[spoiler title=’Click to read the transcript’ style=’default’ collapse_link=’true’] how do you handle criticism about intermittent fasting no matter what kind of diet plan you’re on you’re gonna probably face criticism from time to time especially when you’re doing something that a lot of people don’t really even know about like intermittent fasting having this YouTube channel I’ve certainly had my share of some criticism come my way and so I’m gonna just take you through the process of how I handle it some strategies I use and how I think about it the first thing I like to keep in mind is that usually people are coming from a really nice place that a lot of times it comes out wrong but they’re really not trying to attack you usually they’re only concerned for your safety or your own well-being so if you find that somebody is really criticizing your plan the first thing you can do is talk about your own personal experience a lot of times people just assume that like if you’re fasting you’re gonna be really tired all the time or very hungry all the time or that you’re even starving yourself so I find it helpful to just talk about my own experiences and really share like well here’s what I’ve experienced I’ve had a lot more energy I really don’t feel hungry during the day and my body has adjusted really well to it and I’ve been losing weight and it is tricky though if you’re just getting started out and you really don’t have your own experience to go on right but you can talk about other people who you know who have done it and and kind of offer that up but some people might continue even past that even though they know you’re feeling great they may continue to kind of needle you and and talk about you know you know they’re afraid of the medical aspect of it and since I’m not a doctor I can’t provide that kind of advice to people and so what I like to do is just point people towards doctors and other people in the medical community who are super supportive of intermittent fasting people like dr. Jason Fung is a great example he’s a kidney specialist and he is super in favor of intermittent fasting but you know there are occasions where the person maybe doesn’t really have good intentions you know they’re just being critical just to be negative or things like that and the thing is you don’t even have to respond to them like you can just refuse to argue with them about it which is what I generally do I refuse to argue diet dogma with anybody because I know that phrase those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still is so true so really there’s no point in wasting your breath I’ve never had to apply this tactic in real life I definitely have to apply it you know on the YouTube channel a lot of times I you know if there’s a negative comment that’s just there to be negative and mean I just go ahead and delete it and you know if they’re super belligerent I’ll just block them from the channel but you know in real life a lot of times we feel like oh we’ve got to explain ourselves to everybody and really the only person you have to explain yourself to is you so you know you need to be ok with it you know certainly talk to your doctor and read books and really research whatever plan you’re using but then realize you know past that you really don’t have to give anybody an explanation but let’s talk about the aftermath because if you’re like me once you get criticized on something it’s still gonna sting a little bit and so how do you rebound from that first of all remember that you get to choose your response you cannot control what other people say the criticisms that they might put forward but you can certainly choose how you respond to it you can choose to not engage with them you can choose to really just choose your emotions and say I’m not gonna let that affect me because who are they even you know and it’s somebody who means a lot to you you know again trying to give people the benefit of the doubt you know I like to kind of play a game where I try to make up you know these crazy stories the reason why they’re being so mean is because you know this and this and this happened to them today and I have no idea what’s going on in their life another thing that I found that really helps is to really assess what was actually said not like you know the thing that you interpreted it as but really especially if it’s an online comment go back and try to read unemotionally what was actually said because intent and emphases and and tone is really hard to understand online so again going back and giving people the benefit of the doubt has been really helpful and what I found is sometimes on the second read-through I’ve I found out that like oh they’re not even saying what I originally thought they were saying and the last tip that I have is to write it down really in-depth write out you know what was said how it made you feel you know you can also go into why it’s not true and you can even write it as if you’re gonna write it to that other person and that can really help you so in future conversations you’ll know what to say if you’re like me you know I’m an introvert and I don’t do too well in personal confrontations but afterwards I can really you know write it all down but of course don’t actually send the letter because you’ll probably regret that so that’s how I’ve handled intermittent fasting criticism in the past I’m curious to know do you ever get criticized for practicing intermittent fasting and if so have you found any you know surefire ways to kind of turn the conversation into a positive one have you found that people usually after you kind of educate them about it they’re you know actually pretty agreeable about it what’s been your experience okay thank you for watching be sure to LIKE comment and subscribe down below [/spoiler]
Video Recap
In the course of trying anything new, a lot of times we’ll find people can be critical especially if they don’t understand what we’re doing. In this video I discuss the way that I handle criticism with intermittent fasting. Additionally, this approach can work in other areas of life. Part of my approach:
- Talk about my experience
- Point to doctors and medical information
- Don’t respond
- Don’t let it affect you
- Write about it to get it off your mind
- Give them the benefit of the doubt