You wanna know what’s really making Individuals unhealthy proper now?
👉🏽 It’s not the f*cking meals dyes.
👉🏽 It’s not seed oils.
👉🏽 It’s not “chemical substances” in your rattling food regimen ginger ale.
Nope. I spent a complete day this week—as a well being and health coach—speaking to purchasers who’re completely paralyzed in relation to meals. These are sensible, succesful ladies who’re out right here crushing it of their careers and lives … and nonetheless discover themselves caught in nervousness spirals over consuming non-organic frozen greens.
That is insanity.
I heard issues like:
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“I can’t eat deli meat, it’s poisonous.”
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“I’m afraid of bread—it’s filled with chemical substances.”
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“Canned beans are processed. I believed I needed to keep away from them.”
This isn’t a coincidence. That is the direct results of a wellness tradition that’s turned concern into click-bait content material.
I’ve Been There, Too
For the report, I’m not immune. I’ve been down that “clear consuming” rabbit gap myself.
In my very own obsessive pursuit of “optimum well being,” I spent years eliminating something “processed,” avoiding “toxins,” and focusing solely on nutrient-dense entire meals. Sounds wholesome, proper?
Besides I used to be coaching arduous and undereating for a long-ass time because of all of the meals guidelines I made up for myself within the identify of “being wholesome”.
That restrictive mindset wrecked my power, disrupted my hormones, and left me battling signs of low power availability (LEA)—together with stress fractures, mind fog, nervousness, fatigue, sleep disruptions, and restoration points. And I see the identical patterns enjoying out in so many of the ladies I coach right now.
Not as a result of they don’t care about their well being—as a result of they care loads and have been taught to concentrate on the mistaken rattling issues.
Enter: The Wellness Influencer Circus 🎪
Right here’s the playbook: influencers stroll by way of their native grocery retailer with their ring mild and a smug half-smirk, decide up a traditional meals merchandise that the common household may purchase, flip over the label, and gasp dramatically whereas declaring of their most judgmental tone:
❌ “This has seed oils—it’s inflammatory!”
❌ “You’ll be able to’t pronounce that ingredient—it’s poisonous!”
❌ “If it has greater than three elements, it’s not actual meals!”
And naturally, they all the time have a greater different—conveniently linked to a model they’re partnering with … and receiving a fee from. Or head to their web site and also you’ll discover they promote their very own merchandise that can make your weekly grocery invoice look extra like a luxurious automobile fee.
Spoiler alert: in case you really tried to eat the way in which these of us suggest, you’d spend your whole paycheck and a shit ton of tension on discovering meals with solely natural elements … and certain develop disordered consuming habits alongside the way in which. In the meantime, they’re cashing checks by promoting concern and advantage signaling disguised as “wellness.”
Let’s name it what it’s: a rip-off.
“Clear Consuming” Is Made Up
There may be no scientific definition for “clear consuming.” There is no such thing as a common normal for what’s “clear,” “soiled,” “good,” or “poisonous.” And but, the variety of ladies I see growing disordered consuming patterns is skyrocketing—largely fueled by influencers who confuse meals literacy with fearmongering.
Let’s be very clear:
🧪 The dose makes the poison.
That is Toxicology 101.
Based on Dr. Andrea Love, “ Toxicity refers to a chemical, bodily, or organic publicity that may trigger hurt to an organism, both straight or not directly. Scientifically, something may be poisonous at a sure publicity. Something may be non-toxic at a sure [different] publicity.”
She goes on to additional clarify “It’s about publicity — how a lot of a substance, how usually, and the way it enters the physique. All of those components are wanted to find out if one thing is poisonous.”
The examples she supplies are nice for instance this level. For instance, consuming an excessive amount of water in a brief time period can kill you. And that’s not the one means water – which makes up 60% of your physique – can kill you. If only a small quantity of water goes down the mistaken pipe into your lungs moderately than into your abdomen, you may die.
There are many examples that additionally go the opposite means—substances that kill people when administered in the precise dose but additionally are important for all times in small portions or are utilized in drugs to save lots of lives.
The concept an ingredient is mechanically “poisonous” simply because it has a protracted identify or was examined in absurd doses on rats is nonsense.
So no, you’re not slowly killing your children with a granola bar. And sure, you may eat a sandwich with out concern of “carcinogens.”
What I Focus On As a substitute
I don’t spend time worrying about nitrates in my turkey slices, the meals dye in my gummy bears, or the “processed” nature of my favourite protein bar.
As a result of I’m too busy serving to ladies:
✅ Get sufficient fiber to help intestine well being
✅ Eat sufficient protein to help muscle and growing older
✅ Gasoline their our bodies with sufficient energy to energy their lives
The ladies I coach aren’t struggling due to the chemical substances of their almond milk. They’re struggling as a result of they’re attempting to navigate a world the place vitamin recommendation is pushed by clicks, not care.
MAHA Is the New Food plan Tradition
Let’s not mince phrases: that is simply food regimen tradition 2.0.
The Make America Wholesome Once more (MAHA) motion is food regimen tradition wrapped in a wellness hoodie. It demonizes elements, moralizes meals decisions, and shames folks for not dwelling as much as an unimaginable normal of purity.
Even worse? It distracts us from the actual public well being crises:
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Meals insecurity
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Lack of vitamin training
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Inaccessible, unaffordable healthcare
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Company insurance policies that prioritize earnings over folks
Dr. Jessica Knurick calls it what it’s: a deliberate distraction to maintain us from demanding systemic change.
And Let’s Speak About Massive Wellness for a Sec
It’s wild how many individuals will scream about “Massive Pharma” whereas shopping for unregulated dietary supplements from an Instagram advert with zero skepticism.
Sure, Massive Pharma deserves scrutiny—however not less than it’s required to submit peer-reviewed research and bear regulatory approval.
Massive Wellness? It’s a $6.3 trillion business (4 occasions the scale of Massive Pharma) with nearly no oversight.
And plenty of of its loudest voices are creating monetized misinformation by:
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Cherry-picking junk science to again their biases
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Pushing elitist meals requirements which might be inaccessible to most individuals
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Promoting inexperienced powders, detoxes, and dietary supplements to “repair” issues they invented
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Preying on our need to do the “proper” factor for our well being
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Undermining belief in science and medication to spice up their very own authority (and checking account)
Right here’s the Fact:
In case your meals guidelines are so restrictive that they’re stopping you from consuming sufficient, nourishing your physique, or having fun with your life—it’s time for a actuality verify.
I see ladies over and over attempting to stick to a bunch made-up meals guidelines they picked up from fear-based meals influencers with no actual proof to help them solely to obsess over them to the purpose that it’s all they’ll take into consideration … till the cravings win and so they eat a complete bundle of the meals they have been attempting to keep away from as a result of some unqualified weirdo on the web advised them it was poisonous.
You deserve higher than fear-based vitamin recommendation. You deserve science, context, and nuance.
There’s a large, stunning center floor the place processed meals can match, the place you don’t have to decide on between “natural kale” or “most cancers,” and the place pleasure, satisfaction, and nourishment can all stay on the identical plate.
Need Proof-Based mostly Diet Data from Folks Who Know Their Shit?
Comply with these consultants:
And in case you’re able to learn to prepare and gas in a means that’s free from wellness influencer B.S. and concern, come cling with me in LIMITLESS. I’ll educate you the right way to prepare, eat, and stay in a means that truly helps your long-term well being and power—no meals nervousness or ingredient obsession required. —Alison