Why health trends like the keto diet are best left for Lululemon-wearing yoga-holics
- Food has never been a panacea for staying young and living forever – whatever you consume has to be balanced with the rest of your lifestyle and habits
- Holistic health doesn’t mean intermittent fasting, vitamin IV drips, oxygen bars, or CBD supplements – it’s eating in moderation and moving around more than sitting
During a recent casual conversation, I was asked whether I was into the new keto diet. “Into it? I don’t even know what it is,” I replied.
As one of the lucky people who has never had to diet, I generally distrust any kind of health fad or weight-loss supplement. When I was younger, I ate whatever I wanted and burned off the calories running around, playing ball and working summer jobs. “Why couldn’t others do the same?” I always thought.
Of course, everyone’s metabolism is different. But most 20-somethings probably think the same way I did. However, that inevitably changes when one becomes 30-something and suddenly it’s not so funny that your waist is the same as your age. As the candles on my birthday cake increased, I tended to just stop eating the cake.
At that point, you reluctantly admit pizza and French fries every day might not be the best health decision. So, I’ve cut my portions, put salads and vegetables on higher menu rotation, and walked a lot more during the day.
However, I still pay little attention to health trends. I’ll hear out anyone’s advice, but as a natural cynic, I assume it’s all scams and ruses. Your liver and kidney are natural cleansers; you don’t detox your body by ingesting other agents. I’ve never done a juice cleanse, I just drink juice.
I also don’t believe activated charcoal can absorb enough toxins and chemicals to make a significant difference in your gut. And I certainly don’t do colonics. Watering out my chute has always seemed as pointless as scrubbing the tubes on a vacuum or cleaning the toilet’s U-pipe. I don’t need it to sparkle, it just needs to move things along.
As for keto, it’s short for ketogenic and the diet encourages low-carb, high-fat eating, so it’s similar to the meat- and protein-focused Atkins diet. It’s supposed to promote efficient fat burning by turning it into ketones in the liver, which supposedly increases energy to the brain. It has been suggested keto is good for treating kids with autism and epilepsy by altering their metabolism and behaviour. Call me a sceptic on this front.
I think years from now people will find their yoga attire as embarrassing as their mom’s 1980s Jazzercise leotards
Food has never been a panacea for staying young and living forever. Whatever you consume has to be balanced with the rest of your lifestyle and habits. The Mediterranean diet that’s heavy on the olive oil and vegetables contributes to those people’s long life because they also hike up and down hills every day, and march off each morning to milk their cows and tend their tomatoes and herb gardens.
Exercising is great but most Lululemon-wearing yoga-holics with their raw food lunches are actually more interested in fashion and Instagram. Fitness is a means to an end – and I’m not sure health is their end. Where’s the balance in sun salutations in the morning and then re-toxing your body in the evening with rounds of drinks – even if they’re low ABV cocktails?
I’m not suggesting yoga is a trend that will go away but I think years from now people will find their yoga attire as embarrassing as their mom’s 1980s Jazzercise leotards.
To me, holistic health doesn’t mean intermittent fasting, vitamin IV drips, oxygen bars, cryotherapy chamber treatments, or turmeric and CBD supplements. It’s eating in moderation and moving around more than sitting. It’s also allowing myself to indulge in fried chicken when the occasion strikes but showing some restraint and discipline at other meals.
Given what I know, would I consider a keto diet? If I have to cut pasta and dan dan noodles completely out of my diet, then forget it. That kind of life is probably not worth living.
