How to Stay Healthy in the Sea of Information

Gah, there’s a lot of damn information out there. And it’d be one thing if it were all good information, but the reality is, the information is sometimes incomplete, misleading, and ALWAYS conflicting.

 

If you’re someone who has taken an active approach to your healthcare, conducting your own research and learning things like what to eat, what supplements to take, and what lifestyle to live, you’ve most likely experienced this information overwhelm 

There are so many seemingly authoritative voices out there preaching completely different answers to your health problems. There are so many articles, blogs and books to read. 

 

We are undoubtedly in the age of information, and in the age of rapid health decline leading many people to seek new ways to harness their health. A journey that can feel quite daunting when you don’t know who’s right, who’s wrong and where to look. 

 

 

Let me tell you, being a clinician in the health space is quite hard; it puts you at the epicenter of the information. Information you have to learn to skillfully navigate without becoming lost of overwhelmed yourself. 

It’s almost ironic I chose the path of being a clinician in the health space considering my own colorful past filled with many years of severe eating disorders. I went on a successful weight loss journey and on the other side met a version of myself that was still quite unhealthy. Through my quest to lose weight I was drowning in the information and I came to a point where: 

 

 

I become scared of food, not know who to listen to, who was right, what to eat, what to not eat, when to work out, what workout to do, what supplements to take, to not take. I was spiraling. I would spend hours reading books and watching the health gurus of youtube, finding an mix of empowerment and disempowerment. I had all this information but no way of truly knowing what was right. 

 

 

I hit a tipping point and started working on my eating disorders, loosening the reins to get back to some kind of normal with my period and moods. And on this journey of loosening the reins to find my health I ditched the information, until one day I picked up an old nutrition book and my heart sang. I still wanted the answers i’d been seeking, and decided to officially go back to school to better understand nutrition for my sake and the sake of those I longed to help. 

 

So I dove into doing my nutrition schooling, putting myself back at the epicenter of information. And while I was in a completely new place with myself, I could still find myself falling into the information overload trap. 

 

 

Gluten is a hot topic, and for a good reason. There is compelling evidence out there that gluten is pretty problematic in our diets today. I can easily come up with a great amount of reputable information on why gluten is absolutely health-damaging. But wait… I can also come up with an equal amount of reputable information on why it’s totally okay to eat and not a problem.

Which leaves us right where we started…. who do we trust? Who is right? Who is wrong? AND WHAT DO WE DO so that each time we come face to face with something like gluten we can confidently make a choice that best serves our health? 

 

 

 

That’s right… all of this information out there is true… but partial. And that partial part needs to be considered. Not all the information out there is objectively true, or objectively true FOR YOU. Nope, the conversation is a lot more nuanced than that! 

 

So we can take a deep, deep, deep breath and ground ourselves on the fact that more information doesn’t translate into better results or better success on your health journey. (or any journey for that matter) 

 

Back to our gluten situation… I could continue searching for more and more information on both sides until my fingers grow weak and my eyes grow tired. But it isn’t going to give me any more of an answer than I already have. 

 

 

We need to explore what’s true for us. For example: 

When I omit gluten from my diet, I feel lighter, my brain is clearer, my emotions are more stable, my energy is higher, I FEEL BETTER.

 

And when I forget that fact and eat something with gluten because, well, I’m a human with a weakness for pastries, I FEEL BAD. I feel sluggish, low energy, and foggy.

 

 

We have these beautiful innate feedback systems on our persons that give us the most TRUE information for us. Information that considers the nuance and the uniqueness that makes us who we are. 

 

So while I’m going to inevitably eat gluten again in this lifetime, it is a choice, one where I’m not using “external information” to justify my gluten indulgence, but one where I listen to my body and make a choice from there. Shoot, pastries from my favorite coffee shop are worth a little discomfort on a rare occasion. But for the most part, it’s not conducive to me living the light and healthy life I want to live and that is evidenced by the information I got from turning within. 

 

 

External information can be as helpful as it can be harmful. It can bury us in confusion and indecision, and when we continually seek more to find truth, we are falling farther and farther down that spiral. External information is true but partial because it doesn’t take into account our reality and what is true for us. Information could never account for all the nuances and uniquenesses that make us who we are.

 

So next time you find yourself navigating information overload, see if you can shift from external information consumption to internal information. Exploring and getting curious about what is true for YOU. That’s the journey.

Namaste, 

-Lila C.