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26 Habits That Have No Health Benefits Even Though Lots Of People Think They Do
Article created by: Mindaugas Balčiauskas
Most people want to be as healthy as they can be so they can reach old age. Perhaps we're not as devoted as tech millionaire biohacker Bryan Johnson, but we make do with what we have. We try to eat healthier, exercise more, and cultivate healthy relationships.
Indeed, 59% of Americans say they're worried about their health. That sometimes leads us down rabbit holes about detox smoothies, intermittent fasting, HIIT workouts, and many more. The thing is, not all of them work. At least not for everybody.
There's no one-size-fits-all approach in life in general, but it's especially true for health, and more and more people are becoming aware of that. We've rounded up the health trends most people think are unnecessary or straight-up bogus from two recent threads on Reddit.
"What's the most overrated 'healthy' habit that people push on everyone, but you think is total lie and why?" the netizens asked. Turns out, people have lots of opinions about what a healthy lifestyle really looks like!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
The whole 10,000 steps thing
It can discourage people from sticking with their walking goals
Newer research shows that even 7-8000 is enough movement for serious positive health changes, and the benefits of doing 10,000 is not remarkably higher than 8000.
Even doing 5000 a day can be hugely beneficial to cardio
I think the 10K came from the Fitbit marketing.
bigfatpisces:
Oh this is one of my favorite random facts! The 10000 step number came from a Japanese pedometer that was marketed right before Olympics in Tokyo in the 1960s! The marketing department decided on 10000 steps because the character for it looks like someone walking: 万
Raymond Core 4 months ago
A lot of older folk have compromised knees and hips and should look elsewhere for exercise.
RELATED:
#2
Making your bed every morning. Apparently, all highly successful people make their bed every freaking day. I don’t think I’ve ever made my bed. I’m a very successful person who runs a very successful company and pays their employees well above a fair wage. I just do not care about my bed.
2WheelTravlr 4 months ago
I've always thought making the bed, especially in hot or humid conditions, was unhealthy as it traps all that sweaty moisture in the sheets. It could also be that I'm just lazy and have made that up to justify my pathetic bed making skills.
#3
Forcing everyone to be morning people.
I am a morning person. I love getting up early and getting a lot done.
I do not like non-morning people being forced to be up and doing stuff during that time. It’s not fair to them and it’s annoying to me and my fellow morning people.
It is absurd to assume people are irresponsible if they aren’t up and functional early in the morning.
Porkins_2:
My parents equate being a morning person with being successful, so they assume everyone who isn’t a morning person is a deadbeat loser. It has been a lovely life of being a night owl, constantly chastised for my nightly ways.
2WheelTravlr 4 months ago
My mom used to tell me that I would "outgrow" my night owl habits once I got older. I'm over 60 now, go to bed at 3am and wake up around 10. I'm still wondering just how old "older" is for me.
#4
Eating breakfast. People act like I'm insane for not being able to eat before noon, I've never needed to. Eating that early upsets my stomach.
AnonymousMayday:
The motto of breakfast is the most important meal of the day is what Kellogg’s came up with to sell more cereal around the war period.
Raymond Core 4 months ago
For optimal energy (blood suga level) regulation, one needs to eat some kind of protein. A mixture of slow release and fast release carbohydrates will give you a jump start and the protein will regulate how fast the sugars are released into the bloodstream. If one wants to lose weight/size, the addition of fat to breakfast will notify your metabolism that you are in the 'land of plenty' and there is no reason not to burn calories profigately. Skipping breakfast may signal to your body (which is reactive to its environment) that you have no nourishment available so your body slows your metabolism as a survival feature. "Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince, and dinner/supper like a Pauper."
#5
"Low fat" diets. Fat isn't bad for you. Fat is actually good for you, in the correct quantities, with the correct amount of physical activity.
#6
Something is good for you just because it’s all natural or organic. Snake venom is natural but I’m not going to ingest them.
AgHammer:
Raw sewage is organic, too. Don't eat it.
lowrads:
The big thing now is "clean" food. This can mean almost anything, but usually includes salt that isn't treated with iodine. This will often include pink salt, or sea salt, which ironically contain more elemental substitutions in the mineral.
There's going to be a lot more goiters showing up under neofeudalism.
#7
Pretty much any autism “cure”.
Pur1wise:
I’m so sick of people telling me they know someone who can cure it for me. Who says I want to be cured anyway. I like my operating system. It has some downsides but the upsides are pretty awesome.
#8
Insisting on fresh/refusing to eat canned and frozen vegetables and fruits. Studies have found similar if not superior nutrition retention in shelf stable and frozen produce vs fresh, especially during off-seasons.
TLDR: Disregarding taste as a factor, canned and frozen options are equally healthy as its fresh counterpart.
#9
"No pain, no gain". Nah dawg. Pain is pain lol.
2WheelTravlr 4 months ago
Discomfort is gain, pain is your body saying NOPE to whatever you're doing that hurts.
#10
Juicing, just eat the fruit and get the fiber??
Effective-Arm9099:
On the note of juicing, can I mention a pet peeve? People referring to a smoothie as juice. I got the whole fiber in my smoothie because it’s just blended fruits. I did not juice them and remove any fiber. That’s all. I’m a smoothie lover so I get offended when smoothies get looped into the juice category.
#11
One thing I didn't see on any of the comments, MSG. Everyone says to stay away from msg, but it's literally found in most of the produce and foods we have. All it is is a flavor enhancer. I'll take any down votes please.
eldritchelder:
Myself and my wife are with you. People will say it gives em a headache, then you tell them all the foods on our grocery store shelves that contain it and they look wide-eyed.
Raymond Core 4 months ago
It's just another salt but about 3% of the population can feel some side-effect. Try it and if you don't get a headache, enjoy it as a great flavor enhanser.
#12
Being proud of your body isn't good if you're heavily overweight or obese.
Tons of influencers advocate for this.
Zealousideal-Rent-77:
I think you have fundamental misunderstanding about what fat positivity means. It's not about being proud of being fat. It's about not being ashamed of being fat. It's about not letting other people make you think you're a bad person because you're fat.
Not being ashamed of your body is the first step in having a healthy relationship with your body and food. People who are ashamed and can't stand having people look at them, who haven't built up a resistance to other people's judgement and stares, do not go out and exercise. They stay home and feel bad and eat poorly.
People who accept their body as is and then work to become healthier by getting more activity and a better diet, rather than trying to punish themselves for being fat the way society wants them to, those are the people who successfully become more fit and improve their quality of life.
Most of those influencers are just trying to normalize seeing fat people do physical things in public.
2WheelTravlr 4 months ago
As a fat person who doesn't let their body weight determine their life choices, I completely agree with the first statement. Being proud or even accepting of an overweight body is like being proud of your old jalopy with three different paint colors and no matching wheels. Sure, it'll still take you where you want to go, but it's breaking down on you constantly and it's not anything to be proud of. If I chose to wear tight fitting clothes and show off my bare midriff I need to realize that people will point and laugh. Are they being kind? No. But if I don't want to be fat shamed I need to put on clothes that fit properly and are weight and age appropriate. I'm proud of what I've accomplished over the years, but my bulgy body can stay properly covered as I constantly work to remove the fat so my health doesn't go to crud as I get older.
#13
The 7 product skincare routines, before red light therapy, needling, guasha-ing etc. Skin can only absorb so much product, but companies have done such a good job with social media that now 11 year olds are using retinoids. It's landfillcore.
West-Season-2713:
I have such a gripe with skincare in general. The only things you need to do are to use gentle soap and moisturiser and to wear sunscreen every day, drink enough water and eat a healthy diet. That’s it, unless you have a specific skin condition, in which case a dermatologist will advise on extra products and diet/lifestyle changes.
Dragons_and_things:
Absolutely. My mum is 61 and doesn't look over 40. People ask her her skin care routine, she washes her face with soap every day and wears very little make up. Part of it is genetic, part of it is just being gentle on your skin aka, doing nothing to it.
I'm 27 and people have started asking me the same question (I look a lot younger). My answer is always, no make up, wash my face with face soap once a day, a gentle moisturiser before bed, sleeping well, and drinking a lot of water. People are always miffed that they waste so much time and money on their skin care when the answer is just be gentle with yourself.
Breaks my heart that children have been manipulated into this skincare routine nonsense. 😭
#14
Eating gluten-free, unless you are gluten sensitive/intolerant, is no healthier than arbitrarily removing foods from your diet that start with a certain letter.
InannasPocket:
I noticed a bunch of friends/colleagues going gluten free (for diet fad reasons, not an actual intolerance or medical reason), and claiming they felt so much better!
Yeah, you started reading food labels, cooking from scratch a lot more, and not drinking as much ... pretty much everyone is going to notice feeling better switching from a steady diet of "frozen packaged dinner/fast food and 8 beers" to "homemade chilli and a cocktail".
#15
Women who have a multitude of responsibilities and who have mental health problems are sold heaps of solutions and told to 'manage your stress".
It is complete nonsense. People are not designed to be responsible for caring for a number of other people, managing a household and bringing money in.
Honestly we've been sold an absolute pipe dream, and the only reason I know is that my elders left me a bunch of money and my kids grew up. In a relatively short period of time most of my responsibilities disappeared and so did my mental health problems.
2WheelTravlr 4 months ago
The idea of "stress management" is just evil when it's applied to single parents, adult children who care for their parents, and people working multiple jobs to make ends meet. When you are constantly pulled in different directions your body and mind will always be in tension.
#16
Whatever 'superfruit' is currently popular - acai, mangosteen, etc.
Just eat your local produce ffs
ETA: to clarify, I'm talking about fruit selections for health reasons, not eating something just for the love of it!
Perllitte:
I was in affiliate marketing a long time ago and made so much money on Acai.
The real reason this stuff becomes "super" is because some bro was able to get a freeze dryer or an industrial blender near enough some low-cost fruit the average American has never heard of.
Honestly, it was so much fun. We had like six distinct brands making different claims for different demographics of woo woo. We'd get wild reviews saying X-brand was so much better than Y-brand because of some nonsense. It was all shipped from the same sketchy warehouse in Alabama.
#17
I always laugh about the the people that convince themselves they are ‘creating a healthy gut environment’ because they gag down a few spoonfuls of sugary yogurt every day.
#18
You have to exercise to lose weight. Yes exercise is healthy it’s best to stay in shape but if there’s issues and you still need to lose weight you can. I was 275 I have chronic pain. I did start out with slow short walks on the treadmill until my back pain got to be too much. I had only consistently exercised around a month. Then I had to figure out how to lose weight without exercise. I mainly focused on how much I was eating I used moderation ate smaller portions and did high protein low carb and sugar. I changed all my eating habits and made them routine I eat at the same times everyday to stay consistent. I lost 115 pounds just changing eating habits and I overcame binging issues.
2WheelTravlr 4 months ago
Diet first, lose enough to feel comfortable in your body and energetic enough to do more, then add at least some stretching and balance and a little walking to your life. But if you literally just can't add more to your To Do list, just diet.
#19
Apple cider vinegar for everything.
InvestigatorGo:
There is actually scientific evidence for it in diabetes but I imagine it is in conjunction with dietary changes.
#21
The idea people have that hormone free milk is hormone free. By its very nature milk is full of hormones. You don’t get milk from any species without hormones.
Guess what- the human body does not accept binding in its receptors to react to bovine hormones.
But hey- get on your soapbox about wanting animal derived milk products to be hormone free! 🤷🏼♀️.
Secretary-Visual:
I usually see hormone free milk touted more as an animal welfare issue than a human health one. The use of hormones to stimulate excessive dairy production can cause mastitis in cows. That can also increase the amount of pus in the dairy milk, which may be where the human health perspective comes in. But the allowable amount of pus in dairy milk is legally regulated.
#22
Eating more protein than your body can process. Stop it y'all.
RandomChance:
Started weight training and I'm struggling to hit the MINUMIM without crossing 1700 calories a day. There is only so much greek yogurt, cottage cheese, tofu, grilled chicken, egg whites, and protein powder you can consume in one day.
There are many independent papers, funded before crazies took over control of funding science, that all all recommend "protein intake should be significantly higher than the standard Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of 0.8 g per kilogram of body weight. For healthy older adults, a recommended intake of 1.0–1.2 g/kg/day"
That means a minimum of 90g per day... even if they are not working out. Just to not lose muscle to aging.
That would be 16 eggs...
#23
The idea of "guilt free" receipes for things.
Using Greek yogurt in your tuna salad and then a bell pepper for the bread doesn't magically extend your life by decades. Chill. A regular tuna sandwich is already a healthy choice.
Eat the ice cream every once in a while. Don't eat the protein ice cream that tastes like cardboard. Ice cream is a treat. You're allowed to eat things for fun.
Sugar is fine. Eat the fruit. Put 1 sugar in your coffee instead of 5 stevias.
Food isn't just to keep you alive. It's also something to enjoy.
Mike Goslin 4 months ago
Make sure your blood sugar is under control before you take this advice. For about one in ten Americans, that sugar and Ice Cream will k**l you. Make sure you are not one of them before you start indulging in sugar and carbohydrates.
#24
Eating "natural" sugars. I see so many recipes on Pinterest that are self proclaimed as sugar free and then contain 1/2 cup of Maple syrup...
I hate that people still try to insist that they feel better/healthier etc when you tell them that their agave, rice, maple or whatever syrup won't help them with the downsides of sugar.
(Dates in small doses dont trigger blood sugar spikes though, contain antioxidants, but even here we talk about 3-4 daily not a whole box).
Natural sugars have only a Very slight decrease in blood sugar spikes compared to refined sugar, but it's not worth mentioning tbh.
Also: I do believe that people who consume natural sugars make more health conscious choices in their diet in general which makes them feel better, but not the replaced sugar.
MessyMaple:
Ok so hear me out. I think eating natural sugars is better, BECAUSE...I need less of it for better flavor. Straight up sugar has almost no taste, so to make a difference, you need quite a bit of it. But maple syrup and honey give a richer and more complex taste, so I just put a tiny bit! That's my take.
#25
The idea that you need three meals a day.
Meal consumption should be based on activity. Chances are if you're eating three a day, snacks, and are heavy, you're eating too many meals.
It's a *very* convoluted topic, and this little blurb barely even scratches the surface. Like an ice cube to an iceberg.
userhwon:
I've eaten 3, 1, 6, 5, and 2, each over extended periods. The best are 2 and 5.
2 means you don't have to mess with it so often, and can have a bigger dinner, when you want that feeling. But don't expect to get health benefits from doing this.
5 is for when you're exercising and trying to get healthy. You eat 10-15% more calories than you need when you want to gain more muscle than fat, and between 10% and 900 calories less than you need when you want to lose more fat than muscle. The large number of meals spreads them out evenly and keeps your insulin system from driving calories into adipose tissue so hard; food comas are the worst thing for your plans. (The hard limit at -900 calories avoids starvation mode in which your body shifts to a higher muscle/fat loss ratio to spare fat because it thinks you're in a famine and less muscle lowers your metabolism and lets you live off the fat longer.)
#26
Avoiding carbohydrates. 'Healthy' carbs are vital for energy, focus, mood, etc. and can come packed with other valuable nutrition. They are not evil. Also, fiber (a carb) is the single most consistently associated nutrient with reduced mortality risk across diverse populations.
Mike Goslin 4 months ago
We are not all built the same. Carbs are truly horrible for some people, and not so much for others. It really comes down to how your body handles them.
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