If It Sounds Too Good To Be True ...
Nov 08, 2022What You Want to Hear
We have all heard this sage advice before, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” But haven’t we all had times in our lives when we knew it sounded too good but we really liked what we heard, and we wanted it to be true, so we bought into what they were selling. If what I hear reinforces something I already want to believe, I easily become a willing fool. Dr. Dean Ornish, who teaches people how to prevent and reverse disease, and Founder of the nonprofit Preventative Medicine Research Institute said, “It’s a great way to sell magazines or books by telling people what they want to hear.”
Evidence Based Claims
These days just about any theory can be backed up by a study. I love chocolate and am an attentive listener to even the weakest authoritative claims that chocolate might be good for me. When I see it on the news or in a published article, I assume there is sufficient evidence to support these claims. Interestingly, back in 2015 news stations and major publications featured a study claiming people could lose weight by consuming chocolate. This study was written by a journalist and associate scientist from Harvard University who published the fallacious study in an attempt to illustrate how easily the media can be fooled. As it turned out, not one of the reporters who relayed this information to the public, took the time to substantiate the facts.
This is a small illustration of just how confusing health “facts” are to navigate. When we can not rely on the media, how can we possibly navigate often conflicting reports on diet and nutrition? Even the U.S. Government changes its diet and nutrition advice every five years.
What to Believe?
I have lived through decades of changing diet advice: low fat, high fat, animal fat, low carbs, lots of milk, count your calories, eat whatever you want then just exercise to compensate. I remember when eggs were taken off the “naughty” list and switched to the “good” list. I am fairly confident I was not the only one who started consuming a lot more eggs when they heard this.
Diets promoting large quantities of animal protein as healthy and a great weight loss stratagem seem to reappear with new names every decade or so; the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, the Ketogenic diet, the Zone diet. I’m embarrassed to say that for much of my adult life I thought protein was synonymous with meat. I did not realize that protein is actually in everything that grows - vegetables, fruit. All plant material has protein. When the admonition to make sure you got enough protein was heralded, the protein powder industry became a huge market and we often heard the phrase, “good quality protein.” “Good quality” just means complete. It doesn’t mean it is any better for you. Animal protein contains all the essential amino acids your body needs. Plants, however, each contain some of the essential amino acids and when combined make a complete protein. If you are consuming a variety of things that grow, you are consuming all the essential amino acids your body needs. Just because animal protein is complete does not mean it is better quality protein or better for you.
I have always known that fruits and vegetables are good for my body. It seemed to be generally known that fruit contained a lot of sugar, so I made sure not to consume too much fruit. No one ever focused on the fact that fruit, being a whole food, comes with tons of fiber and thousands of other essential nutrients. Common sense and gut instinct tell us that fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes, and seeds - things that come from the earth, are good for our bodies. But most of us do not feel driven to incorporate them into our lives. At least, not in any real quantity.
Paradigm Shift
When I started down the path of health and healing with herbs, I read a lot of books. And do you know what I realized? The overwhelming consensus from the best scientists, doctors, nutritionists, and dieticians, all extol a lifestyle of consuming large quantities of things that grow. My paradigm began to shift as I realized I had been fooled by so much of the “sounds too good to be true” health advice. I felt fooled. But I have to admit, I was a willing fool. I liked the notion of consuming large quantities of meat and dairy. I liked the idea of eating whatever I wanted as long as I was willing to exercise. Even though I did not love the idea of calorie counting, it made sense to me. What hurt me the most about being fooled, is I did not realize the mass amounts of nutrients in things that grow, and that taking vitamin supplements could never duplicate or compensate for these nutrients. I started looking at my day-to-day diet and realized I was consuming a lot of not-food things my great, great grandparents would not recognize as food.
The truth is simple. If we are looking for health, there are no magic pills or shortcuts, although, there are industries that will always try to convince us otherwise. The overwhelming long-term evidence confirms again and again that the more whole foods you consume, the greater health you will enjoy. Whole foods mean, foods in their natural state. I know there are some of you who believe there is more to this story, that food cannot be all there is to health. And you are right. There is more. Much more!
Kristi Taylor is a Master Herbalist, Clinical Herbalist and Natural healing Guide®. She endeavors to share her knowledge and passion of natural healing with whomever will listen – because nature’s wisdom never ceases to delight and amaze!
References
"Dean Ornish, MD: a conversation with the editor", The American Journal of Cardiology. 2002, V 90:3, 271-298. (DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-9149(02)02486-4)
Diet Fiction (2019), movie
