Why that popular podcast nutrition advice was BS

Have you listened to it?
The most listened to podcast in the world,
The diary of a CEO,
Which in general I think is pretty decent,
But on this occasion,
The guest has got my back up,
And many of yours.
 
It irks me,
Because nutrition is enough of a minefield for people,
With influencers spreading elitest (and useless) ‘wellness’ information,
Medical doctors spreading false advice,
It’s really hard to know who to listen to,
Other than me ofc because I am never wrong,
In anything I do,
Not even in my choices in men,
Ever…
 
Let’s quickly unpack it,
With 3 things Tim Spector got wrong on the Diary of a CEO.
 
Calories do count
Tim told us that calories are overrated,
That counting them doesn't work,
So let's start here.

Yes, there's inherent variation in food labels and tracking,
And I wish someone told me back in my tracking days that food labels are allowed to vary by up to 20% in calories and macros legally according to the FDA,
So when you’re over-analysing 100 calories from your day,
Know that food labels might have introduced that variation already,
And you’d never know.

Even if you don't count calories,
Shockingly,
Energy intake will always matter when it comes to managing body fat levels.

You can be mindful of calories and be mindful of nutrients,
And I agree that we shouldn't disregard nutrient intakes at the expense of calories,
That's a huge mistake of diet culture and old school fitness advice,
But the 2 are not dichotomous,
You can be mindful of both.
 
95% of diets don’t fail
The 95% of diets fail statistic he casually threw out there is also wrong,
An outdated statistic taken from a study in the 50s,
70 years ago,
Where patients in a hospital who didn’t want to diet were given a meal plan and left to their own devices for 2 years,
Then asked to come back for a weigh-in,
Where diet ‘success’ was deemed as losing 20kg,
Which is no mean feat.
 
Would you stick to a meal plan for 2 years with no support?
Would you stick to a meal plan for 2 years even with the best support in the world?
 
This 95% statistic is cherry picked data thrown around by the anti-diet community and it’s an obvious way to recognise bias,
And an obvious way to recognise people of whom you should be skeptical.
 
Processed foods should always be avoided
By definition,
Processing means any food that has been altered from its natural state,
Which includes "washing, grinding, mixing, cooling, storing, heating, freezing, filtering, fermenting, extracting, extruding, centrifuging, frying, drying, concentrating, pressurizing, irradiating, microwaving, & packaging...
That’s a hell of a lot of the foods we eat,
Even tinned lentils my friends,
And Greek yoghurt,
Etc. Etc.
 
We need food processing to support things like food quality & food quantity,
Food safety,
Convenience,
Accessibility.
 
There is no evidence to say processed food is unhealthy,
And many processed foods contain many nutrients. 
 
Ultra-processed foods are easier to overeat on though,
And when we're given unlimited access to food,
We may eat on average 500 calories more (according to some 2019 research),
Probably because of the lower satiety that comes with ultra-processed foods,
Which of course can lead to excess body fat gain,
And the potential health implications of that.
 
The problem with opinions like this,
Is that they’re often diluted by some great messaging,
Nutrients count and shouldn’t be sacrificed solely for calories, 
A wide variety of plant-based foods (30 in fact per week) is super beneficial for our gut,
And our gut health is really important,
This is all very true.
 
But it often comes from a place of privilege,
And this is where I start to feel a bit ick,
More so than I do with my past self's bad choice in men,
Annoyingly. 
 
It’s easy to tell people to eat kefir yoghurts with mixed berries and a sprinkling of flaxseeds and nuts for breakfast when you’re leaving the podcast and hopping across the road to Wholefoods to buy your fresh daily avocado and multigrain (processed) bread,
When the cozzie livs is crippling half of the people listening to you,
And you’ve just told them all that they’re ruining their health by eating a Boots sarni for lunch.
 
Here’s my closing remarks from this podcast,
And for general future online nutrition advice.
 
Always listen with a critical ear, question everything.
Medical doctor doesn’t mean nutritionist.
Processed food is fine. But be mindful of filling your diet with ultra-processed foods because it might be hard to feel satisfied.
No food is inherently good or bad, as you readers know by now.

Nutrients matter, but so do calories.
Most diets statistically do fail (but there’s not a lot of research on the good ones, and it’s more like 80%).
You don’t have to count calories, and many people can eat intuitively for their entire lives and it not have an impact on body composition (yes, even you reading this thinking that's not something you could achieve, I promise you could).

Eat lots of plant-based foods where these are accessible for you.
Gut health does matter,
And really,
It's a lovely way to frame nutrition,
As what am I including that's supporting my gut health and beyond?

Don’t overcomplicate it. Eat 3-4 servings of protein, if you can,
Fill your plate with vegetables and wholegrains, if you can.
Include some essential fat in there too.

Minimise snacking, but you don’t have to stop completely.
 
Go forth and be critical,
Of online nutrition advice,
Of medical doctors with no nutrition training and books to sell giving out nutrition advice,
But not of yourself ok babe.