I was reading a research paper the other day.
Party time, I know.
It collated a number of studies……..
And used them to show whether certain health and fitness ‘myths’ were true or not.
I read it with interest (well, as much interest as you can read academic papers) as the abstract said a number of things that we hold to be true were myths.
Things like the quality of food and proportions of protein, fat and carbs in it not making a difference.
Which we believe they do.
The paper referenced a number of studies which appeared to show that these things, in fact, don’t make a difference.
But………
And you knew there was a ‘But’ coming, didn’t you?
That or ‘butter’.
## 10 points for that reference ##
But, one phrase that kept jumping out at me was some variation on ‘all else being the same’.
Ie: If you have, say 400 calories of meat and veg for breakfast versus 400 calories of cereal…….
And the rest of your days food intake and activity is exactly the same………
Then you will get the same weight gain or loss results.
Or that X amount of calories a day of microwave meals versus the same number of calories a day of fresh food………
And all activity, etc being the same………
Would also bring the same results.
Or that sleep and stress doesn’t make a difference if all else is equal.
All true, I have no doubt.
But, how much does your life resemble a controlled laboratory experiment?
Does changing your breakfast really have zero affect on what you eat for the rest of the day?
On how much inclination you have to do stuff (and therefore how much energy you burn)?
When you eat shitty processed food, does it make no difference to how much you eat?
The and for the rest of the day?
And, again, how much you move?
Does a lack of sleep and chronic stress make no difference to how you eat and move?
I would bet everything in my wallet (£13.31 and one euro still there from a stag do last September – I just checked) that wasn’t the case.
We are complicated creatures.
Both physically and mentally.
What we do affects other things we do.
All the time.
We appreciate why scientific study has to correct for that.
And the huge value such studies can bring.
But we also know what we see.
On a daily basis.
What we’ve seen in probably thousands of people by now.
The balance of food, it’s quality, sleep, stress, hydration, toxicity and all sorts of other factors DO make a difference………..
In real people.
Like you 🙂
BTW – if you like idea of training in an intimidation free atmosphere with like minded, real people – check out myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting
Much love,
Jon ‘Same Difference’ Hall and Matt ‘Jedward’ Nicholson