Confusion

Why is health so confusing?

Is coffee healthy?  Are eggs?  How about the debate between high-carb and high-fat diets?

If you ever turn on the TV or indulge in any kind of popular media (or even many research reports), you’ve probably been confused at some point about what is healthy.  I have been too. I’ve changed not only what I do, but what I encourage other people to do over the years. Sometimes, this becomes glaringly obvious to me when I am talking to someone who has an understanding about a health topic that I’ve had in the past. I see how my understandings have evolved based on what I’ve read, the education I’ve collected, and the information I’ve been exposed to.

It’s not uncommon for me to tell people who are frustrated that being healthy is at least a part-time job.  It is!  Isn’t it?  But shouldn’t it be? The first thing I often work with people on is how to change their viewpoint about becoming healthier from one of blah-drag-effort to one of positive-feeling-good-progress.

One of the major roadblocks occurs when it’s not that someone doesn’t want to be healthy, but that the misinformation (largely due to lack of time or access to good information) is what they’ve been consuming. Many times I talk with people who just really want to tell me what they’re doing—and that it’s healthy because….x,y,z. 

And they’re wrong.

If you know me, you know I’m not a pushy person, so I will most likely gently suggest some alternate ideas to see how a person will react.  I try not to give advice (coaches really aren’t supposed to give advice)–but I’m going to notice if a person is open to trying new things and hearing new ideas. You don’t have to be perfect on your quest to wellness, you just need to be motivated to make progress—and progress is generally small (sorry, it’s just true).

So onto my point.

Kristina and I want to help you by providing you with the best information we have access to, and we spend a lot of time researching and reading different sources. We both expect our understandings to evolve over time, and we think yours will too. Aside from posting fun (to us) things about food, I also want to give you information about food and lifestyle that may help you have more understanding and less confusion about what actually is healthy. Knowing really is half the battle.

This is my pre-post to a series of posts regarding different aspects of nutrition that people are generally confused about. If there is anything specific you want to know, just ask! I’m going to be working on this for a while—I’m teaching new classes online now so I’ve just refilled my cup to the brim, which is exciting and also another good reason for me to maximize my own health. I think my next post for this series will be about the truth about protein. What kind is best, how much do you need, and how does it relate to health and disease. Exciting, huh?