Who Are We Talking About?
Today’s discussion is my initial response to almost every wellness question I am asked: It depends.
It depends on what? It depends on who we’re talking about. I will dive into how our individuality and our biological uniqueness determines the how and the why as it pertains to everything we do for wellness through the lens of fitness, diet, and behaviors. I’ll finish with a few tips on how to assess and determine whether or not a wellness tool could potentially be beneficial for you as an individual.
Everywhere in the health and wellness world there are recommendations and guidelines. Don’t eat too much of that, you should be doing this exercise, here’s the recommended daily amount for this food, don’t do too much of that, make sure you're getting enough of this. Here are some guidelines for what your fitness routine should look like, here’s what we think your diet should look like, here’s the “best” supplement (eye roll), here’s the best exercise for achieving (insert current body type trend).
There’s an important question that I feel these recommendations almost always bypass: Who are we talking about? I touched on this idea briefly in my blog about The Truth About Fitness, but I feel this concept requires a fair amount of expounding upon because it is relevant to so much more than fitness.
Let’s begin this discussion through the lens of fitness. When we’re hearing sound bites on social media and elsewhere, we hear statements such as “this is the best exercise for building bigger glutes” or “these are the 5 best exercises for men over 40” or “this exercise is best for blasting away belly fat”. But who exactly are these sound bites referring to? Let’s say men over 40. So, are all men over 40 the same? Absolutely not. Some men over 40 are in the best shape of their lives, others… not so much. Their skeleton, limb proportions, joint health, muscular development, strength, durability, tolerability, and body awareness are completely different from one man to the next. Every man over 40 has a unique body with a unique set of capabilities. Why in the world would they all do the same exercises? For some of these men, these exercises might be appropriate. For others, these exercises might be the exact opposite of what their body needs and even cause harm or injury. Every exercise applies a stimulus to a person's body, but their individual body’s uniqueness will determine the response to that stimulus, which can be and often is completely different from what the sound bite proposes. Why do we do physical evaluations on every new client we see for personal training? Because everyone inhabits a unique body and we need to understand their physiology to determine what stimulus to give them.
Let’s look at this through the lens of nutrition. This is a space that, for those of you who know my thoughts and experience on this, know I feel very strongly about in terms of avoiding and rejecting diet culture. Nutrition is something that is as unique and individual as our fingerprint. While the vegans, carnivores, and every diet charlatan or diet ideologue in between may have a disagreement with that statement, to them I would say if you think you’ve found the answer, and the answer is simple, you haven’t found anything at all. Everybody and every body has a unique gut microbiome, a unique set of foods they like and dislike, their own individual palette, a genetic, cultural, and childhood experience with food that is unlike anyone else's. The food that works for me would not work for you, the food that works for you would not work for someone else, and so on and so forth. Whether we’re talking about macronutrients, sodium and electrolytes, dairy, gluten, etc., we’re talking about completely different needs from one person to the next. Dairy works great for some people, and for people like me it absolutely does not. Gluten is completely digestible and works for some people, and for others it is a digestive catastrophe. People who are genetically wired to be extremely efficient at sweating or people who live in extremely hot climates have entirely different sodium and electrolyte needs than people who live in cold climates and are genetically disposed to sweat less. A person has had kidney stones or kidney issues has difficulties and needs to exercise caution with oxalic acid and needs to be extremely mindful of both oxalate and calcium intake, while a person who is efficient at digesting oxalates and has no history of kidney stones need not worry about foods like spinach or almonds. When we hear nutritional sound bites like, “Dairy does x, y, z” or “Red meat will give you a heart attack” or “Spinach is not a health food”, my first question is always to ask who we are talking about.
The same is true for a myriad of other wellness tools we hear sound bites about. Meditation, stress management, mental health, self love, personal development. All of these wellness categories are endlessly packed with narratives about tools that you are made to think you need to be using for fear of missing out on something useful for yourself. With this marketing mentality applied to wellness, it robs us of our intuition and ability to discern and listen to what our body, mind, and spirit actually needs and instead leaves us disconnected and endlessly feeling as though we aren’t doing enough for ourselves. You are always told you aren’t doing enough, you are made to believe you are missing or lacking your ability to listen to yourself, and you need to pay money to use tools that nobody actually owns that might not even actually work for you. Let’s flip this narrative and reclaim our personal power and intuition!
Here are my tools for greater discernment amidst the noise of the wellness world:
Ask yourself: Have I tried this or something like this before? How did I feel when I used this tool or behavior? Did it work for me?
Listen to your intuition. If someone offers you a tool and it immediately piques your interest and you find yourself thinking about it over and over again, give it a try! Conversely, if you have an immediately bad gut feeling or feel as though a wellness practice is not right for you, respect and honor your intuition.
When you try new habits and behaviors with wellness, don’t be afraid to let go of something that isn’t working for you. I can almost guarantee you don’t need as many wellness tools as the industry wants you to think you do.
Remember your uniqueness. What works for somebody else might not necessarily work for you. Be wary of influencers, trainers, coaches, etc. trying to sell you their own personal wellness, fitness, or diet programs and protocols. It’s highly probable that it won’t work for you and will be a waste of your money, time, and energy.
Remember that some of the most powerful wellness practices we have are built into our biology and are entirely free. Your breath, body, mindfulness, and nature shouldn’t cost you anything and don’t need to be an extensive protocol. Find what works for you and what feels best in your body.
Ultimately, I encourage you to ask this question endlessly when somebody tries to tell you what they think you should do for anything wellness related: Who? Wellness as an industry does us a disservice when it begins to behave as though it owns tools for wellness. Anyone working with you to improve your wellness is here to help empower you and offer you tools that you can pick and choose from based on who you are and what your unique individual and biological needs are.
Today’s quote comes from the great cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead:
Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
With all my heart and precious time,
Noah
