The global weight loss industry will be worth $400 billion by 2030. And while most people who are trying to lose weight will say they're doing it for their health, your weight is not a good indicator of how healthy you are. In this episode we discuss how people started to equate weight with health, the role of excess body fat (and not weight) in health, what you need body fat for and when changes in weight are good and when they're not.

References cited in this podcast:

Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines: https://obesitycanada.ca/guidelines/

Weight Circumference and All-cause Mortality in a Large US Cohort: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/775594

Sodium (and salt for that matter) has been made out to be the villain when it comes to nutrition. In fact, without sodium, you wouldn't be alive. While high amounts of salt in the diet are related to high blood pressure, the evidence to support a link with heart and other diseases isn't clear. In this episode we discuss why you need sodium, how much is too much, is sodium as harmful as we're told and how getting more potassium can help.

References cited in this podcast:

Urinary Sodium and Potassium Excretion, Mortality, and Cardiovascular Events: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1311889

Sources of potassium in food: https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/food-sources-potassium

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Or is it? Most people have some sort of breakfast some of the time. There are also plenty of studies linking breakfast to weight loss, health and even school performance. But is the idea of breakfast based on science or what cereal companies tell us? In this episode, we discuss why people think breakfast is important, how it affects your health and what happens if you don't eat breakfast.

References cited in this podcast:

The Importance of Breakfast in Atherosclerotic Disease: Insights from the PESA Study: https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2017.08.027

Effect of breakfast on weight and energy intake: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials: https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l42

Omission of a carbohydrate-rich breakfast impairs evening endurance exercise performance despite complete dietary compensation at lunch: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17461391.2020.1797890