You should be waking up at 5 a.m. each day to maximize productivity. But a good night’s sleep is crucial, and you shouldn’t sacrifice it for anything. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! But if you’re not intermittent fasting until the afternoon, you’re going to gain weight. And don’t you dare put oat milk in your coffee if it has seed oils in it!
There’s a lot of contradictory information floating around health and wellness spaces. While being healthy was once as simple as eating a balanced diet, staying active and maintaining relationships with loved ones, people are constantly trying to complicate it to make a profit or simply confuse you. That’s why Reddit users have recently been discussing potentially harmful trends, behaviors and more that people often assume are “healthy.” Keep reading to find a conversation with Kevin Pho, MD, and be sure to upvote the things you don’t trust either!
#1
The rat race. We should really switch to a capybara or manatee race, slow things down a bit.
Image source: cursedcowpie, Ryoji Iwata
#2
Detox anything. Your body has organs literally for this purpose.
Image source: ichbinhungry, rawpixel.com
#3
I’m a yoga instructor and I constantly have to remind my students that doing advanced poses without proper form isn’t pushing yourself it’s just asking for injuries.
Image source: SweetGoddess21, Getty Images
#4
“Pain is just weakness leaving your body”
No, pain is you damaging your body in a bad way. It’s okay to be sore after exercise, but at no point should there be any pain.
Image source: JustTheTipAgain, Sam Moghadam
#5
Cutting out all fats.
Image source: bubblesthehorse, freepik
#6
Chugging a gallon of detox juice. congrats! you’re just starving with expensive pee 😂💁♀️.
Image source: tx_Samantha, Darina Belonogova
#7
I still hear people talking about getting “a healthy tan” when they are actually (and quite obviously) burning their skin with UV radiation.
I’m not talking about general outdoor lifestyles (we all need Vitamin D), but the dedicated pursuit of a tan.
There is a cultural heritage in the UK where burning to a crisp on the beach/by the pool with no sun cream (or just low factor/oils) was a sign of social status when you got home and showed off your melanin infused skin (or even a nice bit of UV radiation scarring) in the pub or office.
“Look at my blistered arms, I can afford two weeks in Spain!”,
At best this is damaging your largest organ and prematurely aging your appearance, at worst you are drastically increasing your chance of melanoma skin cancer, but is somehow seen as wholesome and worthy of envy.
It’s sunny here today for once though, so I’m getting my shirt off!!
Image source: Geofftheowl, halayalex
#8
Waking up extremely early for no literal reasons other than “being productive” I’m not saying this is the case for everyone but a lot of these influencers seem to be depriving themselves of quality sleep by waking up at 4am everyday and going to sleep at 12am.
Image source: _Kratu_, Miriam Alonso
#9
Biologically inappropriate fad diets.
Image source: Amazing_Finance1269, freepik
#10
Getting IV injection/infusion therapy at med spas can be dangerous!
In fact, most healthy people don’t need IV vitamins/nutrients and it can actually cause infections, or worse – electrolyte derangements and k**l them!
Image source: discount_bone_doctor, Jordan González
#11
Douching.
Thankfully more and more women are receptive to the education that this is often more harmful than helpful.
Image source: HumblePieInTraining, Getty Images
#12
I´ve heard a fair few people say they switched from cigarettes to vaping and think they made a huge improvement.
It´s good to get off cigs, but not the best replacement?
Image source: no-filtering, Julia Engel
#13
Learning to “take a joke”
No, conditioning yourself to just shut up and bottle your feelings when you’re upset over something that was “just a joke” is not healthy.
I’m not saying there will never be times where you feel upset by something that maybe shouldn’t have upset you, but instead of shoving those feelings down where they’ll get packed in like gunpowder ready to go off later, explore *why* you feel upset. Sometimes, it’s legitimate; somebody was mean to you and wanted to gaslight you into thinking you’re the problem so they could get away with it. Other times, you’re having a response based on your trauma/social conditioning and you have to treat it kind of like a phobia; an irrational response that you have to learn how to manage and communicate to others, with a reminder to yourself that nobody is trying to hurt you.
Image source: quantipede, Engin Akyurt
#14
Muffins. I used to bring donuts to meetings but was asked to bring muffins instead because they’re healthier. They are twice the calories of the donuts. .
Image source: PrairieGirlWpg, makistock
#15
Entree salads at restaurants are deceptively high in calories and fat.
Using Chili’s to illustrate this point.
-The quesadilla explosion salad is 1,420 calories and 99g of fat.
-The surf and turf 10oz sirloin, shrimp, mashed potatoes, and broccoli is 750 calories and 33g fat
(sirloin and shrimp 450cal + mashed potatoes 260cal + broccoli 40cal) (Fat is 20g+13g+0g) nutrition info was sourced from Chili’s website.
Image source: Deep_Statement5327, Frames For Your Heart
#16
Fat free food.
Image source: JustAJumpToTheLeft_, EyeEm
#17
Protein bars/shakes. I get that they have their place for people working out, but I know way too many very sedentary office workers who are very overweight, do not work out at all, and yet eat multiple protein bars a day convincing themselves that it is good for their health.
Image source: Weztinlaar, Kaboompics.com
#18
Activated charcoal toothpaste. It just wears down your teeth. Honestly I bet it’s better to just use water than charcoal. Same with those all natural no fluoride toothpastes. They aren’t good. It’s funny how much people hate fluoride when it’s just as natural as sodium which is salt. Both are just minerals. I don’t know much about the subject though.
Also people are so scared of scientific names. Like sodium is so scary to them when it’s just salt. They panic when they see acids in the ingredients. Thinking it’s toxic because acid. When lemons are acidic. Also just because something has a shorter ingredient list does not mean it’s healthier. Also from what I’ve heard European food labels don’t have to include as much infromation as ameircan ones and can often say stuff like “spices” and not name it. And can use more common vs scientific names for stuff. But I may be wrong about that. But a lot of people use that fact for fear mongering.
Image source: ravenpotter3, hello aesthe
#19
Those weird “healthy” versions of junk food you see in organic grocery stores. No, chips don’t suddenly become healthy because you left the skin on the potatoes. I’m sorry. Plus, if you look at the ingredients list on that stuff, it’s often longer and has more weird ingredients than the basic version. I was shocked. My husband and I lived for a while near a place that sold itself as a “healthy food” grocery store. Their fresh fruit and vegetables (actually healthy stuff) was miniscule, half an aisle. The rest was weird supplements and processed junk. It shocks me people think that stuff is healthier than fresh whole real foods.
Image source: Stranger-Sojourner, EyeEm
#20
Granola bars. Most of them are no better than candy bars.
Image source: Just_Me1973, Hybrid Storytellers
#21
Getting only 4 hours of sleep and calling it ‘grind culture.’.
Image source: JamesD3s, Getty Images
#22
The plethora of skin care and beauty products that are pushed on young people.
Image source: AdventurousTravel509, Sora Shimazaki
#23
Working yourself to death.
Image source: TheRexRider, armmypicca
#24
One thing that many people believe is healthy but actually isn’t is fruit juices. While they seem like a great source of vitamins, most commercial fruit juices are packed with sugar and lack the fiber found in whole fruits. This can lead to blood sugar spikes and contribute to weight gain over time.
Image source: QueenEv3e, Natalia Blauth
#25
Staying up to date on the news.
Image source: bmcgowan89, SHVETS production
#26
Doing high impact exercise when they’re overweight. It doesn’t help much, and there’s a much bigger risk of injury. Taking a brisk walk and stretching are the best types of exercise to do when you’re overweight.
Image source: haloarh, Getty Images
#27
Waking up early if you aren’t naturally a morning person.
Image source: Akem0417, Daniel Martinez
#28
In the early 1900s it was thought smoking could open the lungs, and early Tour De France racers would often smoke a pack of cigarettes during the race to enhance their performance. Of course, this never worked.
Image source: scallywagsworld, Pawel Czerwinski
#29
Jumping into CrossFit & other intense workouts if you’re older or out of shape.
It’s an endorphin rush & it’s awesome to see your body start getting into shape so quickly. Combine those two, and it’s difficult to not just push your limits every time you go in. However, that sort of intensity takes a toll on joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons that are unaccustomed to it. Eventually that wear & tear causes injury, which (among other things) makes any exercise at all more difficult.
Some folks can do those sort of intense workouts, but for anyone looking to get into exercise, it’s best to just focus on establishing a sustainable routine. It might take longer, but if you can stick with that, then results will come & you’ll be more likely to keep your positive gains.
Image source: Global_You8515, Brooke Cagle
#30
Being surrounded only by people who share the same opinion. .
Image source: sanzako4, Getty Images
#31
Drinking as self care 😭😭.
Image source: RazzmatazzDue3470, Karolina Grabowska
#32
Vitamin Water. Coca-Cola won a lawsuit claiming the branding was misleading. Their argument, iirc, was that they’re Coca-Cola; nobody should expect things they make to be healthy, and it isn’t their fault people are stupid.
Image source: BeeztheBoss, MART PRODUCTION
#33
Trying to do a calorie deficit but just eat minimal amount to survive .
Image source: TenWTen, i yunmai
#34
Pushing your body and overtraining. You can get serious injuries.
Image source: psycharious, Kateryna Hliznitsova
#35
Too little or not enough of many things. Extreme cutting for extended periods of time or very specific diets have side effects usually.
Unregulated words on food packages. Natural or non-processed have no actual meaning when it comes to health. The same with Fresh. You still have to wisely select foods as those words can be easily slapped on unhealthy food.
Exercise even. There is a reason why they suggest consulting with your doctor before doing vigorous exercise. Doing the same exercise over and over can be bad for you even. My dad lost 90 lbs, then one day passed out on a treadmill, hit his head and died. That doesn’t mean I don’t think people should exercise. Just that you have to be careful. .
Image source: Moron-Whisperer, Getty Images
#36
Chiropractors.
Image source: Normal-Avocado-8349, prostooleh
#37
“Drinking lemon water every morning doesn’t detox anything — your liver already does that.”.
Image source: mykhailo35, Lia Bekyan
#38
Taking a bunch of random supplements.
Image source: Buhblesz, JSB Co.
#39
Wine.
My dad heard 2 drinks a day is healthy. So he was at his cardiologist and they asked how much he drinks a week and he said 14 drinks. The cardiologist was flabbergasted and told him to cut out drinking.
Image source: Soggy_Competition614, freepik
#40
Working 40 hours a week.
Image source: maddierl97, Edward Jenner
Follow Us
