Nathan's Website
About me
I’m a health and fitness enthusiast! I’ll never know everything, but I share what I know with fellow enthusiasts and learn just as much from them.
Introduction
This is my opinion and advice on how to put your best effort into being physically healthy. I’ll share a brief view of my current understandings and point you to some resources for further information.
Open your mind
Keep aside everything you know about health and fitness. Start with nothing. Then add only the information you can confirm to be true.
To put this picture together successfully, you must only include pieces of the puzzle that belong. Drop every piece of health-and-fitness information you’re currently holding. Then start picking up the pieces of correct information (the pieces that belong), leaving behind the pieces of misconceptions. For example, let go of the idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, because this is not true and holding it will interfere with seeing a clear picture.
Everything you understand about health and fitness will make better sense and have fewer contradictions once you reestablish your understandings in this way.
Your first goal
Your first goal should be to learn how to distinguish good advice from bad advice because this is necessary to reestablish your understandings using only correct information.
Who is giving you the advice, what is the advice being given, and why are they giving you this advice? These are three basic questions to consider whenever advice is presented to you. Use your discretion and verify/investigate any information you believe might be untrue. I’m not suggesting you should be skeptical of everything, always; rather, you shouldn’t accept everything, always. Challenge what you believe needs challenging.
Here are three questions to consider when evaluating suspicious information:
Are people offering a product or service dishonestly?
Many people in the health and fitness industry are honest about what they’re offering, but obviously the opposite is also true. Some people want you to try, fail, try again, fail again, and continue this behaviour using their products or services indefinitely. And some people don’t intend to deceive you, but circumstances lead them into a dishonest situation. Using trustworthy sources, search for reviews of these people and their products or services.
Are people giving advice that is vague and misleading?
If someone says you should eat less to lose weight, he or she is not wrong, but this advice is not useful because it’s incomplete. This fragment of advice can lead you to do things incorrectly. Whereas, if someone explains, in a way that makes complete sense to you, how to decrease your body’s fat while maintaining or building your body’s muscle, he or she deserves your attention. Simply investigate and learn more about any vague advice you find interesting.
Are people innocently perpetuating common myths?
With good intentions, some people try to be helpful by sharing what they know, but sometimes what they know is actually not true (like breakfast being the most important meal of the day). Broscience can be harmful. Again, simply verify any information you find interesting.
When you consistently hear the same information from several trusted people, you can accept it as true—or at least as the most accurate information currently available. And as with any topic, our trusted experts won’t always agree about everything, so you need to use your discretion and sense of logic to build a picture in which every piece of the puzzle has its place.
Be healthy inside as well as outside—say no to any questionable substances!
Be healthy mentally as well as physically; don't be misled or do things blindly—educate yourself!
For you to be successful at health and fitness, you need to learn correct information—there is no magic involved.
The basis of my advice is finding and using reliable information to learn from—this is crucial.
Many reliable sources of information are available online; here are some examples:
Muscle for Life: http://www.muscleforlife.com
Michael Matthews has several articles and books, which you may find helpful.
Leangains: http://www.leangains.com
Martin Berkhan explains intermittent fasting. I've included this link to support my statements about breakfast not being the most important meal of the day.
MyFitnessPal: http://www.myfitnesspal.com
I occasionally use this as a tool to track the food I eat. Please explore other similar options, which you may prefer.
Many people in the health and fitness industry are honest about what they’re offering, but obviously the opposite is also true. Some people want you to try, fail, try again, fail again, and continue this behaviour using their products or services indefinitely. And some people don’t intend to deceive you, but circumstances lead them into a dishonest situation. Using trustworthy sources, search for reviews of these people and their products or services.
Are people giving advice that is vague and misleading?
If someone says you should eat less to lose weight, he or she is not wrong, but this advice is not useful because it’s incomplete. This fragment of advice can lead you to do things incorrectly. Whereas, if someone explains, in a way that makes complete sense to you, how to decrease your body’s fat while maintaining or building your body’s muscle, he or she deserves your attention. Simply investigate and learn more about any vague advice you find interesting.
Are people innocently perpetuating common myths?
With good intentions, some people try to be helpful by sharing what they know, but sometimes what they know is actually not true (like breakfast being the most important meal of the day). Broscience can be harmful. Again, simply verify any information you find interesting.
The basis of my advice
When you consistently hear the same information from several trusted people, you can accept it as true—or at least as the most accurate information currently available. And as with any topic, our trusted experts won’t always agree about everything, so you need to use your discretion and sense of logic to build a picture in which every piece of the puzzle has its place.
Be healthy inside as well as outside—say no to any questionable substances!
Be healthy mentally as well as physically; don't be misled or do things blindly—educate yourself!
For you to be successful at health and fitness, you need to learn correct information—there is no magic involved.
The basis of my advice is finding and using reliable information to learn from—this is crucial.
Resources
Many reliable sources of information are available online; here are some examples:
Muscle for Life: http://www.muscleforlife.com
Michael Matthews has several articles and books, which you may find helpful.
Leangains: http://www.leangains.com
Martin Berkhan explains intermittent fasting. I've included this link to support my statements about breakfast not being the most important meal of the day.
MyFitnessPal: http://www.myfitnesspal.com
I occasionally use this as a tool to track the food I eat. Please explore other similar options, which you may prefer.
Nathan's Website
