Do they do what they say? Short answer: It depends.
There is a whole raft of trendy wellness hacks out there getting a bunch of attention right now. But are they legit?
Often times, some new “hack” comes around because someone tried a thing, the thing worked (or they just think it did) they blast it out onto social media and someone grabs hold of it and it goes viral.
Other times, tricks humans have been using for centuries and have just been lost or forgotten get rediscovered, and suddenly it’s the hottest new thing in wellness.
But the problem is that once these “hacks” become a trend, they get evangelized as a cure for whatever ails you. People become fervent supporters of one hack or another, and if you’re not using their hack, you’re doing wellness wrong.
But health is never a one-size-fits-all proposition.
So are these hacks worth your time? Or are they all just a bunch of B.S.?
Wellness hacks debunked
First off, these “hacks” won’t fix your issues on their own. You can’t fast or supplement your way out of a bad diet or lifestyle habits.
But for some people, these methods can help improve things like blood sugar, hormone balance, energy and focus, and even body composition. The key thing to keep in mind is while they may work for some, they may not work for you, and not to get discouraged if they don’t.
Intermittent Fasting
Humans have been fasting in some form or another for millenia. For our paleolithic ancestors, it was because they didn’t have food to eat that day. For more modern people, fasting has become a religious practice, and most recently a trendy wellness “hack”.
Recently the practice of fasting for a short period of time, 12-16 hours a day on average, has become popular. Intermittent fasting just means shorter, regular fasts rather than longer fasts less often.
But is intermittent fasting good for you?
Fasting’s benefits include improving insulin sensitivity and blood sugar regulation, weight loss, and cellular waste clean up. Fasting is kind of a “rest & reset button” for your body, taking you out of a “fed state” which is very energy intensive to a “fasted state” which is all about repair.
Fasting is also great for getting familiar with our hunger cues and noticing how much and how often we eat.
But fasting isn’t always good for everyone all the time. While women can benefit from fasting for most of the month, fasting during certain periods in the menstrual cycle can raise cortisol and create issues with hormone production.
Folks with blood sugar issues or who have never fasted before should probably take it slow. There is definitely a learning curve, and if you go too hard too fast, your body may revolt.
Fasting certainly has its benefits, but it’s not for everyone. Some people just don’t feel great on an extended fast, and that’s ok.
For anyone wanting to try fasting, I suggest starting with a shorter fast (10-12 hours) once or twice a week and building from there.
Supplement stacks
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you can’t out supplement a bad diet.
There’s a ton of posts online about how a pile of different supplements, or a “stack”, can help with everything from bulking up to better erections, improving hair loss, and more. Most of that is B.S., and while some stacks can improve some functions for a short time, they’re not ideal for long-term health.
But supplements aren’t all bad, in fact specific, targeted supplements to address specific issues is a big part of my nutrition practice. An example of this might be ox bile for someone without a gallbladder, or beet root powder for someone dealing with low stomach acid.
Supplements can be really helpful for people who are working on changing their diet but may need to fill the gap with nutrients they are missing. Or add nutrients that are difficult to get from their diet, like Omega-3 fats or Vitamin B12 for vegetarians.
No one should take supplements assuming they are replacing nutrients from whole, nutrient-dense foods. If you’re eating nothing but junk food and taking a stack of supplements, you’re probably deficient in important vitamins and minerals while also putting your metabolic health at risk.
Supplements should supplement a whole foods diet, active lifestyle and healthy sleep regimen.
For more of my take on supplements, check out my blog “Should you be taking supplements?”
Cold exposure
You can’t scroll Instagram (or at least I can’t) without seeing someone dipping themselves into a tub of ice water. What’s up with that?
Cold exposure has gained a lot of attention lately as a way to boost your metabolism and burn fat. The idea is that the short, acute stress of putting yourself into cold water forces your body to produce more energy (which gives off heat) in order to keep you warm.
It has also been linked with better immune function, soothing sore muscles, and promoting longevity. Unfortunately, the science is still out on most of those.
The problem is that most of us live climate-controlled lives, and rarely have to deal with temperature extremes for very long. While our ancestors may have been more accustomed to dealing with cold, we’re kind of wussies now. So jumping into a barrel of ice water right out of the gate might cause more harm than good. There are cardiovascular risks associated with cold water immersion, along with the potential for hypothermia.
So, should you try cold exposure?
If you’re curious but have never done anything like this before, I suggest you start with a cold shower. At the end of your regular shower, turn the tap to cold for as long as you can stand; try for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Eventually, you can take your whole 5-7 minute shower this way.
Then if you’re feeling brave, try a short ice bath. Add some ice to your bath tub & fill up with cold water. Dip in for 10-15 seconds, but no more than 30 seconds. Oh, make sure someone else is in the house with you!
Cold exposure can provide some metabolic benefits, but there is a significant learning curve. The potential for injury is significant, so be very careful.
Butter coffee
Also known as Bulletproof Coffee, adding butter to your coffee has become a trendy way to start your morning with brain-boosting fats. The idea is that consuming high amounts of fat and low amounts of carbs and sugar will put you in ketosis, which is when you burn fat for fuel.
There is potential for butter coffee to be handy if you’re not able to eat breakfast right away and don’t tolerate milk well.
The idea of ketosis is that you are re-teaching your body how to burn body fat for fuel. When you’re able to do this efficiently, proponents claim, you are using your body’s stored fat as fuel, giving your body ketones instead of sugar, improving brain health and even body composition.
The problem is that our bodies aren’t very good at burning fat for fuel. While we all probably have a little extra fat on our bodies we could stand to lose, we’re not great at getting rid of it. So consuming extra fat for your body to burn on top of the fat you already have stored may be counter productive.
If by chance you are able to get “keto adapted”, as in your body knows how to switch from sugar to fat as a fuel source, reducing sugar and adding some fat to your diet might be beneficial. Fasting is a good way to help with that, in fact.
But before you start melting butter into your coffee, I suggest starting with using the fat you already have on your body.
Detox teas & juices
Everyone hears the word “detox” and thinks “oh yeah that must be good for me!” But detoxification is a process that your body is already very good at, and while there are ways to help our bodies get better at detoxification, drinking a special tea isn’t one of them.
Toxins from the environment, food, air, water, things we touch, everything, go through our liver to be processed. Through a couple of different pathways, those toxins are broken down and released through our breath, sweat, urine and feces. (Sometimes our fat hangs on to some of the really bad stuff, but that’s another blog post.)
Detox teas and juices claim to help detoxify our bodies, some by binding to toxins or by flushing toxins out of our bodies.
This is the “juice cleanse” model - ingesting nothing but juice is supposed to flush out the toxins through an elaborate schedule of different fruit & vegetable juices.
There are nutrients and minerals in these juices and teas that can help with the natural detox process, for sure. And many of these teas and juices do contain things like antioxidants or precursors to enzymes that are critical to the detox pathway.
But more often than not, a nutrient dense, whole foods diet would provide adequate nutrients to support your detox processes.
Now, as far as I know, none of these detox teas or juices are harmful or dangerous, so if you drink a detox tea or go on a juice cleanse once in a while and it makes you feel good, go for it! But knowing that some of these products are expensive, I’m not confident that they are worth the money.
Y’all, finding the best swaps, additions and tricks to support YOU getting your metabolic fire raging and you feeling your best is a big part of my 1-on-1 coaching program. The best way to learn more is to set up a FREE 15 minute consult with me!
Comments