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Writer's pictureMarcy Verburg

True or False? The answer to 'What should I eat?" is often based on hope & magical thinking


Do you eat based on a belief system or science?

Imagine a person who wants to be heathier doing a google search on what to eat to say lose weight, feel better, feed their family nutritious food.

If they search

#heathy diet they get 380 BILLION answers

#healthy diet plan 494 million hits

The first page thankfully shows tips from reputable organizations but some of the information is vague and could be misleading. Heart & Stroke, Healthline, web md all say “eat LOTS of fruits and vegetables”. Ok so I am in agreement with a healthy plate that has ½ veggies, ¼ protein and ¼ carbs for most people.



BUT the suggestion “eat lots of fruit” could be misleading. What does “lots” mean? Can I eat 20 servings of fruit a day? If that not a lot of sugar? What if I have FODMAPS or hormone challenges? Should I eat that much fruit (do I even know those are a thing?)

When you search healthy diet plan the top ad is from Noom. Imagine bow much money they would have to spend to rank first on a broad search like that? Hello fresh comes up next then something I have never heard of perfectbody.me that claims you can lose 50 pounds in 2 months! (you would have to need to lose a lot of weight for that to be even remotely possible).

There are lots of diet plans for sale. It’s a huge industry mainly because its so confusing and riddled with misinformation!

What you do see in common amongst the websites is that each site promotes their BELIEF

“The authors treat nutrition like it’s a set of beliefs, there for their own picking and choosing”

The question is do beliefs have anything to do with facts & science?

  • I believe all children should have 3 glasses of milk a day

  • I believe that people were not meant to eat gluten

  • I believe that fat is bad

  • I believe that carbs make you fat

  • To lose weight you need to eat clean

Yet nutrition is NOT a belief system

Nor should it be based on hoping a nutrition strategy will work

Take an athlete or an actor -hoping a diet plan will work could mean the difference between scoring a multi-million dollar contract….and not

Nutrition strategy should be based on science

And customized to your goals

I am a PN Certified Nutrition Specialist. I help my clients with a strategic eating and training program that helps them create their best selves possible. That often means super charging their energy, losing fat, becoming more healthy, getting better sleep, fitting into their clothes better and gaining back confidence.

Their plans do not come from any belief systems that I may have grown up with or learned from the media.

Believing something, or wanting it to be true, or feeling it should be true doesn’t mean it is true.


Its why I don’t say I am a “keto coach” or an “intermittent fasting coach”. While these methods may work well for some people I would not be a professional if I said that all my clients should follow only one genre of eating or that whatever is trendy should be followed

I speak with my Clients to understand what they are really looking for.

How they want to change their bodies

We learn as we go and course correct when something is not working

That does not happen when you buy an internet diet or subscribe to certain eating beliefs

Most internet diets come with a set of beliefs

  • A list of foods that you should avoid (never eat bacon, butter, or milk unless it has come from a pasteurized cow only fed organic green kale)

  • A list of “approved” foods ( only eat high antioxidant blue foods for full week to kick start your metabolism)

  • The best time of the day to eat that will “boost” your metabolism

  • A list of “secret” exercises to burn off your belly fat

And most people fail when they try these diets


Because

  • They are not based on science

  • Are not customized

  • They do not take into account that persons experiences around food

And most importantly they do not include 1:1 coaching to hold you accountable and help you with your eating strategy


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