Have you ever wondered how to tell if a product is truly as
wonderful as the advertisements say, or if it’s really all just hype? There is
literally millions of health ‘products’ and ‘health’ resources on the market,
how do you choose which ones you try? Which ones you invest your hard earned
money in? Which blogs or websites to follow?
Here is a list of 4 key things that I look for. If any one
of these 4 things is fishy, I would follow with caution
- Time Frame
This really applies largely to weight loss products or
weight loss programs. The market for these programs is enormous. We have an
obesity epidemic. More than half our country is trying to get thinner! I’ve
worked with weight loss clients; I know it’s hard. I know there are challenges.
If it were easy then everyone would be doing it. Real, sustainable weight loss
takes time. When I see an advertisement, or a link, or a website for a weight
loss program that promotes any more than 2kg’s (4.4lbs) a week, to me, it’s a
dead giveaway that its crap. Either they are lying outright, or you will stack
that weight back on within weeks of coming off their ‘program’ because whatever
you’ve had to do to lose that weight is not sustainable. Look at the timeframe
of the program. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
- One simple product, one simple step
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‘Just drink this one drink 4 times a day and you’ll lose
5kg’s in one week’
‘Replace all your meals with our meal replacement drinks and
snack on our protein bars, you’ll look fabulous in no time!’
Does this sound like a good idea to you? Whenever I see
something that suggests results based on one simple thing, I’m out. If all we
had to do is drink a drink, or take a tablet, or replace all our food with one
meal replacement, and that would fix everything, life would be so perfect. Wouldn’t
it? We could just keep doing what we’re doing, add that drink or tablet, and
voila. Instant result. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. Adding one
simple thing, whatever that may be, to your lifestyle isn’t going to change or
correct the existing problem. If you have a health condition, adding one
product into your lifestyle will not fix it. If you’re overweight, adding one
product into your lifestyle will not fix it. Nothing is ever so simple. I know
that sounds disheartening, but I promise you there is hope. This just isn’t it.
- The one size fits all system
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we’re all completely
different people. I might be taller than you; you may have a smaller body frame
(bone structure). Someone else has an apple shaped figure. I’m a pear. I’m
pretty active, someone else is sedentary. I feel best when I don’t eat crap,
another person has no idea how they feel when they eat well, they’ve never done
it. You may have hypothyroidism. The lady down the street is genetically gifted
with a slim muscular physique. Tell me it makes sense to recommend the same
thing to all these people. Go on. You can’t, because it doesn’t make sense. No
one size fits everybody. There is no such thing as ‘the best diet plan’,
there’s just a diet plan that certain people find effective. There is no one
best supplement regime for someone with an illness. There are just supplements
that a different person with the same illness found useful. Does that mean you
can’t try them? No, it simply means that you need to understand that your body
and someone else’s body are different, and you may or may not find it useful.
When I see information, or products that use this one size fit all strategy, I
know that the people behind it haven’t tried it out yet. I know that they’re
either lying to me, in order to make the sale and take my money, or that they
haven’t really got much experience in the real world. They haven’t personally
tested it out on enough people to know the truth. There is no one size fits all
and I’d be cautious of anyone that says different.
- The words ‘cure’ or ‘prevention’ or ‘proven’
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When it comes to your health, these are 3 words that you
simply can’t get overly excited by. It is so easy when we’re unwell to seek out
the answer, to try to find a solution to the problem. What’s that saying, ‘The
healthy have many wishes, and the sick only have one’. If we had a guaranteed
cure for your illness, your illness would not exist. If I could offer you a
pineapple to make you feel better, I would, believe me. But a pineapple won’t
do it, nor will take one supplement, or following one program. You see how it
all links together? You absolutely can manage your symptoms, you absolutely can
improve your health outcomes, you absolutely can contribute to your health,
boost your energy and provide your body with what it needs to heal itself, or
to support other treatment strategies. You absolutely can, and I would advise
that you do. But be very wary of anything that saying it’s a cure.
Similarly, we cannot with certainty prevent anything. I can
eat all the antioxidants in the world (and I do!) but that does not mean that I
will never get cancer. The body is complex, there are things acting on it
daily, it is constantly undergoing transformation, there are genetic factors
involved. I cannot prevent my own cancer any more than someone with a product
or a program can prevent yours. But I certainly can provide my body with the
best of everything. I can make sure its full of nutrients, that it’s
recuperated with a good night sleep, that its toxic chemical free, that my
stress hormones aren’t through the roof. I can do all the things that are
necessary for my body to function at its peak and do what it knows best.
‘Proven’ is a term that science is wary of. Very little in
this world is proven with out a shadow of a doubt. Never has something been
more true than in the area of nutrition, where we’re learning and changing
daily. I would suggest you steer clear of anything ‘proven’, the ‘proven’
product, the ‘proven’ weight loss program, the information ‘proven’ to cure cancer.
This point is actually a game of semantics. There is a big
different between saying ‘the research shows’ and the word ‘proven’. There are
certain things that indicate that an author understands scientific exploration
that they are fair, and balanced, unbiased. I like articles with words like
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Research shows
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Demonstrated
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Potential
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May
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Reduced risk
Get comfortable with being discerning. Learn what makes a
good resource, a good product, and a good program. Don’t charge off trying
every fad or health trend under the sun. You’ll save yourself a lot of time and
money.
I hope you find this useful.
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