“I don’t know what’s going on, but I can’t seem to lose weight no matter what I try.” It’s a common refrain from my patients.
I’ve heard the same line at least 5 times this week, all from patients who are trying to lose their COVID-15. They feel like they’re doing everything that they can, but still the stubborn weight remains.
Almost all weight loss - and almost all extra fat gain - is due to diet, and the most common reason that many people can’t lose weight despite “trying everything” is because they’re consuming things that they think are healthy but are actually sabotaging their health and weight.
Just because something is marketed as healthy doesn’t mean that it is healthy
In fact, the opposite is generally true. The more marketing goes into healthwashing something, the worse it’s going to be for you.
How would you answer the question, “What’s your diet like?”
“What’s your diet like?”
It’s the open ended question I ask patients all the time. I generally hear one of two responses:
My diet is really good, I eat pretty healthy
I’ve been “bad lately" and have been eating too much junk food
When patients tell me answer 2, the solution is pretty obvious. Just don’t eat junk food. It’s a simple solution, and even though simple doesn’t mean easy, at least our path forward is clear.
But when a patient reports answer 1 - “I eat pretty healthy” - from a patient who is struggling to lose weight, there’s almost always a disconnect about what healthy means.
So I’ll generally follow up and ask, “What does a healthy diet mean to you?”
The answers to this question that I get from patients can be super interesting! I’ve learned that a huge amount of what people perceive of healthy is because of marketing from large food companies that have a financial interest in making diet confusing.
The biggest mistake that I see all the time - yogurt and yogurt smoothies
People have been fermenting dairy products for thousands of years and yogurt is a staple of many cuisines around the world.
Yogurt isn’t bad for you. But the way that many people consume it is absolutely terrible for your health.
Patients tell me about their yogurt breakfasts and yogurt smoothies all the time.
“Doc, every morning I make a smoothie with vanilla yogurt and a bunch of berries and almond milk.”
“I have a cup of strawberry Chobani every morning, for the protein.”
“My breakfast is usually a small bowl of yogurt with some granola on top”
A yogurt smoothie or a cup of strawberry yogurt sounds so healthy! How could it possibly be bad for you?
Most yogurt is essentially dessert
Next time you’re thinking about yogurt, take a look at the nutrition label.
Almost all flavored yogurt has a ton of sugar in it.
Whether it’s Greek yogurt, low fat yogurt, or yogurt with granola on top, if it is anything other than plain yogurt on its own, chances are that it’s not that much different than a bowl of Frosted Flakes.
And the granola topping is bad for you too!
Sugar is uniquely harmful for weight loss and sweet yogurt always gets better taste reviews than plain. Just because it’s packaged in a way that makes it feel healthy doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
The concept of breakfast as the most important meal of the day is a scam that originated to help sell more cereal, but that doesn’t mean you can’t harm your health with bad breakfast choices.
You don’t have to be eating a Lumberjack breakfast from Denny’s to pack on the pounds first thing in the morning.
Sometimes it can be as simple as eating something that you think is healthy but is actually just dessert in the morning.
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