Why does everyone think they’re like, the healthiest person in the world? If you did one spin class, stopped at Sweetgreen afterwards, and suddenly think you’re worthy of starting some #fitspo Instagram account, you need to chill. People (not me) need to realize they’re not qualified to be giving health advice online, and tbh most things people believe to be super healthy are just wrong. The internet is filled with a lot of bullshit wellness advice, so we’re here to set the record straight, starting with these six habits that you need to get over.
1. Eating A Super Early Dinner
Someone once made up a lie that eating late at night makes you fat. I mean, if you’re ordering Chinese Fast Wok at 11pm, you’re probably not the face of health, but food timing doesn’t actually matter. Some psychos people like eating early because they don’t like going to bed feeling super full, but there are actually no proven health benefits to eating dinner at 6pm. Like, yeah it’s the one time you’ll get a Sugarfish reservation, but it’s not actually making you lose weight. In fact, a lot of people eat an early dinner and then get hungry for a snack later on, so they end up eating more than they would have if they just waited a couple hours to eat in the first place.
2. Going On High-Fat, Low-Carb Diets
The newest fad seems to be these weird high-fat, low-carb diets. People swear by the Ketogenic lifestyle, which basically means eating no carbs and just pounding meat and avocados all day. I mean, it’s not healthy. Just because Demi Moore lost a few pounds on the Atkins diet doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone’s body. The theory behind these diets is that your body goes into ketosis (which sounds like a serious condition but what do I know), so your insulin levels lower and your body burns fat quicker. We’re not here to question some scientists in a lab in Missouri, but you’re better off skipping the extreme high-fat diets and just eating a balance of fats, protein, and carbs. Like, try eating a vegetable for once in your life.
3. Doubling Up On Workouts
With ClassPass leading the nicegirl fitness community and your local SoulCycle front desk staff offering you free classes, people are doubling up on workouts, thinking they’re being fucking heroes for staying on a spin bike for 90 minutes straight. I mean, we get the logic behind it: The more exercise you do, the more calories you burn, so the skinnier you get. However, your body isn’t a calculator, and the extra workouts could just be depleting your metabolism completely. If you’re doing an excessive amount of cardio, you could be overtraining your body and slowing down your metabolism, which will actually make you gain weight in the long run. Stick with one class. Like, how much free time do you have?
4. Eating A Ton Of Protein
Protein is another trend that has gotten v popular recently. All of a sudden, your grandmother is eating protein bars, 90-pound models are buying bodybuilding protein powders, and your favorite peanut butter brand is adding whey protein isolate to their products. Everyone thinks we need an excessive amount of protein to be healthy, and it’s just not true. Obviously protein is good for us and we need it to survive, but you don’t need to be adding in protein supplements to everything you eat. It’s important if you’re looking to put on some muscle, but if you’re replacing fruits and veggies with Quest Bars, you’re overdoing it. The average American eats way too much protein in the first place, which could, in the future, lead to issues like an increased risk for diabetes and kidney problems. Just saying, you probably don’t need that protein powder in your smoothie anyway.
5. Avoiding Egg Yolks
People in the 80’s started shunning egg yolks from healthy diets in fear of high cholesterol levels. Nowadays, that myth has been completely debunked, but people still seem to hate on egg yolks. While it’s true that egg yolks have a tiny bit of fat in them and egg whites have none, there are a ton of health benefits to the yolks, like iron, folate, and a ton of essential vitamins. Eating the yolk isn’t going to give you heart disease or make you fat, so stop stressing about only ordering egg white omelets if you don’t even like them. Order the regular omelet.
6. Obsessing Over Superfoods
The whole superfood craze has become a little insane. We have nothing against some green juice and quinoa every now and then, but just because Gwyneth Paltrow swears by her daily goji berries, it doesn’t mean we should start doing the same thing and think we’re gonna look like her. We’re not saying superfoods aren’t good for you, but you shouldn’t be loading up on açai bowls just because you heard they have antioxidants in them. Do you even know what an antioxidant is? Like, if you’re literally sprinkling chia seeds on everything you eat just because you heard that Kourtney Kardashian’s trainer told her to do that, you’ve gone too far.
