Do you find yourself judging?

[Britishgal]

I've been debating starting talking about how I eat on my blog but I've been stalling (for months!!) as I don't want to preach! I am in the UK and paleo eating is not well known here...I'm going to do it as back to basics "real food" as I'm known for being oldfashioned

I have family coming this weekend and my part of the grocery buying is soft drinks and snacks.

Typical.

I just went to aldi and bought all the things I disagree with eating and have hidden them until Friday. My family are accepting of how I eat (which has taken time) but they aren't going to change overnight.

I did feel horrid about my shopping trolley though!

[Lyolya]

No. But. My husband is Whole30'ing with me this time, and damn it, I sweat I when think that he might off-road. My conscious self knows that I am responsible for what goes into my belly only and solemnly, nonetheless, I can't help being this control freak that wants to babysit him on his way to better nutritional habbits. He goes on business trip, alone (:-)), next week, and I see, I visualise him ditching all that we've aimed for and putting some crap into his mouth. I don't know how much more yoga it takes to be cool about your closest people's choices. At least, I admit to my problem. 

[Mads]

 

No, I don't judge what people are eating.  Until we've walked a 100 miles in someone else's moccasins, we have no idea what their financial situation is.   Lack of finances can limit someone's nutrition in a very big way.   I'm always for the underdog.

 

The only people I find myself judging are those with so much pretention... pomp and circumstance with every bite they take. They make sure the rest of us know that they only have organic items in their cart.     I roll my eyes to myself and think...Oh, brother. 

 

I look around for the old folks and lil children.  Those are the ones I care about.     

 

Don't judge what people are eating.   No food shaming.   Love everyone and care for them.   You never know when you may have just made someone's day who's really having a difficult time. 

 

 

You have no idea how relieved I am to read this response! I live in a city with a major food desert problem. I recognize that I am extremely privileged to 1.) Afford a whole foods diet 2.) Live within a few miles of stores selling quality meats and fresh produce 3.) Own a working car so that I can easily access those stores and buy enough food to feed my family and transport it home 4.) Have a full kitchen with a working stove, oven, full-sized fridge, freezer, and wide array of cooking implements 5.) Have TIME every night to cook a meal from scratch for my family.

 

There are so many barriers people face just trying to put food on the table. Who are we to judge them for what calories they manage to get into their bellies every day?

As for convincing friends and family who have the same means as us, I find it helps if we don't try to act like we've found the SECRET TO LIFE and everything is amazing now. This is my third Whole30. It is still hard. I miss chocolate. I miss going out for lattes with coworkers. Eating out is almost impossible (I live in the South. They don't do paleo down here). It is, in fact, way hard to do a Whole30. Not giving birth hard (although this takes longer), and certainly not cancer hard. But it's still not easy. I find that my friends are actually way more curious and supportive and interested when I'm honest about the fact that this isn't the most "fun" way to eat (cuz cake is always going to be more fun than kale) -- but I still love it and do it anyway.

[MeadowLily]

You have no idea how relieved I am to read this response! I live in a city with a major food desert problem. I recognize that I am extremely privileged to 1.) Afford a whole foods diet 2.) Live within a few miles of stores selling quality meats and fresh produce 3.) Own a working car so that I can easily access those stores and buy enough food to feed my family and transport it home 4.) Have a full kitchen with a working stove, oven, full-sized fridge, freezer, and wide array of cooking implements 5.) Have TIME every night to cook a meal from scratch for my family.

 

There are so many barriers people face just trying to put food on the table. Who are we to judge them for what calories they manage to get into their bellies every day?

As for convincing friends and family who have the same means as us, I find it helps if we don't try to act like we've found the SECRET TO LIFE and everything is amazing now. This is my third Whole30. It is still hard. I miss chocolate. I miss going out for lattes with coworkers. Eating out is almost impossible (I live in the South. They don't do paleo down here). It is, in fact, way hard to do a Whole30. Not giving birth hard (although this takes longer), and certainly not cancer hard. But it's still not easy. I find that my friends are actually way more curious and supportive and interested when I'm honest about the fact that this isn't the most "fun" way to eat (cuz cake is always going to be more fun than kale) -- but I still love it and do it anyway.

Mads.....I like your style.  

[greenhm]

I can relate SO much to what folks are saying on this topic.

 

I have done so much research on this stuff it's crazy! I first converted to Paleo a couples years back, now I'm doing my first Whole30. I too struggle with 'having seen the light' and experienced it first hand, but then not pushing it on others. It feels like I have the answers now and I just want to help. I find it mostly comes up when I see my close family members struggling, like my sister, or when I have friends question my choices (or call it a diet, then make some ignorant comment about "everything in moderation though right?" or "you don't get to eat anything fun! I'll make sure you get some cake on day 31"). I think I was more reactive/defensive in the beginning, but I've come to realize that you can lead a horse to water...

 

So I'm trying to lead by example, share recipes that I'm excited about how awesome they turned out, talk to people about what I'm noticing is different on MY journey and get into more detail if the person is curious. But I talk from my perspective mostly. We also have some great friends who, even though they aren't Paleo or doing a Whole30, will ask us over for dinner and make compliant food! I am a Psychologist as well, so my friends are used to me talking about research and posting science-related articles on my FB. I came across this one recently and it really made me think

 

http://whole9life.com/2013/09/nothing-personal/

 

I think most people are overwhelmed and angry about all of the contradictory information out there about nutrition. I think it's natural that people are skeptical. Food is also addictive in many ways and that's why we cling steadfast to our cookies and icecream. I appreciated reading everyone's perspective on this topic. I still struggle with the balance between sharing my knowledge and trying to help others make healthy changes that I know will impact their mental health, longevity, and prevent many chronic diseases...and just keeping things to myself and focusing on my family and I.

[MrsStick]

I had to sit through a friend last night talking about her detox products and how great they are and how she's lost weight. She's spending hundreds of dollars for an aloe-based drink and fiber pill things to suck on. Apparently 4-6 days per month she isn't allowed to eat and she can only drink this aloe drink thing or water and suck (not chew! Chewing starts the digestive process and will make her hungry!) on these fiber candy things.

 

She kept saying how all the toxins are leaving her system, blah blah blah, and she's lost 10 pounds. I get the idea behind a detox (I don't believe they're necessary for most people since we do have organs responsible for detoxifying our bodies but that's another story) but the fact that she believes those ten pounds were lost because of the toxins leaving her body made me want to scream. Those ten pounds are because you stopped eating for 4-6 days a month. They have nothing to do with toxins in your cells. You didn't eliminate ten pounds of toxins out of your body. *sigh*

 

Science, people. And thinking.

[MeadowLily]

The Aloe diet is the new best thing...with other tiddly winks thrown in for good measure.

 

REVIEWING THE CLEAN 9 DIET

 

April 25, 2014  by Gemma Sampson RD APD 20 Comments

Always keeping my eye out for fad diets and supplements trying to to steal your well-earned cash, I’ve seen the Clean 9 detox cleanse diet come up a lot in social media recently. With claims that you can lose up to 12lb over 9 days by taking aloe, bee pollen and garcinia supplements, I thought it was worth checking out.

 

What is the Clean 9 diet?

The Clean 9 diet is the first part in a two part weight loss system by Forever Living. They claim that staying committed to this diet will show you how to live free from yoyo dieting and lose fat permanently. Big claims. The first stage, the ‘cleanse’ stage is a 9 day diet that claims you can safely lose up to 5kg (12lb) of weight in just over a week – without feeling hungry. The plan is to then go onto stage 2 for a further 12 days. Apparently it is ‘doctor approved’ – I just wasn’t able to find out which doctor this is and what their qualifications actually were! (Ed: I have since been informed that this is Dr Peter Atherton).

How do you do the Clean 9 diet?

While following the 9 day cleansing diet, the first two days are considered the ‘detox’ days during which only supplements and one meal replacement shake is consumed. The remaining 7 days various amounts of supplements are consumed along with 2 meal replacement shakes and one from what I can gather, only one 600kcal meal per day is allowed in addition to the following supplements:

• 3 litres of aloe vera gel
• Protein shakes
• Garcinia supplements
• Bee pollen tablets

Despite looking far and wide, I have not been able to identify any information on the nutrition content or ingredients used within these specific supplements to justify the claim of the Clean 9 diet being ‘nutritionally sound’.

 

Research and evidence

Let’s break these nutritional supplements down quickly shall we?

Aloe Vera: The aloe vera gel is claimed to contain over 200 compounds, yet at the same time is also meant to be the closest thing to drinking straight from an aloe leaf… That doesn’t sound natural to me! Helen West a registered dietitian currently in Bali has written a great post on the (lack of) evidence on aloe vera supplements and weight loss that I thoroughly recommend you read.

Garcinia Cambogia: I’ve written about garcinia cambogia supplements for weight loss in a previous post. To cut a long-story short, any research in humans has been conducted using supplements containing multiple ‘weight loss inducing‘ ingredients combined with energy restricted diets and specific exercise programs over a short period of time with limited results.

Bee pollen: It’s actually a bit of a deceptive name really because bee’s don’t make pollen – plants do! Essentially bee pollen is flower pollen collected off the legs of bees as they return to the hive – mixed with a bit of bee saliva and who know’s what else has happened to stick to them. There is no way to know what kinds of pollen is used in these supplements, or about any sort of contamination. There have been reported cases of anaphylactic reactions as a result of consuming bee pollen supplements and anyone with pollen or bee allergies should definitely stay well away. The FDA has even added bee pollen supplements to their list of tainted supplements. I’ve covered the research on bee pollen supplements in this post, but in a nutshell, the research and evidence just isn’t there for bee pollen or any of these supplements when it comes to weight loss.

 

 

 

 

[ldb326]

I don't judge what others eat.  It is their body. I do not like to discuss what I am eating unless asked. I do not like when others push their food beliefs on me, so I try my best not to push them on others.  I actually feel as if I get judged for the way I eat.  I know I feel better when I am eating paleo, and that is all that really matters. I often give friends cook books for gifts.  I feel that is a non invasive way to introduce people to eating paleo. My most recent order was three Well Fed books for upcoming birthdays.