Top 5 Tips for Digesting Nutrition News

Do you get caught up in headlines that provide nutrition facts, such as “broccoli is going to make us die” and immediately stop eating broccoli? Today’s episode is all about understanding these nutrition news articles and how to know if they are legit or clickbait. 

Today Jenn is walking through her top 5 tips for digesting nutrition news. It can be so confusing when we hear different statements from “professionals”, or learn of the next best diet to help us lose those unwanted pounds, but how do we know if they are the truth, will only work for some people, or just someone’s biased opinion? Jenn discusses what to look for when you are hearing nutrition news, using your spidey sense, and how to process information when it may even be against your own bias. Tune in to learn how to use your wonder woman bangles so you can empower yourself through your own health journey. 

The Salad With a Side of Fries podcast is hosted by Jenn Trepeck, discussing wellness and weight loss for real life, clearing up the myths, misinformation, bad science & marketing surrounding our nutrition knowledge and the food industry. Let’s dive into wellness and weight loss for real life, including drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store. 

IN THIS EPISODE: 

●   [7:45] Tip Number 5: How to look at sources and benefactors of where the nutrition information is coming from?

●   [11:04] Jenn gives a pharmaceutical example about indication drift.

●   [15:27] Tip Number 4: Science isn’t all equal.

●   [16:49] What are the kinds of evidence to look for? 

●   [22:39] Tip Number 3: Be careful of your own bias.

●   [30:00] Tip Number 2: Use your spidey sense and common sense. 

●   [37:17] Tip Number 1: Put on your wonder woman bangles. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

●   When determining if a sourced study is legit, look at how many citations it has. This is often a way of saying how valid a study is. The more citations makes it more likely that the piece of evidence is reputable. 

●   Keep your wits about you. Use the 5 tips from this episode to evaluate what you’ve heard or read before jumping into something so that you can make forward progress without distraction, overwhelm, and confusion, so you can remain empowered in your health. 

●   Trust that your body knows what it needs to feel good. When you go to grab food, or have the desire to try the next fad diet, check in with yourself and ask if it is really the best option for you. If you decide to give it a try, tune in with your body on if it’s actually benefiting you or if you are experiencing low energy. Every person’s body operates differently and benefits from different ways of eating, so don’t get caught up in the news. 

QUOTES: 

“We can get so much input that we can end up having shiny object syndrome where every day it’s something new, or we’re always grasping and we’re not necessarily taking steps forward but we’re taking lots of random steps.” - Jenn Trepeck 

“Spidey sense vs. common sense I also think of the dooms day. Are these headlines so dramatic like ‘we’re all going to die because broccoli is going to cause cancer’ or something, like is it the broccoli? Or is it the pesticides on the broccoli? There's all these other elements to it that I think capture our attention and that we want to use as setting off our spidey sense.” - Jenn Trepeck 

“They're looking to appeal to the most primitive part of your brain. Not your higher order thinking and the prefrontal cortex, but the back of the brain, the lizard brain, the brain that's survival and we can just deflect those with our wonder woman bangles until or unless we’re willing to do a little more research or we’re willing to figure out if they’re verified.” - Jenn Trepeck 

“Science isn't all equal...what was compared? What question did they ask?” - Jenn Trepeck

“Very rarely is there a study on broccoli, for example...There's very little [financial] incentive to pay for studies on individual foods or an individual nutrient.” - Jenn Trepeck

“There are a few things where there is a general consensus among experts and people in this space: more vegetables, more whole foods, less added sugar, less refined grain.” - Jenn Trepeck

RESOURCES:

Become A Member of Salad with a Side of Fries

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram