Wrapping up this month's topic addressing society's obsession with the "perfect" diet. We've got a few examples of how you can explore the best eating pattern for you while disregarding all the noise in the diet and fitness industry that you're doing it wrong. You're not! Spoiler: If you're doing what's best for YOU, then you're on the right track!   

Resources:  

Information on Orthorexia 

Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Erin Green is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, recovering professional triathlete and owner of Erin Green Racing and Nutrition in Boise, Idaho. After years of regimented training, she is rediscovering the joy of spontaneous movement, social runs and exploring unpaved bike routes. Check out her blog and videos at www.eringreenracing.com.               

Michael Gray is a personal trainer, nutritional coach, father of two and a sucker for a bag of gummy bears. See what he's up to at www.michaelgrayfitness.com.               

Let us know you like what you hear! Small donations from our listeners help to support Michael's gummy bear habit or go toward a new houseplant that will inevitably die under Erin's care. We appreciate all of our Middleish listeners! Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/middleish/support

Does the perfect diet exist? Honestly...yes and no. The answer is nuanced (so Middleish of us!)

Fundamentally speaking, there are a key set of nutritional principles that are strongly associated with positive health outcomes. Most diets, even the faddest of the fad diets, tend to embrace these concepts. However, what this looks like for each individual can differ and there is no "perfect" eating pattern for all. Furthermore, consider factors in your life that make an eating pattern sustainable like budget, food availability, time availability, taste preference, cultural considerations, etc. It has been said before and we'll say it again: the perfect diet for you is the one you can stick to and feels good to your body and soul.

We cover the latest nutrition guidelines to get started on your "perfect" diet, plus tried and true eating patterns that embrace flexibility while protecting your health.

US News Diet Rankings mentioned in this episode can be found here.

Erin Green is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, recovering professional triathlete and owner of Erin Green Racing and Nutrition in Boise, Idaho. After years of regimented training, she is rediscovering the joy of spontaneous movement, social runs and exploring unpaved bike routes. Check out her blog and videos at www.eringreenracing.com.           

Michael Gray is a personal trainer, nutritional coach, father of two and a sucker for a bag of gummy bears. See what he's up to at www.michaelgrayfitness.com.           

Let us know you like what you hear! Small donations from our listeners help to support Michael's gummy bear habit or go toward a new houseplant that will inevitably die under Erin's care. We appreciate all of our Middleish listeners! Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/middleish/support

We've been doing this Middleish thing for well over two years now. And both of us have believed in the concept of Middleish long before we started this podcast. 

All of our work and conversations over the past couple years have only deepened our stance that there's some real magic in the middle. In this episode, we present the basis of our Middleish philosophy and some of the ways we've changed our approaches to work and life by viewing it through a more moderate lens.

Referenced in this episode: https://www.middlewaysociety.org/middle-way/ 

Erin Green is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, recovering professional triathlete and owner of Erin Green Racing and Nutrition in Boise, Idaho. After years of regimented training, she is rediscovering the joy of spontaneous movement, social runs and exploring unpaved bike routes. Check out her blog and videos at www.eringreenracing.com.         

Michael Gray is a personal trainer, nutritional coach, father of two and a sucker for a bag of gummy bears. See what he's up to at www.michaelgrayfitness.com.         

Let us know you like what you hear! Small donations from our listeners help to support Michael's gummy bear habit or go toward a new houseplant that will inevitably die under Erin's care. We appreciate all of our Middleish listeners! Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/middleish/support

We're trying something new! This mini-episode is a continuation of our discussion around health and fitness experts being wrong. Our humorous review of misguided old health recommendations was so well-received we thought we'd bring you more.

Enjoy this entertaining look at how celebrity misinformation, modern street drugs and, um, "meat grinders" were once promoted as health hacks.

Links to make you laugh:

History Channel Article

Brenda Dixon absurdity

Erin Green is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, recovering professional triathlete and owner of Erin Green Racing and Nutrition in Boise, Idaho. After years of regimented training, she is rediscovering the joy of spontaneous movement, social runs and exploring unpaved bike routes. Check out her blog and videos at www.eringreenracing.com.        

Michael Gray is a personal trainer, nutritional coach, father of two and a sucker for a bag of gummy bears. See what he's up to at www.michaelgrayfitness.com.        

Let us know you like what you hear! Small donations from our listeners help to support Michael's gummy bear habit or go toward a new houseplant that will inevitably die under Erin's care. We appreciate all of our Middleish listeners! Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/middleish/support

How many times have you clicked on an eye-catching article and found that the messaging therein is remarkably different from what you thought you knew about nutrition or health? In today's maelstrom of online information it's probably becoming more and more frequent. It can feel impossible to trust what "experts" are telling us when it seems to change constantly and conflict with other experts' recommendations. 

This episode is designed to help you feel a bit less flustered with the nutrition and health information you encounter on the daily. We discuss the difference between science and expert opinion, plus how individual biases influence health messaging. It's important to remember that science is constantly evolving. Most health experts provide the best information they can based on the available evidence...and we need to expect that information to change as new and more complete evidence emerges.

Stay tuned to the very end where we have a little fun with health and nutrition messages that have (thank goodness) evolved over the years!

Links: 

Vintage Ads - https://allthatsinteresting.com/health-ads-terrible-advice

Doctor Recommended Cigarettes - https://tobacco-img.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/cigarettes/doctors-smoking/lucky_20679.jpg

Walking Article - https://lifestyle.livemint.com/amp/health/fitness/why-you-need-to-do-more-for-your-fitness-than-just-walking-111653409670349.html#read-more

Erin Green is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, recovering professional triathlete and owner of Erin Green Racing and Nutrition in Boise, Idaho. After years of regimented training, she is rediscovering the joy of spontaneous movement, social runs and exploring unpaved bike routes. Check out her blog and videos at www.eringreenracing.com.       

Michael Gray is a personal trainer, nutritional coach, father of two and a sucker for a bag of gummy bears. See what he's up to at www.michaelgrayfitness.com.       

Let us know you like what you hear! Small donations from our listeners help to support Michael's gummy bear habit or go toward a new houseplant that will inevitably die under Erin's care. We appreciate all of our Middleish listeners! Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/middleish/support

You've finally gotten some momentum with a workout routine, then your kid gets sick and you can't get to the gym for a week. 

Food prep is ticking along great and then you get invited to various spontaneous lunch meetings over the next several days.

A great job opportunity has emerged and you'll be relocating, just as you're gaining momentum with your health journey.

We get it. All of these examples show that, "Congratulations, you're human!" Too often, people simply give up when the going gets tough. Like this was unexpected and it's a sign that it's time to quit.

We're here to tell you that unexpected hiccups are inevitable in your health journey. We've got some powerful client stories and a few of our own examples to show just how creative you can be when life offers up lemons.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! Toward the end of this episode we ask for your submissions to show us how you successfully handle the unexpected in your life. Simply record a quick (10-15 sec) video telling us the following: "I had planned (healthy action) _________, and this happened (disruption), so I did this instead (strategy/navigation).” Either email them to us at [email protected] or send through Instagram @middleish_podcast. We can't wait to hear from you!

Erin Green is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, recovering professional triathlete and owner of Erin Green Racing and Nutrition in Boise, Idaho. After years of regimented training, she is rediscovering the joy of spontaneous movement, social runs and exploring unpaved bike routes. Check out her blog and videos at www.eringreenracing.com.       

Michael Gray is a personal trainer, nutritional coach, father of two and a sucker for a bag of gummy bears. See what he's up to at www.michaelgrayfitness.com.       

Let us know you like what you hear! Small donations from our listeners help to support Michael's gummy bear habit or go toward a new houseplant that will inevitably die under Erin's care. We appreciate all of our Middleish listeners! Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/middleish/support

We've talked about body kindness on the podcast before (way back on episode 8) and since then we've seen an emerging argument against practicing self-acceptance and self-kindness.

"But if I'm kind to myself doesn't that mean I'll give up on my health goals? I'm not ready to simply accept my body and stop working to improve myself."

In this episode, we address this common misconception. Being kind to yourself absolutely does not mean "giving up." We have found that most people who treat themselves with kindness and practice self-care are actually more likely to engage in healthful behaviors. And least of all, wouldn't it make sense to feel better simply because you're not berating your amazing body everyday?

People who feel better often will follow up with treating their bodies better. We invite you to explore some of our tips to engage in more body kindness and notice the energy shift it brings.

Erin Green is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, recovering professional triathlete and owner of Erin Green Racing and Nutrition in Boise, Idaho. After years of regimented training, she is rediscovering the joy of spontaneous movement, social runs and exploring unpaved bike routes. Check out her blog and videos at www.eringreenracing.com.     

Michael Gray is a personal trainer, nutritional coach, father of two and a sucker for a bag of gummy bears. See what he's up to at www.michaelgrayfitness.com.     

Let us know you like what you hear! Small donations from our listeners help to support Michael's gummy bear habit or go toward a new houseplant that will inevitably die under Erin's care. We appreciate all of our Middleish listeners! Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/middleish/support

We've been talking about habits all month and hopefully the ideas have been helpful for you. Now it's time to put this information to task.  

We all have habits we'd like to change, or habits that are really helpful and we have no idea how they came to be. Today's mini pod gives you straightforward, simple guidance on building awareness around your habits--good and bad.   

The only way to change our automatic, unconscious behavior is to become more aware of it. Listen in and start shifting your habits to take you in the direction you want to go!

Oh how we love a double entendre!

Old habits refers to the fact that one of our very first podcast episodes was on this very topic. In fact, it was the first topic we really dove into on Middleish. While that episode now feels relatively “old” to us, this subject is something worth revisiting and it’s long overdue.

Another perspective is that old habits are the hardest to break. Why is that? Habits don’t require any conscious thought–they’re simply automatic. And many times those automatic thoughts or actions are the very aspects we need to change in order to improve health and wellbeing in our lives.

Join us as we rehash the topic of habits, with new material and a fresh look at some of our own habitual downfalls. We’ve got tips and strategies for you (and as you’ll find, for ourselves) to start progressing with a new habit.

We've touched on this topic several times before and decided it's high time we devoted an entire episode to this health fallacy. Repeat after me: my weight is not my health.

In an industry so laden with numbers and "facts" it can be downright impossible to decipher what health actually means. How do we know we're actually taking care of our health? Shouldn't I always be striving to lose about 10 pounds for "health reasons?" Can we really claim that weight loss leads to better health? Let's discuss.

If you've been listening to us for a while you'll notice we recently changed our format. Each month, we'll focus on a specific topic and offer rich discussions, actionable suggestions and an interactive Instagram Live once a month. Join us over on Instagram -- we're @middleish_podcast.

Erin Green is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, recovering professional triathlete and owner of Erin Green Racing and Nutrition in Boise, Idaho. After years of regimented training, she is rediscovering the joy of spontaneous movement, social runs and exploring unpaved bike routes. Check out her blog and videos at www.eringreenracing.com.   

Michael Gray is a personal trainer, nutritional coach, father of two and a sucker for a bag of gummy bears. See what he's up to at www.michaelgrayfitness.com.   

Let us know you like what you hear! Small donations from our listeners help to support Michael's gummy bear habit or go toward a new houseplant that will inevitably die under Erin's care. We appreciate all of our Middleish listeners! Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/middleish/support