In this age of social media and advertising, do you ever find yourself overloaded with all the best ways to get fit or newest diet plans? Have you ever tried to look up the ins and outs of the plan in question and find yourself drowning in way too much information?
There is just so much information floating out there in cyber space. That's when it occurred to me; how does someone decide where to start, what to believe and how to apply it to them? We all have different reasons to start a health and fitness program. Just do a quick Google search on the topic that you are interested in and hundreds of pages of information will pop up.
Go Ahead. Try a search.
Open another screen, ask Google what you have been wondering about. Now you have hundreds of pages pop up with "answers" to your question. But, what do you do with all of that information? Is all that information relevant to you? How do you know if it is just someone's opinion, or is it tested with proper methods and results, and has been verified? Are those verified test results going to apply to you specifically?
Do you start with the first line on the page that pops up? Do you scroll down to the middle of the page, or do you go to the last page? We haven't been taught how to navigate this crazy amount of information that is at our finger tips in milliseconds. I want to help you with that.
Here is a little tip: In general the top half of the first page is going to be paid advertisements. SKIP those. Someone is paying for you to click on their product or service. Sometimes it's just to get more traffic on their site, sometimes if they get a click they get paid by one of their affiliates, and the rest of the time it's to get you to sign up for something or buy something. The way you know it's a paid advertisement, there will be a large bolded "AD" right next to the link to the website.
As you look down the page, read not only the main bolded title of the article, but also make note of the website. Is the website wikipedia, is it a fitness magazine, or is it someones blog or a medical article such as WebMD?
First, I look at the dates of publication. When was this article, web page, blog recently posted? I like to stay current, so I stay within the last 3 to 5 years. Then I look at the author. I look for the medical sites first, with my second choice being the blogger, and last the magazines and others.
I'm going to use the example of Keto diets since it's a hot topic today. Type in "Keto Diet beginner information". Look at the list on possible articles you can read. If the first few have the word AD next to them, skip on down a few entries.
The first one I came upon after the adds was this, https://www.bulletproof.com/diet/keto/keto-diet-beginners-guide/. I noticed this was an article about the keto diet with lots of information on the do's and don'ts. This article is also hosted my the company BulletProof which sells products high in their proprietary fat complex. Right there that tells me even if they have good information in this article they are trying to sell me something and therefore will not be likely they have sussed out who the diet is best for. So I move on.
The next article on my page was, https://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/library/articles/how-to-start-a-keto-diet-7-tips-for-beginners. This article is hosted by Atkins, this group used to tout their diet years back and so they are going to have a specific bend to their info. Most likely they will try to lead you to their products or their way of doing keto, and try to get you to buy into a nutrition program lead by them. This article has a lot of information but the info is all general, meaning not specific to any one population. Let's move on again.
Next up was, https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto. This article though LONG, had embedded into it links to the peer reviewed journal articles where this writer got their information. Because of these links I would consider this a great article to read through and determine if the info in there applies to you. Click the links when needed to see if the subjects used in the studies reflect who you are, male/female, young/old, diabetic/non-diabetic, etc.
Those peer reviewed journals are where the real research and development starts. Once that research hits the streets is where it can lose it's credibility. People will try to apply it to EVERYONE. That doesn't always work. Why? Many times the subjects will ONLY be young healthy males. When I say young healthy males we are talking about men 18-23 with no health ailments.
How do you move forward if the study was done on only young males? Look for another article. Trust me there is SO MUCH being studied now that you will find something relevant to you. Don't give up, keep looking. Take your time, be diligent. And ask questions.
I hope this has helped you to have a better idea how to navigate the health and wellness articles so you can better choose the information that applies to you.
If you have an article or topic you would like help understanding, please feel free to leave a comment.
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