Mouthing Off | 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.
