Healthy Podcasts

Rich

I listen to three, very different, podcasts on nutrition and health - the Rich Roll podcast, Ben Greenfield's podcast and Vinnie Tortorich's podcast.  Taken individually, they are each totally entertaining, each presented by fascinating people and subscribe to very different approaches to a healthy athletic life.  Collectively they highlight that the "standard American diet" that has been exported globally, is killing us bite by bite.

Ben

I've spoken about Rich Roll before, the plant powered athlete with the qualities of personal determination and holistic ethos that is something I can both admire and relate to in equal measure.  He doesn't push a specific carb/protein/fat ratio that many others do, instead Rich leads with his vision of a spiritually more connected world where we use plants as fuel and medicine for our bodies and minds. His primary message? Eat more plants. Can't go too far wrong with that concept, making it beautiful in it's simplicity and adaptability for each person's situation. 


Now Ben Greenfield is something different altogether. His approach is much more bottom up, which focuses the details and how the individual variables can be tweaked and tuned to "hack" our systems. This appeals massively to my inner geek - I'd love to think of my body as something I have as much control of as my PC.  Don't like how it is running? That's fine, just take this supplement, do this exercise, use this programme or take this test.  While he does stray quite far into pseudo-science at times, usually it is fairly rooted in a modern understanding of health.

Vinnie

Last up we have Vinnie, "America's Angriest Trainer", who for someone who is supposed to be so angry, he sure likes to laugh a lot!  Vinnie's #NSNG (no sugar no grains) approach is basically a healthy low-carb approach that helps simply the process of cutting out all the processed crap that we normally shovel into our mouths with great abandon. I cut out excess sugar a long time ago and have reaped massive benefits to both my energy and weight.  While I still think that carbs have their place, I totally agree that sugar's place should be complementary, not superior to, fats and protein.  Vinnie also swears a lot and occasionally says completely inappropriate things - something I can certainly relate to personally :)

The more I read and learn about nutrition and health, the more I'm confronted with conflicting and contradictory advice and views.  Especially around the topic of nutrition and fitness.  However I think this is actually quite wonderful!

Why? Well, we only understand a tiny fraction of our world, so no-one has all of the answers. Each of us is trying to work out how to best function within the system, based on our own knowledge and beliefs. These three guys are each trying their best to get out of the rut of apathy that is quite literally killing us. Each of them is advocating change.  When I realised I was getting increasingly more sedentary, fat and heading for an early grave, I had to change as well. 

I'm now in a constant state of change; evolving my diet, attitudes, ethics, beliefs and training. Trying to find that sweet spot that works for me. And do you know what? That probably won't work for you - you have to find your own system that works for you.  In the meantime, I'll take what I can from people who have something to share, see if it fits and even if it doesn't, I'll have learnt something else new about myself.

Love the journey :)