Breaking diet myths

The Sun

2 days ago

EVERYBODY can be healthy – Samantha Jackson said when asked about her health philosophy.
Jackson, who is a clinical nutritionist, personal trainer and Dexa Radiologist, believes in getting to the core of the problem when it comes to healthy living and progressive weight loss – in other words, visceral fat or 'toxic belly fat'.
Breaking diet myths, the Australian, who is also Mel Gibson's trainer, is set to educate Malaysians about food science in two health transformation talks, supported by the Australia Malaysia Business Chamber (Western Australia).
On a conquest to demystify fat loss, Jackson sat with a media panel to tease her upcoming talks and the topics that she would be covering.
'I want us to be human,' she said after saying nothing is off the menu as long as we strike a balance. I actually don't want people on any sort of diets because you lose the will to live when you're on a diet. It's miserable. There's no enjoyment. We are humans.'
Jackson stressed the importance of having a healthy relationship with food. Likening the body to a car, she said eating not enough food meant a lack of fuel for the body to function.
'You wouldn't drive for two hours in your car if you only had one metre of fuel in the tank. Well, we don't do that to our bodies either,' she said, adding that the point is not to starve.
Jackson then explained Saturday's talk is going to cover visceral adipose tissue, also known as toxic belly fat, emphasising the importance of being aware of the science behind how our body work.
'We cannot get rid of toxic belly fat by doing sit-ups, crunches – by exercising or starving, anything like that. So, I'm going to be teaching people how to recognise how much toxic belly they have and what it does inside their body (as well as) what to look out for – and also how to get rid of it and then, how to stop it coming back.'
She teased about the four main pillars of the talk, and it is going to be around type two diabetes, cardiovascular, while prefacing the talk is not going to be about weight loss alone.
Jackson is a firm believer in fun, so best believe her talk is not going to be a drab one but injected with her signature cheekiness that lifts the sombre mood of the topic.
'So in both talks, I will be getting a little bit cheeky. And I will also be encouraging some participation and questions, too.'
She then said on Sunday, she plans to touch on the 'big one' – which is fat loss – as she also shared this is her fourth trip to Malaysia this year.
Jackson explained fat loss is not all about diet, because 'if diets worked, we wouldn't keep going on them'.
She again reiterated that in her talks, she 'really wants to dispel a lot of myths around the diet industry'.
'It's like a US$70 billion industry and it fails us every single time, but we can actually teach our own bodies to not store fat.'
Jackson insisted no food is off limits and that, via her talks, they are going to learn to eat in a way that puts their body into homeostasis – a state of balance, in which the body self-regulates and maintains itself.
'You cannot punish your body into looking and feeling great,' she said, adding that carbs and sugar are friends and not foes.
The fat loss journey needs incredible willpower and discipline – many find themselves relapsing after achieving a goal or succumbing to the mundanity of life itself.
As such, Jackson revealed that mindset is very important, but first, one needs to be educated.
'It's extremely important. But what's even more important than that is education,' Jackson told theSun.
To educate the masses about food science while addressing the dangers of visceral fat, Jackson will be at KL Wellness City Gallery, Bukit Jalil this Saturday (4pm) and Sunday (10am) helping Malaysians develop a healthy relationship with food.