Episode 33: Why Athletes Fall for Pseudoscience and Fad Diets

In this episode of ‘All Things Endurance Podcast,’ host, Rick Prince chats with journalist and writer, Zoë Rom and registered dietitian, Kylee Van Horn. Zoë and Kylee are co-hosts of the podcast, ‘Your Diet Sucks.’

This is the first of a three-part podcast series with Zoë and Kylee. The future podcast episodes will be: ‘The Truth About Racing Weight,’ and ‘When Performance Meets Appearance: Body Image in Endurance Sports.’

Below are the areas that Rick, Zoë and Kylee chat about during this episode:

1. Could you tell our listeners a bit about yourselves?
2. A lot of endurance athletes are type-A and intellectual by nature. So why is it that so many endurance athletes fall for biohacks, detoxes and other nutritional misinformation?
3. How can an athlete tell if a diet is a ‘fad’ diet and is there a correct approach to getting accurate information about nutrition?
4. A lot of individuals will agree that quick fixes in most areas are likely crap, but that doesn’t always translate to nutrition. Why do you think this is?
5. Myths die hard… if at all. What are some common nutrition myths that won’t seem to die that continue to get passed on?
6. What are some of the more common fad diets currently?
7. A lot of athletes assume that data is the end all, be all of training information. While data is important, could you explain how data can be misinterpreted with respect to training and nutrition?
8. In the age of influencers and social media where it seems that almost everyone has an opinion on nutrition, who are some people or websites that you recommend athletes check out for fact/science-based nutrition information?
9. How much of a role does athletes seeking out perfection influence their likelihood of falling for misinformation and the latest nutrition trend?