Health Advice Overload - Are you Confused or Just Conflicted?

Health Advice Overload - Confused or Just Conflicted?

I regularly hear from my clients that there’s too much information about food and drink out there … in other words health advice overload!

I talk a lot with midlifers about decision fatigue and how that impacts us - there’s so many decisions we have to make everyday that it becomes tiring and stressful. 

So, I’m not surprised that, if you’re bombarded day after day with a mountain of messages  on ‘best’ diets, ways to lose weight or stay healthy, it can feel easier to do nothing at all.

But …  if you want to make positive changes to your eating and drinking (and I'm guessing that by reading this you do) just who do you trust and what should you believe? 

How do you know what is worth believing and how much is mumbo jumbo?

Let’s be clear - everyone is different and there’s so many nuances within peoples’ lifestyles: a shift worker versus a single mum with three kids versus a retired person who likes to cook. All of those have a different set of difficulties, obstacles and motivations. 

If you think of advice as neutral, it’s ultimately up to each person to try it out and see how they feel. What works for one person may not work for another. The trouble is people tend to read advice and try to do everything and make it far more complicated in the process.

Simplifying the health advice overload

But you’ll be relieved to know there are some simple ideas to hang onto in this age of too much information. 

If you actually compare the different diets - keto, vegan, paleo (I compare keto and paleo in this previous blog post) even diet plans like Weightwatchers and Slimming World - you will end up with some core principles, even though they are all quite different and have various approaches. 

For example: 

• Eat loads more veggies. You can’t wrong focusing on veg (so long as it’s not potatoes all the time).

• Most diets say go for unprocessed food … so basically cut out the crap.

• Most advice says reduce the amount of sugar you’re eating.

• Drink more water and reduce the amount of processed drinks you’re having.

• Don’t have rigid thinking about what’s ‘right’ or ‘good’ to eat and what’s ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’. All or nothing thinking will undermine your best intentions.

• Cook as much as you can yourself - reduce the eating out and if you do eat out make it a treat, REALLY enjoy what you’re having. The more you can cook and be in control of your environment, the better off you’ll be.

So even though there’s all this different advice out there that’s been packaged for you, actually there’s some basic fundamentals you could just stick to that would be so much better for your health anyway. You don’t actually have to tie yourself up in knots trying to decide whether to eat specific foods or drinks.

Health advice overload or feeling conflicted?

Research suggests there’s plenty of consensus as to how to eat healthily to tackle the obesity crisis and related diseases, it’s just that people want a magic formula for losing weight when there isn’t one. 

Because it takes effort and patience, we’re tempted to give up rather than stick with it. 

But that’s a decision of how willing you are to stay the distance rather than an issue of being confused about what to do. 

So, what to do…

Think of one thing you can do to improve your health … and do that, nothing more, nothing less. Often what my clients find is that making one positive change leads to another. I’ve seen it happen countless times.

I know a woman who started going to the gym and was getting frustrated that she hadn’t lost loads of weight. But she stuck with it (because she had paid her membership up front and didn’t want to waste the money) and after three months not only did she feel fitter and toned, she also realised she wasn’t drinking as much alcohol and she felt less inclined to have a takeaway meal every Friday. 

Start with something you feel you can manage, like starting to incorporate going to the gym, suddenly you think ‘why am I eating all this crap if I’m spending all this money going to the gym?’ So gradually going to the gym becomes part of who you are. 

I’m also a great believer in healthy eating to fit your real life, not someone else's Facebook or Instagram version of what your daily life is.  That’s why I so enjoy opening up my one to one call service up so that I can really understand how best to help a client achieve the best result for them. If you want to chat through how I can get you through the minefield of midlife, schedule a call. I’d love to help!

Content Disclaimer

The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this blog are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this blog. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this blog. Midlife Menu Ltd disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this blog.

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