The diet and fitness world can be a tough place.  It’s full of extremism, obsession and heartache.   It’s full of foolish fads.  I’ve written a lot about that stuff.

We know this.  We all agree.  Yet, despite this awareness, we continue to fall for faulty ideas again and again.  What gives?

And with so much noise out there, how can we separate the good information from the bad?  The sensible from the sensational?  How do we know whose advice we can trust?

 

 

 

Logical Fallacies

Often our mistakes are a result of logical fallacies – errors in our reasoning.  Logical fallacies can make those silly diet and fitness ideas seem sound when they’re anything but.

By having a basic grasp of a few of them, you’ll be able to spot crappy arguments and protect yourself from the deluge of poor ideas in this industry.

 

So, I’m not saying not to listen to any of the following people, I’m merely saying that if you’re going to listen to them, do it for the right reasons.

 

The Ripped Guy/Girl

Fallacies: Projection Bias, Correlation and Causation 

While you’ll want the person dispensing health advice to be healthy themselves, being in great shape does not necessarily make someone an authority on fitness and nutrition.  In fact, sometimes people are in great shape in spite of what they do; not because of it.

There are a lot of in-shape people out there promoting unfounded and unhelpful training and nutrition practices.  It’s possible that The Ripped Guy/Girl might simply have great genes as opposed to great insights.  The projection bias is assuming that our experience will be everybody’s experience.  Because something worked for us, it will work for everybody else.  But this is not always the case.

Then there’s the correlation and causation fallacy.  Just because two things are related does not mean one is the cause of the other.  For instance, The Ripped Guy/Girl might do 100 crunches a day and have great abs.  This does not mean all those crunches are what gives them their abs.

 

The Celebrity

Fallacies: Appeal to authority, Attribution bias 

Being famous does not necessarily make someone an authority on fitness and nutrition.  An appeal to authority is the fallacy of thinking that because someone of some esteem said something, it must be true.  As we know, this is not the case.  Smart people and famous people can believe stupid things too.

It’s also worth mentioning the attribution bias.  The Celebrity might claim his or her incredible results come from that one special diet or product or workout that made all the difference.  More likely the results came from a collection of things.

For instance, The Celebrity might give up gluten and lose weight.  It would easy to attribute their success to going gluten-free.  But by giving up gluten, they also gave up a lot of processed products.  They likely ate fewer calories as a result.  They probably started an exercise programme at the same time.  And that’s not to mention The Celebrity’s support team and abundance of time and money to commit to their goal.  Can you really single out the gluten?

 

The Guru

Fallacies: Proof by verbosity, Appeal to emotion 

Watch out for proof by verbosity – a favourite amongst Gurus.  If I use a lot of big words and make something sound really complex, I must know what I’m talking about!  It must be true!  ….Nope.  In fact, people who really understand things are usually able to explain them in a simple way.

The Guru will also try to convince you with an appeal to emotion.  Fear-based marketing and scaremongering is rife in health and nutrition.  There’s always another food or ingredient that’s supposedly killing us.  There’s always some consequence to be afraid of if we don’t ACT NOW!

 

The Community

Fallacies: Bandwagon, In-group bias, No true Scotsman

These fallacies are can be seen in any community – often led by The Ripped Guy/Girl, The Celebrity and/or The Guru.

The Bandwagon is a trend.  If a lot of people are doing The 5:2 Diet, if The Community is large, it must be good!  …Or maybe it’s just that a lot of people have fallen for the same questionable diet fad.

The in-group bias is where everybody in The Community has the same beliefs creating the illusion of a consensus.  If you hang out with vegetarians and read vegetarian facebook pages, and listen to vegetarian podcasts, you’re unlikely to hear many counter-arguments to your diet dogma.

That’s a trap I fell into with the Paleo diet.  Oh, and if a diet – vegetarian, Paleo or other – didn’t work for you, look out for the no true Scotsman fallacy.  Those in the diet cult will tell you it wasn’t the diet that didn’t work; it was that you didn’t do it right.  You weren’t committed enough.  You weren’t pure enough.

 

The burden of proof

So who do we listen to?

Just remember that the burden of proof lies with the person making the claim.

• What qualifies them as an authority on the topic?
• What evidence do they have to support their ideas?
• Is it real evidence?
• Is it peer-reviewed science?
• Or are they using logical fallacies to try to convince you?

In the race to profit from our health and fitness challenges, there are always going to be new gimmicks and fads.  Regardless of how these gimmicks are marketed and packaged, ultimately, your results are going to come down to the fundamentals (proven nutrition and training practices) and your habits (the things you do consistently).

“As to the methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

 

BIG IDEA: We repeated fall for bad diet and fitness ideas because of basic errors in our reasoning known as logical fallacies.

TAKEAWAY:

1. Improve the quality of your thinking.  A basic grasp of some logical fallacies will help you avoid many of the pitfalls in the diet and fitness industry.
2. The burden of proof lies with the person making the claim.  If someone is promoting a new diet or gimmick, ask them for evidence to back up their claim.
3. Remember: Methods are many, principles are few.  Methods may change, principles never do.  Stick to the fundamentals!

ACTION STEP: Question your own beliefs.  What beliefs might you have that are a result of flawed reasoning?  Share in the comments below!

Always Keep Reaching!

Mike