A friend of mine recently told the story of going to a nutritionist and being advised to completely “cut out all dairy and wheat products” from their diet.  This is the second time within the last two days that I’ve heard about people being given this advice so I had to say something.

Now, I can understand someone saying “cut out all dairy for a week and then come back and we’ll see how you feel” or something similar.  Or maybe “that rash might be caused by a food allergy so cut out all wheat products for a week and see if it clears up.”  But to be told to arbitrarily cut out an entire food group for no reason whatsoever just doesn’t make sense to me.

Let me explain why.

There are two things that make up the Field of Nutrition:

1.  The Science. These are the cold, hard facts that can be repeated in a laboratory so it sounds like that should settle the matter about which foods are best for you, right?  Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.  In fact, science holds very few of the answers to the nutritional questions we all have.  The reason is that science can only study one thing at a time, the amount of Vitamin D in milk for example.  Although science can tell you exactly how much Vitamin D is in a glass of milk, what it can’t do is tell you is how this vitamin is affected by the presence (or absence) of the other components in the milk.  In other words, science can’t study synergistic effects, and “nutrition” is essentially composed entirely of the synergistic effects of all the foods we eat.  Science can only study and measure discrete items, and therein is its problem – science is too exact.

This leads us directly to the second part of nutrition:

2.  The Art. This is how the individual bits and pieces of scientific information are combined and packaged into “nutritional advice” that you and I try to follow when we plan our meals.  Because it’s an “art,” there are lots of different ways to combine the information that science produces, and therefore, lot’s of different advice offered by lots of Nutritionists.  I’m sure you’ve wondered why it is that you can ask 3 different professional Nutritionists the same question and get 3 completely different answers, some of which actually contradict each other, and yet because their advice contains some scientific bits and pieces, all 3 of them can be technically correct to some degree.  The fact that nutrition is both art and science is the reason this happens.  Unfortunately, this creates a lot of confusion for you and me.

So how do you make sense of it all?  How can you navigate through all the “scientifically correct” but yet conflicting advice that’s out there?  Here’s the criteria I use:

First, It’s Got to Make Sense

First of all, any nutritional advice you get needs to make sense.  It’s got to be logical.  If it doesn’t pass this first test, go elsewhere.

Let’s go back to the advice that started me on this rant:  “Cut out all dairy and wheat products.”  That doesn’t make sense to me at all.  Why?  Well, for starters, mankind has been living on dairy and wheat products for, what, over 3,000 years and now it’s a nutritional problem?  Come on.  The Maasai tribe of Africa subsist almost entirely on maize-meal and cow’s milk, and now dairy is bad for you?  Please.

Something’s wrong if you’re being asked to cut out an entire food group or food type.  Humans are omnivores.  We thrive on a variety of foods so be suspicious if you’re advised to completely cut out this food or that food.  Make sure you ask:  “Why?”,  “For how long?” and “What should I eat instead?”  Keep asking questions until you get an answer that makes sense to you.

Second, It’s Got to Be Practical

Hey, I’m really glad that Passion Fruit is loaded with super-antioxidants and all kinds of good healthy stuff, but I’m not exactly going to find something this exotic at my local supermarket.  And it’s great that I should avoid restaurants for lunch but I work in an office and meeting at a restaurant for lunch is a big part of doing business.  So give me some nutritional advice that I can actually incorporate into my lifestyle, right here in my hometown, and on my schedule.  Give me something that’s practical.

Third, It’s Got to Actually Work

This is the bottom line, but let me clarify it even further.  It not only has to work, it has to work FOR ME.  I really don’t care whether it works for the nutritionist (they may not have a day job) or for the celebrity that’s pushing it on TV (they’re getting paid for the endorsement).  It’s got to work for me, for my body type, on my schedule, as part of my lifestyle.

It’s That Simple

That’s pretty much it.  If you’ll follow these three basic guides, you should be able to take any type of nutritional tip or advice and tell whether or not it’s for you.

Lastly, please do yourself a favor and run down to your local library or to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of Michael Pollan’s book “In Defense of Food.”  It’s the best commonsense book I’ve found on nutrition.  The information in it makes sense, is practical, and it actually works.

Hiram
The Balanced Health Guy
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach (NESTA)

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