From magical belly flatteners to detox teas 2018 has had a doozy of nutrition trends. As time goes on people are starting to care more and more about what goes in their bodies (yay!) unfortunately though, the knowledge base isn’t quite there yet… In honor of a new year beginning here are some of my least favorite nutrition trends of 2018 and why they bug me so much.
Wrapping
I actually had to give this one a double-take when it first started cropping up on my facebook feed. The idea behind most of these products is that by wrapping a part of your body (the belly seems to be popular), it will magically flatten. I mean, it sounds great: all you have to do is wrap your belly instead of making lifestyle changes?? Sign me up! The price point for these products is a little ridiculous though, and many say that to see lasting results you have to use the product indefinitely. Hard pass. While there’s no shortage of testimonials on their sites claiming that they work like a charm, the reality is that any change is likely placebo. Physiologically, there’s no reason why these products should actually work. Personally, I’d rather spend my money elsewhere.
Detox/Cleanses
These have been around for as long as I can remember, and they don’t seem to be going anywhere, unfortunately. From teas to juices, these products claim to “purify” and “detoxify” your body. That’s right, these little magic drinks remove all that toxic waste your body was just building up and saving for a rainy day. Never mind the fact that you have a liver and kidneys whose actual job is to do that for you…those poor underappreciated organs. While some of these products do actually, *ahem*, “clean” you out (they work as a laxative) there’s no real necessity to this (unless you were constipated to begin with). Not to mention the fact that flushing your body out like that can dehydrate you. Let’s make 2019 the year of actually appreciating our liver and kidneys for doing the job these products claim to do, but without making you pay a ton of money for it.
Organic and Natural as “Healthy”
Now, I don’t really have an issue either way with whether someone chooses to buy organic versus non-organic (conventional). What I do have an issue with is people misunderstanding what organic means. Organic refers to the agricultural practices used in growing a product (i.e. without inorganic pesticides). This means that organic farmer’s can still use pesticides, as long as these pesticides are organic. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF A PRODUCT. An organic apple does not have any more nutrients than a conventionally grown apple. Organic gummy worms are still candy. Just because something is labelled as “organic” does not necessarily mean that it’s more nutritious or healthy than a product that isn’t organic.
“Natural” is an even more frustrating term for me because it means…LITERALLY NOTHING. That’s right friends, while organic products have to actually meet certain criteria, there are no regulations around what “natural” means. Basically any company can slap the word “natural” on their product. It doesn’t mean anything.
Self-diagnosed Food Intolerances
Now, first off, yes, people can have intolerances to different foods without having an allergy or specific disease (like celiac). My concern, however, is everyone jumping on the bandwagon that they must have an intolerance to gluten, dairy, etc. because they experience x, y, z symptoms. Rather than seeking out professional help, they then cut giant food groups out of their diet which may or may not resolve their symptoms. And because they cut out giant food groups there isn’t a good way to tell which specific food is the culprit of their symptoms. So now they’re following an incredibly restrictive diet that may not be meeting all of their nutritional needs. Please, just stop doing this… At this point in time, we don’t have any good tests to specifically diagnose a food intolerance. Tests are out there, yes, but they haven’t proven to be reliable or particularly accurate. Therefore, to determine if a food intolerance exists you should go see a dietitian who specializes in food intolerances. Based on your symptoms they’ll be able to help you modify your diet to find the real culprit. They’ll also make sure that you’re still meeting all of your nutritional needs. Plus, this process can be done with you following the least restrictive diet possible. Another note to end on, a lot of symptoms have nothing to do with food. Some do, yes, but a lot of them don’t. It’s important to examine all aspects of your life (sleep, stress, diet, exercise, hydration, etc.) before assuming a symptom is just food-related.
Nutrition Influencers Without Nutrition Credentials
Number one, Dr. Oz. I seriously can’t believe that this man is still seen as an expert by anyone… From promoting weight loss drugs and interventions that have no scientific backing to spouting off general nonsense about food and nutrition Dr. Oz is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist’s worst nightmare. No joke, I had a class assignment in undergrad where we were supposed to write a paper debunking a nutrition myth. We all had to choose a different topic, so people quickly ran out of ideas. My professor straight up told us to get more ideas by looking at Dr. Oz’s website. Because there’s no shortage of nutrition myths there! This is also a great time to point out that somebody can be well educated in one area, but that doesn’t mean they know anything about another aspect of health. Doctors, as an example, receive very little nutrition education in their training.
Next on my list, Gwyneth Paltrow. The Goop website is completely full of nutrition BS… Honestly, it blows my mind how she’s able to sell so much random stuff for so much money! And none of it has any solid scientific backing whatsoever. I mean, I guess if people want to waste their money that’s their choice. There are so many better things to spend your hard-earned cash on though(IMO).
Any trends that you’d like to see stay in 2018 that I missed?