By Patrick James
Podcasting
has become the new normal for talk radio on your phone. Looking back
on my twelve years as a radio personality, I never thought that
podcasts would take off like they have. And I was wrong. You can find
podcasts that can entertain or educate you, or both. Podcasts can
have all sorts of genres. There’s political, science, sports, music
talk, you name it. Some of my personal favorites are: “Kevin
Pollak’s Chat Show,” “the Bob & Tom Show Podcast,” “The
Bertcast with Bert Kreischer,” “Iron Game Chalk Talk with Ron
McKeefery,” and “Nike: Trained.” Yea, I like comedy.
So
where does nutrition information fall into the world of Podcasts? We
are a profession about evidence-based science. Are there podcasts for
the masses that strive to present accurate information on nutrition?
How can we tell which podcasts are relevant and which are just using
buzzwords to grab attention? Hopefully today I can shed some light on
the subject.
I
started with a basic search on my iPhone. Using the search bar, I
typed “nutrition” and found these as the top four
recommendations: Ben
Greenfield Fitness, The Fat-Burning Man, The Nutrition Diva’s Quick
and Dirty Tips, &
The
Keto Answers Podcast w/Dr. Anthony Gustin.
I have no idea who any of these hosts are, so let’s do a little
digging together.
Ben
Greenfield Fitness (approximately 1h – 1h30m episode length)
Podcast
Summary:
“Free fitness, nutrition, biohacking, fat loss, anti-aging, and
cutting-edge health advice from BenGreenfieldFitness.com! Tune in to
the latest research, interviews with exercise, diet and medical
professionals, and an entertaining mash-up of ancestral wisdom and
modern science, along with Q&A’s and mind-body-spirit with
optimizing content from America’s top personal trainer.”
First
Impression/Background Check:
Personal trainer giving nutrition advice kinda scares me. Also, what
is biohacking? What makes him “America’s best personal trainer”?
He is a NSCA-certified personal trainer-turned-CEO/nutrition guru. He
has written several books and his weekly podcast is pretty popular
covering different topics. There is one where he appears to debunk
the popularity of the Keto diet, so I’m a little intrigued.
Episode
at a Listen: In
the episode titled, “How to Test Nutritional Status & How to
Know Which Supplements to Take: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet,” Ben,
along with Dr. Chris Masterjohn (PhD in Nutritional Science) discuss
the Nutrition Cheat Sheet Masterjohn created. They talked about the
importance of supplementation “If you’re health conscious, you
need supplements.” They go on to discuss how the Western diet and
how that fruits and vegetables don’t have as many nutrients as
before. Their discussion moves on to the topic of deficiencies and
how you can test for these and who (name drop), the best lab to get
those results, which could cost $900.
Final
Thoughts: The
show is full of sponsor advertisements and name drops of companies
Ben has worked with and for. There’s not a lot of actual
nutritional information that one can’t find from their own search
with Dr. Google. Masterjohn’s cheat sheet isn’t that expensive
($30), but only gives blanket information on deficiencies and
toxicities for various nutrients. I don’t agree with his statement
about needing supplements and some of the recommendations they were
making rubbed me the wrong way. When they mentioned Vit-D
deficiencies, I think it was Greenfield that mentioned supplementing
with 25-50,000 IU every day. According to my Advanced
Nutrition and Human
Metabolism
textbook,
toxicity levels top out at 10,000 IU per day.
Bottom
line, he does make some good points, but this podcast is for the
ultra-athlete/fitness competitor/gym rat with a lot of money to
spend. Would not recommend this for someone who is looking for basic
nutrition advice or guidance.
The
Fat-Burning Man (45m – 1h30m episode length)
Podcast
Summary: “Want
to drop fat by eating ridiculously well and exercising less? Whether
you’re Paleo, Keto, Vegan, Wild, or completely clueless, we’re
here to help you eat right, train smarter, and transform your body
and mind to be your absolute best. This family-friendly show is free
of outside advertising for your listening pleasure. Winner of 4
awards and #1 in Health in 8+ countries. Yes, you really be happy and
healthy at the same time. Take it from the Fat-Burning Man, burning
fat can be a lot of fun. :) For more visit: FatBurningMan.com”
First
Impression/Background Check: Host
Abel James is a singer/songwriter who felt like the advice his
doctors were giving him wasn’t helping improve his health. So,
according to his website, he did the opposite of what they told him
about heart healthy diet and lost “20 pounds in 40 days.” He has
no professional education in nutrition or dietetics and does not
appear to be certified within any organizations.
Episode
at a Listen:
Abel James starts every episode with answering some fan mail. James
talked with Dr. Jon Berardi about the subject of intermittent fasting
and how it can help. They discussed different aspects of intermittent
fasting, like one big meal a day or small meals every couple of
hours. James seems to be very conversational and wants to find
answers to questions about nutrition and fitness. Berardi claims to
be his own guinea pig, testing different diets or exercise programs
that come out. They also mention that it isn’t just about the
timeframe of when you eat, but also what you eat. They bring up
caution about losing too much weight and different problems (like how
extreme weight loss can affect the female reproductive system) and
that people should listen to what their bodies are telling them. They
also mention a few times that that intermittent fasting isn’t for
everyone, which I think is really good. They’re not trying to push
their thoughts at the “only way to perfection.”
Final
Thoughts: The
show has some sponsor mentions throughout, but not as much as
Greenfield’s podcast. I think this could be a good podcast for
information seekers. As I believe within anything, the host isn’t
an RD, so I feel like some of the information is based on anecdotal
evidence and not entirely based on evidence-based science. But James
brings his episodes with curiosity and how the topics can be applied
to others.
Bottom
line, this might be a podcast I could recommend, but I would caution
my recommendation. He’s got great ideas, but needs more backing to
his information.
The
Nutrition Diva’s Quick and Dirty Tips (10m – 25m episode length)
Podcast
Summary: “Nutrition
Diva Monica Reinagel serves up simple, painless ways to upgrade your
eating habits. Before you know it, you’ll be eating healthier and
feeling more fabulous!”
First
Impression/Background: Monica
Reinagel is a licensed dietitian/nutritionist based out of Maryland
who has over 500 podcasts covering different topics from intermittent
fasting to HDL cholesterol. She’s been featured on the TODAY
show, Dr. Oz, and
published in several national newspapers. The “Nutrition Quick and
Dirty Tips” appears to be part of a larger “Quick and Dirty Tips”
page group that covers a multitude of topics, from finances to
parenting tips to exercise.
Episode
at a Listen: Monica
and her guest Dr. Sanaz Majd, discuss HDL cholesterol and its
implications both low and high. I really liked that they started the
discussion by telling the audience what HDL is and why it’s
important. They talked about consequences of having it too low as it
relates to heart problems, but they also talked about possible risks
of having it too high. Monica pointed to a recent study that
indicated that a high level of HDL (>60) could increase risk for a
heart attack. When she asked Dr. Majd her thoughts on the subject,
Dr. Majd said that there are some articles that point to a high HDL
as bad, but there were other articles that said that it wasn’t that
bad. Dr. Majd said that the jury is still out on the risks of having
a high HDL.
Final
Thoughts: This
is a podcast I could really recommend, as it is hosted by a
dietitian. The information is brought in a simplistic way for most to
understand and they do explain the science behind it. Even though I
listened to one episode, this podcast seems to be on the up and up in
regards to how they are presenting information and how to explain it
for everyone to understand.
Keto
Answers Podcast with Dr. Anthony Gustin (45m – 1h30 episode length)
Podcast
Summary: “The
ONLY keto podcast hosted by a doctor, Keto Answers with Dr. Anthony
Gustin (founder and CEO of PerfectKeto.com) features interviews with
health and nutrition influencers, world-class thought leaders, and
industry experts. With exclusive content that breaks down complex
ideas to make them simple and digestible. We cover topics like weight
loss, intermittent fasting, low carb and ketogenic diets, nutrition,
healing chronic conditions and hormones.”
First
Impression/Background Check: I
will admit that I was already a bit skeptical when I read the bio of
the podcast “hosted by a doctor.” Dr. Anthony Gustin is a
chiropractor with certifications as chiropractic sports physician,
certified strength and condition specialist, and a Crossfit coach.
Knowing this, I’m really skeptical as this shows he has no formal
certifications in nutrition. He seems to believe that the ketogenic
diet is perfect for anyone, regardless of health concerns or disease
state, and that “remember – you can fix yourself.”
Episode
at a Listen: Gustin
and guest Chris Dufey talked his new book and what he does with the
ketogenic diet in everyday life. Background on Dufey, he is a
certified personal trainer and online fitness business coach. Dufey
talked about how his book could help bodybuilders and fitness
competition athletes. I did like how Dufey mentioned that food is
first and that supplements should be a gap filler, instead of
adopting a need for supplementation. They talked about how “eating
bad oils” and the problems that would result from that.
They
also praised coconut oil and coconut oil butter. I wanted to wretch a
bit at that.
They
also discussed how Dufey uses intermittent fasting and how it has
improved travel schedule as a speaker and fitness professional. I’m
not sure I agree with how this information could be used for the
general public.
Final
Thoughts:
It feels like he is trying to push the ketogenic diet and his
company’s products as THE way to make the keto diet simple and
manageable. One issue I have personally as former radio personality
is that he needs some speech and audio engineering training in terms
of delivery and volume. Throughout the episode, Gustin is talking
much faster than he needs to be, OR he has altered the speed of the
audio for some reason beyond me. The volume at times in his episodes
seems to be off where he’s much quieter than his guests and the
guests sound almost like they are shouting.
In
terms of the information, I am a hard believer that the ketogenic
diet is a fad diet and should only be implemented as a treatment in
certain medical conditions. I feel like Gustin and his guest are
aiming their information toward a specific population and don’t
seem to provide information to the general public.
Bottom
line, this is a podcast I wouldn’t recommend as there is a lot
information that I simply do not agree with.
So,
hopefully I helped enlighten you on what the field looks like in
terms of podcasts on nutrition. There are probably at least 100
podcasts out there that give nutrition advice, so my advice to you is
to look behind the scenes at the podcast. Are they credentialed?
Where do they get their information from? What do their sponsors hope
to gain from supporting that podcast? Does the sponsor skew the
information or tell the host they can’t talk about a certain
subject?
Make
sure you ask those questions. Google searches can help you find some
of those answers that the Podcast information won’t give you. You
could be surprised.
One
final thought: If you like humor, listen to the podcasts above. Some
of them have no nutrition information, but they are pretty funny.
Photo
credits: all photos courtesy Apple iTunes Podcast Page.
