Display Search Bar

The Paleo Running Momma

Run Fast, Eat Clean, Live Messy!

Just Stop: 12 Healthy Practices that Aren’t Healthy At All

We all want to do the right thing, don’t we?  What are you doing right now in the name of health that’s actually hurting you?

If you’ve ever been confused about what is or isn’t “healthy”, you’re in good company. It’s information overload on a daily basis and each source tells you something different.  While I can’t offer you a miracle diet, solution, supplement, or fitness plan, I can for sure highlight 12 things you need to stop doing NOW for your “health” because (surprise!) they just aren’t good for you and, frankly, they suck!   Bad, bad news for all of us.   And for each one, you can bet I’ve been there at some point – questioned, contemplated, and ruminated – and came out on the other side knowing better.

12 Healthy Practices that aren't Healthy at all - paleorunningmomma.com

1. Weighing Yourself

Just stop doing this completely.  Get rid of the scale.  Why do you need it?  This one is PSYCHOLOGICALLY unhealthy and can lead you to obsess over changes in weight that mean absolutely nothing to you.  If you’re worried your body will sneak up on you and gain 20 lbs while you weren’t watching – come one – that’s just silliness.  And just shows you how crazy these things can make us.

2. Eating Low Fat and Fat Free Dairy Products

Fat is good for you.  Say it again and let it sink in.  Low fat and fat free stuff used to be considered healthy, but not anymore.  When it comes to dairy, the low fat and fat free kind will not help you lose weight, it’s not better for your heart, it contains more sugar, and the additives used to give non-fat milk a white color may be harmful.

3. Juicing

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with juicing healthy fruits and veggies and drinking that juice in addition to healthy meals and snacks.  BUT a “juice cleanse” where you drink liquid fruits and veggies INSTEAD of eating, chewing, digesting whole, real food is NOT healthy, won’t help you lose weight, find happiness, enlightenment, salvation or any other fantasy we in this diet-obsessed society ask our diets to make a reality.

4. Pretending to Exercise

Don’t punch me in the face just yet.   Ask not what your current fitness program can do for you, but what you can do for your fitness program.  Get it?  It’s what we put into the time we devote to exercise that determines what we get out of it, health wise.  If you’re at a fitness class or in your living room with a DVD and you’re not completing the exercises the instructor is prescribing, look to yourself, not the DVD or instructor, and figure out what’s happening.  Maybe it’s not the right workout for you.  Find something that you feel great doing, that you’ll want to do several times a week, and DO IT CONSISTENTLY.  But stop pretending.   It’s a waste of your time and energy.

IG3CNZ7B8L

5.  Eating Lots of “Healthy Whole Grain” Cereal

Have you ever wondered why the produce section doesn’t have a signs all over the place that say “buy our fat free apples (or broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, whatever) made with 245 whole grains, 18g fiber, heart healthy, cholesterol lowering, life extending, life saving….blabber blabber…because WE CARE ABOUT YOU!”  Bottom line – why do they have to try so hard to sell something that’s so OMG healthy?  Um..because it’s not really healthy, but they’d still like your money, please.  Just stop it.

6. Counting Calories

Similarly to weighing yourself, counting calories just makes you obsess and it is psychologically unhealthy.  Calorie counting, I’m sure, has been the beginning of nearly every downward spiral into the land of disordered eating.  Kids don’t count calories, animals don’t count calories, people outside of western culture don’t do it, so why do you feel you need to?  Counting calories puts the focus on numbers when a healthy focus always prioritizes REAL FOOD, including fat, carbs, and not-lean protein.  Real food is all good.   Stop tracking calories.

7. Trying to Lose Weight/Get Lean

Today in society “weight loss” and “health” are nearly synonymous.  But in the real world, they should not be.  You can be thin, medium, or fat and be either healthy or unhealthy –  truth right here.   Imagine taking these words out of your brain and physically separating them from each other for good.  They don’t belong together.  Okay, now that you’ve done that you can see the truth about attempts at losing weight, getting leaner, whatever.  These attempts usually involve extreme behaviors that do our health much more harm than good.  Carve your own path and aim for a better focus.

8. Avoiding Dietary Fat

“Is this fattening?” is something I hear people say all the time.  What they are usually trying to find out is if the food is high in fat, calories, or both, and, ultimately, if eating it regularly will make them fat.  Here’s the truth:  Eating high fat foods does not make you fat.  Eating high calorie foods does not make you fat.  Eating whole, real food does not make you fat.  Here are some things that MIGHT make you fat:  binge eating sugar because you counted calories all day, eating a box of “healthy whole grain cereal” in one sitting, eating 3 bowls of ice cream every night because you were “trying to be good” all day and “deserve a treat,” constant snacking because you never seem to feel full.  Eat more fat, you’ll feel better.

9.  Over-Exercising

The amount of exercise our bodies can handle varies a great deal – not just amongst different people but just for you as an individual, depending on so many factors.  Get to know the signs that you’re pushing your body too far and into unhealthy territory.  It’s easy to blame other things – because exercise is put on a health pedestal – when your body starts breaking down, and you might not even consider the need for more rest.  For me, I know that when I start feeling random pains, come down with a cold that I didn’t catch from my kids, or start dreading workouts that I’ve pushed it too far.  And if you don’t rest things will only get worse, so stop before it’s too late!

 

10.  Being Too Clean

Not talking about your food here, more along the lines of your body and living environment.  Look, I know you want to kill ALL THE GERMS, but “disinfecting” everything around you a) won’t kill every germ b) won’t prevent you from getting sick and c) might be flooding your house with chemicals that no one needs.  Our systems need to be exposed to some dirt and germs to maintain a healthy immunity and our bodies need bacteria.  Common sense over a compulsive desire to avoid germs will keep the whole family healthy.

11. Assuming Products Sold in Health Food Stores are Healthy by Default

Bottom Line – health food stores are just stores selling products.  You need to read the ingredients of a product and understand what it is before you are able to determine if there is any advantage for you.  Just because something is in a brown package and says “superfood” on it along with a bunch of words that could be intelligent (but you don’t know what they mean) definitely does not mean it’s healthy.  There is a lot of processed, overpriced, fancy-sounding junk food over at the health food store so please, be a fool no more!

12.  Not Considering YOUR OWN OPINION a Valid “Second Opinion”

Ever visit a doctor for something, have them check you out and hear what they have to say, and, although it doesn’t feel right, you trust them over your own instincts?  Well, stop it.  Ultimately, it is YOU living in your body, YOU have lived in that body for, like, forever, and YOU are the primary expert on that body.  Doctors can be incredible partners while navigating a health issue, but never underestimate the power of your own thoughts, feelings, and opinions about your own health.  It’s your job to be your body’s advocate.

Your Turn Now!  What else are we doing for our “health” that’s not really healthy?

You Might Also Like...

Reader Interactions

Reader Reviews & Comments

  3. Another on point post Michele! It drives me crazy when I see friends and family ‘dieting’ and eating ‘fat free’ food only to binge later on. Its common sense really, eat filling, wholesome food, don’t restrict and you won’t binge.

    Reply

    • Yes! I think people fear their hunger and keep going back to restriction because they think it will be damage control for the binge later? Or because a restricting, dieting mentality is widespread. Hopefully more people start realizing they can eat freely and be healthy 🙂

      Reply

  4. I know you have written about this before but I also think artificial sweeteners are something that people think are healthy but really aren’t. This is such an informative post- between this and your post yesterday I really wish everyone would just read this stuff and learn a little more about what is truly healthy!!

    Reply

    • Yes! So true on the sweeteners. I can’t believe people are fooled into thinking that stuff is better for them. Not that sugar is great either, of course. Glad you enjoyed both posts!

      Reply

    • As a former cereal junkie I hear you, I used to love them all. They just aren’t what I wanted them to be though, and I hate that the companies advertise to make them sound healthier than they are.

      Reply

      • GOOD point. Sometimes I buy Fruity Pebbles for my husband and on the front it says, “Good Source of Vitamin D” and we joke that it is healthy because there is Vitamin D in it. The point is to be informed. If you’re having a treat, that’s great, just know it is indeed a treat.

        Reply

  7. I’m not sure I follow on #5. Whole grains are awesome….and many of these cereals help contribute to a balanced healthy diet. My pre-run go to fuel.

    Reply

    • People overdo them and believe they’re healthier than they are due to advertising and not understanding the ingredients. They are not as “whole” as they claim to be.

      Reply

  8. Yes on the artificial sweetners! All of my co-workers drink diet this and diet that. Yuck! It’s totally Franken-food. And supplements, so many supplements! Along with juicing, I would say anything that is in replacement of actual food – i.e., these shakes that people are using as meal replacements. If you don’t plan to drink 2 meals a day for the rest of your life, what do you think will happen when you start back eating real food for those meals?

    Reply

    • Artificial sweeteners, and our whole general attitude toward them, make me a little nuts! Let’s just say I have strong opinions and wrote a couple of posts dedicated to them 🙂 And agreed on anything “meal replacement” I mean what’s the point of replacing a meal? Why can’t we eat food? Right, we’ll get fat 😉

      Reply

  10. I love all of these of course! and really appreciate you mentioning number 10, being ‘too clean’ – this is something I can really get into, don’t get me started. lol. I consider myself hyper clean about some things, but other areas I’m just not that fussed. I don’t believe in that anti germ soap stuff, I know it makes my skin freak out and don’t like the idea of it killing all the healthy things on my skin. I like using natural items like baking soda and vinegar, and also use the crap out of some hydrogen peroxide!!!! Oh dang I love that stuff, lol
    🙂

    Reply

    • Haha! Yes we think we can really control the bad germs but we’re just killing everything off, bad and good. I also hate that people still jump to antibiotics for everything.

      Reply

  11. Regarding the food items you mentioned, if it comes in a package (ie, it has ingredients) then you can probably find better food! Not always the case, and yes real life happens and sometimes you just need convenience, but as a rule of thumb watch out for packages. Good post!

    Reply

  12. Great post! I agree on all points. I also agree that artificial sweetener is bad for us. When I eat/drink something with it I start feeling like I’m coming down with the flu. It took me a long time to realize that was the reason I felt achey all of the time.

    Reply

  13. This is an awesome post! The biggest thing in my opinion is that people use a ton of various sugar substitutes which are really just processed chemicals, NOT made for our body to digest!!

    Reply

  14. Love it — Agreed on all accounts! One more I would add is the thought that “gluten free” mean it’s healthy no matter what. There are a lot of gluten-free products out there that are complete junk. If you’ve never heard of most of the ingredients – stay away, or at least don’t consider what you’re eating nutritious.

    Reply

    • Completely agree with that one too – packaged stuff generally is inferior, but looking at and understanding ingredients for when we need something quick is essential!

      Reply

  15. I have to admit that I am trying to lose weight, and I weigh myself regularly. I think it can go either way.. I legitimately have gained 50 pounds over 6 years on a vegetarian diet, so I know that I have to track my weight to a certain extent. I also realize that I may not get back to that number because I’m lifting weights, and I’m okay with that. But I’m 30 pounds down, and after the next 10 I won’t give so much credibility to the scale.

    And #12 is so spot on. I used to have such bad water retention in my legs that I was told I needed to have my outer veins removed. They essentially were not working to pull the fluids back up from my feet. Uh, turns out I just needed to eliminate gluten. And I came to that conclusion on my own, it was never suggested by the doctor. Since doing that, my feet get puffy maybe once a week instead of every single day.

    Reply

    • The scale can only take us so far before we can just let it go and trust that we can figure out what’s best for us. Glad you figured out the gluten thing too!

      Reply

  16. AMEN! Preach it sister!!!

    Yes, I agree and love ALL of these. I just finished my first whole30 and “only” lost 3 lbs and at first I was totally disappointed. But then I decided to just get rid of my scale, because its just a number!! I feel great, I fit into my clothes better, so who cares?!?

    Also, the “clean” thing, ugh! We are creating stronger germs and sicker kids with all of our disinfecting. I only use water and vinegar to clean, and when my husband sprays fabreeze I yell at him

    Reply

  17. I love this post! I especially like the point about counting calories. I am guilty of it for sure, but you’re right…kids don’t do it, and the other 92% of the world doesn’t either. They seem to get along just fine!

    Reply

    • I know! I think we do it both because it’s encouraged and also because we fear our own hunger! We’re told by “experts” that we don’t know how to eat and we need portion control, calorie counting, measuring, whatever. It’s bogus. We just need to eat real food when we’re hungry!

      Reply

  18. Great post! I agree with them all but am definitely guilty of stepping on the scale too often and over exercising. I try but.. yeah… I see a lot of people thinking they are being healthy by eating gluten-free products. I’ve heard several people who claim to be Paleo say, oh I can buy that bread it’s gluten-free. Drives me crazy!

    Reply

    • Agree on the gluten free stuff too! I think it’s that “health food” mentality and it’s like if something has a trendy health food catch phrase on the package it means it’s good for you. Usually just means overpriced and processed really!

      Reply

  19. Looooveee it! I was definitely nodding with every point! The stepping on the scale was a huge problem for me when I was at university. I finally stopped during my pregnancy when we moved. I simply never bought a scale, and have never felt healthier. Plus, paleo helps 🙂

    I’ve also gotten pretty annoyed about the fat thing before. Someone told me that eating bananas/avocados is bad for you, especially if you’re trying to lose weight. I would think it was the bags of chips that you’re eating after saying no to a banana because it’s too fatty! Grr.

    Reply

    • I have similar pet peeves with people saying that perfectly healthy, real food is “bad” for you and “fattening.” Drives me nuts! THIS is a big thing wrong with all of us. We are so weight focused that it makes us turn away from some of the best things for us. Plus it’s all wrong, and obviously not the bananas that are making someone gain weight.

      Reply

  20. This is a fantastid post! I stopped counting calories a long time ago! I want to be the healthiest me i can be, and I know obsessing over it isn’t going to help at all. I love your attitude and I think that you hit every single nail on the head with these!!!

    Reply

    • I totally agree on soda – and I was hopelessly (or so I thought) hooked on diet soda for a long time – but I get nauseous now if I see it and think about the taste. It’s really terrible. I never thought it was healthy, but there are a lot of people who think it is, or at least “neutral” when it’s really all bad.

      Reply

  22. Love this Michele (can’t believe I forgot to comment!):

    #10 – the anti-bacterial EVERYTHING … definitely has a huge impact on people.It is such a bad idea – ‘herd immunity’ is so important (big reason for vaccines as well!) …

    Another one would be ‘believing that because it works for someone else it HAS to work for us … or we’re doing something wrong’.

    Believing that exercise alone can cure all health issues and be the sole method of weight loss.

    Again, love this 🙂

    Reply

    • Good point about blaming ourselves when something doesn’t work. It’s easy to feel that way (in all areas) and I think that’s why people tend to stick around others who share the same views – no one wants to feel like there’s something wrong with them!

      And the exercise one is big too, especially with the weight loss angle. It amazes me that people obsess over how many calories they burn in whatever class (I’ve heard these convos at the gym) and ignore everything else. Also amazes me that people think they “should” be able to lose weight just by exercising. Doesn’t work that way at all!

      Both great additional points! Glad you liked this 🙂

      Reply

  23. Thank you!! I just love this post. There is so much out there in social media that is fake. I have a friend who posted that she quit drinking diet coke and she felt so much better. Later I asked her about it and she told me she only quit for a day! It is often a big fake on social media! Also, I love your points about eating and exercising appropriately and trusting yourself. Learning to listen to your body and act upon that is key! We do know our own bodies. Thanks again!

    Reply

    • I think the phoniness of social media is a huge issue and definitely a topic to tackle in another post! Very glad you related to this. It’s challenging to go against the grain and have confidence doing so but I really hope more people begin to trust themselves 🙂

      Reply

    • Thanks, and glad you enjoyed this. I hear you on all the “quick fixes” and it’s sad that people buy into fads that exist to make $$ off of our lack of confidence in ourselves.

      Reply

  26. This is a great post. I just an curious when you decided to get out if the cereal and diet coke rut if you just went cold turkey or gradual :). I feel like I am in a similar rut. I have tried to phase out diet coke several times but gone right back to it after a few days. I also love snacking and usually reach for seemingly healthy cereals or crackers …oatmeal squares, wheat thins, goldfish ect but I am sure this is all pretty terrible….I am just curious from one junkie to another how you gave it up 🙂

    Reply

    • With diet coke I did go cold turkey! I had tried to stop drinking it several times before but always went back and never dealt with my sugar cravings. Going completely paleo for 30 days cut my sugar cravings way, way down! As I remember though, by the second week I wanted nothing at all to do with soda! I had to completely change everything related to what and how I ate for it all to sink in. I know that others have success going slowly but for me, going in fully helped the most. The cravings really did go away quickly and I found that I enjoyed eating real food so much more.

      Reply

  27. Great post Michele! I agree with all of these…#1, 6, and 10 especially. I personally still get tempted to count calories but it is helpful to remember that most people,in a setting not influenced to do so, do not do this regularly. Interesting!

    Reply

    • Counting calories has become a huge part of our culture, but, interestingly so has more and more processed junk, soda, artificial sweetener, and people struggling with weight. With real food calorie counting just seems silly!

      Reply

Trackbacks

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.