Why is health advice so contradictory?

Aldous Huxley, one of my favourite authors (severely underrated by the way), has come up with his gem of a quote:

Medical science has made such tremendous progress that there is hardly a healthy human left.

Reminder: he lived between 1894 and 1963, way before aggressive crop hybridisation, ultra-processed food, and “health advice” became the staple of informative conversation that is today.

I will try to summarise all research observations that science has gathered since I was born: we’re more and more unhealthy.

As a species, as a planet. And we find so many excuses good reasons for it: we only live once, we gotta experiment and experience everything to be happy. Eat this, drink that, it’s ok to get wasted, it’s fine to lose sleep, one puff won’t hurt, you only live once.

If you do any of the stuff above, this post is likely not for you. This is for the people that have managed to break out of the vicious unhealthy loops that the vast majority of people find themselves stuck into. It took a lot of time, energy, sweat, money and isolation to get there. Ideally, it took some many kilos as well, but you’ve done it.

You find all the above habits repulsive, and you never want to return to them again (for now, I’ll get to that in a second).

But now, you want to improve your health. Since you got this far, you want to optimise. Maybe your sleep is not as good as you want, maybe your abs are not as visible as you’d like, maybe you want to lift more, to bend forward at a better angle, to stand with your back more straight, to keep your skin healthy.

You need a new obsession, a new avenue to put your energy, time and money into, so you turn improving your health into a vice. One would say “there’s worse vices you could have”, but that is the first step towards addiction.

Either way, like a coffee person (which I am not), I fully support your choice of addiction, and I am here 100% for you to make the most of it.

But you need to thread lightly, because there is no science that is less exact than the science of your health.

Bread: to be, or not to be?

I’m sure you’ve learned of whole grains. Everyone and their mothers talk about how important they are in our diet. Always choose whole bread rather than the more refined ones. Always have some in your sandwich. It’s useful carbohydrate, full of vitamins and stuff to make you feel good (except if you suffer from coeliac disease).

You’ve eaten bread your whole life (unless exception). And you think you’re fine.

But you’re not fine, according to this book: “Wheat Belly”, by Dr. William Davis, whom I’ve just heard he’s a cardiologist. Apparently, the wheat we consume comes from an aggressively hybridised branch of wheat, that produces a very high yield, but is very nutritionally blank. And worse, it has an incredibly high glycemic index (a slice of whole grain bread is higher than a bar of snickers, allegedly), is highly acidic (allegedly lead cause of osteoporosis) and is highly addictive (creates a compound that is highly similar to opioids, allegedly). It is full of case studies, of people who have stopped eating wheat, and have started living much much better lives (allegedly).

Thing is, I used allegedly a lot. But every doctor, and their mothers, contradict his claims, because they are “not scientific” and “there’s been no studies to suggest this” and “many important vitamins are in bread, you have to eat it”. But I find myself rooting more for Dr. Davis than the mainstream, solely because, idk, it makes sense to me.

I ate bread a large portion of my life, and many side effects mentioned seem to have happened to me, including an increase in the adipose tissue around my breast area (disproportionate) which, otherwise, I seem to have no other habit that would create this, other than the alleged claims that it leads to this. I drop wheat totally, utterly and completely, and lose so much weight, and feel so good, that I think it’s true what he says.

But there may be one more factor in here: Ultra-Processed Food.

Ultra-Processed Ingredients and People: can we work it out?

When one discards completely all wheat from their diet (and similar, like barley, corn starches, etc), we discard 90% of the products in our supermarket.

The biggest contributor to everyone’s suffering, allegedly, being Ultra-Processed Food, or UPF for short.

The first time I learned of this particular concept is from the book “Ultra-Processed People” by Chris van Tuleken. As a physician and researcher, he always thought that the sources or form of the nutrients don’t matter, but how many of each we get in our bodies. And thought that UPF is just normal food.

But then more research started coming up, and…it said the same thing! So people kept on eating everything that the supermarket had, and they felt just as great as all the studies showed…NOT. Apparently, you add Nestle products in a remote region, and they become obese and malnutrite overnight! This time, research shows.

But how is this possible? Isn’t research good and honest? Well no, at least, not nutrition and health-related one.

Investigation (a type of research) shows that, if you follow the money, all studies that view UPF as positive (or even necessary) somehow have some (usually a lot of) sponsorship from the companies that make those products. And they have final say over whether a research is published or not (it’s in their sponsorship contract).

And the associations that say “eat this” and “drink that” and “it’s healthy for you”? Those ones which receive money only from the governments? Where do you think those government people go when their job contracts expire? To a company with significantly more money, of course!

So actually, anecdotes and personal case studies seem to be incredibly helpful, because those people have nothing to gain from mentioning how they are feeling from doing something.

They feel good or bad. No ulterior motives.

But everyone who has something that they want you to buy, yes please, you only live once, so buy from me.

Big Pharma/Food/Grifter Companies

Then what about health advice that you get from the internet, from people, that you get it for free? Your favourite youtuber, or Instagram influencer? Your favourite nutrition book author? Me? What do they have to gain from all of this?

Money. Most of them, they gain money.

Look at Athletic Greens. I do not have enough knowledge on this matter, but people that do, they both advise and don’t advise for it. Look only at this story, about your favourite health podcaster, Andrew Huberman, and see how easily an “expert opinion” can be changed when you know what to dangle in front of him:

Everyone wants to build a niche. Just like every snack bar needs to be different from the others, for branding purposes, people need to advise for different things to improve the same health benefits. But they can’t advocate for what the others are doing, so they change it up a bit, or a lot.

Your joints are not mobile enough? You need to stretch. Oh no, actually, you need to flex. Heavy weights are better. No, your body, calisthenics is king. Actually, don’t stretch, because these studies show you run better if your hamstrings are a little stiffer. No, actually, you need to stretch your hamstrings, and knees, and hips, and all, because you need to not strain your muscles. Get these supplements, they will help you do better in this workout. They will increase your energy, weight, weight loss, mass, girth. No, don’t do this, your body can do without, be natural.

Actually, you need to be vegan. No, research shows we found only animal food in this neanderthal’s stomach, so we’re carnivores. A balanced diet is king. Actually, this and this and that are acidic, so your body will AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Fuck you. Each and every one of you. You don’t know shit, you who learn about it know shit, because you’re learning from grifters who earn money from food and pharma companies. I know nothing, WE KNOW NOTHING BECAUSE OF YOU!!!

Post mental breakdown: you know more than you know

Old research is the most pure. No, old research is outdated. This new research is good. Actually, this new research is sponsored.

I’m tired. You’re tired. Stop listening to the assholes.

My advice for you: learn how to listen to yourself. Not the addictive self, there is a difference. People tell you not to listen to yourself, but actually, you know more than you know.

Back before research started to be “ethical”, there was a study done on kids, babies even. Feel free to disregard it, and comment how inhumane it was. But it was mindblowing.

They got some kids from their mothers, and left them in front of multiple bowls of food. Greens, pastes, fruit, some sweets, some oils. They measured the kids’ biomarkers, and otherwise, just left them to eat whatever they wanted.

They were able to improve their own health by themselves. Completely and utterly instinctive.

The most peculiar case study was one of a kid with certain nutritional deficiencies. Very specific, forgot the details, but it was mentioned in the Ultra-Processed People book. Because of that deficiency, they would leave him some type of oil, which the other kids did not have access to, but would help this kid in particular.

He would drink a lot of that oil by himself, until his nutritional deficiency dropped. Then, he lowered the dose, and stopped taking it altogether. All on his own.

This study gave me shivers when I read about it. And now, it’s making me cry. We are so out of tune with what we need. There’s so many voices much louder than our owns, that we feel the need to follow them.

So give yourself a favour, and listen to yourself. But if you come out of this post, and you strawman my arguments by saying “oh, so if I tell myself I want to eat chocolate and drink whiskey on my couch all day, I should do it”…well, what can I say? Do it. Congratulations. I’m happy for you.

I’m happy you learned something.