The wellness industry sucks sometimes. I’m sick of hearing about weight loss tea. Whilst we are on it you can shove your weight-loss pills where the sun doesn’t shine too. Sod your shakes and your qualifications, I don’t care for them.
I’m over it. Sick of it. That goes for clean eating too. I like sugar!
It’s about time the wellness industry was actually about helping people get well and feel better about themselves rather than popping pills, necking shakes or making you feel bad for having that pizza.
Don’t get me wrong, I actually like a greens shot and in the past I’ve found some (very few) supplements to help, but here’s the thing they aren’t the answer.
They aren’t the answer because they don’t change your relationship with food. They don’t stop you from feeling bad when you gain some weight because you’ve fallen off your plan. They don’t teach you to just love yourself where you are right now. They don’t help you create healthy habits with food and exercise.
Shakes and all that have their place, and some perhaps aren’t all that bad. Perhaps some are even beneficial. Perhaps some will even help you get to where you want to be, but here’s my issue with it. Everyone selling them will tell you how there’s is the best and you know something it’s subjective.
If one is way better but it’s triple the price, then yikes, frankly I’d bloody hope so. You get what you pay for I get it. Is it any better though if I put myself in a financial uncomfortable position? Is worrying about my finances really wellness? Oh wait, you’ve got me covered, I can sell them, gotcha!
What if I don’t wanna sell them though? What if selling them doesn’t make me happy? Is pushing something you don’t enjoy really wellness too?
This may come across as a dig at distributors and consultants who do multi-level marketing (pyramid scheme) it’s not.
In fact, I’ve tried it before. Once with a company, I didn’t care for, but I was given all the sales spiel and you know I fell for it. Needless to say, I didn’t last long. Another time, genuinely loved 90% of the products (didn’t sell/promote the other 10%) but over time I came to really dislike the business when they changed how they did things so I got out.
There are cases where it makes complete sense. My point is I’m sick of people pushing something that isn’t right for everyone. You can’t inquire anymore without someone trying to sign you up. I just want to know the f*cking price, why do you have to inbox me that?
The wellness industry should be the most transparent, but it’s perhaps the dodgiest industry of them all.
I once had nutritional advice from a very qualified nutritionist who had a very good university degree in nutrition yet her advice made me feel I was going to faint. How’s that for wellness? I was very slim at the time and losing a lot of weight from her advice.
Maybe I wasn’t doing it right. Maybe it was me, but shouldn’t a good plan be something that the client can understand fully and follow? Shouldn’t it be something realistic that they can achieve with their own lifestyle? She was always keen to push her shakes, which were apparently only full of the good stuff.
Turns out that was bollocks. A fancy degree doesn’t mean someone has integrity and that they have your best interests at heart.
They’ll all tell you why their products are best, but let me tell you something even so-called ‘proven’ facts aren’t always what they seem.
We were once told people who had breakfast were skinner so therefore we should all have breakfast and eat regularly to be slim. So the breakfast industry soared and every day there is some new breakfast shake, bar and cereal added to the market, but it’s all just marketing.
See next you’ll be told it’s actually nothing to do with having breakfast, it’s actually because those who have breakfast are less likely to eat junk food later.
FYI you’ll be told this by someone selling a course on intermittent fasting. FYI I actually believe in intermittent fasting (unless your diabetic or something). FYI I also eat breakfast and believe in breakfast. I love breakfast. My point is everything is subjective. Different strokes for different folks.
The environment, subject, timing, and procedures will all impact results. Proven facts, statistics and qualifications aren’t always what they seem to be because things like the subject, environment etc will impact things and you’re very rarely given the full picture. Just the bias lens they want you to see. Don’t believe every fact you are told. So much corruption in ‘facts’.
So I want to leave you with this. What is actually wellness and a healthy lifestyle for you? For me, that means I workout, but I don’t put unrealistic expectations on how often I workout.
For me it means I eat processed food because I want to, but I try to keep it to my idea of ‘yalance’. It means I drink lots of water and camomile tea and very little of other fluids. It means I don’t eat meat, but I do eat cheese and fish and I make a conscious effort to eat more vegan food, but that’s just me. It means I’m always a sucker for a greens superfood shot.
You have to discover what’s right for you and you should feel good about it. Not deprived. Making conscious decisions to be healthier that make you feel proud of yourself because isn’t feeling good the point? I think so.
Good luck finding your Yalance,
Kirsty xx
