14 Day Plan – Day 4

Letting go of unhelpful diet advice

“My mind is made up; don’t confuse me with the facts.” (Anon)

As you continue your Harcombe journey, you are necessarily going to revisit things that you have held to be true. I have done some things called "vox pops" (this comes from the Latin phrase, vox populi, meaning "voice of the people") with TV and radio companies. We stop people in the street and ask them about nutritional messages. They tell us categorically that cholesterol is trying to kill us, fat is bad, carbs are good, and we should eat five-a-day. None of these 'facts' is true. None is evidence based. The next person that tells you something about what you should eat – demand evidence – you'll stop them in their tracks.

The people most open to changing their views are members of the public. Sometimes all you have to say is – “what do you think we've been eating for 3.5 million years?” – for the penny to drop. The people least likely to change their views are the public health professionals promoting non-evidence based messages. They do not like to be challenged and they will find it difficult to admit that they were wrong. However, this is what needs to happen if the countries with obesity epidemics are to return to optimal health and weight.

You should be pleased with yourself that you have been one of the open minded ones. You are going to head towards the best weight and health that you can achieve by eating real food and ditching junk food. It seems so obvious that this is the best way to eat, but common sense is anything but common.