a) …lots of nutritional advice heard / read / seen / received from multiple sources: boy/girlfriend, parent, coworker, church member, plumber, cashier, healthcare provider (dietitians, medical doctors, nurses), articles, magazines, Facebook / Instagram / Twitter posts / other social media, etc.

and…

b) …lots of incorrect / confusing information that is “floating around” from all of the sources mentioned up above…

…right?

As a studious registered dietitian that makes the best effort to keep an eye on nutritional research & recommendations, it has becoming increasingly exasperating to be “taken for the roller coaster ride” (up, down, in out, left, right) with so many “scientific studies” flooding the market, social media, Internet, offices, etc. It’s unfortunate that this is not a physical roller coaster, to be able to get off at some point; it’s just the nature of the nutritional field. Many blog posts / articles are written every hour, somewhere on the Internet, for magazines, etc., that probably provide confusing direction. 

The problem is, many of these articles are written by, most likely, lay people, who do not have a considerable background in the nutritional sciences and research, but are merely writing to: a) provide themselves with a means to procure a paycheck, and/or b) sensationalize a food item in a positive, or even negative manner. Keep in mind: a lot of the current confusion stems from the fact that the initial / original dietary guidelines back in the late 1970’s (~1977, George McGovern committee, etc.) were composed by people who probably did not have a modicum of nutritional knowledge or background. These people, although they may have been intelligent, even nice, had good intentions… but they were lawyers and journalists (at least, history tells us so, based on reading multiple sources to come to a better understanding of who made up that nutritional committee). 

Do lawyers and journalists = dietitians?

I don’t think you need me to answer that question for you.

One of the most villainized foods has been eggs. They are touted to be good for you one day…but next week, they will cause heart disease because of the cholesterol contained within its yolk. The following month, “sources” state you can safely consume 3 eggs every day (I would probably get sick of so many eggs, no matter how much I like them) because they won’t affect your serum cholesterol levels…but in 3 months, another study comes out stating that consuming eggs are (again) tied to increasing cardiovascular disease, heart attack, and ultimately, death.