Confusion prevents action
Confused about what to eat or which form of exercise is the best for you? You are not the only one. Even I get frustrated with the changing landscape.
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Some reports hype how bad palm oil is for us and then a few years later we are told how it is supposedly good for us. Eat eggs, don’t eat eggs.
Do this, don’t do that? How is one supposed to navigate through this ever changing myriad of information?
One example of this dynamic is the story of margarine. Scientists and doctors advocated margarine as a healthier alternative to butter in the 1960s because margarine was supposedly lower in saturated fats than butter, and a link between saturated fat and heart disease had been recently discovered.
What these doctors and scientists did not know at the time was that trans fats, of which margarine is full of, is far worse. The advice to replace butter with margarine has since been retracted. I guess though that the debate is one that will still continue.
I started this topic on barriers to change last week. In this article, I will address another barrier to lifestyle change. There are several legitimate barriers to change that can sabotage even the most motivated person with the best of intentions. If you don’t know what to do and how to do it, confusion prevents action.
Changing lifestyle habits is not one of the easiest things to do, as I am sure you are well aware. And it’s not because of lack discipline or willpower. Those who have personal experience can best tell you about the hindrances they face in trying to modify lifestyle behaviours.
One source of confusion is the tremendous volume of information to which we are exposed. We live in an information loaded era.
There has not been a moment in history when information has been this available, right at our fingertips. By typing one simple phrase, we now get hundreds, sometimes even thousands of answers to our questions.
And now it seems, because of the abundance of information available to us, that a lot of us are confused. From how to stay physically fit, to how to eat, or how to live healthily – cardio or weights? How much protein? Does fat make me fat? Will sit-ups give me abs?
Those who conscientiously try to heed the news of each new “miracle nutrient” that’s identified and every other sort of nutrition discovery that comes along can easily become overwhelmed. For example, just yesterday at the supermarket I picked up a package of tomatoes from a large crate that had a full paragraph about the merits of lycopene (a nutrient with highly touted antioxidant properties) printed on its side.
I imagine my fellow shoppers wandering through the market thinking, “Let’s see, to prevent cancer I need carotenoids, which are in carrots; and to lower my cholesterol I need plant sterols which are in oat bran and to balance my prostaglandins I need alpha-linoleic acid, which is in what? I can’t even remember!” How can the average person retain all this information?
No wonder people adopt an “I don’t care” attitude. I have also experienced confusion to the point that I thought, “Why bother?” I don’t even know who or what to believe anymore. Confusion leads to inertia. It’s human nature to take the path of least resistant. And for a short while ignorance can seem like bliss.
Of course, that is if you can manage to ignore the quality of life issues that accompany a lifestyle of living in ignorance; you know, the little inconveniences like needing a nap after a meal instead of feeling energised, constant upgrade of clothing sizes and inability to participate in normal activities. But once positive changes are made, the bliss of ignorance quickly fades.
The real problem with ignorance is that the final outcome can be obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer and other lifestyle related diseases. Then you learn that the saying “what you don’t know won’t hurt you” is a huge lie. What you don’t know can hinder your quality of life or even kill you. It is always better to be in the know.
So, the question is, how do you decide what is right for you? I don’t profess to know the answer to every question out there, but let me fill you in on a little secret to help you on your health journey, whether you want a better body, more energy, or overall improved health. Anything that Mother Nature put on this earth in its simplest form is real food.
Listen to your body, avoid stress, and sleep enough, drink lots of water, move your body, stay informed and when in doubt, seek expert advice…to be continued.
The writer is a Lifestyle Coach & Author of The Seduction of food’[email protected]