Holley Samuel MEd, RD, CSSD, CPT

Have you heard “if you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn’t eat it” or “you should only eat products with <5 ingredients”?📋 . . It’s important to know what we’re putting in our bodies, and we want to eat to feel our best, but fear of our food having “chemicals” or “toxins” or an obsession over ingredients or additives can be doing more harm than good. . . We need to remind ourselves… ✅Many additives are super beneficial to our health! Folic acid is added to refined grain products to reduce the occurrence of neural tube defects in newborns, vitamin D is added to milk to prevent deficiency, and some additives such as citric acid and vitamin E keep foods fresh for longer to improve accessibility and reduce waste ✅Just because an ingredient is hard to pronounce, doesn’t mean it’s bad for you. A hard-to-pronounce ingredient may just be another name for a vitamin or mineral (sodium ascorbate = vitamin C, cyanocobalamin = vitamin B12)! ✅The number of ingredients doesn’t determine a food’s nutritional value. <5 ingredients is a completely made up rule not based in science. It’s great when we can get high quality ingredients in our foods and variety, but we don’t need to strive for perfection. ✅Ingredients are listed in descending order according to the weight used within the product. . . It’s a crazy world out there, and we hear such mixed claims about food and nutrition. Make sure you’re getting your nutrition advice from dietitians! Remember that the dose makes the poison and we can’t argue that anything is “toxic” (like water, for example) without specifying dose. . . Want to learn how to optimize your nutrition as a runner and set yourself up for success in your fall race? Comment STRONG, and I’ll send you the link to enroll in my Strong Runner Academy Fall Group Coaching Program starting in September! . . . #foodrules #athlete #bodyimage #wellness #nutrition #health #dietculture #dietculturesucks #nutritionmyths #sportsnutrition #sportsdietitian #nutritionforathletes #foodmyths