Should You Base Your Diet Off a Documentary?

Every few months, Netflix will drop a banger of a nutrition doc, and the whole fitness industry takes a collective intake of breath (at least, the educated coaches do. The more dogmatic trainers of the world? Cross their fingers that the latest flick will back up their current beliefs, and will frantically poke holes if it doesn’t)

Here at The Armoury we love that people take the time to improve their knowledge on how best to improve their health, trim up their waistline, and hit heroic PBs in the gym. It’s actually why we created an entire video library of education modules within the membership site for our clients

The fact people are taking the time to hit on a 2 hour film about the benefits of cabbage, rather than the latest Bourne flick or series of Queer Eye actually speaks a lot about a general increase in interest in what makes our bodies tick

(although you’ll soon see why I’d always go for a solid Queer-Eye marathon over most Nutrition Docs)

​no, it’s not the pursuit of new information that’s the issue- it’s firstly, the abundance of choice that makes it confusing to know where to turn, and secondly, the one-sided nature any documentary of note has to take in order to generate enough interest to justify its production

Have you ever had a conversation with someone that’s not listening to your input, rather they’re waiting for their turn to speak?

You know the type- that has started a topic of conversation with you, with a locked and loaded opinion they’re going to unload upon you in every gap they can, regardless of what retorts or opinions of your own you may have (I’m writing this in Mid-brexit Britain and leading into the US election push, so I know full well that everyone will have experienced this probably within the last hour)

It’s frustrating, isn’t it, when you know full-well you’re only getting one side of a discussion?

Even more frustrating, if that person is prone to over the top exaggerations, and occasionally holds up flash cards to illustrate a point with no solid scientific or logical backing (but a hella slick looking powerpoint overrides the need for that anyways, am I right?)

that loud, exaggerated one-sided conversation? Is for better or worse- the human embodiment of a nutrition documentary (they are created for views, after all)

which makes it confusing if you’ve had a busy week at work, don’t have the time to dedicate to researching every claim made with their fancy accompanying graphics, and do genuinely want to make a change to better your health

If you watched one documentary and read one article from popular men's and women's health sites a week you might find yourself changing diets 3 times a fortnight

One week gluten is killing you, then it’s red meat, then you should be eating only meat, next it’s keto, weight watchers, a magic detox shake...

geez, I can understand just wanting to order in a Dominoes and give up on the entire concept of health, it seems like even the smartest minds haven’t figured it out, so what chance do you have?!

Except they have. Figured it out that is

Science is a funny thing- things need to be a theory before anything gets tested to test its validity

that study then needs to be peer reviewed to assess the results and it then needs to be repeated a number of times, before we can start to look at it as close-to-fact 

what a documentary and sensationalist article does however, is take a single study as fact (often misrepresenting them at that), and then exaggerate it to get the most views it possibly can (who’s going to click on a boring “news story” or movie after all?) 

So, how do we sort the fact from fiction, and avoid getting duped into eating only green vegetables that have been soaked in the juice of 17 virgin beetroots overnight?

here are the three THINGS you need to CONSIDER before blindly following netflix advice...

Firstly- accept documentaries are entertainment, not education

They can have a little of the latter. However taking anything on face-value where eye-balls = money is a sure-fire way to get mislead

Secondly - Could the touted benefits be easier explained...

Remember back when we discussed the need for studies to be peer reviewed, and repeatable. Well the top-level of this is called a “meta-analysis”, where all of the peer-reviewed data is reviewed as a whole, and conclusions are drawn from that data 

This gives a far more accurate overview of the information we have

and the number one “law” we have in the nutrition world, the driver of body weigh change- is the law of “thermodynamics”

which refers to the need for a caloric deficit to effectively lose weight, and a surplus to gain weight- meaning if you consume fewer calories (energy) than you use moving / existing as a human? You’ll lose weight. Do the opposite, and you’ll gain it

This is the only driver of fat loss

For example if you cut out all carbs? You’ll usually reduce calories

If you cut out all solid foods in lieu of liquids? You’ll usually reduce calories

If you eat only meat? You’ll usually reduce calories

Let’s say you turn vegan, and go from your usual diet of processed overly caloric foods, and replace those foods with nutrient dense vegetables, that are high in fibre and keep you fuller for longer? You’ll usually reduce calories, and enter into what’s called the “vegan honeymoon”

Truthfully all diets usually have this “honeymoon” phase, where you feel the benefits of a reduction in calories, and usually an increased awareness of your intake

Which brings us to the third rule when considering a change in dietary intake 

​Can you see yourself eating this way long term?

If you can’t? Start with something more manageable. Because currently we have a nation of yo-yo dieters. With more information out there than ever, and yet most people “failing when they don’t make a change”

It’s hard to know how to sort the fact from the fiction (although the less extreme the diet change, the better)- for example increasing vegetable intake Vs cutting out everything that isn’t a veggie. Or removing all meat Vs reducing processed meats. Or cutting out all carbs Vs enjoying all foods in moderation

If you want a genuine, scientifically backed solution to your dieting woes, and to stop suffering through the mindless misinformation most fad magazines and entertainment docs put out?

CLICK HERE and enter your details, and we’ll send you across a the ultimate Guide to never “dieting” Again

It’s a free PDF we put together to stop you from having to fall for any fad diet, or overhyped Netflix documentary that puts forward a convincing case for eating only foods that begin with the letter “S”

​because everyone deserves the underlying nutrition information need for real, long-term change