Do you guys ever get into arguments with coworkers/friends about nutrition?

[jondoe89]

I was eating lunch at work the other day when I ordered white rice and my coworker ordered brown rice. He told me brown rice is healthier. I tried telling him that a food by itself cannot be healthy/unhealthy, but rather a diet can be healthy/unhealthy. I think everyone at the table thought I was retarded. Anyone else get into these situations?

[33BMB33]

All the time. I hate eating something that I really enjoy and fit in my macros that the average joe believes is "unhealthy" and hearing, "I thought you were on a health kick?" Its hard to explain to people that don't have a clue about nutrition that you aren't simply restricted to broccoli and chicken breast to lose weight and stay in shape. I do enjoy pounding a large cookie dough blizzard from DQ and people being like how do you eat like that and stay in great shape? Then you try and explain it and they laugh telling you that your full of **** and dont know what your talking about but they are 50 pounds over weight!

[germaine07]

Try just telling them that anything in moderation can be healthy.

[jolanar1]

Why bother. Just say you enjoy the taste of white rice and move on.

That's what I do anyways. Very few people will believe anything you tell them regarding nutrition.

[Mongo81X]

Yes, most people are completely clueless on nutrition. They always have some new diet they swear is amazing and I try to explain calories in < calories out and they don't wanna hear it. They think low fat means they won't be fat, drinking hot water with lemon helps lose weight, the list of stupidity goes on forever. Meanwhile they all stay the same weight or even gain more and I lost 30 pounds in 14 weeks. Whatever let them do what they want man can't help the helpless.

[theassman]

I was eating lunch at work the other day when I ordered white rice and my coworker ordered brown rice. He told me brown rice is healthier. I tried telling him that a food by itself cannot be healthy/unhealthy, but rather a diet can be healthy/unhealthy. I think everyone at the table thought I was retarded. Anyone else get into these situations?

yes. one of my roommates annoys the crap out of me when he says he can go to the gym, lift hard, and gain muscle easily..he's also at least 15% bf, and claims he barely has any fat on him. It's annoying...but i dont really try to say anything. if he or anyone else wants to know, they can just ask..until then, i just forget about trying to speak up.

[Mallen12]

I try to explain the basics of nutrition to family all the time... but yet they are still firm believers in broscience

[qstick99]

All the time. I hate eating something that I really enjoy and fit in my macros that the average joe believes is "unhealthy" and hearing, "I thought you were on a health kick?" Its hard to explain to people that don't have a clue about nutrition that you aren't simply restricted to broccoli and chicken breast to lose weight and stay in shape. I do enjoy pounding a large cookie dough blizzard from DQ and people being like how do you eat like that and stay in great shape? Then you try and explain it and they laugh telling you that your full of **** and dont know what your talking about but they are 50 pounds over weight!

For sure on this, when I began my transformation I stuck to the "diet" for the most part and had a cheat day each week, killed me, all my hard work gone and the next week I had to work harder to lose what was gained plus some for the week. Finally after reading some stuff here and getting some pointers I started calculating things and much better now! I fit some things in here and there, not daily basis but like said above, if you can stick to the numbers you have a good chance to stay on course. Someone was asking me the other day about my weight loss, they were sure and true that the only way to lose weight was to burn more calories in a day then you take in, I'm sure that works, simple math but what has worked for me is taking the number of calories the average person my height would have to take in daily to maintain my goal weight. Me being X amount above, when I stay in that range once I calculate my daily calories v. exercise and burnt calories I do well and drop weight, now I'm not exactly burning more than I take in daily, just staying at or around where I should If I was X amount of pounds.

[esgibson]

I was eating lunch at work the other day when I ordered white rice and my coworker ordered brown rice. He told me brown rice is healthier. I tried telling him that a food by itself cannot be healthy/unhealthy, but rather a diet can be healthy/unhealthy. I think everyone at the table thought I was retarded. Anyone else get into these situations?

i learned this a while back when i start carrying my food with me everywhere when dieting..ALMOST EVERYONE you meet...knows more about nutrition and what's healthy than you do...when ppl ask me about why i'm eating what, i can usually tell what kind of a response i'll get before i answer so sometimes i'll just say "it's really complicated and i'm really too tired to explain it right now..i will sometime soon for you though if your really interested"..i usually get a decent response from that and if they're actually interested i'll explain it to them but most don't actually care

[JCVR11]

I always argue with my parents because I've been doing Intermittent Fasting(IF) for the last few weeks.

[Mean_Bean]

i argue with friends and family all the time! it's a never-ending battle. But i fight it, and i fight it well.

[joe17little]

"You're gonna eat all that?" "Where do you put it all?"

cuz I'm IF'ing

[tden99]

genetics always come into play when I say I cut on a pint of ice cream 3-6 times a week.

They seem to forget I was an obese 200lb kid entering 7th grade.

[rand18m]

Discussing nutrition is very similar to discussing religion or politics for many or most. What's amazing is how emotional people get when discussing nutrition and how much they think they know, and the response seems universal most of the time.

[Greater Deity]

People ask me questions, I get too technical too fast. I'm trying to fix that, but they are immediately turned off by anything outside of carbs, protein, fats and sugars. I can't even begin to say the term glucose-fructose-6 biphosphate or they will run away...

[Tom550]

I usually let then tell me what's good and bad. Then go on doing my thing.

Unless they are completely off. Then I'll explain basic nutrition to them.

It also bugs me when I say I count calories and they automatically assume im trying to loose weight.

But you know everyone is a nutrition genius, they already know everything.

[ReconRon1b847077]

Co-workers say I will die from ECA stack.... brb 450lb fatties. Yeah I dont bring that up anymore.

[GrokTheCube]

People ask me questions, I get too technical too fast. I'm trying to fix that, but they are immediately turned off by anything outside of carbs, protein, fats and sugars. I can't even begin to say the term glucose-fructose-6 biphosphate or they will run away...

In my experience, a good way to approach people about topics alien to them is to explain general concepts, and only explain details when needed or when they can understand how they fit into the big picture.

[rand18m]

People ask me questions, I get too technical too fast. I'm trying to fix that, but they are immediately turned off by anything outside of carbs, protein, fats and sugars. I can't even begin to say the term glucose-fructose-6 biphosphate or they will run away...

Why on earth would you do that anyway?

[GING3R]

I hate when I'm eating with the family and my step mom says in a sarcastic voice "This isn't on your diet is it?" Well that and when friends ask me what kind of foods I eat everyday and I tell them anything as long as I'm hitting my macros...this is about the time they 0_0 me and say so "what specific foods?".

[mattypoole]

Why bother. Just say you enjoy the taste of white rice and move on.

That's what I do anyways. Very few people will believe anything you tell them regarding nutrition.

This, I really cbf wasting my time dealing with the average numbnuts who has a poor understanding of nutrition and isn't interested in being properly educated.

[weknow24]

All the time. I hate eating something that I really enjoy and fit in my macros that the average joe believes is "unhealthy" and hearing, "I thought you were on a health kick?" Its hard to explain to people that don't have a clue about nutrition that you aren't simply restricted to broccoli and chicken breast to lose weight and stay in shape. I do enjoy pounding a large cookie dough blizzard from DQ and people being like how do you eat like that and stay in great shape? Then you try and explain it and they laugh telling you that your full of **** and dont know what your talking about but they are 50 pounds over weight!

This is exactly how I feel almost everyday!!!

I give up explaining this s**t to my friends, colleagues, etc...

Every person I talk to..."yeh but this doctor said this, and this nutrition said this and this study found that"...all the cr*p that stupid society gets fed and eats up and yet they're still in bad shape. Not a clue about nutrition.

..."This study found that brown rice is healthier for you than white rice." 90% of public puts the statement stone cold in their head. No convincing them otherwise. No bending the statement. No considering the statement in a bigger context etc

People are too closed minded.

[pyaarawala]

Always, and no one ever believes me. Perfect example is my mom, ive explained iifym to her a million times and still everyday she complains that shes fat and must have some internal disorder that wont allow her to lose weight. And trust me, ive explained it well.

[k9pit]

Outside of exchanging ideas over the Internet, I don't give a crap what people put in their bodies. I don't give a crap what people think of what I put in my body either. I definitely am not going to argue with them about it. It doesn't effect me directly so.........meh.

Coworkers just think I'm a picky eater, yet they say I'm in good shape. I keep things very light in conversation and I'm more likely to blow a comment off within a joke than to take it to heart and go deep into a debate about nutrition unless someone asks a direct question about me, what I do, and why.

Usually when someone who doesn't know I'll explain a little, cut it short and I'll tell them that I'll send them some more detailed info through email. Then change the subject.

[Greater Deity]

In my experience, a good way to approach people about topics alien to them is to explain general concepts, and only explain details when needed or when they can understand how they fit into the big picture.

Well, I do start out with simple concepts. They then ask, "How?". My peer group is... well, yes.

Why on earth would you do that anyway?

Trying to explain energy expenditure, TCA Cycle and glycolysis. Maybe I'll draw pictures next time.

[HumanAmerican]

I try to explain the basics of nutrition to family all the time... but yet they are still firm believers in broscience

LULZ I know the feeling. It happens every time I eat bacon or ice cream. I had some girl argue with me that olive oil was unhealthy and after I quoted several pubmed studies and information I learned obtaining a degree in NUTRITION, she messages me and says "you probably eat dairy and meat too, dont you?" so I told her "hold on my bacon is burning!"

[AD1984]

I realized that trying to explain IF+IIFYM, counting calories and weighing food makes me look like a mental person. I don't bother going into details these days, I just leave it at "I watch what I eat". People don't care anyway, they just want to validate their own preconcieved beliefs.

[rand18m]

Well, I do start out with simple concepts. They then ask, "How?". My peer group is... well, yes.



Trying to explain energy expenditure, TCA Cycle and glycolysis. Maybe I'll draw pictures next time.

I don't see the reason to explain glycolysis with someone who has no idea what you are talking about, especially in the context of discussing daily nutrition. No wonder they run away!

[poloralphloren]

Haha, so funny and so true, all the stories in this thread... Everyone thinks they're an expert no matter how awful they look. They just know!!!

People all the time ask me what I do in terms of both exercise and nutrition -- it's amazing to watch their eyes glaze over within moments of trying to explain... They don't believe any of it, usually get caught up in some trivial detail that they think is the most important thing, and stop listening to the rest. I try to explain compound exercises, strength training, IIFYM, calories in vs calories out... They tell me they can't do those things, they don't believe they would work anyway... They think they're out of shape because they are weak-willed, but really they just don't know what they're doing. If they spent one hour that they'd normally be wasting time in the gym doing useless things doing some research instead, then they could save themselves years of wasted time, but... They don't. People don't like to change their behavior or their beliefs unless they are absolutely forced to. I don't understand it, but I've learned to just throw up my hands and let them continue doing what they're doing, because nobody ever listens to me no matter how much they seem to want to know what I do. Crazy.

[Scoper50]

I quit trying to explain it to people. Its pointless. There is an overweight guy at work that constantly goes on diets to lose weight. His approach is awful. His solution is to eat zero carbs. He won't even eat vegetables! He explained his diet to me one day. He eats a steak around noon, and that's it. Sometimes he eats 4 or 5 pickles later in the day even though they contain carbs.

Doing this he loses 1lb a day. But he can only sustain this lifestyle for a week or two at a time because its so miserable. So its basically crash yoyo dieting. Oh, and he absolutely refuses to exercise at all.

Trying to explain nutrition to people like this is pointless. They think the only way to lose weight is to starve yourself.