diet trends

The Whole30 Diet: Is Whole30 good for you? What does the science say about Whole30?

August 25, 2019 by Katherine Baker 4 Comments

Hey there friends! It’s been a minute since I wrote a science/nutrition type post. Life has been crazy and all over the place. But let’s not dwell upon that. Let’s talk about the Whole 30 diet. A lot of people ask me about Whole 30. But what is the Whole 30 diet? Is Whole 30 Good for you? Today, we will look at the science behind the Whole30 diet?

PS: Video version at bottom of post or watch here.

What is Whole30?

I never learned about the Whole 30 diet in my masters of nutrition program, nor in my undergraduate nutrition classes. The Whole 30 diet is not included in my Clinical Nutrition textbooks, nor is it in my nutritional biochem textbook (granted, these books are a couple years old, but still).

So, I turned to the internet to find see what was out there about Whole30.

I couldn’t find any scientific studies on Whole30 on PubMed nor Google Scholar.

Thus, I turned to regular Google. According to the Whole30 official website, Whole30 is a 30-day diet that emphasizes whole foods and the elimination of sugar (real or artificial, including maple syrup, agave, coconut sugar, date syrup, Splenda, Stevia, etc) alcohol, grains including wheat, corn, rice, millet, etc, legumes of all kinds (ie: beans, peanuts, and peas), soy, dairy, and carrageenan, MSG, and sulfites.

The Whole30 program also forbids consuming baked goods, treats, or junk foods made with “approved” ingredients, as well as stepping on the scale or measuring one’s body during the 30 days.

According to the website, you must completely adhere to the full program “exactly as written 100% for the full 30 days.” If you have any “slip ups,” (even a bite of pizza) you “have” to start over again on Day 1.

Whole30 is also a lifestyle brand, of sorts. The website offers a couple Whole30-related books, and seems to work with brands on “Whole30-approved” certifications for certain products.

What Does Whole30 promise?

The Whole30 website claims that completing the Whole30 program will lead to “stunning, life-changing results.” According to their website, Whole30 can cure digestive ailments, seasonal allergies, skin issues, inflammation, and improve your immune system.

The Whole30 also advertises itself as a “nutritional reset” to help you “end” unhealthy cravings and habits.

There are no links to any scientific studies to support these claims on the Whole30 website. There are, however, links to Whole30 books available for purchase, written by the Whole30 founders.

Who Designed Whole30?

According to the Whole30 website, the diet was founded by Melissa Hartwig Urban, who obtained a sports nutrition certificate from ISSN (according to her LinkedIn page). ISSN is an online nutrition certificate site,sponsored by Bayer, bioPro, CBD+oil, Muscletech, and many other companies.

I can’t speak about the quality of the program as I have never taken the exam.

What Does the Science Say About Whole30?

As I alluded to above, I couldn’t find a single scientific studies on Whole30 and the diet’s impact on health on PubMed nor Google Scholar, nor did I ever learn about it in any academic nutrition setting. It’s not in any nutrition textbook I own, etc.

So, every health claim made by the Whole30 website lacks scientific data. Normally, when researching a diet or trend, I try to weigh the evidence and sift through the science available to determine the validity of claims made. However, in this case, all I can say is, there is no evidence to support any health benefits of the Whole30.

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Celery Juice: What does the Science Say?

July 2, 2019 by Katherine Baker 3 Comments

Celery juice is one of the most popular and heavily Instagramed recent health trends. Suddenly, it seems like everyone is guzzling celery juice, and proclaiming that it can cure every ailment from acne to cancer to infertility.

Confused, as I couldn’t remember ever hearing about any benefits of celery juice during my master’s in nutrition program, I decided to take a deep dive into investigating the trend and truly examine what – if any – evidence there was behind this wellness trend.

So today I’m spilling the tea on celery juice. I’m a bit anxious to post this as I fear some people may get upset with me; after all, links to peer-reviewed literature are way less sexy than colors of pretty pastel green juice and promises of perfect health.

But after a lot of internet digging, database searching, and textbook consulting, I have come to the conclusion that yes, celery, consumed as part of a robust, diverse diet, can be healthful food. And yes, it has some healthful plant compounds…as do many other plant foods. And those celebrated in celery are not exclusive to the vegetable.

Importantly, there is scant evidence to support the alleged health benefit of consuming celery juice in humans. As far as I can tell, the trend was started by someone with no actual nutrition or medical background information, and brought to the mainstream by often as inadequately-educated health influencers.

Now, if you’re interested in joining me into the deep throws of my research journey, I’ve explained some of what I found while research celery juice in the sections below, detailing everything from healthful compounds truly found in celery, to dangers of overconsumption.

Disclaimer: As always, this is general information intended for healthy adults. Your needs may vary based on medical status, lifestyle, or life-stage. Please never replace generalized health information you’ve read online with individualized clinical care.

Don’t like reading? Take a listen to the video chat here (and/or scroll to the bottom for embedded video).

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Let’s Talk About Dietary Supplements (And what precautions to take when they are marketed to you all over social media)

June 26, 2019 by Katherine Baker 1 Comment

Hello to my wonderful friends from all corners of the internet! Today we are going to be chatting about dietary supplements. I get a lot of questions from friends, family members, and followers about supplements. Should you take a multivitamin? Which brand? Do supplements work? What about if I workout? Do diet pills work? Etc etc. I get it. There’s a lot of confusion out there.

And then, of course, I frequently see people on my Facebook feed, or influencers on my Instagram suggested page, selling all sorts of lovely supplements, making various promises that range from weight loss to improved brain function to increased muscle strength to better sleep. Suddenly it seems like many people feel well-qualified to give dietary advice and sell supplements!

There’s also this extremely bizarre-to-me trend of influencers ingesting all sorts of pre-workout powdery concoctions, bulking up frothy beverages with all sorts of mystical potions, and getting IV “vitamin cleanses,” and acting as if these activities are not only glamorous, but also totally normal ways to improve one’s health.

All of this adds to the noise and confusions about what – if any – supplements are the best for consumers to take. And with the multi-billion dollar supplement industry continuing to grow at a rapid pace, it seems like every day we’re infiltrated with advertisement for a new “essential” supplement to add to our daily routines.

If you know me at all, you know that the spread of illegitimate nutrition information and trends is one of my biggest peeves. So rather than continuing to suppress all my feelings, or end up thrashing out irrationally, I thought it was time to use my platform to shed some truth about nutrition-related issues. Including supplements.

So let’s get into it. The highs, lows, unknowns, and in between of dietary supplements.

Disclaimer: As always, this is general information intended for healthy adults who are not pregnant or breastfeeding. Your needs may vary based on medical status, lifestyle, or life-stage. Please never replace generalized health information you’ve read online with individualized clinical care.

No One Regulates Supplements Before They Hit Shelves

If there’s one thing you should be aware of as a consumer, it’s that no one regulates supplements before they hit the market. That’s right – no one – not the FDA, USDA, etc – regulates dietary or herbal supplements for quality, safety, or purity before you’re able to pick up a bottle at your local drug store.

The FDA does prohibit companies from marketing adulterated or misbranded supplements, meaning they have a legislation in place that prohibits tainted products from hitting store shelves, and outlaws manufacturers from selling products that aren’t as advertised. However, since there is no pre-sale testing required for a product to hit the market, a lot of stuff very easily slips through the cracks.

That means you could, quite literally, be spending your hard earned money on sugar pills, pills that don’t actually contain the amount of supplements advertised on the bottle, or contaminated supplements that contain all sorts of unwanted components, including prescription drugs and heavy metals. All of these have happened, and all of them are worrisome.

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Is it Really Bad to Eat Late at Night?

October 7, 2018 by Katherine Baker Leave a Comment

Wednesdays are a doousy this semester, filled with running between two campuses (I TA at the Columbia main campus and am a student at the CUMC campus), and capped off beautifully with a 3-hour night class that lets out around 8:30pm. Brutal. I don’t often hate my hour commute, but let me tell you – on Wednesday nights I find it very unfun.

Typically, I snack before night class, but for whatever reason, never feel like eating a meal before/during class. Hence, I usually eat dinner once I’ve gotten home/unloaded/gotten Millie out for a walk, typically around 10:00pm. As I often document what I’m up to on Insta stories, I had a follower ask me if it’s really true that it’s bad for you to eat before bed.

I get asked about if it’s really bad for you to eat before bed quite a bit, and see confusion surrounding the topic circulating the internet quite a bit, so I thought it could make for a fun and informative blog post.

Disclaimer: As with all my nutrition and health-related posts, I’d like to point out that while I have a background in nutrition science, I am not your healthcare provider nor personal nutritionist. I have no information on your health history or current state of physical and mental well-being. These posts are intended as general information for healthy adults. Please do not substitute what you read on the internet for seeking individualized clinical care.

First of all, Here’s The Right Time You Should Eat:

You know when the best time to eat is? When you’re hungry, that’s when! We’re living creatures with circadian rhythms and every day presents different activity levels, stress levels, sleep levels, and environmental factors that may impact when hunger hits and when we eat.

If you ask me, clocks are pretty arbitrary when it comes to hunger. The idea that you should ‘close the kitchen’ or ‘stop eating after 7/8:00pm is totally arbitrary and it bothers me that so many people think this is a rule you should implement into your life.

So the best time to eat dinner (or any meal) is when you’re hungry for dinner (and of course, have access to food and time to eat it), whether this be 4:30pm or 10:30pm.

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