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Are seed oils bad for you? Vegetable oil vs. olive oil vs. butter

Are vegetable and seed oils “toxic”?!

From TikTok to bestseller lists, vegetable oils—a.k.a. “seed oils”—are a big topic right now.

To be fair, folks have debated the merits of vegetable oils dating back to when they first entered the marketplace.

More recently, however, with the advent of the carnivore diet, vegetable oil hate has roared back into the socials. Maybe you’ve come across posts that refer to these cooking oils as “toxic sludge,” “motor oil,” “the hateful eight,” and “the biggest cause of chronic disease that nobody knows about.”

The anti-vegetable oil logic goes something like this…

Animal fats have been with humans for thousands of years. Vegetable fats, on the other hand, were invented during the last century when profit-seeking companies wanted to find a way to sell cheap-to-grow foods to unsuspecting consumers.

Another argument: Like margarine, vegetable oils were marketed as healthier alternatives for butter, and yet, people argue, these oils are worse than butter, raising your risk for obesity, anxiety, depression, ulcerative colitis, and more.

In contrast to the above line of thought, other experts will tell you that vegetable oils are harmless, potentially even health-promoting—and absolutely better than butter.

So, who’s right?

Like so many nutrition topics, the truth is too nuanced to fit on a meme.

In this story, we’ll help you sort the science from the pseudoscience so you can make informed decisions about the oils you choose to include in your diet.

What are vegetable oils?

Sometimes called “seed oils,” vegetable oils start, as you might suspect, from the seed of a plant. The most common ones you’ll find in a typical grocery aisle include:

Canola oil
Corn oil
Safflower oil
Sesame oil
Sunflower oil
Soybean oil
Grapeseed oil

By the way, if you feel like there’s a bunch of oils missing from that list, it’s probably because those oils come from non-seed plants (such as olive, avocado, palm, or coconut oil, which all come from fruits, and aren’t considered vegetable or seed oils).

How are vegetable oils processed?

Non-vegetable oils—such as olive and avocado oil—are derived from naturally fatty foods. In fact, olives are so oily that you could theoretically make your own olive oil at home. (Just Google “how to make olive oil from scratch,” and you’ll find a number of videos walking you through the steps.)

The same can’t be said of most vegetable oils, which mostly come from foods with a relatively tiny fat content to begin with.

Case in point: A cup of green olives contains about 20 grams of fat,1 whereas a cup of corn has 2 grams.2

As a result, manufacturers must use an extensive multi-step process to extract this small amount of oil from these non-oily foods. These steps include:

Crushing: A machine uses high pressure to press oil from the seeds.
Refining: The seeds are heated with a solvent, such as hexane, to extract more oil.
Deodorizing: To create a neutral taste and remove unwanted compounds, the extracted oil is then cooked at 400 F (204 C) for several hours.

During this process, health-promoting polyphenols and other stabilizing nutrients are lost, and small amounts of unsaturated fats are transformed into trans fatty acids (also called partially hydrogenated fat).

(Interesting fact: This also happens during deep frying. When vegetable oils sizzle in a restaurant’s deep fryer for hours, the trans fat content of the oil increases.)

To call these processed oils “toxic” might be an exaggeration. However, nutrition scientists generally agree that people should avoid trans fats in the diet, and in 2018, the Food and Drug Administration banned manufacturers from adding trans fats to processed foods.3 4

What cooking oils should you eat?

At PN, we’ve created several visual guides people can use to make informed decisions about what to eat.

(We’ve also created a shopping list, which you or your clients can print out and take to the grocery store. Check it out: Healthy Fats Shopping List)

In these guides, we’ve placed a few vegetable oils—expeller-pressed canola oil, high-oleic sunflower, and safflower oils—in the “Eat Some” section. For us, “eat some” is another way of saying that these foods will neither improve health nor harm health—when consumed in reasonable amounts. In some cases, like in the example of dark chocolate, when consumed in small amounts, they might even improve health.

The rest of the vegetable oils, along with butter and other saturated fats, fall into the “Eat Less” category, as the image below shows. You’ll find vegetable oils in bold.

We’ve gotten hate mail from folks who say certain vegetable oils—especially cold-pressed canola oil—should appear alongside olive oil in the “eat more” category. Plenty of others say all vegetable oils belong in the “eat less” column, and that butter belongs in “eat some” or even “eat more.”

To understand the scientific reasoning behind our recommendations, let’s explore some head-to-head matchups.

Extra-virgin olive oil vs. expeller-pressed canola oil

These oils are the least refined of their kind.

To make extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), manufacturers grind and mechanically press olives, without using any heat. Similarly, expeller-pressed canola oil is made by mechanically pressing rapeseed, without the use of heat or chemical solvents.

The case for extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Olive oil is richer in heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) than almost any other cooking oil.

In addition, unlike the more refined “light” olive oil, EVOO maintains most of the olive fruit’s original polyphenols. These plant-based substances help to combat inflammation and protect cells from damage.

Perhaps most importantly…

More studies vouch for EVOO’s health-promoting qualities than for any other cooking fat.

For example, researchers asked 22,892 adults from Southern Italy to self-report their olive oil consumption. People who consumed the most olive oil (more than two tablespoons a day) were 20 percent less likely to die over the 13-year study than people who consumed the least olive oil (less than one tablespoon a day).5

Other research has linked the consumption of olive oil with a reduced risk of:

High blood pressure6
Heart disease
Type 2 diabetes7
Dementia8
Cancer9

Consumption of olive oil is also associated with reductions in LDL cholesterol, especially when used to replace saturated fats like butter and coconut oil.10

The case for expeller-pressed canola oil

One of the more affordable cooking oils on the shelf, canola oil, is made from a Canadian-made hybrid of the rapeseed plant.

(The word “canola” refers to the first three letters of “Canada” with a fun “ola” added to the end for marketing purposes.)12

Among vegetable oils, canola is the richest in heart-healthy monounsaturated fats (though several non-vegetable oils have it beat) as well as alpha-linolenic acid, a plant-based omega-3 fatty acid.

In addition, canola oil contains plant substances called phytosterols that help influence blood cholesterol for the better, especially when used as a substitute for butter, research has found.13 14 15

The winner

Extra virgin olive oil is the clear winner.

The body of research in support of EVOO dwarfs the body of research in support of expeller-pressed canola.

In addition, EVOO has a more favorable fatty acid profile. By the way, so does avocado oil, which is why you’ll also find it in the “eat more” column.

However, you can buy roughly twice as much expeller-pressed canola oil for half as much money as EVOO. Because of this, expeller-pressed canola can be a good budget-friendly choice. In addition, because of expeller-pressed canola’s more neutral flavor, many people prefer it over EVOO for baking.

When used in moderation, expeller-pressed canola can be part of a healthy diet. It is likely to be at least health neutral, if not somewhat health beneficial.

Expeller-pressed canola oil vs. refined canola oil

This match-up comes down to how processing methods affect the end product.

Expeller-pressed canola oil

An expeller press is a machine that squeezes oil out of seeds.

It’s able to do this without the use of solvents or heat, which helps preserve beneficial compounds such as alpha-linolenic acid and phytosterols.

Refined canola oil

Refining removes some protective alpha-linoleic acid while adding small amounts of unhealthy trans fatty acids. This results in a product that is proportionally lower in omega-3 fatty acids and higher in omega-6 fatty acids.

The winner

Expeller-pressed canola oil wins, but only by a small margin.

That’s because canola oil starts with a less controversial fatty acid profile than many other vegetable oils, as the chart below shows. Soybean oil, for example, has less heart-healthy monounsaturated fat and much more theoretically inflammation-contributing omega-6 fat.

Refined vegetable oil oil vs. butter

This is the match-up that triggers the most arguing on the interwebs.

Let’s cover the major claims from both sides—plus what the research says.

The case for butter

Butter proponents argue that saturated fats have been unnecessarily vilified. They point to nutrition recommendations during the 1980s and 1990s that recommended people replace butter with trans-fat rich margarine.

(We all know how that went.)

Margarine aside, others claim the research in support of reducing saturated fats is thin at best.20

However, excessive saturated fat consumption (beyond 10 percent of total calories) does seem to boost cholesterol levels and may increase your risk of heart disease.21

Some research has found that replacing 5 percent of the saturated fats in your diet with monounsaturated fats could reduce the risk of heart disease by 15 percent. Similarly, replacing 5 percent of the saturated fats in your diet with polyunsaturated fats (with most of that coming from refined vegetable oils) reduces the risk of a future heart attack by 10 percent, according to an analysis of eight studies involving 13,614 people.22 Many other studies support this finding.23

But not all saturated fats affect blood cholesterol equally. In some dairy foods, a membrane—called a milk fat globule membrane—surrounds the saturated fats and seems to limit their cholesterol-raising properties.

However, butter is low in this protective membrane, and consequently raises blood cholesterol more than other high-fat dairy products, like full-fat milk, cream, yogurt, or cheese.24 25 26

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend capping saturated fat at less than 10 percent of your calorie intake. A tablespoon of butter contains 7 grams of saturated fat—a third of the recommended daily limit in a 2000 Calorie diet.

So, while you don’t necessarily need to eliminate butter, it’s worth moderating your intake.

(Interested in learning about all the nuances of saturated fat consumption? Read: Is saturated fat good or bad for you?)

The case for refined vegetable oils

Due to their chemical structure, polyunsaturated fats are inherently less stable and more prone to oxidation than saturated or monounsaturated fats.

During the refining process, protective phytochemicals and antioxidants are stripped, making these oils more prone to oxidation. The theory is that this oxidation increases inflammation in the body and elevates the risk of various health conditions.

There’s some evidence to suggest that diets rich in polyunsaturated fats, especially from refined vegetable oils, are associated with increased levels of oxidized blood lipids, lipid peroxidation, and other markers of inflammation.27 28

If you only use refined corn or safflower oils to lightly coat veggies before roasting them, you likely don’t have much to worry about.

However, for the vast majority of people, the biggest source of refined vegetable oils isn’t home-cooked meals—it’s ultra-processed foods.

The extra processing and repeated heat exposure used to create ultra-processed foods further oxidize these oils. Additionally, these foods are often loaded with potentially harmful ingredients like added sodium and sugars, and low in beneficial nutrients like fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.

Plus, they’re incredibly calorie-dense and difficult to stop eating, which can raise your risk for obesity. (Find out exactly why highly-processed foods are so “addictive”: Why you can’t stop eating ultra-processed foods.)

Most ultra-processed foods list one or more vegetable oils as one of their ingredients. Even ultra-processed foods that you wouldn’t think of as “fatty” contain small amounts. You’ll find them in store-bought cookies, chips, crackers, sauces, frozen dinners, meal replacement shakes, boxed macaroni and cheese, salad dressing, boxed rice blends, and more.

In a large review involving nearly 10 million people, the consumption of ultra-processed foods was associated with a higher risk of premature death.29 In addition, studies have linked high consumption of ultra-processed foods with the following health problems:30 31 32 33

Heart disease and heart attacks
Stroke
High blood pressure
Depression
Overweight and obesity
Diabetes
Reduced HDL cholesterol
Cancer

You don’t have to abolish ultra-processed foods.

But your health will benefit from capping your consumption to about 20 percent or so of your intake, with the other 80 percent or so from mostly minimally-processed whole foods.

This alone will naturally lower your refined vegetable oil intake to a safer level, without much fuss. Plus, consuming refined vegetable oils in the context of a diet that’s rich in colorful plants, fiber, phytochemicals, and antioxidants may help offset the concern of oxidation. (For example, by putting a reasonable amount of commercial salad dressing on a large, colorful salad.)

The winner

This match-up is a draw.

Ultimately, both should be limited in the diet, and neither are health-promoting.

Most refined vegetable oils are lopsidedly rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids compared to monounsaturated fats, and are stripped of many protective compounds. As mentioned earlier, some experts argue that these omega-6-rich fats may contribute to inflammation (but the evidence here is mixed). Because of how they’re processed, seed oils also contain some of those trans fats that everyone agrees we should all minimize.

In contrast, butter is low in omega 6s but high in saturated fat, which can be problematic in higher amounts. Especially since it’s so low in the protective milk fat globule membrane. However, compared to refined vegetable oil, butter is less processed. Like olive oil, it’s one of those fats you could theoretically make at home.

Some final parting advice

This might be obvious from the head-to-head matchups, but we’ll say it anyway.

If you like it and can afford it, EVOO is a great choice.

Cold-pressed avocado oil and walnut oil are also great options, as both are rich in antioxidant compounds. Like EVOO, avocado oil is a rich source of MUFAs. Walnut oil’s fat primarily comes from polyunsaturated fats, so it’s best used as a dressing rather than used for cooking (as it’s less heat stable).

However, like EVOO, avocado and walnut oil tend to be expensive. If you or your client are budget-conscious, expeller-pressed canola oil is a solid runner-up.

Similarly, high-oleic sunflower and safflower oils are richer sources of monounsaturated fats than their high-linoleic cousins. When substituted for saturated fats like butter, high-oleic oils have been associated with cardiovascular benefits.34 35

Regardless of what cooking fats you or your client choose, you’ll also want to do the following:

Prioritize minimally-processed whole foods.

Whole and minimally-processed foods—such as nuts, seeds, avocados, olives, and salmon—are more likely to feature health-promoting monounsaturated (MUFAs) and omega-3 fats. They also come packaged with a wide array of other good-for-you nutrients such as fiber, protein, minerals, and antioxidants.

In contrast, ultra-professed foods are generally devoid of everything you keep hearing you should consume more of. These foods also tend to be calorie-dense, highly rewarding, and hard to stop eating.

If you’re not sure whether packaged food is minimally processed or highly processed, take a close look and consider:

Does anything in nature resemble this food?
Does it look like it came from an animal or a plant?
If you look at the list of ingredients, do you see animal or plant components?

If you answer “no” to most of the above, the food is likely highly processed.

Limit deep-fried foods.

It doesn’t matter what source of fat is used to fry them.

Sort all fried foods into the “eat less” category.

Get most of your fats from food, not oils.

EVOO is associated with longer, healthier lives. However, that doesn’t mean you should be doing shots of it.

As a general rule, you’re better off getting most of your fat from foods like avocados, olives, nuts and seeds than from any cooking oil.

Whole food fats are rich in fiber, phytochemicals, vitamins, and minerals, and are generally less calorie-dense than oils. (But having one to three servings of oils or butter per day is reasonable.)

And if you want personalized advice to suit your body, your eating preferences, and your goals, check out our Nutrition Calculator to figure out how fats fit into your overall diet.

References

Click here to view the information sources referenced in this article.

If you’re a coach, or you want to be…

You can help people build sustainable nutrition and lifestyle habits that will significantly improve their physical and mental health—while you make a great living doing what you love. We’ll show you how.

If you’d like to learn more, consider the PN Level 1 Nutrition Coaching Certification. (You can enroll now at a big discount.)

The post Are seed oils bad for you? Vegetable oil vs. olive oil vs. butter appeared first on Precision Nutrition.

Troy Healthcare Partners with Leading Workplace First Aid Companies

Troy Healthcare, the maker of Stopain® Clinical, has announced a partnership with leading industrial first aid and workplace health companies to dispense over 10 million pain relief gel sample packets annually.

How to use fitness trackers to enhance performance and wellbeing—without losing touch with yourself

While our ancestors relied on their senses to assess how they were doing, increasingly, we rely on gadgets.

Today, if you’re curious enough, you can measure your heart rate, your step count, your exercise intensity, and your sleep quality—sometimes all on one sleek device.

In the best cases, these devices offer a bridge between what you subjectively feel and what you can objectively measure.

This is generally a really cool and amazing thing.

Our subjective feelings and assessments matter, but they’re not always the most reliable. Us humans just aren’t particularly skilled at quantifying our experiences and behaviors with cold precision.

Take, for example, a colleague of mine. He believed he was eating within a narrow caloric window, but after careful tracking, he learned that he was putting away a bonus 500 Calories a day—in barbecue sauce.

That said, some of us are better than others.

Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter, was reported to have been able to call out his 100 metre time within a tenth of a second of the stopwatch readout.1

That’s outlier performance, to be clear, but it still makes you wonder:

How good are you at assessing yourself?

And, how can you improve your accuracy through the wise use of technology—like fitness trackers—to help you make better decisions about your health?

In the following article, we’ll tackle the above, plus we’ll address:

How accurate are data trackers in the first place?
When is tracking helpful? (And when is it not?)
Can you train yourself to more accurately assess things by feel?

Let’s get into it.

First, how accurate are data trackers anyway?

Not all data is created equal.

Some brands produce better products than others. This is not just hardware but also the quality of their software and datasets.

Beyond that, not all things are equally easy to quantity.

For example, heart rate and step-count data are generally reliable,2 but many other types of outputs—from calories burned to movement velocity—have substantial margins for error.

The below chart shows the reliability of various tracking devices.

(If you’re curious, we cover the accuracy of various progress indicators in more detail here: Are Fitness Trackers Worth It?)

Next, when is tracking actually helpful?

The good: Tracking devices offer us more data about our behaviors and bodies than ever before.

The bad: Tracking devices offer us more data about our behaviors and bodies than ever before.

“What’s really remarkable,” says Samantha Kleinberg, a computer scientist who studies decision-making, “is that even a tiny amount of surplus information has a big negative effect on our decision-making.”3

That’s the paradox of tracking: Too little detail makes it tough to make the right decision, but so does too much.

This can be expressed as an inverted U, with the sweet spot at the top of the curve.

Today, it’s surprisingly easy to have too much information.

Consider the analysis paralysis you feel after scanning hundreds of reviews from the various taco places in your neighborhood. (All you wanted was a decent el pastor, but now you don’t know which taqueria to pick!)

Finding just enough information to make good decisions is an art form—especially in the world of health and fitness, where it seems like everyone is trying to outdo each other when it comes to providing more science, more customization, and more complexity.

But when all that information starts to blur together with no clear path forward, what should you do?

For starters, you can ask yourself a simple question:

Does tracking increase my wellbeing and performance?

If the answer is a clear yes or no, you know what to do. (Either continue tracking as you were, or drop the gadget and walk away.)

If you’re a little fuzzy, here are three signs to watch for to help you determine if tracking is helpful—or not.

Sign #1: Tracking is decreasing your stress and validating your method(s).

When Zak’s coach raved about the benefits of zone 2 cardio, it sounded logical. But when the rubber on his running shoes hit the road, Zak second-guessed everything. Zak prided himself on his ability to grind, and simply didn’t trust that something that felt easy could also be effective.

Yet, the data didn’t lie. As the weeks went by, Zak watched his resting heart rate drop—along with his recovery time from hard runs. With that reassurance, Zak began to relax about the process—and his resting heart rate dropped further.

Zak hadn’t trusted his feelings, but he did trust the data from his heart rate monitor.

Using a tracking device enabled Zak to calibrate his own perceptions so they were more accurate and realistic.

If you’re a coach who has a client like Zak who’s high performing but doesn’t know it, tracking can help build confidence and reduce the anxiety that they’re “not good enough.”

Here, you empower them by shining a spotlight on existing performance. Expert assurance can go a long way but can also be bolstered by reliable data.

(Recently, many people have begun using continuous glucose monitors, or CGMs, in order to “optimize” their blood sugar levels. This can help “validate” certain food choices… but it can also be a waste of time. Read more: Should people without diabetes use CGMs?)

Bad omen: Tracking is increasing stress or negatively affecting performance.

Sometimes, data can stress you out without any upside—like when you receive poor scores about things beyond your control.

Take the new parent of a newborn who gets a poor sleep quality score.

Tracking has a time and a place. When scores are beyond your control or your priorities lie elsewhere, tracking can create unnecessary stress and is counterproductive.

You can always revisit tracking when circumstances or priorities change.

Sign #2: Clear feedback from data is enhancing your motivation and ability.

For a behaviour to take place, you need three things4:

Motivation: A compelling reason or desire to take action toward achieving something. This can come from external sources (your spouse is urging you to quit smoking) or internal drives (you’ve always dreamed of running a marathon).
Ability: You have a combination of skills, plus opportunities to express them. (For example, you know how to do a simple resistance training routine, and you have 20 minutes a day to execute it.) This may involve overcoming constraints like time, money, mental and/or physical effort, social pressures, and changes to routine.5
Prompt: A prompt is a cue or instruction that elicits an action. (For example, when your GPS tells you to turn left, or when your restless legs “remind” you you’re due for a walk.) Critically, even with high levels of motivation and ability, you may not take action—or the right kind of action—without a prompt.

Fitness trackers shine when you’ve got plenty of motivation and ability—and just lack the prompt.

Take my client, Margaret. She used to have a glass of wine most nights, believing it helped her sleep better. Once she started wearing a sleep tracker though, she saw that her sleep quality was much poorer the nights she imbibed. Once she received this prompt—her sleep score—she adjusted her behavior.

When you highlight important data, the right choices become clearer.

When it comes to changing behaviours, sometimes all it takes is one key piece of data. As they say, “Once you see it, you can’t un-see it.”

(PN’s CEO Tim Jones used the feedback he got from various lifestyle trackers to finally reduce his genetically high cholesterol levels—and built a richer, more meaningful life in the process. Read more: How This Guy Cut His Cholesterol in Half Without Drugs)

Bad omen: Data collection is decreasing motivation or ability.

When Jan, an avid recreational cyclist, found out he could view—then demolish—the records set on local biking trails, he set to work. But as those records were destroyed, so too was his ability to ride for enjoyment. His focus on speed left him under-recovered and eventually led to burnout.

If workouts have become more about the numbers and less about technique, experience, or even enjoyment, tracking is likely no longer helpful.

Sign #3: Tracking is helping you understand yourself better.

The harder you work, the better your results.

Right?

Not necessarily.

This belief tends to get grinders like Zak into trouble because they think they’re making progress—but really they’re just getting in their own way, even inhibiting performance and recovery.

Meanwhile, there are also many people who chronically underestimate their effort and capacity, and would benefit from turning up the heat. Here, data can help us more accurately understand our own potential.

Let’s look at high-intensity interval training (HIIT) as an example. HIIT workouts alternate fixed periods of intense effort with fixed periods of rest. However, these fixed periods of rest are just estimates of recovery times.

Heart rate data can create a more individualized picture of actual recovery needs, which may be faster or slower than you expect.

Sometimes, the mind says yes but the heart says not quite yet.

A good coach does more than just simply ask for more. They also help keep clients out of the unproductive “junk volume” zone, where fatigue accumulates but performance doesn’t improve (and maybe even worsens).

By looking at real-time metrics of output, fatigue, and recovery, you can better understand yourself and your clients, and help keep everyone training and recovering efficiently.

Bad omen: Over-reliance on data is making you lose touch with your own senses.

When you become overly reliant on data, you risk losing touch with your own sense of how you feel, whether that’s hunger and fullness levels, energy and fatigue, or something else.

A relevant example is “The Great My Fitness Pal Blackout.”

In January of 2019, the calorie-tracking app (with a reported 200 million subscribers!) went down for a day. Pretty minor—unless you happened to be tracking your macro and caloric intake and waiting for the app to tell you exactly how much you could eat that day… which I was.

When the app wouldn’t load, I recognized the mild panic I felt was unhelpful. My overreliance on the app had disconnected me from my own internal signals, and without it, I felt adrift. Since then, I’ve shifted my focus to how energetic I feel and one of the oldest tracking technologies available: the mirror.

(If you feel like you’re lost without your besties—your phone and your apps—there’s a name for that. There are also ways to develop a healthier relationship with your tech. Read more: What is nomophobia?)

3 ways to use fitness trackers to help you make more accurate self-assessments

Before we get to how to do the above, let’s talk about why assessing things by feel can be so important.

Whether it’s body fat percentage or movement speed, even supremely motivated and capable clients will experience diminishing objective results from their training.

The scale stops dropping, the number of plates you’re able to load on the bar plateaus, or—gasp—your race time even regresses.

Motivation based purely on progress or other extrinsic goals6 will fall away during these times.

However, exercisers who focus on feelings of mindfulness7, mastery, meaning8, and success9 develop a more resilient practice. They also enjoy the process more, whether that’s the process of running, lifting, winding down for a good night’s sleep, or just enjoying a meal.

So, although objective data can provide essential feedback and guidance, you’ll only reap the full benefits of your practice—that is, enjoyment and results—if you maintain connection with your felt experience.

And good news: You can actually use fitness trackers to calibrate and even improve your ability to accurately sense what’s happening in your body.

Here are three ways to do it.

1. Check in with yourself before you check the data.

Can you imagine asking someone how their vacation was and then waiting for them to look at their photos to be able to answer? That’s what it’s like when you rely purely on external data about your own experience.

Whatever the metric—how far you biked, how many calories you consumed, or how fast your heart was beating—the simplest way to work mindfully with tracker data is to pause, breathe, and then tune into the powerful (if not always accurate) prediction-making powers of your brain.

Once you’ve checked in with yourself, you can calibrate your self-assessment by comparing the detailed (if not always accurate) outputs of your fitness tracker.

Over time, you may be able to narrow the gap between two.

(Note: Don’t forget to regularly update your app. Algorithms and data sets are regularly adjusted for better predictive accuracy.)

2. Develop mental shortcuts that can occasionally stand in for objective measures.

The coaches I work with regularly ask people to estimate the boundaries of their strength (such as how many reps they can do at a given weight until failure).

Novices are often terrible at estimating this—and regularly off the mark by five or more reps. However, the use of objective trackers can help calibrate their understanding, and most people can reduce their margin of error dramatically.

In theory, you might use fancy tools like accelerometers or blood lactate measurements, but our coaches just ask, “For a million dollars a rep, how many more reps do you think you could do?”

Though there’s nothing objective about this question, most clients are able to use the prompt as a kind of shortcut to understand maximal effort. (After all, that last rep may be worth seven figures!)

The question also leverages the rate of perceived exertion (RPE)—your perception of how hard you’re working—which is one of the most validated sensory-driven approaches.

Not everyone is automatically good at estimating RPE, but most people can improve their skills by mapping their felt experience with occasional calibration with objective data.

3. Keep developing your ability to dial into your senses.

Trackers have components like accelerometers, GPS, and gyroscopes to sense data about speed, distance, and more.

But humans are no slouches either.

We have…

Mechanoreceptors that respond to pressure, vibration, and the joint angles change
A vestibular system that monitors balance and angle changes
Proprioceptors that clock the speed and rate of length-change of muscle spindles
Thermoreceptors that register register warming or cooling
Chemoreceptors that detect chemical changes, such as scent or taste, as well as changes in the bloodstream
Nociceptors—part of the body’s alarm system—that sense threat and send signals of potential harm or distress

And that’s only a partial list.

You have access to an incredibly rich network of sensory information—something that technology cannot begin to touch.

All of this information is fed into the powerful pattern-recognition machine of your nervous system.

To continue honing your ability to use this rich network of sensory information, regularly check in with what and how you’re feeling.

When you learn to calibrate your own senses with objective data, you can leverage all the cool advances in wearable tech—while still keeping your own experience front and centre.

References

Click here to view the information sources referenced in this article.

If you’re a coach, or you want to be…

You can help people build sustainable nutrition and lifestyle habits that will significantly improve their physical and mental health—while you make a great living doing what you love. We’ll show you how.

If you’d like to learn more, consider the PN Level 1 Nutrition Coaching Certification. (You can enroll now at a big discount.)

The post How to use fitness trackers to enhance performance and wellbeing—without losing touch with yourself appeared first on Precision Nutrition.

Soothe & Prevent Headaches with the Power of Touch: Head Massage for Headaches

Ease and prevent headaches naturally with trigger points, reflexology, and acupressure remedies.Every year, 45 million people suffer from chronic headaches (28 million from migraines), and more than 10 million people visit a doctor or emergency room because of a headache, according to the Academy of Pain Medicine. Whether caused by stress, muscle tension, eyestrain, sinuses, hormones, […]

How to Handle Client Requests for Painful Massage Pressure

Learn how to address clients’ requests for deeper pressure by balancing their needs, educating them, and protecting your body as a massage therapist.