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How To Spot Nutrition Red Flags | Nutritionist Explains | Myprotein
2K views
Jan 30, 2025
Expert nutritionist shares nine nutrition red flags to look out for when you are researching diets on the internet. In this video, Dr Richie Kirwan lets us into 9 different red flags that seem legit but are wrong and can easily confuse people. This can be in the form of nutrition misinformation (which is when someone gets something wrong) and disinformation (which is when someone intentionally makes something up or lies). Expert nutritionist Richie, shares some tips on how to spot this misinformation and help you understand how nutrition science works so you’ll have a better understanding of how food and diet can affect your body. He uses science-based information, not just from one or two studies but based on the totality of the scientific evidence available. Follow Richie on IG: dr.richie.kirwan *** Chapters: 00:00 - Nutrition red flags 01:21 - Toxin 02:12 - Anecdotes 02:56 - Fear of food 03:35 - Conspiracies 04:16 - Denying science 05:00 - Black & white thinking 05:52 - Ancestral diets 06:43 - Mechanistic research 07:40 - One diet fits all
View Video Transcript
0:00
the internet is full of nutrition what
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you can learn to spot all that nutrition
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crop here are my top nine red flags to
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look out for
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[Music]
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how's it going guys my name is Richie
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Kerwin and today I'm going to do
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something that I've wanted to do for a
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long time I'm going to share some tips
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that you can use to spot nutrition
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claims online so you don't fall for all
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the Nutri nonsense that fills the
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internet if you've watched a few of my
0:31
videos you'll know that I try to help
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you understand how nutrition science
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works so you'll have a better
0:36
understanding of how food and diet can
0:38
affect your body to do that I use
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science-based information not just from
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one or two studies but based on the
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totality of all the scientific evidence
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we have available the problem is that on
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the internet I see so many examples of
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nutrition misinformation which is when
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someone gets something wrong and
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disinformation which is when someone
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intentionally makes something up or lies
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every single day at best this bad
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information confuses people and I'm sure
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many of you have been confused by
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different messages you've heard about
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nutrition at worst it could be downright
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dangerous information that could affect
1:15
someone's Health very badly so without
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further Ado here are a few red flags to
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watch out for red flag number one they
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love using the word toxin why is that a
1:27
problem well in nutrition biochemistry
1:29
and toxicology there's a phrase the dose
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makes the poison you see many foods can
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contain substances that in isolated high
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amounts could be dangerous but in
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amounts normally found in food may have
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no harmful effects at all or might even
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be beneficial some toxins in the amounts
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found normally in food actually help to
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strengthen your body and make you
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healthier this is a process called
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hormesis and it's one of the reasons
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vegetables are so beneficial for health
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you hear this a lot with some people
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saying plants are toxic for example if
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that's the case why do some of the
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healthiest diets on Earth as determined
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by science
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contain huge amounts of plants it
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doesn't make sense because toxins in
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edible plants aren't bad for us red flag
2:11
number two they use anecdotes instead of
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evidence anecdotes are interesting
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stories from real people but the plural
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of anecdote isn't evidence personal
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stories about the effects of diet
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whether they're positive or negative can
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and do have powerful effects on people's
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perceptions of that diet you're more
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likely to follow a diet if you hear
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about someone who might have had a
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similar problem to you and then tried
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out some diet and had loads of success
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with it but just because one person
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experienced an effect doesn't mean
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others will that's why we do nutrition
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science research and the real
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nutritionist knows that scientific
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evidence based on multiple well-designed
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studies and with lots of participants is
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much more reliable than an anecdote more
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reliable than a story
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reps like number three they focus on the
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foods you need to avoid why is that an
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issue well fear is a very powerful
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marketing tool and it's easier to get
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people to change their diet by making
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them afraid of certain foods so they
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just avoid them have you heard of people
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rattling on about how you have to avoid
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gluten or sugar or dairy or whatever
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because it's terrible for you
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that's the kind of BS I'm talking about
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focusing on foods to avoid helps create
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a common enemy which is another
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marketing strategy responsible
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nutritionists focus more on foods that
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are important to include in the diet and
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this is called inclusive nutrition okay
3:34
red flag number four they talk about the
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conspiracies to make people unhealthy
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the use of conspiracy theories is
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another powerful marketing tool it
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causes fear that they whoever they are
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are out to make the public unhealthy
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through their diet this is also a way to
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make people fearful of nutrition
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research because they are behind all the
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corrupt research and conventional
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nutrition advice there's never a real
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explanation of who they are or why they
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want to make everyone unhealthy but it's
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a really common Trope as soon as someone
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starts talking about conspiracies it's a
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good indication that anything else that
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they say about nutrition is probably
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going to be referred to Red Flag number
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five the they deny all science except
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when it supports their beliefs a good
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example of this is when some online
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nutrition Guru claims that all nutrition
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science research is useless because of X
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Y or Z but then as soon as they find a
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study that supports their diet they
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can't wait to shove it in people's face
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and scream here's the proof for what
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they were saying all along all nutrition
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research is useful because altogether it
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helps bring us closer to an
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approximation of the truth if someone
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says nutrition science is bogus when it
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doesn't support their views but then
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jumps all over research that does
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support their views then that person is
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simply cherry picking research and
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doesn't understand how science works
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okay red flag number six they use black
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and white thinking black and white
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thinking nutrition is like when someone
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says well if meat is good plants must be
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bad or vice versa nutrition science
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isn't black and white just because a
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food may have a negative effect in wound
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context does doesn't mean it can't have
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a positive effect in another context or
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in different amounts or in different
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people take fiber for example getting a
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high level of fiber in your diet can
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reduce your risk of being constipated
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but if you're not used to eating fiber
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and you suddenly switch to a high fiber
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diet you might get an upset stomach or
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gas does that mean that fiber is bad for
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you
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saying foods are either good or bad in
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any amount without giving context is
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just lazy thinking and promotes bad
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relationships with food nutrition isn't
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black and white and your food choices
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don't have to be either red flag number
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seven they promote ancestral diets just
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because our ancestors ate something
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doesn't mean it benefited their
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long-term Health our ancestors only
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needed to live long enough to reproduce
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which means living a long life into the
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80s or 90s wasn't that important we also
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don't know in detail what our ancestors
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ate that's why I said ancestral diets in
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air quotes we just don't know for sure
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you also need to think about which
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ancestors are we talking about from
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which geographical location and from
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what point in time where do we draw that
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evolutionary line and why we don't need
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to know how our ancestors say though
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because we have plenty of real
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scientific evidence from now that tells
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us what types of diets can be beneficial
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red flag number eight they base their
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advice on mechanistic or animal research
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alone mechanistic research in nutrition
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is often carried out in test tubes or
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Petri dishes using cell lines and
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isolated nutrients not in real humans or
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with real foods animal research is
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carried out obviously enough on animals
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like mice rats pigs or monkeys not on
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humans mechanistic and animal research
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is absolutely essential for developing
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nutrition science because it teaches us
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the underlying mechanisms of how
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nutrients might behave but
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just because something happens in cell
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culture or in animal models doesn't mean
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that it'll happen in humans when they
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eat a certain food and we have plenty of
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human research that doesn't match up
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with mechanistic or animal studies this
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is why research in humans looking at
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real outcomes like weight loss or heart
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disease is much more reliable and
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interpretable than mechanistic and
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animal research red flag number nine
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they focus on one best diet for everyone
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have you ever heard someone go on and on
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about their new diet and how it's
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supposed to fix everything in their life
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from helping them to lose weight to
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curing their broken leg and saving them
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from depression they probably love it so
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much that they tell everyone to follow
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it right the thing is people are very
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similar but what works for one person
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may not always work for others despite
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our similarities everyone is a unique
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special snowflake assuming that there is
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one best Universal diet for everyone is
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very dangerous thinking that's the
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problem with following any diet that has
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a name it locks you into some stupid
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made-up rules that may not be right for
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you following your own diet based on the
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specific foods that help you feel best
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and stay healthy is probably the best
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diet of all for you so after all that I
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really hope these tips will help you
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understand a little better who you
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should be listening to when it comes to
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nutrition and who you should avoid the
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internet really is full of nutrition
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so learning how to avoid it can only be
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a good thing as always if you have any
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more questions let me know in the
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comments below and remember to like And
8:44
subscribe to the my protein YouTube
8:46
channel for more great evidence-based
8:48
nutrition information
8:50
foreign
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