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The problem with social media influencers' obsessions · Scientific Health: Education and Human Performance

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Thanks for joining today before we get started
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Please make sure that you have subscribed to the various feeds that we're getting published on whether here on the podcast
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On YouTube or on the other avenues of publication including sub stack and please make sure you're following us on
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Instagram and on threads to get the latest information that we're putting out there
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This issue is nothing new. It's always been there. The problem is is that the ability for us to communicate with each other has
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Has never been greater
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Everybody has the ability to be a publisher
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Everybody has the ability to be a content creator and the problem is is that there's very little fact-checking in a lot of information
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That gets put out into the public forum
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very few
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Publishers are willing to offer citations willing to offer
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references particularly when we are presented information in
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In one minute, two minutes snippets in which we claim that it's about keeping the attention span
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But that leads to a host of other problems when most of these publications
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are related to
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What we should or should not be doing in order to have health or to somehow
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Re-establish our health but it's also important to remember that the ability to communicate with each other is
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essential if we are attempting to build communities
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attempting to have some sort of
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Interactions with each other that we would not normally have otherwise
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Where we can build positive communities where we can share what we are doing with others
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Not in an effort to convey that what we're doing is the best
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But to show what is possible
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What can we do in order to be healthy even if we aren't experts and that's part of the problem
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Are the problem is that we attempt to conflate?
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What we see being presented to us in these short snippets in these one minute two minute videos as being truth
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without understanding that it might not be true and
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So it is important that we take a step back and look at what is being presented to us
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and whether or not we are being fed
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information
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Disinformation or misinformation so let's talk about that warning the following
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Presentation contains information that might contradict what you have previously heard or believed to be true about how the human body works and
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Can change material that is not suitable for closed-minded individuals?
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Enjoy there are billions of tips and suggestions that have been hash tagged within the social media feeds
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Over the last few years and it would take us billions of hours to go through each one of those various types of
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Presentations as relates to the suggestions that are this is how to be healthy
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This is what you should do or should not do. This is what needs to be avoided. This was this is what needs to be
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Accentuated within your life in order to be healthy. I think it's better to take a look at okay
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Who is actually presenting this information? What are qualifications that we see and
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out of all of the various platforms that we
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follow
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the most often advised
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Materials the most often advised suggestions the most often advised
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recommendations
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the most often advised recommendations for
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What nutrition you should have what exercise you should do what supplements are necessary?
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what
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additive to
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What additive is needed to be consumed or needed to be avoided?
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tends to come from non-qualified individuals or individuals that do not have
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degrees do not have certifications
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do not have any type of
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standing in their
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in their field of
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Recommendations that is we're getting recommendations for getting trends that are being established by people who don't have standing
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to make the suggestions that they are making
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When we look at what's out there about based off of
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rudimentary surveys
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about
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30 of the suggestions come from qualified individuals, which is alarming when we think about
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What type of information and what type of disinformation and what type of misinformation?
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Might we be subjected to?
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within the social media feeds that are going to build
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Our ideas and our ideals around what we should be doing should not be doing
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in order to establish
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or order to reestablish
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our overall health
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along the same lines
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Less than 10% offer a disclaimer very similar to the disclaimer that came in after the intro to this discussion
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About what you're being subjected to
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What type of evidence is being supported? What type of evidence is being refuted?
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There is very little qualifications to the suggestions that are being made whether it is from the
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Expert or whether it's from the person who claims to be an expert
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There is an over
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Emphasis on physique there's an overemphasis on body image
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Within the presentations that are being made within the social media
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Presentations that lead to other issues that we have seen a rise in over the last few years
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That we had started to see a decline in over the last few decades related to
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body dysmorphic issues
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There are a number of
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these
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Publications that are focused not on information not on disinformation but on selling products
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Somewhere in the neighborhood of about 10%
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off of survey data
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Are promoting some sort of product that is used in the guise of promoting weight gain or weight loss
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most often weight loss
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Most of the presentations that we see are going to encourage some some sort of
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Or in some part encourage
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self diagnosis and self treatment with the understanding that
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It is your body you should be using
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But it is your body you should know what you are doing most of the advice that we see is coming from people with
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lack of qualifications
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lack of qualifications that can
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Accentuate health issues that someone has because they're being
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advised to self diagnose and self treat the overexposure of
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of content skews what we understand to be health and what we understand to be healthy in which
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most of the presentations
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are
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under the guise of weight and weight loss as the primary
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Factor when it comes to health and being healthy
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There is a
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viral
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epidemic of
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misinformation as relates to nutrition and nutritional supplements necessary to to quote maintain
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balanced hormones to quote maintain
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healthy immunity to quote assist with sleep
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There are a number that are following the misguided notion
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That body image and body morphology somehow is the indication of your metabolic rate
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There are various trends out there that can lead to
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consumption of foods that are known to have
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That are known to be toxic when taken in
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high amounts there are
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Trends that are not new that we have unfortunately had exposure to
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since the early 2000s based off of
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Hollywood
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personalities
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personalities that students would recall I would label as doctor actor or doctor actress in the guise of under underlying
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The fact that we're being pitched
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information from people who may not have
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The knowledge to pitch that information
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personalities that would providing their
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individual statements their
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Wanting us to have this sort of product
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be
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the
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best thing you can do for your health but is simply being promoted in an effort to
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Allow that hollywood personality to make money a trend that has expanded so that
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The mom at home or the dad at home or the teenager at home
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Now has the same platform that these hollywood stars
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Had in terms of trying to pitch distinct products once again
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under the guise of trying to make
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a buck in order to sell a product to the viewer
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There are dangerous eating trends that come about
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such as prolonged fasting periods
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such as doing water fasts such as doing
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milk fasts such as
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consuming mushroom coffees
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that have very little scientific backing to what is being
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Presented not only is there very little scientific evidence backing what is being presented
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a lot of what is being purported as coming from the
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Fasts from the various diets that are being presented a lot of the claims of benefit
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Are actually refuted within the scientific literature. Not only are they refuted
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They've been shown to have deleterious health effects
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If followed for prolonged periods of time when we start looking at recommendations being made as relates to diet and exercise
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the
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presentation of information
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Establishes and emphasizes the need to have some sort of quote unquote lean physique a physique
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that most individuals
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May not be able to obtain
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that lead to
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poor goal setting
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And the aversion in the long term to exercise to physical activity
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into nutrition that can promote healthiness
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Because of adverse effects they get that come from poorly developed and misguided
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nutritional programs and exercise regimens
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and
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while I promised myself that I wouldn't go out and
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intentionally label distinct
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trends and distinct tik tok themes
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Within this I want to try to keep more general. I think it's important to actually point out a few of the various
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Viral trends that fit into this highly deleterious
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effect on overall health
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And so i'm going to name just a few of the trends here before we get into what we can do in order to combat
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a lot of the misinformation
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disinformation
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and
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perpetuation of myths
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within the various trends that are out there and so the
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Kind of prominent trends that we have seen over the last few years take off include things like the the water talk movement
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Include things like the what I eat in a day videos
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things like the water similar to the lettuce water
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and the drinking of chlorophyll the
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use of
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dry
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pre-workout mixtures the consumption of
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mushrooms in coffee form
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That is just a few of the various
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trends that we've seen
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that have taken over
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We also have things like the uh, the quote-unquote budget ozempic which is the indication that there is some
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Dietary supplement that will mimic the effects pharmacologically that we get from ozempic
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There is within this kind of movement
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a general idea that we have
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distinct benefits that come about from
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Taking the supplements from following these dietary trends
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from
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the
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various types of
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Exercise regimens that are out there which includes like the the walking. I believe the hot girl walk
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trend that is
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within the
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within the tic-tac algorithm
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But all of them tend to have the same grounding effect within them and the grounding effect within them is the misapplication of scientific principles
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The idea that if you can consume this one thing is somehow going to cure everything for you the the cure-all
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The the cure-all we have previously discussed the cure-all issues
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we have
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written about the cure-all issues in numbers and numbers of
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Publications we have discussed the cure-alls in a number of publications
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The problem with
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the cure-alls the problem with the
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idea that this one thing
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This simple change that you can make is somehow going to lead to you becoming healthy
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is a misapplication of the science is a
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false
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ideal about
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how the human body works as
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We discussed on the
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Talk relating to
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dairy products and
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milk and butter issues the
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The idea that we have somehow
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One thing that we can do that is going to
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be
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the
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Thing that's going to make us healthy
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Misunderstands the fact that the body itself is very complex and because the body itself is very complex
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we get an inability to have sometimes simple answers and sometimes
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We want simple answers because simple answers make us feel good
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Simple answers are easy to understand put quotes around that
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But we need to take into account is the fact that our body is a rube goldberg. It's something that is
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excessively complex in order to do
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fundamentally simple things
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And it's excessively complex because of a number of regulatory
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factors and regulatory features that come into play in an attempt to
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Maintain what the body needs in order to survive what we reference as homo stasis
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Which is really the idea that we need to have everything in certain harmony in order to optimally perform
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And that optimal performance is based off of what we establish as our
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need to optimally perform
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And this takes us into the discussion or the second part of this discussion
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with okay, what is
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Scientific literacy what is nutrition literacy what is
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Health and medical literacy
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And why is it important so that we can weed through all of the information that is being presented to us
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And it starts with understanding one thing about the body and one thing about the body that we tend not to see being presented
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within all of the social media feeds
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Is the fact that our body is established in such a way that we're able to
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Optimally perform in the conditions that we are being subjected to
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And the way in which the body is able to often perform is based off of feeling
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and the way in which the body is able to perform is based off of feedback mechanisms that are
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Established in such a way as to keep everything in balance to keep
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us in the
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grounded effect of optimal performance
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And optimal performance is going to vary based off of what i'm being asked to do
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And what i'm asking the body to do
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Is to determine factors that come from inside the body
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As well as factors that get imposed on the body
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And so this internal external
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Stress this internal external demand that we place in the body is going to dictate what the body needs in order to optimally perform
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And when we start looking at a lot of these trends that we see within the social media feeds
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The trends that we see are based not on what we would
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Expect within a normal population
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But what the individual who is presenting the information
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Has seen within their own
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Experiences
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In their own responses to those internal external stresses what the person has seen
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with their own
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homeostatic regulations their own feedback mechanisms
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And so when we start looking at this feedback mechanism's ability to optimally perform
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What is scientific literacy? What is nutrition literacy? What is health literacy?
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Going to allow me to understand about this
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So when we start to start talking about scientific literacy
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What we're really
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Discussing here is the ability to understand the scientific method
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And what is scientific consensus?
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And when we start looking at this scientific consensus and the scientific method
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it boils down to
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What is being presented? Is it an inductively inferred conclusion?
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That is a conclude that is a statement an explanation
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that is based off of
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Empirical evidence that is related to the fundamental principles the fundamental theories
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and the fundamental laws of
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science
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Or is it a deductively reasoned
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Explanation based off of
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preconceived knowledge or pre-know knowledge
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In an attempt to explain an observation, that's the hypothesis
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When we start looking at consensus we start trying to say okay, what does science say about
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the phenomenon? What does science say about
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Doing this type of exercise following this type of diet doing this type of
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eating pattern
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drinking these beverages
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sleeping in this fashion
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What does science say? When we say what does science say?
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We're not looking at fundamental principles. We're not looking at
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Fundamental laws per se what we're what we're looking at instead is what is the consensus of the empirical evidence?
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In science the laws and the theories are the
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guiding principles
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That explain why science is occurring why the phenomenon occurs
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And it's our rationale that we fall on
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in order to provide an explanation
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within our explanation
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through inductive reasoning
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Where we're going to take what we see in an experiment
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and place it into
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What is the overwhelming understanding of the phenomenon?
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Do the empirical observations that we get from our experiment
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agree or disagree
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with
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the previously established
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understandings that have come from previous experimentations
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When we do multiple experimentations that all point to the same inference the same
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inductively inferred conclusion
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Then the consensus is this is true. This is what is factually correct
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It is not an opinion. It is not a guess
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It is not a poll. It is not a vote. It is not a
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democratically
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selected
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option a scientific consensus is where we get
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the
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overwhelming majority of evidence all pointing to
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This one phenomenon being correct this one explanation to the phenomenon
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Being correct and so when we start talking about okay being scientifically literate what it means is understanding
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What is the scientific principles?
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What is the scientific methods that are followed that allow for us?
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to develop
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The consensus about how the human body works how health is developed
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And how to be healthy which takes us into the next bit of literacy that we have to look at
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And the next bit of literacy that we have to look at is nutritional literacy when we start looking at nutritional literacy
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one of the things we have to look at is the fact that
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calories are not the end-all be-all when it comes to nutrition while a lot of dietary recommendations
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and a lot of dietary
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storytelling is based off of
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calories and caloric balances
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Calories and caloric balances are the most important things
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calories and caloric balances
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energy intake and energy expenditure
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Is not what nutrition is
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nutrition is
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what type of molecules are necessary in order to
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perform the metabolism the chemical reactions that are necessary in order to
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Maintain the optimal performance that is necessary for the body
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If we look at a lot of the social media trends as it relates to nutrition a lot of the social media trends that relate to nutrition
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Do not focus on the nutrition as it is for optimal performance
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But the nutrition as to what the person hopes it is or the nutrition based off of how many calories
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Am I consuming in a day? And so we start looking at nutrition literacy what we have to look at is okay
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How many macronutrients do I need?
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For my body and this is where we have to look at the breakdown of
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carbohydrates proteins
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and lipids based off of grams to be consumed
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per kilogram or per pound of body mass
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but along with that the quality of
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the various quantifications of
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Carbohydrates lipids and proteins being consumed within a day
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Not all carbohydrates are the same
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Not all lipids are the same
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Not all proteins are the same
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This is where we have to look at. Okay, what type of carbohydrates are being consumed along with the fact that consumption of carbohydrates?
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Does not cause the spikes that are alleged to occur
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That we see within a lot of the social media trends
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related to nutrition are the carbohydrates going to be used for distinct types of metabolic processes
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What type of fats are being consumed? What type of lipids are being consumed?
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Are these lipids necessary for metabolic processes? Are these the essential?
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Fatty acids the essential fats the essential lipids that I need
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In order to have proper metabolic functions in order to build the cells that I need to build
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In order to maintain the tissues that need to maintain in order to build the hormones that I need to build
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When we look at the proteins, am I getting the essential amino acids that I need?
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Am I getting the branched chain amino acids that I need? Am I getting
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The proper amount of sulfur? Am I getting the proper amount of nitrogen?
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Am I getting the creatine that I need? Am I getting the taurine that I need?
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All of these are important in understanding what is being presented within the social media stories
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about nutrition
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If we look at a lot of what's being presented within the social media feeds as relates to nutrition
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It is boiling down to how many calories am I eating?
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But I can get calories from anything. It's calories just a unit of energy. It's a unit of heat to be specific
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But it's simply a unit of energy. It's not a mass
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It's not weight that can be added or subtracted
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The only thing we can add and subtract in terms of mass is mass
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Weight leads to weight. Calories do not lead to weight
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The last thing we have to look at in terms of the literacy issues is the medical and health literacy issues
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And the medical and health literacy issues is understanding what is health, what is healthy
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How is health developed? How is being healthy
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Developed and how is health and being healthy undermined by what I do?
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By my genes, by my environment
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By my hormones and this is where we have to look at. Okay that complexity of the body
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Health literacy is understanding that
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Health comes about through a complex interaction of factors
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Factors that influence my ability to have optimal performance
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The ability to have all of the systems of my body
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Function in unison with each other to allow me to optimally perform to the best of my ability
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Given the scenarios that I have to face and the stresses that I'm encountering
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That include things that I do
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My lifestyle, things that I'm born with, my genes
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Things that I'm taught about how to do my social and my familial background
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Things that are happening in my life, things that are happening in my life
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My familial background, things that are happening within my body, my hormone regulations
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Complex factors and complex interactions that minimize the ability to have a simple
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Single factor be the cure for anything and everything that I face in terms of my health
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Which remembers that health is the ability to have and maintain the optimal performance for the body
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In all scenarios, under all stresses
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Due to the complex interaction of all of those factors
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Where we get pitched distinct single item things
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Somehow will influence all of this complexity
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That does not hold true when we start to break down
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And look at all of the individual components of my health
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And so when we start talking about health and medical literacy
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What we're talking about is the understanding of how the human body actually functions
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In order to get this medical and health literacy
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We have to have a scientific literacy
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And we have to have a nutrition literacy
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We have to have an understanding of the basic principles of science
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The basic principles of human physiology
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The basic principles of nutrition
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So that we're able to grasp what is taking place within my body
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This is where we have to be able to work through information in a logical sense
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Even if that information does not agree with my preconceived notions
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Or what I hope is true
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We have to look at what does the evidence say
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And where does the evidence take me in terms of what is true versus what is false
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Something that most of the social media trends and most of the social media posts fail to address
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When we start looking at these literacies
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It's going to involve the interactions in a holistic approach with our primary care providers
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In an attempt to develop a treatment if we happen to need treatment
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Or a prevention plan so as to not allow the necessity for diseases
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To not allow for the need to have a treatment to any of the non-communicable diseases
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That plague our health care system currently
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Thanks for listening, like I said I didn't want to go into any of the specific trends that are out there
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But we will do some discussions with some of the students as relates to specific trends
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And specific questions they have about some of the trends that are out there
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And how some of the trends can lead to health issues in future talks
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