“Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.” Redd Foxx
I’ve noticed that different people respond differently to a major part of our lives: what we put in our mouths several times a day or how we treat our bodies.
There are 5 personality types within nutrition and health. Where do you stand?
Note: You can make up your own category if you wish!
1. Don’t Care:
These are the people who eat what they like, or what is convenient, or what they always have eaten. A major part of the population used to be in this category.
Now, because there is now so much attention in the media on the possible benefits of food and all the dangers of not having a healthy lifestyle, this category is shrinking.
But this group is still huge, and the largest segment is men. Men traditionally just don’t pay as much attention to this aspect of their lives and rely on their spouses and eventually a doctor to take care of them.
2. Enthusiastic:
These are people who have been introduced to some food or nutritional knowledge and are eager for the benefits.
“He who has health, has hope. And he who has hope, has everything.”
The more positive feedback they get from their bodies the more enthusiastic they become! They often eagerly share their information to friends etc.
3. Health Nut:
“If you call yourself a health nut, it’s usually good. When someone else calls you a health nut … it’s definitely bad!”
A health nut is someone who is enthusiastic about nutrition, tries to be on top of the most recent knowledge, BUT realizes that not everyone has the same enthusiasm or beliefs.
Did you know that ten years ago, if you talked about antioxidants or omega 3 fatty acids, you were branded a health nut by others?
Now its common knowledge. You know it is common when food packagers are advertising that their yogurt or juice or whatever is now packed full of these amazing ‘new’ ingredients.
Today’s health nut …..
- Has tried vegan, raw, or vegetarian at least once.
- Of course eats quinoa and green smoothies. Doesn’t everyone?
- When asked to bring chips and dip turn up with kale chip and home made houmus.
4. Obsessive:
This category could also be called the old fashioned word, hypochondriac. these last two categories are heading for the dark side of health.
“The trouble with being a hypochondriac these days is that antibiotics have cured all the good diseases.” Caskie Stinnett
Once you have experienced the different effects of food it’s quite easy to get obsessed about trying to control it – particularly if you are suffering in some way.
The danger in this is that the mind is extremely powerful and can create its own responses in the body even if they are not appropriate.
A further complication to this situation is that there is so much new nutritional information coming out all the time. It’s easy to get confused by conflicting information or scared by dangerous toxins etc.
Fanatics:
Fanatics are people who have come to believe in a certain food rules and think that everyone else should also follow this. They believe this so strongly that they don’t see other people’s viewpoint or don’t care. Fanatics can be inspiring and can actually have good nutritional information but because they are so rigid they can be aggressive against those who don’t share their views.
Everyone is doing their best!
Once you have been in the health field long enough, you see that the field of health is still as much an art as a science – that the details are constantly changing and it is therefore just as important how you approach the goal as your specific actions.
At Real Food for You – Diana and I realized that we were passionate about NOT being ‘fanatics.’ Even though we are familiar with all the RULES to eating we do not want to always be dishing them out in a rigid way because that is not the most helpful way.
That is why we focus on principles and orientations to eating as they are simpler and allow for flexibility. That is why we released the Eating Green, Clean and Lean, Principles and Recipes as our first e-book.
We also teach Healthy Weekend BootCamps where people can focus their attention on alkalizing their bodies, or losing wight or cooking gluten free from the comfort of their home.
Where do you see yourself in this mix? Leave comments below.
Personally I relate with the ‘enthusiastic’ and ‘health nut’ right now. As a child I was in the ‘don’t care’ of course. We all were.
Sometimes I stray to the dark side though. I do worry the odd time and do judge others
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bordering on obsessive, though not hypochondriac; Example: planning my day around being at home for lunch, whereby I eat protein and big salad. I find it too difficult to eat properly when on the run, as a freshly prepared meal feels best.
Not eating starches with protein has been a big change, not seeing any benefits yet.
Almost totally quit bread and have finally seen an end to belly fat. Rice cakes and rye crisps without any additives, salt, preservatives are my choice in that department now.
I am in the don’t care group still at age 45. Yet, I do care, but just don’t seem to do anything about it. I read such as from this site, but don’t seem to put anything into practice. I guess I do a bit, but it seems a bit overwhelming and much easier just to do nothing. I thankyou for this site. It is very informative and I have learned much about good eating and health. I would love to lose weight eventually. -Anjahlina
Dear Anjahlina, Thanks for your truthful comment. I think many people IF they were honest would reply as you have. Just so you know, that is why we developed the Healthy Web BootCamps – so a person could be focused, get good knowledge, get support and APPLY that knowledge all in one short time period. Look at the top of the site for events and BootCamps.
Randy