Erin O'Hara: Naturopath and wellness expert on the changing nature of the health and wellness industries

Being healthy didn't used to appear to be so complicated, but there's growing concerns about new changes.

Constant new trends and studies sometimes contradict previous advice and make it hard to discern reliable information - causing people to question their diets and exercise habits.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara explains further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks'd be my guess now.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Is Aaron o'ha we she's here to talk wellness. Good morning,
Good morning. IM talking about something quite interesting today. You're
basically asking the question, why do we make being healthy
too complicated and expensive? And I think it's a really
good question because we are just inundated with information, aren't we.
We just told what we should be doing and how
we should be doing, and what we should be taking
in things, and really, you know, being healthy shouldn't be

(00:35):
that complicated.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
It totally shouldn't be that complicated. And I think back
in the day, if you think about even fifty years ago,
we were just being healthy. We're just being normal. That
would be your life as you'd get out and do
gardening and move your body, and you eat just home
coookd food because that's what most people would eat. They
wouldn't be eating ultra processed foods, maybe growing their own
vegetables and living a healthy life. Soyle would just be

(00:58):
something that would be the normal lifestyle rather than something
that we're doing nowadays, we've got this complicated overlap of
wellness information that's getting thrown at us, and then we're like,
not really sure what we should be doing. And then
there's conflicting information that you can read online and you're like,
should I be eating that? Or shouldn't I be eating that?
How much should I be eating of this? Should I

(01:20):
be eating meat? Should I not beat protein?

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Eat your fiber?

Speaker 3 (01:24):
So complicated, and then there's all the health products as
well that make that extra level of complicated information there
as well.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
And it's an industry, isn't it. And you know we've
been It's not just the products, but we've been sold
diets and regimes and everything.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
And that's the problem there, is that wellness has become
so complicated because of the commercialization of this industry, and
it's a multi billion dollar industry, and so they're always
trying to sell things at you. As well as the
information overload that we have online because we have every
piece of information we could possibly want on our fingertips,

(02:02):
on our phones, on our computers that we can search everything.
So there's so much much healthy information there, but it's
still full filtering through what we should and shouldn't be doing.
And if you look at a perfect example of something
like eggs. If you think about back in the day,
people would be like, oh, don't eat too many eggs,
it'll put your cholesterol levels up. Nowadays people are like, no, no,
eat eggs. Eggs are going to be really good for you,

(02:24):
good source of protein, good source of nutrients, and all
the modern research shows that actually it has a smaller
impact on cholesterol than they used to originally think it
did have, and that there's lots of other foods that
would affect you cholesterol more. So that's where like there's
that changing information. That also means we're sort of filtering
through maybe some old tales of what we used to

(02:46):
think was healthy and now it's changed a little bit,
and then we're like should we shouldn't we? And that
makes it complicated as well. And then there's the cost
as well, is that it's not as simple as quite
often just eat healthy and go out and get some
fresh air. But actually people are like, oh, you should
get a gym membership and do pilates, and you need
this special product for them, and a product for that,

(03:08):
and the special superfood that's going to change your life.
And I think that is what makes it complicated as well,
is that we're sort of always filtering through all the
information of how to be healthy, and do we really
need to make it that complex? Probably not, So.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
We just need to kind of we just need to
block out the noise a little bit, don't we just
focus on the basics that you're always talking about.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
I think that's what it is, is not really getting
too called up in wellness treads. So if you see
if you're online and you see an AD pop up,
I think be cautious. They also think do I really
need this instead of just jumping on board of like
this is the greatest best thing for your health and
that you can't really go wrong, and just getting the

(03:53):
basic foundations right first. So I think for yourself, if
you're filtering through all the complicated information online and thinking
about trying new diet or trying new supplement, I think
get the basics right first. Look at your nutrition, can't
go past and your fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains,
some lean protein that actually comes from food rather than powder.

(04:15):
Also just moving your body. Maybe start with some walking
it's cheap, put some shoes on, get outside, and some
quality sleep, and just looking at your stress levels as well.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Keep it basic, Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Eron Good to catch up for more from the Sunday
session with Francesca Rudkin. Listen live to news Talks It'd
be from nine am Sunday, or follow the podcast on
iHeartRadio