New Year - BE YOU! The myths behind the Diet Goliaths on IG
You’ve seen it. I’ve seen it.
The New Year and all of its accompanying targeting of adds, consumerism and all that is telling us “CHANGE!”
Slapped in the face with the need to change…or not…. I’m thinking let’s take a moment to reset.
Whether you are here for it, or aghast - let me fill you in on a little something that helps to level the playing field as it relates to this bombardment of advertising this time of year. The Journal of Organization Behaviour and Human Decision Processes in 2017 published an article looking at “fresh starts” on performance. They noted that a “fresh start” or “performance reset” is defined by any time where what you did before is separate from your current goals.
Typically we’d use dates and times to hit a rest button dubbed “The Fresh Start Effect”. New Years is a pretty good start. So is a new job, a change of home, the birth or passing of a loved one, a new grade in school, the passing of an exam or a promotion. So let’s give the human belief some benefit of the doubt and get on with why this is a double edged sword.
This time of year, the adept and consistent marking targeting the psychology of the “fresh start effect” is without a doubt hitting below the belt (or above it) and our weight.
Many women who come to see me in clinic address this as our bodies change in our 40s as we hit Perimenopause. In short form, our hormones are changing as we move to a state where Estrogen and Progesterone will decrease substantially and we no longer have a period.
Our body change the way we use up our energy (fatty tissue) and how we store it compared to when we are in our cycling years. This is a normal part of moving through the life experience, and there are things we can do about it. Sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress reduction and medical management are tools in our tool box.
Here’s what I hear in clinic. “what about….Keto, Fasting, Atkins, low carb, high protein, low fat etc etc…. the list goes on”.
Listen, I get it, we are always looking for the magic and in words of my teenage daughter who wouldn’t want to “ hack my way outta this mess!” and the New Year seems like the perfect time to start.
The truth is, If it is too good to be true it probably is.
Detoxes are typically marketing scams, highly understudied and typically a waste of money. News Flash, if you have a liver, kidneys they detox our blood all day everyday.
I am here for healthy body composition and strength, body weight falls into this and I get that we want to feel great in our skin - so we should! Sadly the FAD diets promise rapid weight loss, don’t provide physical activity guidelines, espouse short term changes but lack lifelong sustainable goals, focus on food elimination, cannot be maintained, fail to provide warnings for chronic disease and lack scientific evidence.
Many of the fad diets like the ones listed above have a storied history in medicine, often being found to help a certain population with an illness (keto diet was originally devised for children with epilepsy who were resistant to typical seizure medication) and when noted that there was weight loss associated, the diet industry jumps all over it. In keeping with Keto - it lacks long term scientific study, but currently shows that it has a negative effect on blood lipids and bone health. Not something that screams health to me.
But I want change and how do I get there then?
A diet high in fruits and veggies, protein and healthy fats for the win. Less focus on restriction, more on what we can add.
As an active woman in the menopause transition, we absolutely have different needs than our younger selves. I am here to champion that we can ABSOLUTELY feel incredible, strong, lean and fit. The nutrition required to support this means, eating regularly, focusing on a varied diet replete with fruits and veg to keep our microbiome happy, and protein for that lean muscle mass which ultimately affects our body composition. (look out for a future blog post about what this actually looks like!).
If I can be totally honest, social media has been an amazing connection tool for me. I have made life long friends, learned new things and have attended incredible conferences thanks in large part to the World Wide Web.
It’s also connected me to you! (and you are awesome by the way - the fact that you are here means that you get it, and I’m psyched that you are part of my village!).
In this space of the internet - let’s Stop Playing Small, focus on our power in this phase of life and get Fit, Strong and stay Awesome.
xoxo
Karin