Whip It Good
If you've been on Facebook for long, you've undoubtedly seen the weight loss products flooding your feed. On the one hand, it makes sense. According to the National Institute of Health, 2/3's (68.8%) of adult Americans are overweight. In that light, it makes sense that a large number of people on Facebook would be using these MLM weight loss products, and it certainly benefits them to make non-stop posts about the products that make them money to such a sedentary, constantly scrolling and reading market as the social media scene. What better option than to drink that pink stuff, those green ones, swallow those pills or choke down those nasty dirt-like powders with the promise that you'll lose weight by changing nothing else about your lifestyle? It seems like the perfect solution.
Here's the secret: It's all nonsense. We're very much an eating disorder-driven society. I know when people think ED they think frighteningly skinny and starvation, but in reality the gamut of the mental illness of ED's runs from fatal starvation to super-morbid obesity. When you view food as anything other than fuel for your body that happens to taste good, too, that is disordered eating. Spend enough time practicing this disordered eating mindset and you are bound to develop an eating disorder. With 69% of Americans overweight and many others with ED's on the opposite end of the spectrum, nearly 3/4's of the American population has true, clinical eating disorders whether they recognize it or not.
Here's another secret: Real, true weight loss only comes by changing lifestyle habits and disordered eating thought processes, and when that is achieved you will maintain that healthy weight. Too simple, I know. It can't possibly be true. But actually it's not simple. It's very, very hard, and that's why it's true. Real, true, maintainable weight loss does not come from a shake, a pill, or endless hours of exercise.
The only reason a 'Pink Drink' might help you make any progress is because it is tricking you into drinking huge amounts of water when you wouldn't ordinarily. The water fills your stomach so you feel physically fuller faster, but it also hydrates you. Guess what? You'd get identical results if you drank that same amount of water without a powder added.
The only reason a pill or patch may help you make any progress is because of caffeine. Even the "natural," botanically-based ones have 'herb extracts' and the like that are nothing more than caffeine. Yes, caffeine temporarily boosts the metabolism, but consume it in large amounts long enough and you will develop adrenal fatigue, auto-immune disorders, migraines, and more. As soon as you stop using these pills or patches, your body will struggle to fuel itself without the caffeine addition, so you really will be under the illusion that your body has more energy and must be doing better on these pills.
The only reason a meal-replacement shake may help you make any progress is because of starvation. Every single shake I've seen on the market is full of metabolism-slowing and liver-taxing preservatives, alcohol sugars that act as laxatives(and are touted as safe for diabetics, but they actually raise blood sugars HIGHER for type 1 diabetics ), and are just chemical fluff, highly processed fibers, and artificial sweeteners and flavoring. They will do nothing for your body in a nutritive sense, but the alcohol sugars will push the pause button on your hunger by raising your blood sugar. They will not sustain you, though, and in the end you'll be more hungry, and your body will go into starvation mode.
I could go on for many, many more paragraphs, but who wants to read that? Most only want to read the success stories, temporary, fake, or otherwise, and see profound(and photoshopped 99% of the time) before and after pictures, not the truth of the science behind these garbage products. What would happen, though, if we spent our money on real food instead of chemical products? Shakeology shakes are at least $120/month. Plexus is more because they want you drinking their pink water, taking their diet pills and powders, and their probiotic. What if you spent $30 each month on a high quality, high potency, multi-strain probiotic like Probiotic Sufficiency or Garden of Life RAW Probiotics that naturally cleanses your body on the inside and speeds your metabolism naturally and sustainably, drank plenty of water(cutting out juices, sodas, and other water-replacements), and spent the same amount of money you already do on groceries, just made better choices? Even those with hormonal issues like PCOS and thyroid issues like Hoshimoto's lose weight this way, and it's permanent(unlike the diet products that make your system crash as soon as you stop them) and well-documented. Start removing the chemicals from your diet, helping it to function better internally starting with proper gut health, and putting nutrients in your body for fuel instead of whatever tastes good and is easily at-hand, and you can't not lose weight. That is scientifically proven every time.
I've struggled with my weight my entire life. According to most, "I have the fat genes." More people in my family have had gastric bypass than anyone I know unrelated to me, and almost all the women have weight struggles, thyroid disorders, and auto-immune disease related to hormones and weight. As a teen I was bulimic to deal with the struggle. As a young adult and mother I learned how to do better. How to eat better. How to be healthy. The last two years, though, since the birth of our fourth child, I've faced a lot of struggles and have turned to food, whether in boredom, anxiety, distress, and sadness, I ate to stuff the feelings or self-medicate to just have "good feelings." Now I am a mother, a wife, and an American in the vast majority that medicine labels by numbers as "obese." I need to lose 75 pounds just to squeak under the line of what is a healthy weight for my height, build, age, and gender, and I am so sick of all these fake stories of the impossibility of doing it naturally. I and my 'fat genes,' four kids, no time, no extra money, Hashimoto's Thyroid Disease, pre-diabetes, and hormone imbalance are "defying the odds" and getting healthy without spending a single penny extra or adding a single meal shake or diet pill or powder to my diet. In the last three weeks I have lost 7 pounds solely by eating just a little less at each meal and making smarter choices like making my coffee before I leave the house instead of getting Starbucks on the way.
Here's the secret: It's all nonsense. We're very much an eating disorder-driven society. I know when people think ED they think frighteningly skinny and starvation, but in reality the gamut of the mental illness of ED's runs from fatal starvation to super-morbid obesity. When you view food as anything other than fuel for your body that happens to taste good, too, that is disordered eating. Spend enough time practicing this disordered eating mindset and you are bound to develop an eating disorder. With 69% of Americans overweight and many others with ED's on the opposite end of the spectrum, nearly 3/4's of the American population has true, clinical eating disorders whether they recognize it or not.
Here's another secret: Real, true weight loss only comes by changing lifestyle habits and disordered eating thought processes, and when that is achieved you will maintain that healthy weight. Too simple, I know. It can't possibly be true. But actually it's not simple. It's very, very hard, and that's why it's true. Real, true, maintainable weight loss does not come from a shake, a pill, or endless hours of exercise.
The only reason a 'Pink Drink' might help you make any progress is because it is tricking you into drinking huge amounts of water when you wouldn't ordinarily. The water fills your stomach so you feel physically fuller faster, but it also hydrates you. Guess what? You'd get identical results if you drank that same amount of water without a powder added.
The only reason a pill or patch may help you make any progress is because of caffeine. Even the "natural," botanically-based ones have 'herb extracts' and the like that are nothing more than caffeine. Yes, caffeine temporarily boosts the metabolism, but consume it in large amounts long enough and you will develop adrenal fatigue, auto-immune disorders, migraines, and more. As soon as you stop using these pills or patches, your body will struggle to fuel itself without the caffeine addition, so you really will be under the illusion that your body has more energy and must be doing better on these pills.
The only reason a meal-replacement shake may help you make any progress is because of starvation. Every single shake I've seen on the market is full of metabolism-slowing and liver-taxing preservatives, alcohol sugars that act as laxatives(and are touted as safe for diabetics, but they actually raise blood sugars HIGHER for type 1 diabetics ), and are just chemical fluff, highly processed fibers, and artificial sweeteners and flavoring. They will do nothing for your body in a nutritive sense, but the alcohol sugars will push the pause button on your hunger by raising your blood sugar. They will not sustain you, though, and in the end you'll be more hungry, and your body will go into starvation mode.
I could go on for many, many more paragraphs, but who wants to read that? Most only want to read the success stories, temporary, fake, or otherwise, and see profound(and photoshopped 99% of the time) before and after pictures, not the truth of the science behind these garbage products. What would happen, though, if we spent our money on real food instead of chemical products? Shakeology shakes are at least $120/month. Plexus is more because they want you drinking their pink water, taking their diet pills and powders, and their probiotic. What if you spent $30 each month on a high quality, high potency, multi-strain probiotic like Probiotic Sufficiency or Garden of Life RAW Probiotics that naturally cleanses your body on the inside and speeds your metabolism naturally and sustainably, drank plenty of water(cutting out juices, sodas, and other water-replacements), and spent the same amount of money you already do on groceries, just made better choices? Even those with hormonal issues like PCOS and thyroid issues like Hoshimoto's lose weight this way, and it's permanent(unlike the diet products that make your system crash as soon as you stop them) and well-documented. Start removing the chemicals from your diet, helping it to function better internally starting with proper gut health, and putting nutrients in your body for fuel instead of whatever tastes good and is easily at-hand, and you can't not lose weight. That is scientifically proven every time.
I've struggled with my weight my entire life. According to most, "I have the fat genes." More people in my family have had gastric bypass than anyone I know unrelated to me, and almost all the women have weight struggles, thyroid disorders, and auto-immune disease related to hormones and weight. As a teen I was bulimic to deal with the struggle. As a young adult and mother I learned how to do better. How to eat better. How to be healthy. The last two years, though, since the birth of our fourth child, I've faced a lot of struggles and have turned to food, whether in boredom, anxiety, distress, and sadness, I ate to stuff the feelings or self-medicate to just have "good feelings." Now I am a mother, a wife, and an American in the vast majority that medicine labels by numbers as "obese." I need to lose 75 pounds just to squeak under the line of what is a healthy weight for my height, build, age, and gender, and I am so sick of all these fake stories of the impossibility of doing it naturally. I and my 'fat genes,' four kids, no time, no extra money, Hashimoto's Thyroid Disease, pre-diabetes, and hormone imbalance are "defying the odds" and getting healthy without spending a single penny extra or adding a single meal shake or diet pill or powder to my diet. In the last three weeks I have lost 7 pounds solely by eating just a little less at each meal and making smarter choices like making my coffee before I leave the house instead of getting Starbucks on the way.
THIS. THIS is the real deal! " It's very, very hard, and that's why it's true." I spend much of my gym time thinking "it was SOOO easy to put the calories down the hatch, and here I am having to kick my but and work HARD HARD HARD HARD to un-do the effects of those poor choices." I WANT my brain to register the hard work I will have to do to "pay" for the indulgence. It's definitely causing me to be more intentional about every bite I take and liquid calorie I gulp. Great post Sister! <3
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