Category: Nutrition

Ep 4. Yoga Guru ≠ Nutrition Guru: The Cult of the Unqualified Wellness Expert

26/1/2020

Yoga teachers, please stop giving terrible dietary advice to your students. This episode is based on an article I wrote in 2017. You will also hear my two year-old mumbling in the background. Whatcha gonna do.

In this episode:

That time I gave terrible nutritional advice
Why people ask yoga teachers for nutritional advice
Some of the crappy nutritional advice yoga teachers pass on to their students
The perils of getting nutrition advice from a yoga teacher, personal trainer, or health coach
The likely prevalence of disordered eating in yoga circles
MLM health products in yoga studios
Even when yoga teachers are also nutritionists, be careful!
Where to go for safe, individualised dietary guidance

LINKS:
Original blog post:
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/blog/yoga-teachers-please-stop-giving-terrible-dietary-advice-to-your-students

Funky Forest Health & Wellbeing - online non-diet nutrition consulting services and in-person yoga classes

Grab your copy of my e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing

Funky Forest Health & Wellbeing Facebook page

Casey's Instagram

Support the show at Non-Diet Yogi Patreon

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Ep 2. Cleanse, Detox, Hurt: The Allure of Unhealthily Strict Diets to the Ascetic Yogi Psyche

26/12/2019

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Why is juice cleansing so popular in yoga culture? In this solo episode I take a deep dive and try to answer this question.

I also give a crash course in how detoxification actually works, and what you can do to support your body's detoxification processes without starving yourself.

In this episode:

What is juice cleansing? How it’s marketed vs. what’s actually going on
Why it’s so popular in yoga culture
How tapas and saucha may underlie and amplify the tendency towards spiritually-endorsed disordered eating and body dysmorphia
Ayurveda and juice cleansing
Disordered eating and eating disorders in Yogaland
My personal experiences with harsh yoga practices, fasting and orthorexia
The physiology of detoxification and how juice cleanses impede this
Why those initial “detox symptoms” and later, that feeling of “energised bliss” occur on a juice cleanse (it’s not what you think)
What you can do to safely support detoxification (if you wish to do so)
The next level of cray: water fasting in yoga circles

LINKS:
My articles on Ayurveda, TCM and Intuitive Eating:
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/blog/ayurveda-tcm-intuitive-eating-or-dietary-dogma
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/blog/beyond-pitta-kapha-vata-ayurveda-tcm-intuitive-eating

A biomedical look at the physiology of detoxification, how juice cleanses impede this, and what you can do to support detoxification:
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/blog/detoxification-so-not-about-juice-fasts-colonics
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/blog/your-bodys-lifelong-detoxification-kit

My article on the stress response of restrictive eating:
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/blog/the-honeymoon-period

Funky Forest Health & Wellbeing - online non-diet nutrition consulting services and in-person yoga classes

Grab your copy of my e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing

Funky Forest Health & Wellbeing Facebook page

Casey's Instagram

Support the show at Non-Diet Yogi Patreon

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Introducing the Non-Diet Yogi Podcast!

13/12/2019

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Errrrmaghaaad so it's finally happening.. I've released the first episode of my new podcast!

I warmly invite you to gather your earholes and tune in to the Non-Diet Yogi Podcast, where we explore yoga, earth-based living and gentle nutrition through a non-diet lens.

We will explore the wonderful, wacky and sometimes worrying places where the yoga world and diet culture overlap, as well as exploring how social justice, feminism, motherhood and bunch of other things all jive together within the Yogaland/diet culture Venn diagram.

In this episode:

Why this podcast needs to exist
Creating a podcast as a mum
A bit about me, including my personal and professional experiences with disordered eating and yoga culture
Why living and working on the Gold Coast (the L.A. of Australia!) was the perfect petri dish for developing Non-Diet Yogi
The need for the non-diet approach in the natural medicine sphere, and vice versa

Having been a guest on a couple of fantastic anti-diet podcasts myself, I am excited (and shitting myself just a tad) to join some of the great minds floating around in the Podosphere. My wish is to bring the non-diet approach, Health at Every Size and social justice savvy to the yoga and "wellness" space where I believe it is sorely needed.

I hope you enjoy!!

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The Paleo Diet: Pros + Cons

18/11/2019

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The Paleolithic diet. Road to wholefood-based wellness and weight loss? Or meat-centred craze based on shaky science? Perhaps there’s a middle way.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on the paleo approach to eating, and often it’s a strong one. From anthropologists to acclaimed authors, nutritionists to naturopaths, Crossfit trainers to colonic hydrotherapists, and pretty much any health-conscious individual in between – the paleo movement now seems less like a fad and more like a dietary era in itself.

What is it?

The paleo diet is a modern way of eating based on the presumed diet of Paleolithic humans.

Also known as the "caveman diet", "Stone Age diet", and "hunter-gatherer diet", it is a diet centred on fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts.

It has many different interpretations but generally excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils – basically any foods perceived to be agricultural products. Stricter variations of the diet exclude some or all fruits.

Generally it is a high fat, moderate protein and low to moderate carbohydrate wholefood-based way of eating with the intention of granting long term health, resilience, and well-being.

Like most “diets” or ways of eating, there are many different interpretations, and there is both good and bad to come out of it. Unlike many fads, there is scientific evidence supporting some of the Paleo diet claims. But how solid is the evidence, and what are the long term pros and cons of the Paleo diet? To answer these questions from a balanced perspective, we need to dive a little deeper.

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Essential oil ingestion: Just DON'T Do It

6/10/2019

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Got gut health issues? Down some OnGuard Softgels to sort out what-must-be candida.
Everyday detoxification? A few drops of lemon essential oil in your water everyday will have your liver squeaky clean in no time... all without having to eat an actual lemon!
Want to feel the spiritual benefits of frankincense oil extra swiftly? Chuck a few drops of that stuff down the hatch and feel your consciousness expand...

No, no, and dear God, NO.

In short, essential oil ingestion can incredibly be dangerous unless prescribed by a qualified herbalist, naturopath or aromatherapist. Not a distributor for an MLM essential oil giant who has no health qualifications or expertise besides what their team leader has passed on to them.

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First month on our homestead

3/10/2019

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If you're a regular reader of my stuff, you already know that non-wanky health, food eaten for pleasure (not weight control), and social justice are kinda my thing.

So it probably comes as no surprise that living a good hour from the nearest hot yoga studio or massive health food grocery chain doesn't worry me in the slightest.

Actually, it feels like I can breathe again.

Our recent move - from an endless sea of Colorbond steel on the rapidly developing northern Gold Coast, to a rural ecovillage in the hills south of inland Kenilworth - has been a long time coming.

After spending my entire adult life in urban rentals, and the odd caravan or treehouse, I finally feel as though I can say:

I am home.

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The alternatives to dieting

30/9/2019

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"I'm SO confused by all the diets out there! Everyone says something different. How do you know what to eat, when to eat it, and how much of it to eat?"

This is one of the most common questions I am faced with in my nutrition counselling practice. It is usually asked by a client in an exasperated, overwhelmed tone of voice, accompanied by hands being thrown up in the air!

So I'm going to attempt to answer it here.

In my experience there are two levels at which you can know something to be true.

The first is to know something at the level of the intellect. This is where logic, science, traditional knowledge, past experience and “common sense” coalesce to inform and direct us.

The second is the deeper level of intuition, instinct, or “just feeling” something to be true. This more feeling-based truth happens “below the neck”, in the vast landscape of the body that lies beyond the brain. It may be described as feeling in your heart, sensing in your gut, or knowing in your bones that something is true for you.

Another way to think of it is that we have two different navigation or GPS systems that can help us to arrive at a personal truth: intellect and intuition.

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The Honeymoon Period

18/7/2019

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"I've been on this juice fast for 5 days now, and I feel AH-MAAAAZ-ING!"

"Keto is the best thing I've ever done. After 2 weeks of low-carb I have SO much energy!!"

"Why didn't I try intermittent fasting sooner? I've lost x kg AND need LESS sleep!"

"I've quit sugar and my skin is SO clear."

"Since going raw vegan my periods have stopped, but I've heard that's a sign my body is getting cleaner." (This one's the absolute worst).

Newbies to diets (yes, these are all wellness DIETS, not healthy, sustainable "lifestyle changes") fill online forums with tales of renewed health, regained vitality, happiness... and of course, weight loss. It's enough to make any unsatisfied online wellness trawler jump on board the next media-sensationalised dietary fad.

In fact maybe YOU are on day 7 of your juice cleanse / bulletproof coffee experiment / I Quit Sugar challenge, and you're feeling so good you've decided to become a health coach and "detox the world".

But friend, you need to understand that what you are experiencing is the dietary equivalent of The Honeymoon Period. You feel great and you truly believe that you've found the fountain of eternal youth and vitality.

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The Wellness Diet Cycle

17/7/2019

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The typical person I see in my clinic is female, in her 20s, 30s or 40s.

She goes to yoga and only shops at organic markets. She makes her own bone broth, vegetable juices, and paleo "treats" (because gut healing is good, and dairy and sugar are "bad").

She spends a small fortune on vitamins, probiotics and herbal supplements.

She is very health conscious, sometimes bordering on being obsessively so.

She has seen numerous health practitioners prior to seeing me.

And despite her utmost efforts to be healthy, she has long list of seemingly obscure health conditions. The list of signs and symptoms I see in these women goes something like this:

Headaches, migraines, intense cravings, cold hands and feet, sleep problems, rough dry skin, brittle hair, hair loss, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), dizziness, brain fog, low energy levels, low body temperature, constipation, low libido, bloating, indigestion, frequent need to urinate, anxiety, panic attacks, loss of muscle mass, heart palpitations, frequent colds and flu / thrush / UTIs / herpes outbreaks, unpredictable emotional swings, severe PMS, irregular periods, missing periods, infertility.

The woman in question usually doesn't have every single one of these (although some do), but she will have a significant number (around 80% or more) of them.

By the time they've come to see me, many of these women have attributed this long and baffling list of symptoms to candida. Or a food intolerance. Or simply "being too fat".

And they've come to the conclusion (via Google or some health guru) that the obvious solution is to embark upon yet another restrictive diet. Anti-candida, low-carb, paleo, keto, GAPS, SCD, vegan, intermittent fasting, and raw are the usual go-to's right now.

And herein lies the root of the problem.

The Big Thing most health-conscious people are missing (that's ruining their health)

Most of the women I see in clinic do NOT have a food intolerance, candida, or an allergy to grains. I should add that I have been trained to recognise and treat food sensitivity and intolerance so am well aware of what that looks like. Although it is a valid and very real issue, about ninety percent of the time, food intolerance is NOT the causative factor.

The root of these women's problems is this: They are trying too hard to be healthy and as a result, they are eating too restrictively.

The biggest mistake I see women making today is trying too hard to be healthy.

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Intermittent fasting - rad or fad?

26/6/2019

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Intermittent fasting (or IF for short) is so hot right now. In fact it's been hot since it rose to fame with the arrival of Michael Mosley on the television and book publishing scene in 2012.

Basically, it means going an extended period without eating. Sounds technical AF, right? (Unlike plain ol' healthy eating and regular movement, which is clearly not sexy enough to attract the attention of the masses!)

IF is fancy-sounding enough to get the attention of those who want the next magic bullet that will help them lose weight and/or get healthier.

So, nearly everyone.

But especially those who already have issues with weight concern, body image, disordered eating or eating disorders - the folks I see the most often.

In actuality, almost all of us intermittently fast. Every night. When we are asleep. Not so sexy, I know. So let's talk a bit about the sexier, newer, more restrictive version.

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Casey's blog

Ep 4. Yoga Guru ≠ Nutrition Guru: The Cult of the Unqualified Wellness Expert

Ep 2. Cleanse, Detox, Hurt: The Allure of Unhealthily Strict Diets to the Ascetic Yogi Psyche

Introducing the Non-Diet Yogi Podcast!

The Paleo Diet: Pros + Cons

What is it?

Essential oil ingestion: Just DON'T Do It

First month on our homestead

The alternatives to dieting

The Honeymoon Period

The Wellness Diet Cycle

The Big Thing most health-conscious people are missing (that's ruining their health)

Intermittent fasting - rad or fad?

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