Who's in Control?

As we’ll discuss in this week’s class, a sense of control is a profound psychological need. And while we’d like to think that we have total control over our health, the truth is that we don’t. For starters, there are simply no guarantees that doing “x” will cause “y” when it comes to your health. You could eat oatmeal every day and still have a heart attack. Or you could smoke every day and never get lung cancer. As I tell my clients, all you can do is play the odds. We know certain behaviors increase or decrease risk of certain outcomes, but that is about as far as the control goes. 

Another reason we may not have the control we think we have over our health is the multitude of influences that are at play behind the scenes. There is big money behind a lot of what we are told about nutrition and health. For example, companies spend money testing their foods and drugs to get favorable health results that they can use for marketing (remember my blog about superfoods?). Food and industry lobbyists spend money to influence nutrition legislation and dietary guidelines for Americans (some wonder if dairy remains on MyPlate due to the efforts of the dairy lobby). All of this should generate a healthy dose of skepticism for consumers.

And let me give you a peek behind the curtain into my profession. Below are two recent articles/advertisements that were in the daily newsletter I receive from our professional organization (The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics). They want me, as a dietitian, to learn about caffeine from PepsiCo? And I should trust information about obesity medication in a webinar sponsored by Eli Lily and Novo Nordisk. No thanks. If they are treating dietitians like this, imagine what they are doing to everybody else. 

I hope that by knowing all of this, you feel a greater sense of control – one that allows you to fully appreciate and consider the factors at play when you make choices about your food and health.