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Nutrition: Who to Trust?

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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31 Comments

  1. Marc

    Great Post! Where do you get your nutritional info and advice from? Mostly the internet.

  2. Candace

    Hi Lisa, this post is so relevant for me right now. I decided a couple of weeks ago to cut out most bad carbs from my diet. While it’s not specifically Atkins, it’s lower carb, higher fat than what I’m used to eating. I rarely let people around me know what I’m doing though, someone will always criticize and put a negative spin on it. I know for me cutting carbs helps with bloat, I fight with water weight constantly. And I find I don’t crave sweets as much, my appetite seems easier to control.

    And I agree it’s very scary how modified our food has become. I was reading that the reason people are more sensitive to gluten these days is because the wheat that is grown now is something like 30 times higher in gluten than it used to be. Genetically modified of course, and wheat, like corn, is in everything practically! They tamper with our food supply, people start developing problems that were rarely heard of decades ago. I don’t believe it’s all in our heads, I think genetically modified foods are messing up our body chemistry. I’m sure if we knew the whole truth, we could connect all kinds of disorders and ailments directly back to this.

    And yeah, Dr. Oz is a joke. Seems like all he does is shill weird supplements on his show, never goes into depth on any one topic. It’s like an informercial now. Sad that so many people listen to him but some of his advice is highly questionable.

    On a lighter note, if you guys like peanut butter cookies I found a great gluten free recipe, made them last night and I prefer them to the originals! It’s 1 cup sugar, 1 cup peanut butter, 1 egg. That’s all. 350 for 10 minutes or so, until they are slightly brown.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I agree. There’s always going to be someone with an opinion that’s going to give you grief! Better to keep it to yourself until you figure things out on your own.

      I’ve read similar things about gluten and food sensitivities. I think you’re spot on. Things are so engineered and full of chemicals that our bodies just can’t handle it.

      I’ve never actually seen a Dr. Oz show, just clips, and it seemed like a joke to me. That’s the world we live in –buzzwords get you famous.

      Thanks for the comment and the recipe!

  3. Michelle @ Eat Move Balance

    AMEN!!

    You forgot my favorite fad diet though, the Ice Cream Diet! I sooooo wanted to believe in this one when I saw it advertised in a magazine in college. 🙂

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Or the Cookie Diet?? Give me a break!

  4. christi

    I definitely don’t trust Dr. Oz. He may be a medical doctor but he’s got his endorsement deals and his face plastered on things all over the grocery store. Sorry but if you are making money by telling me this is a good product, how can I believe you?

    I really believe, like you, in moderation. I try to get a good mix of protein, whole grains, fruits and veggies. I don’t beat myself up (much) if I have a beer with dinner one night because the other 6 nights I’m not. You’ve been a great inspiration! (I’m the commenter who asked for the eggplant parm diet back when you first posted about going dairy free)

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I agree! He’s on the cover of a magazine every month.

      That’s great that you’ve got moderation down, Christi. I think it makes it easier to stay on track if you have a little bit of everything!

      I don’t remember the eggplant parm diet but I’ll have to go back and look.

  5. Roz@weightingfor50

    This is such a fantastic post. And its hard to believe who/what to believe. I work with several dieticians, so they help with what food does what for a body. But even though they make their living promoting healthful eating/nutrition, a couple of them have almost disordered patterns themselves….which makes it hard for me to trust everything they say. I like your tactic of doing what works for you. And I also like the tactic of keeping it to yourself….everybody seems to have opinons, but only WE know what is best and what works for ourselves! Have a great Tuesday.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Oh man, what kind of disordered habits do they have? That’s scary. You’d like to trust a doctor!

  6. Robyn

    This is a great post! I have had many “discussions” with my brother-in-law where he bashes Weight Watchers as a bad diet plan and boasts about how great his Paleo diet is…and I spur back saying that eating a well rounded balanced diet in moderation is better than completely cutting things out of your diet…but what does any of that matter if we are both trying to do what is right for ourselves, I think this post really reminds that it’s not about diet is better than yours..its about taking care of your health and being kind to your body. Thanks!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Honestly, that’s one of the big things that I loathe about the paleo diet and the crossfit trend. I’m sure I won’t make friends with this comment but it seems very cult-ish to me and it drives me nuts that people who are into crossfit automatically go paleo and it’s THE ONLY WAY THAT’S RIGHT. Give me a break. There are tons of people out there who are not physically built for intense exercise like CF and it’s a recipe for injury. Same with paleo–a diabetic couldn’t go paleo because all that protein would screw up their kidneys.

      Again, everyone is different and what works for some doesn’t always work for others! Glad you are sticking to your guns. I’ve never done WW but I think it’s a good program.

  7. Deb

    Speaking of who to trust, have you seen or heard this? FDA is trying to change things so non-nutritive sweeteners can be added to dairy products without being listed on the label. You can read about it and comment on it to the FDA here.
    http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FDA-2009-P-0147-0012

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I did read about it. How awful is that?!?

  8. evilcyber

    Isn’t it amazing to what lengths people will go to avoid just doing a little calories in vs. calories out?

    Those things and diets after all only sell because there is a market for them.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      YES!!! Like I’ve said before, most people want a magic pill or a quick fix. I get it. It would have been nice had my 100 pounds come off without exercise or eating better. 🙂 But it didn’t, it took hard work. 🙂

  9. Jackie

    First of all I enjoy your blog ,and I definitely feel the same way! I don’t know what to eat anymore!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I know. 🙁 It’s sad, isn’t it?

  10. Nick Goodall

    The shake weight! Perfect, I find it hard to trust others when talking about health and nutrition (ha, I used to have a blog about it :S), I’m not sure I’d even trust a doctor.

    There’s so much crap out there that it does get hard and confusing like you point out! My best doctor is my common-sense when it comes to food, and if I’m unsure, I’ll stay away and then read about it – if it’s good I might go back later. If I don’t know, then I often take it to my mother, I don’t know why but she seems to have a pretty good sense of all of this 😉

    It’s good to know that someone (many – look at the comments!) doesn’t just follow along like a sheep. Good thing that the gluten-free worked for your Michaels snoring! Have a great day 🙂

    – Nick

    1. Lisa Eirene

      The shake weight!!!!! I took that to a family Xmas party as the white elephant gift. Hehehehe!

      It was a good thing that we tried the gluten free thing–even if it did nothing for me. I don’t think it would have been something Michael would try on his own so he may never have known!

  11. Matt @ The Athlete's Plate

    Sadly I get mine from blogs. LOL.

    I am not into fads at all though. I eat the way I want and makes me feel the best.

  12. Kristen@Change of Pace

    What an awesome post. This is so true. I’ve jumped from diet to diet until I started to learn scientific reasons behind food. Now I’ve never been happier on the paleo diet. It’s what makes me feel the best. I want to go on the cookie diet!!! Wouldn’t that be awesome if it were healthy 😉

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I think that’s why calorie counting worked so well for me. It was simple and basic and just a matter of numbers in vs out. So much easier for me to do than a fad diet.

  13. Jim

    Great post. I have lost over 25 kilograms in the last year. When people ask me how I did it, they expect an answer like low-carb or Atkins or Paleo or whatever and can’t handle it when they say I decided to eat in moderation and exercise regularly. They are really surprised that no food is off limits and when I reach my goal weight the “diet” will have to continue forever.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Love it Jim! That’s great, congrats! I’m glad you found what worked best for you.

  14. Trevor

    Trust yourself. That is true advice. Discover which foods affect your body and how. I’m a big believer in low carb/paleo/real food type diets, but the proof is in the pudding. If something is not working for you then don’t be a fool and stick with it just because everyone else says it’s healthy.

    But the trick here is that you actually have to pay attention to how food is affecting you. That’s a difficult task when you’re eating lots of different foods — especially if you’ve never paid much attention before.

    Elimination diets are a good place to start, but they can be tough and take a long time. There’s just no perfect solution. And like you say, the food we eat nowadays is nothing like the food people ate 100 years ago.

    Our food supply is wrecked. That ain’t changing anytime soon. So we have to make the best of what we’ve got.

    It’s going to be an uphill battle for most of us. That’s just how it is. But it’s a battle we need to fight anyways.

    Cheers!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I love your thoughtful comments, Trevor. This one I can really relate to. The GF/DF month I just did was a reminder to me that I do not do well with restriction diets. It just makes me want it even more. But having just a little bit of something within my calories takes all the pressure off.

      It’s definitely sad how gross our food is becoming. I agree, we need to make the best with what we have. For me that means trying to eat as few items that come out of a box as possible.

  15. Diane, fit to the finish

    Every time I visit blogs throughout the day I see all kinds of advice about what to eat. Sometimes I just have to close my mind to what I’m seeing and remember that unless I have a medical condition or a personal belief about not eating certain foods – all foods are permissible.

    That being said, I do appreciate learning about healthy foods, new ways to prepare them, and hearing about things we need to watch out for on food labels, etc.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I know what you mean, Diane. Some of the things I see online are baffling. But I do like getting new ideas for foods/recipes and workouts. Sometimes it’s good to switch things up.

  16. Jess

    I use the sparkpeople website, and I believe their info because it is written by dieticians, and they always provide multiple references. It has worked for me! Otherwise there is so much misinformation and well meaning people… It can get too hard and confusing.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I’ll have to check that one out. I’ve never been a member of Sparkpeople.

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