Good For You is Bad For You

I had an interesting conversation with somebody the other day that went something like this:

Them:  I’ve been eating more fruit lately, isn’t that good for you?

Me:  Well, it sort of depends on how much you’re eating.  Eating too much fruit can be “bad for you” if you take in too many calories.

Them:  So fruit is “bad for you”.

Me:  No, fruit is full of nutrients and fiber and usually provides less calories and sugars per ounce than other processed foods.

Them:  So fruit is “good for you”.

Me:  It depends on how much you eat…

This is a conversation I have had in different formats on many occasions.  I understand where it’s coming from, but it greatly concerns me.  You want to understand how your body works.  You want to be healthy.  You don’t want to do things to yourself that are harmful.  The news media and advertising agencies capitalize on these fears by feeding you incomplete and inaccurate information in a seemingly clear and understandable way.  They have only a few minutes to explain to you something that is rather complicated so they chip away many essential facts leaving a skeleton of the truth.  The problem with this is that life can be complicated. It is not always possible to make something simple and explain it accurately at the same time.

So what’s the simple answer to all these questions?  The reality is that very little in this world is absolutely bad for you or absolutely good for you.  It’s all a matter of degree and quantity.  I’ll give you some examples:

Drinking plenty of water is good for you, right?  True that water is necessary for life and you’d die in a few days without it.  I myself have seen many people nearly die from dehydration but did you know that you can also overdose on water?  I have seen people have grand mal seizures from drinking too much water.  So water is good for you in the right amount and bad for you in the wrong amount.

Another example:  Cholesterol is bad for you, right?  It is true that too much cholesterol greatly increases your risk of heart disease, but did you know that cholesterol is the backbone of many of hormones that are essential for human life (e.g. testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol).  Without cholesterol you would not be long for this world.  So cholesterol is “good for you” then, right?    The ultimate answer is that cholesterol is good for you in the right amount and bad for you in the wrong amount.

You can also see my post “How They Manipulate You“.  Just like water and cholesterol, giving things labels like “all natural” and “organic” will run you into the same problems.  We think that things that are all natural or organic are automatically good for you.  This is a result of somem masterful brain washing by Madison Avenue.  Feces is both all natural and organic but I wouldn’t call say that it was good for you.  Check out the post for more info.

I hope you get the point.  The bottom line is that there is so little that is clearly bad or clearly good for you that it is at best useless and at worst potentially harmful to describe things in those terms.  You make yourself vulnerable to manipulation and failure in your weight loss attempts.  True virtue lies in moderation.  It is my hope that these posts and The Weight Loss Counter Revolution book will educate you to the point that you understand the nuance and complexities of your health.  In doing so, it is my great hope that you will be immune to all the tricks and manipulations.  Keep coming back for more insigths and good luck!