Part of your health and fitness journey should include becoming an informed consumer!
Over the years I’ve received messages from MLM distributors shilling their wraps, teas, shakes, and pills. I’ve had my pictures stolen time-to-time attributing my success to their merchandise. Pfft! As if! I thought this was a great opportunity to remind everyone that there are very few instances where one needs to spend any money to achieve their health goals. Supplements can be dangerous. The only “additive” I’ve purchased is my gym membership and that’s not even a requirement for many people!
1. Superfood is a completely meaningless word. Common vegetables, greens, berries, nuts, extra virgin olive oil, brown rice, chicken, fish, etc are pretty much just as nutritious and often more nutritious than the hip, trendy foods popping up on store shelves. The ingredients we are already familiar with will provide us a balanced and complete diet. Superfoods are usually called so because they are rare, so it must be good, right? Not often. It’s all marketing.
2. Gluten-free cookies are still cookies. They’re not health foods. They’re a great treat for someone with dietary restrictions. That’s it. Organic Spaghetti-O’s aren’t better for you. Sugar is still sugar, even if it’s honey or agave. It should be moderated in the same way as common table sugar. Coming out of cardboard packaging with green accents does not make it healthier than it’s big-brand equivalent. We all like treats time-to-time so there is still a valuable place for these items in the market, but don’t be fooled when they are marketed as “health food” items.
3. Essential oils smell great and some have very simple medicinal properties. They can relax you and help you unwind. Peppermint can even take the edge off an upset stomach but many vendors and distributors make grossly overstated and frankly criminal claims about the medical value of their blends. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. They should never be ingested or applied undiluted to the skin. It’s fragrance. Most of us wouldn’t drink perfume and those with sensitivities to fragrance still need to be cautious of perfumes and cosmetics with strong fragrance from EOs. They can also be poisonous to pets and children. Essential oils are a good home fragrance and aromatherapy option but they are not inert substances that can be used with reckless abandon.
4. To continue. I’ll be first to say that plants are extremely cool and can be beneficial medicines. BUT–be careful. Many plants do have promising health benefits (that need more research FYI) but there are equally outrageous claims out there from the notoriously unregulated supplements industry. Any herbal supplement should be discussed with your doctor and cannot replace your doctor’s medical expertise. Plants are still compounds. There is no such thing as “chemical-free.” Natural is not a synonym for inert. They can interact with prescription medications and negatively affect a medical condition you have.
5. Natural and its variants is another meaningless marketing word. Natural is also not a synonym for healthy, just as is not a synonym for inert. It’s cliche but cyanide is natural. Measles is natural. Slapping “natural” on a package front is unregulated. The item can be just as intensely processed as another item from a well-known brand. Other food isn’t fake.
6. Anyone selling a wrap, a “fat blocker,” a “carb inhibitor,” a detox tea, an herbal tincture, or whatever is selling you snake oil or a laxative. No one needs to buy a “product” to get healthy and fit.
7. Your body already knows how to detox. It’s not dumb. It’s not poorly designed. If you have normal renal and hepatic function, congratulations! –you’re already on a detox. Drink enough water, eat your vegetables, go for a walk, and take a good shit. That’s it. Any detox product is just an expensive way to starve or have diarrhea.
8. If it’s coming from a package, do your research from the back of the box–not the front of the box. A food manufacturer can claim there is 0g Trans Fat as long as there is less than .5g. Turn the label to the ingredients. If there is “partially hydrogenated oil,” there is trans fat. A food manufacturer can slap whole grain on the label even if the first ingredient is “enriched bleached flour.” Read the ingredients. Items many of us try to limit intake of are making appearances in strange places.
Do your homework. Much of what entails food, health, fitness, and supplements are wildly unregulated. For the most part, they can print whatever they want and there is little to stop them from doing so. Be skeptical and examine if it’s really effective, safe, and beneficial to put a substance into your body.
A lot of headaches can be avoided if you do most of your shopping on the outside aisles, but that doesn’t mean everything on the inside is crap! We all enjoy a branded product or two. There’s nothing wrong with that! But, it never hurts to be an informed consumer. There are good and honest products out there but there is sadly no shortage of companies trying to skim a hard-earned dollar off people making an honest effort to do things a little bit better.
The food industry is a pretty screwed up circus where the brands preying on the anxieties and good questions people have about the origins of their food are often owned by the parent companies making products we call foul on. Continue to be skeptical and ask the same questions of any product, even when it comes in pretty compostable packages.
