Why Athletes Fall For Diet Bullsh*t

Jun 19

Welcome to episode one! Get to know hosts Kylee Van Horn and Zoë Rom and why they’re endlesslessly fascinated with food. In this episode, we ask why athletes seem so prone to diet bullsh*t and pseudoscience. We discuss how social media has hastened the spread of pseudoscience and why “experts” tend to overstate their experience. We conclude with a discussion of Bullsh*t Red Flags to help you identify diet nonsense in the wild.

References:

Melin A., Tornberg Å.B., Skouby S., Møller S.S., Sundgot-Borgen J., Faber J., Sidelmann J.J., Aziz M., Sjödin A. Energy availability and the female athlete triad in elite endurance athletes. Scand. J. Med. Sci. Sports. 2015;25:610–622. doi: 10.1111/sms.12261

Ashwanden, C. (2018, January 3). Tom Brady is drowning in his own pseudoscience. FiveThirtyEight. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/tom-brady-is-drowning-in-his-own-junk-science-advice/

Fitzgerald, M. (2015). Diet cults: The surprising fallacy at the core of nutrition fads and a guide to healthy eating for the rest of Us. Pegasus Books.

Lacke, S. (2023, April 10). The fight against pseudoscience, bad training advice, and bullsh*t. Triathlete. https://www.triathlete.com/culture/the-fight-against-pseudoscience-and-bad-training-advice-in-endurance-sports/

Bailey RP, Madigan DJ, Cope E, Nicholls AR. The Prevalence of Pseudoscientific Ideas and Neuromyths Among Sports Coaches. Front Psychol. 2018 May 2;9:641. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00641. PMID: 29770115; PMCID: PMC5941987.

Powell, M. (2022, November 10). Is sport a breeding ground for pseudoscience?. Skeptical Inquirer. https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/is-sport-a-breeding-ground-for-pseudoscience/

Tiller NB, Sullivan JP, Ekkekakis P. Baseless Claims and Pseudoscience in Health and Wellness: A Call to Action for the Sports, Exercise, and Nutrition-Science Community. Sports Med. 2023 Jan;53(1):1-5. doi: 10.1007/s40279-022-01702-2. Epub 2022 Jun 10. PMID: 35687251. Chrzan, J., & Cargill, K. (2022). Anxious eaters: Why we fall for fad diets. Columbia University Press.

Zoë Rom

Zoë Rom is a science and environmental journalist with bylines in The New York Times, Outside, and High Country News. She co-hosts Your Diet Sucks, an evidence-based nutrition and wellness podcast, with registered dietitian Kylee Van Horn, RDN, where they investigate how wellness culture distorts science and how athletes can do better. A Colorado-based ultrarunner, she finished second at the Leadville Trail 100 and top five at Run Rabbit Run 100. Her reporting and commentary focus on the intersection of sport, science, and the wellness industry's long history of selling women their own anxieties.