Health websites constantly posting contradictory nutrition advice

whirlpool · 22-03-2014 12:44AM #1

I've read hundreds of articles on websites, and in magazines and books. There is so much contradictory advice out there from - and this is the confusing part - people "in the know."

For example, one article will say that if you want to lose body fat, you should be drinking full fat milk and consuming other full fats / good fats also, and that you should not be consuming low fat / fat-free milk as this will hinder your body's natural processes. Next of all you'll see a separate article published the same day that will say that to lose weight, you should switch to low-fat milk.

And carbs.... some bodyfat reduction (or weight-loss articles as they are most commonly labelled) articles will highly recommend you consume whole-grain carbs and they will give you a diet plan that includes lots of wholegrain rice, oats, bread, etc, but then other articles will say you should be dramatically reducing your carb intake in general to reduce bodyfat. Porridge (oatmeal) is most often recommended as a bodyfat reduction aid.

Then other articles will say that humans have not been consuming dairy or grains long enough for the human body to have adapted to it, and therefore we should not be consuming dairy or grains at all because it will **** you up internally. I mean, should somebody who is trying to reduce their bodyfat really be eating even natural yoghurt?

How do you navigate through the contradictory advice regularly doled up by health and nutrition gurus?

fitness factor · 22-03-2014 01:07AM

For me the main factor is my common sense. If some diet looks like to be one side type, I start doubting it.

I suppose knowledge we took out of biology classes helps as well. Back then nobody tried to sell me anything.

And anyway I try to talk with my family, even grandparents. During their lives there were many theories published and tested.

youtube! · 22-03-2014 01:08AM

I gave up trying to months ago now I experiment as see what works for my body, remember you are an experiment of one and what works for you probably won't work for another.

To give an example all this guff about sugar being terribly bad for everyone is just bolloxology. When I tried to give it up I had zero energy was a moody git and got awful headaches, and before anyone tells me I was in withdrawl well this was after almost 3 weeks so **** that for a game of soldiers.

As soon as I went back on it everything changed back to normal, frankly it has been unfairly demonised IMO.

Same with dairy and grains, they work for some and mess others up big time, moderation and experimentation are the keys to getting through the nutrition minefield.

whirlpool · 22-03-2014 01:11AM

youtube! wrote: »

To give an example all this guff about sugar being terribly bad for everyone is just bolloxology. When I tried to give it up I had zero energy was a moody git and got awful headaches, and before anyone tells me I was in withdrawl well this was after almost 3 weeks so **** that for a game of soldiers.

As soon as I went back on it everything changed back to normal, frankly it has been unfairly demonised IMO.

Is that not like saying a heroin addict should go back on heroin if the withdrawal symptoms last longer than usual? I'm not saying that to be smart, I'm just trying to learn.

Essien · 22-03-2014 01:16AM

I don't read much of it anymore, and of what I do read, I take with a good dose of salt.

There are so many vested interests involved that it's hard to know who has some agenda and who doesn't.

I will say though, some things just make more sense to me than others, and for that reason I believe them. Like a high fat diet, I tried it recently and found that I was eating way more unprocessed food than before. That suggested to me that it must be a positive thing, and is not nearly as unhealthy as we've been told.

youtube! · 22-03-2014 01:16AM

No because sugar isn't heroin! Sugar is not evil it is simply another nutrient that is bad if you eat too much of,like anything else.

silverharp · 22-03-2014 09:25AM

youtube! wrote: »

No because sugar isn't heroin! Sugar is not evil it is simply another nutrient that is bad if you eat too much of,like anything else.

it depends what you are talking about? its a bit like saying I know HFCS is toxic so I wont eat corn on the cob. I'd argue though that on average its better to get you sugar from a banana than a bottle of coke. Million of obese people cant be wrong...oh wait :pac:

How do you navigate through the contradictory advice regularly doled up by health and nutrition gurus?

I would tend to take a view about how one dimensional or not the advice is or how sustainable the advice is. for instance if the writer is only concerned with calories in=calories out, I would describe that as 1 dimensional as your body is more complicated than that so I'd like to get a feel that the writer has an understanding of hormone responses and interactions of the various organs of the body, thyroid etc.

oscar_mike · 24-03-2014 01:41PM

Its actually amazing the amount of "health advice" there is out there and most of it total BS. Contradictions everywhere. In general i ignore articles that claim/recommend one or more of the following;

1. processed foods such as low fat or diet snacks

2. Fad diets/rapid weight using pills or other products

3. lowering cholesterol using spreads/ shakes

4. Citing "leading experts" or other sources other than validated scientific evidence/ accredited institutions.

A lot of these "expert" authors have links or something to gain financially and will write the articles accordingly. Unfortunately this is the reality for the majority of health info online. You might be better off reading some books on the various subjects and develop your own health regime.

FYI i would agree with not consuming too many carbs and eating natural yogurt for fat loss.

silverharp · 24-03-2014 02:28PM

one that i am coming across lately is that an "alkeline" diet will prevent or kill cancer. Yet very light on how everything ends up in your stomach which is acidic to say the least or that your body keeps blood within a very tight PH level. as it happens there are plenty of good reasons not to eat sugary food and to have a green veg heavy diet but bogus views could make people doubt everything or fool others into quack cures

oscar_mike · 24-03-2014 04:22PM

I must try the alkaline diet along with my no food diet and extreme starvation jogging......

runawaybishop · 25-03-2014 02:35PM

whirlpool wrote: »

I've read hundreds of articles on websites, and in magazines and books. There is so much contradictory advice out there from - and this is the confusing part - people "in the know."

For example, one article will say that if you want to lose body fat, you should be drinking full fat milk and consuming other full fats / good fats also, and that you should not be consuming low fat / fat-free milk as this will hinder your body's natural processes. Next of all you'll see a separate article published the same day that will say that to lose weight, you should switch to low-fat milk.

And carbs.... some bodyfat reduction (or weight-loss articles as they are most commonly labelled) articles will highly recommend you consume whole-grain carbs and they will give you a diet plan that includes lots of wholegrain rice, oats, bread, etc, but then other articles will say you should be dramatically reducing your carb intake in general to reduce bodyfat. Porridge (oatmeal) is most often recommended as a bodyfat reduction aid.

Then other articles will say that humans have not been consuming dairy or grains long enough for the human body to have adapted to it, and therefore we should not be consuming dairy or grains at all because it will **** you up internally. I mean, should somebody who is trying to reduce their bodyfat really be eating even natural yoghurt?

How do you navigate through the contradictory advice regularly doled up by health and nutrition gurus?

Articles from people trying to sell you a service, product or lifestyle should be treated with suspicion in general. Full fat or low fat won't make a bit of difference if you are eating twice what you should be eating, same deal with carbs. Moderation/balance is the key.

About the only bits of advice that you need are:
try to eat food that isn't overly processed
If you want to drop weight move more and eat less

September1 · 25-03-2014 03:26PM

Plenty of details are contradictory but you have to take consideration that various diets have different objectives, so it is only natural for weight loss diet to use items banned by weight gain diet. You would be even surprised that both diets could share some food recommendations, like eating vegetables for fiber. Then diets with same objectives may work as well, excellent example was recent research in Sweden that showed low carb and high carb diets to converge on results in longer timeframes. That means that different food plans could suit different people.

Those contradictions are also mostly limited to specifics, I have yet to find a diet that recommends eating mostly ice cream or at least 100g of salt per day etc

Last there is also matter of risks that would vary greatly and quality of research is poor. Check this meta research article that shows that almost everything is linked to cancer http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23193004 and even is such links are sure that could be very weak. Even if broccoli increases your cancer risk from 0.000001% to 0.0000015% (a 50% increase) it might still be better than jelly beans, because it has less calories and links of obesity with disease are much stronger.

Health websites constantly posting contradictory nutrition advice

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