Three and a half “Must-Reads”

I am never afraid to give credit where credit is due nor am I afraid to encourage clients to read other people’s amazing work. I see my job in part as not only a source of information, support and guidance but also as a stimulus to client’s education and so I do my best to review and then link on what I believe to be accurate, well-thought out and correctly researched science.

Here are a few recent ‘good-uns’ to enjoy.

John Barardi and his team at Precision Nutrition write excellent articles and here are two (and a half) links that I highly recommend:

1. Nutrition is not a belief system.
   Why wishful thinking won’t get you results, but science might.

   To read this refreshing article please click this link.

   This is WORD. Of late I am fed up to the eyeballs of people and their OPINIONS on nutrition; social media is a minefield and these days  I am left firefighting science-fiction in my clinic on a daily basis. The big one that gets me is former overweight person turned expert and the only way they know IS THE ONLY way in their opinion…. aghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
   I am not fat shaming here; please understand this however losing weight does not make you a fully trained and experienced health professional!

   I have 20 years of experience and studies in the bag (degrees and diplomas and numerous fitness, nutritional, functional medicine and medical conferences) and I barely feel I know anything compared to what I don’t know in this fast evolving field.
   I am in awe of those with hardly any training that feel they do know it all; HOW?

   And then we have the celebrity or retired athlete….

   I eat therefore I am a nutrition expert.

   I train therefore I am a coach.

   Really? All I can say is thank goodness that doctors still have to go to college; because the rest of the health and fitness industry is going downhill when you evaluate who is considered expert these days and people without a basis to understand are like flies to the nearest light, running from one diet and false promise to the next and buying book after book. People are utterly confused and thoroughly convinced of each new ‘diet’ or else doggedly stuck in one cultish way of diet/ exercise thinking.

   The body is complex, health is complex, diet and exercise are more than opinion or “just” experience because there is a science to it also: physiology, biochemistry, endocrinology, for example! It may be fine until we have a complex patient, with individual and different needs from the easy ‘norm’, or an athlete that is fatigued or has a health issue. Those without the underpinning science and stuck in their beliefs and emotions about health and fitness are ill-equipped to best advise these individuals which to be honest is everyone as most people aren’t straight forwards. I cannot recommend enough times that you work with an expert. It doesn’t have to be me!

   Please click the link given above for wise words from JB and his team…

2. Can eating too little actually damage your metabolism?
   Exploring the truths and fallacies of ‘metabolic damage’.

   Follow this link. 

    

   “‘Energy in’ is trickier than you think and

   ‘Energy out’ varies a lot from person to person.”

   PN go into excellent detail describing some ‘whys’ which also sheds some light onto why I don’t recommend that clients obsess on counting calories or measuring what they believe is their daily energy expenditure. The best science struggles on this!

   2.5 While reading the above I had a go at the linked body weight calculator for weight loss. I am impressed!  It actually told me off for being light; which I am and this is how I have always been since my twenties and I am healthy and strong and eating well and racing strong and striving to be stronger. I am very impressed by this TRUTH message which may prevent people trying silly weight loss targets 🙂 http://www.precisionnutrition.com/weight-loss-calculator 

3. The final article is from Myprogramgenerator Coach Freddy Lampret who shares his expert insights into endurance nutrition. There is so much BS out there these days (to be honest an all out war of High Carb Vs Low Carb High Fat and all other extremes) that is highly refreshing to read this article and it is definitely worth a share. Credit to Freddy for doing some strong writing based on science AND experience.

   Click here to download the full article:

   https://myprogramgenerator.com/res/nutrition.pdf

Happy reading!

Andrea

PS