TREAD WARILY IN NUTRITION BATTLEFIELD
Armchair experts a worrying trend when people’s health and wellbeing is the bottom line.
THERE is something truly magical about activewear.
It’s not just the way that it oh-so-comfortably yet everso-unflatteringly hugs every curve, nor even the way that it seems to absolve the wearer of ever actually being active.
No, it’s that it seems to miraculously transform many a mum in a pair of Lorna Jane leggings into a nutritional expert.
At least, that’s according to the social media sites where they spruik their stock of wellness supplements.
My IRL friends complain of feeds full of women gushing about how their bodies, their families, their lives, their finances have been transformed ever since they started not just taking Brand X pill/powder/juice/cleanse … but selling it too.
These #bossladies and #mumpreneurs appear to be making a killing … but their lust for the marketing life is also killing friendships. There is only so much direct selling a FB contact can take before you hit the unfriend button.
Remember the good old days when all we were exposed to was a simple Tupperware party? Sure you had to decipher the coded language … a sudden invitation to a not-so-close friend’s morning tea inevitably meant you were about to be surrounded by a posse of passive-aggressive women extolling the virtues of a $30 ice tray.
I’ve paid triple digits just to get out the door from one of those things. And I was the host.
Still, at least with Tupperware the products were transparent. Literally.
Even with other multi-level marketing goods like Avon and Enjo, the worst you would end up with is a badly made face or badly messed house. #wouldntbethefirsttime
But with these pseudo supplements, you’re messing with your body. We no longer want a product to contain our food but replace it. It’s pyramid schemes gone pear shaped.
A good friend recently had an online rant regarding these products. And with good reason. She’s a dietitian and has seen the harm caused by others buying into ‘helpful’ healthy advice.
Alarmingly, the drug believed responsible for the horrific overdose at Saint Stephen’s College was, until recently, sold in Australia as a health supplement.
Phenibut was banned by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration just weeks ago due to health concerns relating to withdrawal and overdose.
Often sold under the brand names Noofen and Citrocard, the ‘untested’ supplement was extremely easy to buy online without a prescription as a nutritional supplement in powder or capsule form until the ARGA ban came into effect on February 1.
Dietitian Vivienne Pither says while this is an extreme example, synthetic superfoods are not a one-size-fits-all cureall and can in fact exacerbate underlying issues from allergies to thyroid issues.
“Everybody seems to be an ‘expert’ in nutrition,” says Vivienne, who completed a Master of Nutrition and Dietetics.
“I don’t know one person who couldn’t give me ‘nutritional’ advice to lose weight, feel amazing, fix ‘adrenal fatigue’.
“I often say eating well is not rocket science, but you know what? It kind of is.
“Before you go and buy some latest juice powder, metabolism-enhancing supplements, liver detox plan, or fairy dust, ask them what are their credentials? Can they explain the Kreb’s Cycle and how food is transformed into
energy at a cellular level ... step by step?
“Where did they get their information from? New Idea,
Men’s Health or a multimillion-dollar pyramid selling company?”
Unlike dietitians who study to complete a minimum fouryear university degree, the Lorna Jane ‘experts’ have no governing regulatory body, no insurance, no provider number and absolutely no liability.
Also unlike dietitians, they are free to crowd their websites with testimonials and sales pitches.
Look, I’m sure many of these juices and powders and pills do have a positive result whether via increasing personal mindfulness of food consumption or simple placebo effect.
If you believe in the product, that’s great – so long as you have done your due diligence before foisting it on the rest of us.
But there is a simple science to successful selling: it’s called etiquette. Please ladies (and gents), stop bombarding us with your sales pitches posed as happy family posts.
Create a business page and let us like you if we want to.
It’s just food for thought.