January is National Thank You Month. There are many people in the world that we should be saying “thank you” to. Literally anyone in a service or healthcare industry. Teachers. First Responders. People who hold open doors or let you go before them in line.
But in the time of punishing New Year’s Resolutions (Whole30, anyone?) I think you should also say “Thank You” to yourself.
So what do you have to say thank you to yourself for?
Thank Yourself for the strength it took to get through 2020
It’s been a hard year for literally everyone. As our world has been turned upside down, we’ve become creative and determined to persevere in these weird challenges we’ve been given.
Thank yourself for all you did to keep yourself, your family, and your community safe.
You’ve been wearing your mask, right?
Thank Yourself for those times you were kind when no one was looking
Did you mow the neighbors’ lawn while they were at work? Make food for your essential worker friends and family? Increase your charitable donations?
You deserve to be thanked for that. And there’s no one better to do so!
Thank Yourself for the awesome skills you spent time and effort developing
In spite of, or rather due to, the pandemic, many of us have learned new skills. Or even honed skills we already had.
What new skill did you learn that will serve you throughout the next few years?
Can you now cook a healthy meal instead of frequenting fast food and take-out restaurants?
Have you learned a new technique for managing your stress? Or created a full-proof time or project management system?
You’ll be thanking yourself for years to come.
Thank Yourself for forgiving someone else
Sometimes the best thing you can do is forgive someone, as the mental load of anger can take its toll.
Have you done that this year?
Thank Yourself for taking the time to heal
Have you worked towards improving your mental or physical health? Because the two are so intertwined, sometimes helping one inadvertently helps the other.
For example, if you started exercising to improve your anxiety, you probably also improved your cardiovascular health.
Or maybe you decided to eat more healthily and your symptoms of depression are a bit easier to manage.
Either way, congratulate and thank yourself for taking action.
Thank Yourself for the measures you take to keep yourself and your family safe, happy, and healthy
There’s so much you do that impacts your family, and you may not realize it.
Have you increased movement for fun, rather than purely for exercise?
You provide food, a place to live, and other necessities to your family, and you should be thanked for that.
Thank Yourself for working towards your goals
Even if you haven’t met them yet.
One of my mantras is “Progress, not perfection.”
What have you made progress on? Thank yourself for getting closer to your goals.
Thank Yourself for when you were bold. And when you were cautious
That time a spur-of-the-moment decision was worth it?
Or when you passed on a good offer because it seemed off?
Thank yourself for both
This feels silly, why should I do it?
Does just reading this make you feel a little self-conscious? Why should you spend your time on this?
Crowds out the negative self-talk
How can you think negatively when you just thanked yourself for something awesome?
Positive Reinforcement
When you receive a thank you, it encourages you to do it again.
Positive thoughts lead to positive actions, just like negative words lead to negative actions.
Reduces the need for validation from outside sources
Who needs a thank you from someone unwilling to give it when you already know you did good?
Improves your self-esteem
Every time you thank yourself, or even just acknowledge when you did something good, you boost your self-esteem and validate yourself even without input from someone else.
Encourages you to continue to strive for improvement
When you do something that gives you confidence, you’ll strive to continue that achievement.
So pat yourself on the back when you take the next step towards your long-term goals. You’ll be more likely to keep pushing forward.
How to show gratitude to Yourself
By flower to brighten up your workspace
Write out a list of what you’re thankful for
Get your nails done
Say “yes” when someone offers you dessert
Brag on social media
Take a walk and enjoy your surroundings
Think of 2 positives for every negative complaint
Learn a yummy new recipe
What do you think?
Will this be your next New Year’s Resolution? Maybe it should be!
How often do you pay attention to how your food makes you feel? Is it only when you’re reaching for the stereotypical heartbreak ice cream?
Do you find yourself over-hungry or over-stuffed and always reacting with anger or lethargy?
If you’ve worked with me 1:1, you’ve probably heard me talk at length about Mindful Eating. Not a diet; this is a way to go about making food choices that keep you feeling satisfied with your meals, healthy, and with room to splurge.
What is Mindful Eating?
Mindful eating is a framework that encourages you to avoid extremes of the hunger scale, reduce eating based on emotions or boredom, and teaches you to enjoy your splurges and determine what you actually want when a craving hits.
Through practice, you will pick up a skill many of us haven’t had since early childhood. You will know exactly when you’re hungry, when you’ve had enough, and when you need to manage your stress and emotions.
Who benefits from Mindful Eating?
In short, everyone.
In fact, we are all born with the knowledge and intuition to eat before we are hangry and stop eating before we burst.
But then we’re told that we have to finish our plates.
That we have to wait until dinner to eat.
In essence, we are taught to ignore our hunger and fullness cues and eat on someone else’s schedule or in portions that are too large (or too small).
Then what happens is chronic over or under-eating, feelings of guilt around mealtimes, and emotional/stress eating.
To some extent, the schedules and the wait until dinners make sense. Being forced to finish off a plate when you’re full does not make sense. And this is often the part of Mindful Eating that causes the most anxiety.
In short, practicing Mindful Eating is a means to get us back to listening to our bodies.
Basic components of Mindful Eating
Eating mindfully looks different to different people. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.
What it comes down to is getting in tune with your hunger and fullness cues, as well as paying attention to those times when you aren’t hungry and aren’t full.
If you find yourself reaching for food when you’re not hungry, your job is to figure out what you’re feeling and how to address it. You may be tired, bored, stressed, anxious, angry, etc. Figure out how to address the emotion healthily and productively.
Eat slowly and with minimal distractions
How many times have you plowed through a meal at warp speed, only to realize that you have no idea what it tasted like? Then a couple of minutes later, that gross feeling hits. You ate too much, and now all you want to do is pass out.
A better way is sloooow down when you eat.
Take the time to enjoy the food, chew thoroughly, and pause in between bites.
Just be sure to enjoy the company you’re with as well!
Listen to hunger and fullness cues
This is absolutely the most important part of Mindful Eating. Well… One of them.
Think of your hunger/fullness as laid out on a scale.
1 is a Snicker’s bar commercial. You’ve seen them. Someone’s all pissed off because they’re hungry. They eat a Snicker’s bar and are suddenly their awesome pleasant self.
10 is how you feel after your second Thanksgiving dinner. You feel gross, probably a little nauseated, and all you want to do is unbutton your pants and pass out.
Needless to say, you should never be at a 1 or a 10 on the hunger/fullness scale. Instead, start paying attention to your hunger cues. Eat when you’re at a 3. Eat slowly until you hit a 7, then stop.
Eating slowly is key here. If you eat too fast, you miss your fullness cues. Meanwhile, food is still traveling down to your stomach. A meal should take a minimum of 20 minutes.
Learn when you’re not actually hungry
The other important part of the hunger scale is smack in the middle, at a 5.
When you are at a 5, you are neither hungry nor full. Your body is not looking for food. So if you find yourself reaching for a snack, assess your hunger scale first.
If you’re at a 5 and reaching for food, you are eating for reasons other than fuel and nourishment. This is when we start reaching for unhealthy choices, such as chips, sweets, doughnuts, etc. It’s not that we can’t have those things; we just need to be judicious with when and how often we eat them.
If you stop and think, and realize you’re at a 5, take some time to figure out how you’re feeling. Then determine what you can do to abate any negative feelings. Sometimes a walk around the block, a phone call to a close friend, or sitting down with a book was all you needed after all.
It’s helpful to have a mental list of activities that address your emotions outside of food. Pent-up, anxious energy can do well with exercise or a venting chat with a friend. Depleted energy and stress may do better with a bath, a book, or a funny tv show. Learn what works for you, other than food.
All of that to say that sometimes emotional eating is just what’s going to do it for us. And that’s okay!
Appreciate your food
I don’t mean this in the stereotypical “there are children starving in China” way.
However, a lot goes into getting food on your plate. It had to be grown, processed, shipped, bought and prepared. All of these steps, and the people that made it possible, should be appreciated.
Part of mindfulness is being aware of and grateful for all that makes up our world. We just happen to be focusing on food and eating right now.
Notice how your meals affect your mood and feelings of well-being
I don’t know a single person who feels good after they overeat.
Nor do many people say they feel good after eating excessive amounts of fried food or a giant plate of barbecued meat with no attempt at balance. No matter how much they enjoyed it at the time, they were eating.
In addition to looking out for fullness cues while you’re eating, try to pay attention to how you feel an hour or two later.
Some things are pretty obvious. We’ve all heard of the “meat sweats” or fallen into a carb coma. But others are more subtle. Are you low on energy after eating certain foods or at certain times of the day?
Learning to be in tune with your body can help you figure out if you aren’t tolerating certain foods or nourishing yourself as well as you think you are.
Enjoy the hell out of your splurges
Here is your permission to have some “junk food”! I’ll tell you how we handle these cravings in our house…
We don’t keep them around. If we have a sweet or craving, we actually have to put in some effort to get it. As it turns out, we often don’t want it bad enough to put that effort into it. Think about it.
If I kinda want a brownie and it’s in my kitchen, I’ll probably go eat it. But if I kinda want a brownie, but to get it, I have to get dressed (cause, let’s face it, I’m probably in jammies), drive somewhere, buy it, and come back, I probably won’t.
I know many of you have heard me talk through this scenario before.
However, say I’ve been wanting an awesome, warm, gooey brownie all day. I’ve had lunch, so I’m not hungry, I’m not stressed out or overly bored, but I still really want the dang brownie.
I’m going to go find the best damn brownie I can. I’m going to savor and enjoy the hell out of it, and 100% of the time the craving goes away afterward.
Getting something else chocolate-y, say a cookie when I really want a brownie, doesn’t work. I didn’t satisfy the craving.
Think about this the next time you have a craving for something “junky”. Get the best version of what you want that you can find. Focus on the food while you’re eating it.
Nothing worse than getting what you want, eating it, then realizing you didn’t enjoy it, all because you were focused on something else.
The rest of this ties into what we already talked about. Stop eating the splurge-worthy food when you’re no longer enjoying it or the craving has been satisfied. You’re allowed to stop!
Benefits of Mindful Eating
Now that we’ve talked about what Mindful Eating is, what are the benefits? Is this really a method we can use to improve our health?
Healthy, Sustainable Weight Management
People that learn their hunger and fullness cues honor their cravings without overdoing it, learn how they feel after certain meals, and regularly intuitively move their body generally maintain a stable weight, avoiding uncomfortable fluctuations and feeling better in general.
*Note: this is different from trying to force your body into a particular weight or size!
No longer are giant restaurant (or grandma) portions a challenge. You no longer eat every sugar and snack-y thing that comes your way because you’re worried you won’t get it again.
Instead, you choose the one’s you truly enjoy and stop when the craving is satisfied.
Prevention of binge eating
Binge-eating episodes ride on a spectrum. A person with Binge Eating Disorder needs more help than some random dietitian on the internet telling you to eat mindfully.
However, learning to eat slowly and honor your fullness cues, along with an understanding that you can avoid that sickly, guilty feeling later, can definitely help.
Improved feelings of well-being
Once you learn to listen to your body and feed and fuel it properly, you’ll definitely experience better physical health.
However, your sense of well-being is more than your physical health. You’ll start to notice that your mood is better, you may be more optimistic, and have more energy. Maybe your new routine of taking a walk instead of stress eating has improved your anxiety.
Simply being in tune with your body, giving it what it needs when it needs it will improve your overall quality of life.
How to Practice Mindful Eating
Okay, so now you know what Mindful Eating is, and why you should practice it.
But how the heck do you do that?
Start with a plan and a grocery list
I don’t mean that you need to write out a strict schedule of what to eat and when. You don’t have to obsessively plan out each meal. Actually, I encourage you not to.
However, you should have a general idea in place. This will look different for each household, and for each person.
This is what I do, feel free to take what works for you and leave the rest.
Since I like to cook, I peruse Pinterest for ideas or search Google for a recipe for something that sounds good, that I think most of us will like, and that I don’t have to buy like 50 ingredients for. I like to try out 1-2 new recipes a week.
I typically plan meals for every day until my next day off, which can vary drastically depending on what I have going on. So after picking out my 1 or 2 new recipes, I fill in the remaining days for dinner with recipes I made before, being careful to pick at least 1 meal that I can make with hardly any effort. (Full disclosure, everything I’ve made this week has been super easy, low-effort meals, but I had planned for this!)
I don’t necessarily know when I’m going to make each meal, just that I will make every meal before I go shopping again. I have also gotten really good at knowing which meals I will have leftovers for so I know whether or not I need to plan for lunch as well!
I make a list of everything I need, and whether I want to get it all at Sprouts or if I need to buy enough of the staples to warrant a trip to another (cheaper) grocery store.
And here’s the biggie: Don’t go shopping when you’re very hungry or very full. You’ll end up buying nothing, or buying everything, and neither is beneficial to your mindful eating practice coming up!
Consider the hunger scale
We discussed the hunger scale above so go back and check it out if you need a refresher. But basically, I want you to take just a second to assess where you are on the hunger scale before you start eating as well as while you are eating.
Are you not hungry? Then assess what it is you really need.
Are you really hungry, around 2-4? Then eat slowly to a 7. If you finish your plate before you get to 7, pause a bit before jumping up and getting more. Enjoy the company for a few minutes.
If you’re still hungry, go back for more lean protein or veggies and eat slowly to satisfaction.
Keep splurge-worthy foods out of the house
Not because you aren’t allowed to have them anymore!
But because as you are learning to eat mindfully, it is helpful to stop and assess how much you actually want this junk food.
You know that friend that bakes all the time, but doesn’t constantly binge on her treats? I would love for you to be that friend.
But until you are, it’s a good idea to keep the irresistible goodies elsewhere until you learn to tell if you really want them or if you are just eating them because they are in your face.
Eat slowly to comfortable fullness
Most of the time, when I see people a few weeks after we started working on Mindful Eating, they report that when they slow down and wait before grabbing a second plate, they realize that they never even needed the second plate after all!
Or if they did, they only needed a little bit, not a full second plate.
Eating slowly and reassessing the hunger scale is what led them to this realization. Not sheer willpower, promise.
Have a plan in place for when the urge to emotionally eat hits
Say your go-to stress management is digging into a container of ice cream. But now, you’re practicing mindful eating, and you realize you don’t really want the ice cream. You want the stress relief.
This is a great first step but is only so helpful if you don’t have a plan in place.
I recommend having a short list of activities you can do when you realize your desire to eat comes from a place of emotions and not a place of physical hunger.
For example, when you’re in a place of mental exhaustion and looking for a sugar pick-me-up, maybe watching a mindless comedy, reading an easy book, taking a bath, or a short nap is in order.
Other times, you have a lot of anxious energy that needs to be burned off. This would be a great time to go for a walk, call a friend, do a puzzle, practice a hobby, etc.
Acknowledge your likes and dislikes without shame
You don’t have to like every healthy food out there. I don’t, and neither does anyone else.
After you’ve given the food a fair shot (like, for real, you’ve tried it several times, prepared different ways), it’s okay to let it go.
Likewise, it’s okay to prefer white rice over brown and love the occasional serving of chips. Just make sure they fit within an overall healthy diet pattern. For instance, have white rice for dinner tonight, but whole grain pasta with dinner tomorrow.
There’s nothing wrong with the fact that you hate raw broccoli and salmon. There are a plethora of other vegetables and lean protein sources available. Just make sure you eat those!
Start slowly
You won’t be a master Mindful Eater by tomorrow, or even next week, or next month.
This is a skill you have to learn. And like any other skill you’ve learned, it will take practice. So start small.
What part of eating mindfully seems the easiest? Start working on that first, with the other principles still floating around in your head.
When you’re comfortable, you can move on, probably with more confidence and larger goals.
Understand that eventually, Mindful Eating will just be how you eat
You won’t have to stop and think before you eat; you’ll just know when you’re reaching for food. It’s because you’re actually hungry and not just stressed out.
You’ll eat slowly and stop when you’re full, without having to stop and assess your hunger scale. You’ll have a yummy treat without guilt or worry that it’s too many calories because you know you’ll stop when you’re satisfied.
Take the time to work on it now so you won’t constantly be chasing the latest diet fad.
A comparison of Mindful vs Mindless Eating
Other tips and tricks
Just a couple of other ideas to help you on your journey to eating mindfully.
The Two-Plate Method
This is a method to use when you aren’t in control of portion sizes, such as in a restaurant.
Basically, you’ll have a “serving plate” and a smaller “eating plate.”
Instead of eating from the giant restaurant “serving plate,” transfer your food to the eating plate. Practice mindful eating and refill the eating plate if needed. Take what’s left over home!
How to slow down when you’re a fast eater
Many people eat crazy fast, then make fun of the slow eaters. However, we’ve learned that the slow eaters are doing what they should be: enjoying their food and listening to fullness and satisfaction cues.
So how do you turn into a slow eater? There are lots of tips and tricks on the internet, but here are some that have been successful for my clients:
Eat with your non-dominant hand – you’ll be less steady and graceful, forcing you to slow down.
Put down your fork after each bite.
Make sure you chew thoroughly before moving on. And don’t put more food in your mouth until after you’ve swallowed. This will improve your digestion, if nothing else.
Take a sip of water after you swallow each bite.
Try to figure out what spices were used in the food prep. This will make you stop and actually enjoy the food.
Fill your plates in the kitchen, then bring them to the table. You’ll have more time to assess fullness.
We’ve talked about discussing health, diet, and weight with children. But how do you talk to yourself?
I know that many of my clients and patients say things to and about themselves that they would never say to anyone else. Why do you expect perfection in yourself and allow for mistakes and mishaps in others?
Positive self talk
There’s this idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you expect a bad outcome, you’ll get it, and vice versa.
Practice positive thinking throughout your day. Instead of “XYZ is so hard,” think, “I’m smart enough to figure out XYZ.”
Instead of “I don’t know how to do that,” think, “I get to learn how to do that.”
I know it sounds cheesy, and if you’re used to thinking negative thoughts, it will take some practice. But it’s amazing how much it can change your outlook and experiences in life.
Research on positive thinking shows us that a positive outlook, or optimism, leads to fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety, better stress and illness management, and even better physical health.
Body gratitude list
If you’re accustomed to thinking negatively about your body, this almost seems laughable. But we’re working on ourselves here, right?
Create a list of things about your body you are grateful for.
Did it grow and then nourish your child?
Can you use it to rough house with that child now that they’re older?
Does it feel good when you take the time to move it?
Do you love the color of your eyes or the freckles across your nose?
Do people tell you they love your smile?
Does it cook and then eat awesome-tasting food?
There’s so much more to your body than how it looks or how much space it takes up. Write down what about your body you are grateful for. Keep it in a file on your phone, and refer to it when the negative thoughts get overwhelming.
Mindful eating – enjoy your food
Mindful eating has many facets to it – enough that I plan to do an entire post just on this topic.
However, for the purpose of this post, we’ll focus on the part where we get to enjoy our food.
You honor your body and yourself when you respond to hunger cues. And fullness cues. Nobody feels good when they’re overly hungry or when they are overfull.
When you feel hungry, respond. Eat a filling meal (or snack).
Eat it slowly; shoveling food in your mouth as fast as you can get it there isn’t enjoying your food. Stop eating when you’re comfortable but fuller than neutral.
Similar concepts apply when you’re going for a splurge. Eat to satiety, enjoy the hell out of it, then stop eating it when it’s no longer satisfying.
As you practice mindful eating, you may come to the realization that certain foods are more filling and more satisfying than others. That you feel better after eating certain foods and terrible when other foods are eaten. Eventually, you probably won’t even want to eat those foods that make you feel bad.
Assess your posture
Your posture affects your mood!
Think about it. You slouch in your chair when you’re tired or stressed. Then your back hurts. So now you’re pissy and in pain.
Try to work on your posture. Again, this will take time and practice. Start by setting an alarm every hour to check your posture. Or go one step further and get up, take a 2-3 minute movement break, get some water, then sit back down with good posture.
Slouching causes long-term muscle weakness and pain in your lower back. It can lead to fatigue, poor motivation, increased stress, and lower mood.
So this is important!
Consider your food fuel
You should absolutely take the time to enjoy your food.
However, start to think about food as a fuel for your body instead of just a means to quickly tame the hunger beast. Think about how food can work for you. The carb provides energy, the protein can build your muscles, the fruits and vegetables fill you up and help reduce inflammation, and the fat can make your hair shiny and keep you full longer.
Consider ALL foods as different types of fuel that your body needs. Food should not be a punishment, and you should not punish yourself for eating it.
Ate a cupcake at your co-worker’s birthday celebration. So what? You don’t owe yourself an extra hour on the treadmill. You owed yourself the time to celebrate your friend.
Likewise, that salad for dinner isn’t a punishment for skipping the gym. It provides the fiber and other fuel that your body needs at that time.
Expect imperfection
No one is perfect, and you’ve probably accepted that about every single person around you.
So why haven’t you accepted this about yourself?
You went grocery shopping, but then you were too tired or ran out of time to cook. So you had to stop on the way home to feed everyone before they were hangry. So what? Everyone’s done it.
You have mandatory overtime at work for the next couple of weeks, and now you don’t have time or energy to go on a walk every day. Take the break, give yourself time to relax, then get back to it as soon as you can.
You are not “bad” or “cheating” when these things happen.
While we know that eating healthy and moving our bodies is important and should be a focus and priority, we also know that sometimes the extra stress this can cause is more harmful than a one-off fast food meal or skipping a run.
Most importantly, if you wouldn’t say it to a stranger or a close friend, don’t say it to yourself!
For real, you’re a nice person. You would never tell your friend she’s too fat to order dessert or that she needs to starve herself with dry lettuce every meal for 2 weeks.
You would never bully them into a workout when they’re almost ready to pass out from fatigue.
So why the hell do you say this stuff to yourself?
It’s natural for every parent to worry about their kid’s health. Are they eating enough veggies? Protein? Are they getting enough physical activity? Are they overweight?
When questions are raised based on concern with their health, these questions are okay. What makes them not okay is when your words start to make a child concerned about their weight/appearance and learn to think of their body in a negative way.
Don’t eat that; it’ll make you fat
You’ve been gaining weight lately; should you really be eating that?
I’m so fat
I’m so bad for eating this cake
I have to have a salad for dinner tonight to make up for my lunch.
Those are just a sampling of words that are harmful to say around children/teens.
Why should you watch what you say?
I get it. They’re your kids, and you should be able to say what you want. However, children really internalize what their parents say, even when we think they aren’t listening. Blatantly focusing on a child’s size can lead to disordered eating patterns or even a full-blown eating disorder.
And eating disorders are the most fatal of all mental health disorders.
Teenagers tend to see themselves through the lens of a central focus. This can make them feel that everyone is staring at them, noticing what they do wrong, and if we focus on their weight, even critiquing and making fun of what they eat, these feelings intensify.
When a child or teen is prone to anxiety or has a family history of eating disorders, this makes them especially prone to a problem.
So how can you address their health and not say something harmful?
The simple answer is to leave their weight out of it. Speak through the lens of overall health. Will eating healthy foods help prevent the various health problems that plague your family?
Will enjoyable movement improve their athletic performance and reduce their anxiety?
Do you love to run and want a buddy?
Model the behavior you want to see in your child
You can’t expect your kid to chow down on some broccoli and salmon if you don’t do it yourself.
Rather than telling them to go on a walk, why don’t you go with them?
If they’re not too cool yet, set up a dance floor in the living room and rock out with them.
Let them see you snack on almonds, fruit, and veggies so they know this is normal.
Casually talk about how good you feel after you exercise.
Watch how you talk about weight
Avoid using words related to weight to describe other people, strangers or not. Instead of the plump lady over there, she can be the lady with the pretty hair or the lady with the awesome purple purse.
Talk about how funny, smart, or sensitive their friends are.
If your kids see you looking in the mirror, avoid saying, “Ugh, I’m so fat!” Instead, say things like this dress makes me feel girly, or my smile looks great today.
Compliment their style, how they comforted their upset friend or sibling, or how hard they studied for a test. Do NOT compliment them on how that shirt looks a little looser, etc.
Focus on health when talking about food
We eat fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and lean meats because they are good for us, not because they make us fit in a certain pair of jeans.
Discuss how fiber can prevent heart disease, certain cancers, and diabetes. How fish is so good for our hearts and brains.
If they’re younger, focusing on colors can help. Red foods are good for our hearts, green foods make us strong, etc.
Seek out a qualified dietitian for help
If you suspect your child might be experiencing problems around food and appearance, a visit to their doctor and a dietitian is in order. They should both be consulted regarding red flags for an eating disorder and will have experience discussing these matters in a sensitive way.
Don’t be surprised if the doc or dietitian recommends a therapist as well.
Final Thoughts
If you’re worried enough to read this blog post, you’re probably already doing a pretty good job!
A few tweaks in the way we talk and interact with each other can make a world of difference in our kiddos!
Those crazy claims on social media. All you have to do is drink apple cider vinegar. Buy this supplement. Read that book.
And everybody sounds so sure of themselves. So credentialed. They’ve done research that “others” don’t want you to know about.
So you try it, and nothing happens, except your bank account is now a bit lighter. Or you feel better for a week or so, then feel worse than before you started.
How do you decipher the noise from the good advice?
The thing is, there are several Nutrition Red Flags to look out for. If you see these red flags, dig deeper and with a critical eye.
Nutrition Red Flag #1 – The Quick Fix
Do they promise weight loss in 1 month? 6 weeks?
Cure your diabetes in 2 weeks?
Making changes to your diet that lead to good health takes time. Rapid weight loss tends to come back just as quickly. And you’ll be lucky if you don’t gain more than you lost.
And your weight is NOT a great indicator of your health, anyway.
Reducing your cholesterol, blood pressure, or blood glucose through diet is not something that happens overnight, no matter how much you may want it to. And then you have to maintain your progress.
If someone tells you something different, there’s a good chance they are more interested in your money than your health.
Nutrition Red Flag #2 – One Size Fits All
Any good health professional will tell you that you must treat the patient, not only the disease.
Many factors go into your current state of health, so there has to be many factors that go into changing it.
A one size fits all approach tends to sound authoritative and impressive when you hear it. But when you break it down, the arguments tend to fall apart.
Nutrition Red Flag #3 –Too Good to be True
Lemon water and apple cider vinegar are big topics these days. They will give you energy, cure your heartburn, make you drop major weight overnight, prevent cancer, fix all of your digestive woes, and improve your immune system function.
Sounds great. But when you pull back and think about it logically, it doesn’t really make sense, right? If one little thing could make all of these changes, wouldn’t everyone be doing it?
And does it honestly sound logical that a shot of vinegar every day can overcome all other aspects of a healthy lifestyle?
Like everything else, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Nutrition Red Flag #4 – Advice that conflicts with most scientific bodies
We see this one from time to time. Remember coconut oil?
Proponents swore that this super saturated fat was good for your heart, despite piles of evidence that saturated is bad for your heart. “But it’s different!” they claimed. I don’t think there was a single RDN that was surprised when studies did not back up these claims.
The carnism movement is particularly bad at this. Mounds upon mounds of evidence show us that high intakes of red meat lead to numerous health problems.
Choosing leaner meats and including lots of plant-based options improves our health. Yet the followers of the so-called carnism diet claim that our bad health comes from eating vegetables!
Balance is best, but doesn’t sound exciting on social media.
Nutrition Red Flag #5 – Your doctor doesn’t want you to know about this
They probably don’t, but not because they would rather prescribe you pills.
It’s because it doesn’t work and will cost you money. It’s because delaying legitimate medical treatment can lead to worse outcomes or even death. It’s not because they don’t want you to get better.
Another variation is that they know something that your doctor doesn’t. Like they have more access to peer-reviewed documentation and a network of specialists than a doctor does.
I’m not saying that any doctor knows absolutely everything. However, I am 100% confident they all know more than your high school buddy that once watched a YouTube video or Netflix documentary.
Nutrition Red Flag #6 – Recommendations made to sell a product.
This one should be obvious. If the entire pitch is made to sell XYZ product, you can guarantee that their end goal is your wallet, not your health.
Suggestions for various options, alongside a well-balanced diet, is one thing. Stating that you need their product to be healthy or counteract your symptoms is another.
Honorable Mentions
Using inadequate or non-peer-reviewed sources to make a claim. A study of 10 people? Not adequate. Was the study not published in a credible journal? Why not? Because they didn’t submit it for publishing or journals refused to publish it. Either way, you need to know why
A list of “good” and “bad” foods. There are foods we should eat more frequently and foods we should eat less of. Absolutely. However, when you are given a list that restricts many foods or a particular macronutrient, you should try to figure out why. Generally, it’s bad science, along with a cookbook to sell.
Quoting studies that didn’t research people! You would be surprised how often this happens. Rodent models are a start, not a definitive answer. Just because some rat was forced to fast 2 days a week and got a bit skinnier does not mean that you should subscribe to the 5:2 pattern of Intermittent Fasting.
Conclusion
There’s a lot of noise out there. Be sure to consider the source of your information.
Is the person credentialed? What studies are they pointing to as evidence? In most cases, a person that is literate in the scientific literature will include the quality of the study in their discussion, as well as a link.
PubMed offers a huge library of articles for you to read yourself. If something sounds fishy, or you just want to verify, go find the article and read it yourself!
I hope this article makes you consider where you get your information. Although we focused on nutrition red flags here, many of these tactics are common in all areas, including other health factors, money management, parenting, and more.
Dietitians are healthcare professionals that undergo extensive coursework and 1200 hours of supervised practice (internship) before we can even take a test to get our credentials.
We are “nutritionists” in the sense that we utilize nutrition science and research to make recommendations to treat a variety of conditions, including eating disorders, kidney and liver failure, all types of diabetes, heart disease, and more.
We can also help you with preventative measures such as decreasing blood pressure and regulating cholesterol levels.
What’s the difference between dietitians and nutritionists?
So, you know how all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares? It’s kind of the same thing with us.
All dietitians are nutritionists, but not all nutritionists are dietitians.
What I mean by this is that dietitians are nutritionists; it’s right there in our credential. The RDN after my name stands for Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. Years of school and supervised internships allowed me to take a super long test to prove that I can provide scientific, accurate information.
However, a nutritionist that is not a dietitian has no such burden. In some states, someone can literally just declare that they are a nutritionist. Others require some type of credential, which can be as easy as paying for a 6-week course.
What’s the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist in practice?
A dietitian is trained and licensed to educate and coach clients and patients in a number of different ways. I can tailor diet patterns to each individual client based on their health conditions, personal tastes, lifestyle, cultural background and preferences, and many more considerations.
On top of a credential, many RDNs must also obtain a state license that ensures they adhere to not only the AND/CDR requirements and regulations but the state licensing board as well. This is what the LD behind my name means (licensed dietitian).
A nutritionist, no matter where they are, cannot work outside of wellness and weight loss. Furthermore, when they work on weight loss, they cannot specify many things that I can. They also can’t bill your insurance company. So all services performed by a non-dietitian nutritionist have to be paid out of pocket!
Where do dietitians work?
Dietitians can work in various settings. Currently, I split my time between this private practice and an in-patient psychiatric facility.
There are many other settings that dietitians are an important part of the team.
Hospitals, renal dialysis centers, long-term care, food service (managing the kitchen in a hospital, school system, daycare centers, or correctional facilities), behavioral health, recipe development, sports nutrition, corporate wellness, communications, consumer affairs, public health (such as WIC), research, and more!
So are all non-dietitian nutritionists bad?
No way!
There are many programs out there for nutrition science and human nutrition courses that do not lead to the RDN credential. This coursework can range from a Bachelor’s degree all the way up to a Doctorate!
These people may choose to work in academia or research and have no plans or desire to work with patients or clients.
Others may want to work in the space of wellness and stay out of clinical work, such as in hospitals or with patients that need disease management. They may also decide to work in gyms, in conjunction with dietitians, food blogs, food promotion, and more. And they have the education to do this!
Bottom line
Consider what type of support you’re looking for. If you are looking for a meal plan and a few short ideas, a well-educated nutritionist may work for you. Just beware of red flags.
However, if you need to address a health condition or need long-term behavioral changes, you should work with a dietitian. And also, because every profession has outliers, beware of red flags!
