Debunking Health Myths: Why One Size Doesn’t Fit All in Wellness

In today’s world, we’re bombarded with loud, dogmatic trends in the alternative health space. Everywhere you look, someone is preaching the next health holy grail:

– Cold plunge to cure your cancer!

– Intermittent fasting fixed my Hashimoto’s!

– How the Carnivore Diet reversed my autoimmune disease!

– Do this detox to fix your adrenal health!

We see these claims in YouTube videos, TikToks, Reels, and blogs. These narratives become problematic for two crucial reasons:

1. Over-Promising and Under-Delivering: These exaggerated health claims not only fail to deliver but also make alternative health practices seem ineffective and downright crazy.

2. False Hope: They give people a false sense of hope that this ONE MAGIC THING will fix them. The next pill, protocol, trendy diet, or supplement often bypasses the true work that needs to be done.

Navigating all the information out there becomes impossible. These narratives may help some people but don’t apply to everyone. Thinking they apply to you when they don’t can be problematic at best.

We have a nation of people seeking health and wellness, looking to get better, and not knowing where to turn. The conventional health space has its shortcomings, and the alternative space does too. The main problem in both spaces is they do something very detrimental: they forget that we are individuals. Individuals that need to be cared for and treated like individuals, with our unique health blueprints and situations well considered.

Let me tell you a story about a client of mine. We’ll call the client Stewart. Stewart has a debilitating wasting disease, and among the things we were working on together were weight gain and muscle strength. A few months into working together, we weren’t quite seeing the progress we hoped for, so I did what any good clinician would do and got curious. Leaving no stone unturned, we were going to see what needed shoring up in Stewart’s life.

After some discussion, I found that he was regularly cold plunging at a spa he goes to multiple days per week. I asked him WHY he was doing that, and he simply told me, “I know a guy who cured his cancer cold plunging. Everyone says that it fixes your metabolic health and that’s the root of disease.” This is a great example of yes AND….

While cold plunging may provide benefits to many, it’s a great tool, it’s not for everyone at every point of their health journey. Stewart’s main focus was to conserve, build, and tonify his system. Regularly cold plunging directly worked against everything we were aiming to achieve. His calories were going to warming up and cooling down his body instead of putting on fat and muscle. His body was being put into an undue stress state when he didn’t have the resources to be in that state.

We had to have a lot of conversations and do a lot of coaching around this topic. I had to correct the information and ensure him that he wasn’t missing out on the ONE THING that was going to fix his very complex health issues by skipping the cold plunge.

Here’s the thing… We’re unique; our health is unique. There is a level of nuance to the conversation that needs to happen when people are promoting things such as cold plunging.

Joe Rogan touts cold plunges as an amazing treasure trove of health benefits, but Joe Rogan is an already healthy guy not dealing with a wasting disease. What works for Joe Rogan doesn’t necessarily work for someone in a different situation.

This applies to ALL the diet hoopla, all the quick fixes, the protocols, the magic detoxes, and health hacks. There is context that needs to be considered, and the context is the WHO is engaging in such modalities.

I share this with you to empower you not to fall beholden to all the noise out there, to release the fear of FOMO, and trust that if there was some magic cure or fix, you would have already found it.

The journey to health is one that is so unique and personal. It involves finding what works for you and your unique situation.

It’s why I look at all my clients in a holistic way, seeing what is true for them.

If you are struggling with finding the balance in your health and learning what works for you, I invite you to join us for a free discovery call. We can chat about what you’re looking for and your unique route to achieving those outcomes.

Don’t be a stranger.

Namaste,