It comes as no surprise that we, as humans, can be impatient.
In my experience, progress may be smoothly sailing along when a new shiny opportunity arises.
For example, let's say you're following a specific diet.
Weight is trending downwards at an appropriate rate. Hunger isn't an issue. And strength is even increasing!
Everything's coming up Milhouse.
One Friday you’re having a meal out with your mates, and a few of them compliment you on your current progress. Then Evan, a serial one-upper, pipes up about the super low carb/paleo/superfood rich diet he's been following. And wouldn't you guess it, he’s lost 4 kilos in 2 weeks!
As he continues to talk you get that lost look on your face as your mind starts questioning itself.
“Maybe I'm not doing that great?”
“Maybe I should be losing more weight?”
“Should I change diets?”
“Why don’t I have abs yet?”
“How is Daenerys going to fight the Winter Kings dragon?" (Sorry if your not up to date but c'mon! #notsorry)
Or it may be the Instagram fitness model talking about the supplement that he takes every morning.
Or the superfood that contains 50,000 times the anti-oxidants of a blueberry and can cure everything from your tennis elbow to your fear of sock puppets.
A topical cream that will help shed stubborn fat.
Spoonfuls of fat that you dollop into your coffee to boost brain performance and weight loss.
A vibrating platform that will help ‘tone’ your muscles!
The list goes on...
Everyday you're exposed to a myriad of these products, diets and services. Some are obviously malarkey (<---What a word right??), while others are more tactful.
Marketers have become effective at targeting our emotional sweet spots. They know your struggles and they know that humans are typically out for the easiest and quickest option.
They’re practically the devil on our shoulders whispering to our emotional desires.
So what can we do?
It’s time to don our crap wading gumboots and put on our truth seeking goggles?
1) Start thinking skeptically.
Thinking skeptically gets a bad rap, with people often mistaking it for cynicism. It’s about applying reason and critical thinking to determine something’s validity.
There are a number of factors that affect our ability to think critically including our knowledge of the subject and our emotions.
The less we know about a subject, the more likely we are to make less educated and more emotionally driven decisions.
For instance, I know very little about cars. So I’m more likely to be conned into buying a car that the salesman promises me is amazing but turns out to be a horse and cart.
Marketers have become experts at targeting our emotional sweet spots.
It’s important to be aware of this and if your level of knowledge isn’t quite where it needs to be to make an informed decision then…
2) Find a few trusted resources.
Knowledge is power. Absolutely. But not everyone has the time to become knowledgeable in all aspects of life.
This is why finding a few trusted resources is vital.
Read their articles.
Follow them on Facebook.
And don’t be afraid to ask them questions or their opinions on something you’ve seen or are considering.
How do you know if they’re trustworthy?
Well for starters they take CONTEXT into consideration.
When they answer questions or give advice they typically lead with "it depends" because they are aware that many variables affect the potential anwser.
They also tend to...
3) Avoid individuals who make absolute statements.
If they say anything along the lines of:
"Insulin is the CAUSE of fat gain"
“You HAVE to go low carb to lose fat.”
"Eating carbs at night MAKES you fat"
"You HAVE to cut out all sugar"
"Red meat CAUSES cancer"
"EVERYONE should remove grains from their diet"
Then they aren't considering context and should therefor be questioned. Seeing absolute statements or black and white viewpoints should set off an alarm in your head.
This quote sums it up nicely.
“You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.” – Robert Pirsig, ‘Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’
4) Do your research.
If the advice or product is being sold by someone with a background in I.T or any other background other then nutrition, fitness or health then it’s worth delving a bit deeper or looking for a second opinion.
I’m not saying that everyone with a dietetics or nutrition degree is always 100% right or that there aren’t people with non-nutrition backgrounds who don’t know their stuff.
But you probably wouldn’t go to a plumber for a spinal realignment just because he’s read a few articles online and shouts about spinal health.
5) Be dubious of fear mongering.
In English?
Be sceptical of individuals who deliberately use fear based tactics including exaggeration to sell or promote themselves or a product.
A great example is detox and cleanse products. They convince consumers with rather scientific sounding claims that ‘toxins’ are the cause of all our worldly problems then conveniently provide us with a product to ‘cleanse’ ourselves of those filthy toxins.
How nice right?
Remember.
No food is inherently “unhealthy” nor are there any that if eaten once in realistic quantities cause immediate harm to your body.
Any time you see someone using scare tactics to try and promote a certain way of eating, training or a product then you can automatically guarantee they don’t take into consideration context and should therefor be ignored.
6) It sounds too good to be true.
“Gain 8 kilos of lean mass in 4 weeks!”
“Lose 5 kilos in 1 week!”
“Reduces 50% of wrinkles in 1 week!”
Usually in life if something appears too good to be true, we generally tend to look for the caveat.
But for some reason with health, nutrition and training related products and services we lower our defences. Maybe its that emotional sweet spot I mentioned earlier but it appears that dreams of faster results can lure us in time and time again.
Don’t fall victim to this. Realise that it is a marketing scheme and move on.
There you have it. By following the steps above and you’ll be better equipped to handle the nutrition and fitness marketing stank, and deciding what's worth listening to.
While the majority of these points seem common sense, we can all find ourselves caught up in the trap of wanting faster and better results.
Take a step back and have an objective viewpoint.
Recognise that sustainable results take time and that learning the habits and skills during this journey is an important part of the process and sets you up for long term success.
Bypassing the time to learn and implement these skills is a major reason why short term fixes don't work.
Play the long game.