be so popular as they tend to be a lot of fiction without the science. Your liver continually works to detoxify the body. It starts working the moment you are born, and doesn\u2019t stop until you die. Your body doesn\u2019t need a \u201crest from digestion,\u201d and it doesn\u2019t need help from magical supplements or juices. These programs have been debunked so many times and in so many ways, but they are still big sellers because of the promise of a quick fix. As a result, the intense marketing around them continues to overwhelm obvious truth and common sense.<\/p>\n
\nFood is not our enemy, and we do not need to protect ourselves from its dangers by tracking every calorie or scrap of it. To do so is to disconnect ourselves from the value of food in the worst possible way. It treats food like nothing more than fuel and that is just the incorrect view of food. We are meant to enjoy food and we are meant to eat healthy food. These two are not mutually exclusive. Counting calories is tedious, time-consuming and a sure-fire way to never enjoy eating. \u201cBut don\u2019t I need to make sure I don\u2019t eat more than I burn?\u201d No. And strictly speaking, it is impossible to measure accurately even if you did need to do this.<\/p>\n
\nBecause this is often a standard recommendation of people who have successfully kept weight off, it might seem like an odd choice for a lifestyle habit that doesn\u2019t work. But while it might work for a short period of time in the very early stages of behaviour change, it tends to backfire beyond that time period. People who weigh themselves daily after keeping weight off rarely achieve high levels of health, because they are stuck in a flawed mindset about weight.<\/p>\n
\nWhen you know what the real motivator is\u2014usually it\u2019s wanting to feel and look healthier and it\u2019s liked to our emotions of how we feel\u2014then that can provide lasting motivation. Unfortunately, we usually just assume this will be gained by lowering the numbers on the weighing scales however, a number fixed goal can never provide lasting motivation, especially when a challenge to your daily routine strikes. Daily weigh-ins over-emphasise the importance of something that just doesn\u2019t matter all that much, especially when you\u2019ve arrived at a healthier place. Do you feel a little better than you did yesterday? That would be a much better question to ask yourself on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
\nA permanent shift toward a healthy lifestyle is only possible when we stop beating ourselves up\u2014mentally and physically\u2014and cease using ineffective, flawed, simplistic approaches to health. At Kiwifit we want everyone to live the best life they can live, and the only way to do that is turn away from negative and destructive practices, even if they are popular. Many of the lifestyle habits mentioned in our blogs are popular because they appear easy (we all want that quick fix) or are highly profitable to those who sell them. Popular isn\u2019t the same as being healthy or effective when we are trying to change our health.<\/p>\n
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