Nowadays, it’s not too difficult at all to get some advice on how to stay healthy. There are plenty of blogs trying to collect and collate health advice that has worked and want to help you stay on the straight and narrow. However, there’s also a lot of advice out there that might lead down exactly the wrong path. They might be trying to get your money, they might be untested, they might even have good intentions but bad ideas. Here are a few reasons you want to always look for a second opinion when it comes to health and fitness.
Misinformation sticks on the net
So much of our knowledge is assumed because it’s what we’ve always heard time and time again. Old wives’ tales, misinformation, call it whatever you want. You should accept a piece of online just because it matches up with some factoid you’ve always known. That’s how you get into those “healthy” practices that might not actually be all that good for you. For instance, the idea that smoothies are 100% healthy with little-to-no-downsides without considering the amount of glucose that tends to be in them. You have to be willing to challenge your ideas to see if they’re missing any semblance of truth.
Be wary of “experts”
There are a lot of people sharing health tips who aren’t exactly experts. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trust that they don’t know what they’re talking about. Many speak from experience or from their own degree of learning. If someone is trying to sell you on the benefits of a specific diet, supplement, or workout tool, that’s when you should look for their expertise. For instance, if it’s part of a diet, then you need to ask if they’re giving you bad nutrition advice. Do they show the science that backs up what they’re telling you? Can you find that same reasoning from other reputable sources? Are you given “guaranteed” results? If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
There are usually better alternatives around
Sometimes, the advice you’re getting isn’t necessarily bad. It just might not be the best option for you. If you’ve discovered the power of a certain exercise, then you should look up more information around it to see if there are other exercises that do it better or ways to improve your form to get better results and decrease your chances of injury. You should also be aware of the price tag that comes attached to such information, especially if it’s part of a whole workout regime. Like the updated Kayla Itsines review shows, there are many of these workout methods that seem like they have a reasonable price on the face of it. With a bit of extra research from other fitness nuts, however, you can see that the extended plan, which is usually what you’re truly looking for, costs a lot more than expected. Often, there’s a good chance you could get the equivalent for much cheaper from another source.
There’s a lot of pseudoscience going around
Then there are those who read up on one of the many holistic approaches to health and fitness going around. It’s uncomfortable disturbing other people’s’ beliefs, but when it comes to following health advice, you should be rigorous in investigating the science around it. For instance, looking at the notion of “detoxing” your life. You can detox the air of your home so it has fewer allergens, you can eat things that improve the detoxing nature of your kidneys and liver. But the idea of flushing your body of any imperfections and pollutants has been harshly contested by a number of sources. But because the idea caught on, it has become a booming health sub-industry.
You might even hurt yourself
When it comes to diets, in particular, you should always be looking to build an internal knowledge of what nutrition you need, how you measure calories, and what your body truly needs. That’s because there are a lot of dangerous diets that can help you achieve certain results but also increase your risk of causing yourself some hurt in another way. The Atkins diet and its role in increasing the risk of heart disease is a prominent example.
If something really works, then you’re going to be able to find the arguments for and against it but still be able to judge in its favor. Be wary of any health products or diets or exercises that have overwhelmingly positive receptions. There’s a chance you might not be seeing the whole picture.