…it rhymes with “Vi”.
Die.
This was going to be a Facebook status update before I headed to bed, but I bet there are some opinions out there that I’d love to hear, so here goes another post that, kind of like my take on strong is the new skinny, might hit close to home for some people.
In short, if I see one more beautiful friend of mine touting the “Body by Vi” program or challenge I might cry or scream or lose it.
When it came up on my news feed multiple times today, I decided to google the ingredients of the shakes. I had a conversation with a friend about how overwhelming the whole thing has been lately in our circle of friends/social media and about how concerning it is that so many people jump on this bandwagon looking for health.
I found an info sheet online which explains the challenge and gives information on the shakes, mixes, and cookies, etc. they sell.
The ingredients for the shake are mostly ingredients and not really recognizable as food to me:
Hi “digestive resistant maltodextrin from fibersol”, I don’t think we’ve met. Maybe next time I’m at the market I’ll ask around for some? I’m thinking it’s just a form of fibre, but seriously…
What happened to getting fiber from foods? Wouldn’t it be kind of cool if you could toss some fruit and maybe some yogurt for protein and spinach for vitamins if you’re feeling fancy into a blender and whip up a shake that you can call food instead of a food-like supplement?
If you check out the cookies the program sells, they say under the question “Who can eat the cookie?” that they’re good for the “health conscious: those who want a healthy snack without wasting calories eating empty foods,” among others.
So serve up a mix of a bunch of things extracted from food and some stuff you certainly can’t picture.
…not really what I’m expecting in a cookie. FYI: flour, sugar, and butter are real food. Maybe some oatmeal, eggs, and chocolate.
All those extra extracts added into these products might very well be healthy — but wouldn’t it be cool if people got healthy by learning to eat the real foods instead of frankenfoods that provide the vitamins/minerals/compounds in isolated form? Do you really think a diet that teaches you to eat a cookie as a way to avoid wasting calories on empty foods is going to work long term? Wouldn’t it be better to teach people how to fuel themselves using whole foods to get the nutrition they need?
In my opinion, health is about learning and about gaining the skills and abilities that are genuinely healthy. The Body By Vi challenge is about selling the products. You’d probably lose weight–according to this article I liked on a group of dietitians’ website, the program provides:
“1200-1400calories/day. 18% of the calories come from fat, 44% from carbohydrates, and a whopping 38% from protein. What does the body really need to stay healthy? 20-30% from fat, 45-65% from carbohydrates, 10-20% from protein.”
Seems a bit counterproductive if your goal is to get healthy?
So by all means if you want to admit that you’re taking a quick fix that is really not a healthy choice that must not be based on the pursuit of health but maybe on something ego-driven or unhealthy, tout the products. If you want to talk to me about getting healthy, lets do it over Green Monsters.
I’m gonna leave this with some advice from Michael Pollan (one of his tips from Food Rules):
“Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.”
How do you feel about people promoting products they sell — i.e. these shakes or anything else you’ve been approached to purchase or to “get in on”?
Huh. I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of this program before (is it Canadian?). But it sounds retarded. That’s probably the least healthy thing I can think of, for all the reasons you’ve mentioned above: 1. I can draw the chemical structure of 2/3 of the ingredients in that list and 2. Since when is living off super-processed shakes and cookies a good diet? As per number one, I will tell you right now that getting our vitamins in “acetate” form is really bad – these synthetic forms of vitamins create an acidic enviroment in the body which obviously fosters cell damage and inflammation. These are also NOT forms that our body can actually USE! AND AND there is NOT enough dietary fat in that meal plan to facilitate absorption of fat-soluble vitamins as I’m sure you know. As per #2….GAHHH!!!! People’s reliance on synthetic products to get healthy just KILLS me!!! I’ve seen my own Dad do it – he is trying to lose weight and is eating all those Atkins products, yet he scoffs at me for eating plant-based meals saying I eat “rabbit food”. If he weren’t my dad and if it weren’t rude, I would just be like “um…look at you, look at me. Who’s healthier, trimmer, has lower body fat, more energy, gets sick less often? right. scoff away.” Very few people seem to catch on that, if you eat the most nutrient dense foods possible, you don’t NEED to eat as many calories to get all the nutrients you need, and your body will lose excess fat naturally!! And your body will wind up where it should be! And you’l have energy and vitality and be nourished!! And obviously I am not Brendan Brazier and I eat pretzels and peanut butter and froyo, but like……gaahhhh. I think programs like this really just go to show that people are lazy and will do anything to avoid making huge scary lifestyle changes.
You always speak so much truth!!! I hope people are reading the comments cuz you sum stuff up so well. Real food for life, with a little fun food for, well, fun! Thats how you eat…like a boss!
I completely agree, and am so glad you wrote about this! It blows my mind how some health care professionals and ‘athletes’ think this is healthy. It does not encourage learning how to eat healthy clean foods, nor is eating a diet full of smoothies the best for anyone in my opinion- and at least if you are going to do it throw the fruit in yourself, don’t use a fabricated powder!
Thanks for the support Elaine! Long term changes might be tougher but if they stick and are for real, it’s worth t!
I always feel like I am one step behind or not a healthy eater because I don’t do protein shakes but I know this is wrong. I guess it is just the new trend right now, I am with you though. I prefer to get my nutrients from hey real food! What a concept!
I had a dietitian tell me to take protein in a rare occasion: I was teaching 3 classes in one day and was having trouble eating enough food. Even then she said real food would be ideal! To each their own, but I prefer to keep working on eating in a whole foods healthy sustainable way.
I agree! The sad thing is that even if someone were to go on one of these things, the moment they stopped, they’d likely gain all the weight back because it doesn’t actually teach you anything! So basically you put your body through all the hardship from digesting those scary ingredients, but for what? so you look ‘thin’ for a few months? It reminds me of the Bernstein diet where your body goes into ketosis and you are given vitamin shots so you don’t die! SCARY STUFF!
Yuck! Any time you force your body into starvation mode, you lose muscle. Muscle is key! So counterproductive!
i’ve never heard about this until now but ew! those products sound absolutely disgusting. i would so much rather eat something where i can read and understand what’s in them. it’s like one time, my friend came to school with a low carb chocolate shake drink and she was saying how healthy she was being. so i (tried) to explain to her that it really wasn’t as healthy as she hopes
and what are the people supposed to do once they do lose the weight?? they have been living off these gross, processed “health” foods so they go right back to eating pizza and french fries? aye aye aye. people need to learn!
Amen girl!