I watched a video by Layne Norton the other day, about why people tend to fall for scams, broscience or the easist solutions.
It is easy to start believing something based on very little information. Especially in nutrition. People don’t have time to understand many things really well, or on a deep level. We can understand some topics on a very detailed level – maybe our profession or our biggest passion, or something else you choose to dive deep into, and spend months and years learning about. But not many things – we don’t have time for that.
When you start acquiring a lot of knowledge though, you truly start to understand how much there is to know and how little you actually know. There is always some corner you haven’t explored, some topics you don’t know well enough, and maybe what we thought we knew for certain even changes over time.
We are also pretty good at determining when someone has more knowledge than us (well, maybe some people aren’t always, though…): “Oh, this person knows more than me, I’m gonna sit down and listen and learn.” However, we are not good at looking at two people with a lot of knowledge and determining which one of them that is correct. So typically, the person that wins is the person explaining it in the easiest way! The simplest explanation and the loudest voice with the most confidence. But the loudest voice and highest confidence does not necessarily equal highest level of knowledge.
Most things are not black and white. It’s hard explaining topics within nutrition in a simple way – because often it is not very simple. Like Norton is saying: I wish it was that simple, that I could tell you “this is what I believe is the best diet.” There are nuances to everything. We know certain things are more sure than others – that certain types of food are better or worse – but there are no one answer fits everyone.
When should you be sceptical? When you hear people using generalisations and words like “best”, “worst”, “always”, “never”, “only” – these are often indications there is something going on …
How to know you are talking to someone reliable?
- They talk about contexts and ideas
- They are willing to say “I don’t know, but I will try my best to find out more”
- They can admit mistakes
