If you're like the average person than you may struggle trying to keep up with all the nutritional rules nowadays. Do we eat saturated fat? What about trans fat? Can we have carbs? If so, what types and how much? [caption id="attachment_4138" align="alignleft" width="300"] There are lots of opinions on whether to eat gluten or not. Ask 10 different fitness professionals a number of nutritional questions such as these and you are going to get a variety of answers. Consider for example what people believe about gluten. You know about gluten right? It's the stuff that gives baked goods such as bagels, bread and pasta their stretchiness. But you also find it in sauces, dressings, gravies and many other products. Add to this the fact it may be listed by the Latin names for the wheat that contains gluten and it can hard to identify its presence and be truly gluten-free. So why eliminate gluten from the diet? Well those that have an allergy to this protein may experience gastro-intestinal problems, inflammation, anemia and fatigue. And if you don't have celiac disease (CD) should you eliminate gluten from the diet? Because we have been told that this protein is non-essential and therefore we don't need to have it in our diets. And even if we aren't fully allergic to gluten it is possible that we may be still be sensitive to it and benefit from a gluten-free approach. Well that's what many food manufacturers would have you believe. When you consider that about 0.5% of the population has celiac disease but 20% of us purchase gluten-free products I'd say the food industry has done an effective job of getting the message out to switch to gluten-free products. Why the special interest in convincing you to buy gluten-free? Well it comes down...

 How important is healthy eating for you? What does healthy eating mean to you? The second one might be a more important question because our understanding of what is healthy can vary drastically. For some people it means 'low fat'. For others this means 'low carb'. Some people will try and grow some of their own fruits, vegetables and herbs. And when we start with a new client we will do a consult and assessment. The answer for many of them regarding their nutritional habits is to qualify the quality of their nutrition with saying where they buy their groceries. This is kind of funny. Funny because even 'health food' stores sell cookies, pop, ice cream and all other types of junk food that you can find at regular supermarkets. Don't believe me? Take a look at the current flyer for your local health food supermarket. You will find gluten free cookies, cane sugar soda, dark chocolate, soy based ice cream all on sale. But here's the problem...you can't make junk food healthy simply by using a natural ingredient or removing the worst ingredient of the day. This could be trans fat, high fructose corn syrup, gluten or whatever is the current nutritional villain of the day. Now I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here. You aren't the types to believe gluten free cookies will help you towards your weight loss goal. Or that cane sugar cola all of sudden become a healthy choice. I'm sure you get this. But there is an area where many people get tripped up. And that is when they buy organic. (pause...wait for crickets...) Now I may have the attention of a few more of you that this refers to. Do you buy organic? If so, what are your reasons for buying organic? Is it...

  I had another topic planned for today but someone asked if I would cover this one instead. Since more and more people have been asking me about cleanses lately I thought I might as well cover this topic now. But first I need to ask you a few questions. How you ever done a cleanse? What were your reasons for doing so?   Was it drop some weight quickly to get ready for a beach vacation?   To fit into an outfit?   To rid your body of toxins?     Because Oprah said so? (just kidding, I don't want to get sued by O)   You might laugh at the last one but it's unfortunate what our rationales are for doing a cleanse. And they are rarely due to the advice of a medical professional. Instead they seem to be based on the anecdotal evidence of friends and family. What do I mean by that?   Well the benefits of cleanses aren't front page news on the cover of JAMA or other medical journals. Instead it is usually a friend that has done this exact cleanse before, lost 7 lbs and feels great. And oh yeah, this friend is usually a distributor for a supplement you need to take during the cleanse.   (what a cynic I am, right?)   But seriously if weight loss is your goal, what would you expect to happen if you stopped eating food for a week or longer? Some cleanses last as long as 45 days.   And when you stop eating for this much time, what do you think happens to your metabolism? It comes to a screeching halt. And with a slower metabolism body fat will increase over time.   Doesn't seem worth it to me.   But what about the benefits of all the...