Don’t Eliminate, Moderate
Making drastic changes often produces only short-term results. It’s not the best option for your body to either focus on one food group or to eliminate an entire one. For example, there is an increasing trend in the “Carnivore Diet” which is high in cholesterol and fats. There is irony in this diet for it cuts out most fruit and vegetables from the diet. These food groups are crucial for weight loss and health-related benefits. Instead of cutting out an entire food group – moderate your daily intake. With regular exercise, your body will establish equilibrium.
Is it About Guilt or Lifestyle?
There is a lot of guilt in diets. Remember, we’re only human. Some diets are intensive and diets like the “Whole30 Diet” and come with a lot of guilt. This 30-day diet focuses on only consuming whole foods, rejecting all processed and pre-packed foods. This can feel like ongoing punishment, because, let’s face it, we’re allowed to indulge occasionally. When temptation becomes too great, research shows that once they cross that bridge, there is a ‘screw it’ attitude that arises. This can lead up to a negative relationship with food which can translate into an eating disorder.
Short-Term vs Long-Term
The “Keto Diet” is one of the classic ways of losing weight quickly. The diet is a high-fat and low-carb diet, but people interpret this wrong and sometimes, eat the wrong food. The diet refrains from food groups that contain the fiber and nutrients needed to combat illnesses and diseases. In the long-term, however, this sort of diet is good for those who have unstable blood sugar like Diabetics. It’s also known to be beneficial for those young kids with epilepsy.
The Other Extreme
What the diets above have in common is the exclusion of fruits and the lack of vegetables. The “Pegan Diet” is a diet that involves a small dosage of meat but is heavy with fruit and vegetables. This diet is also not sustainable in long run due to its high content of sugar. It seems diets have more to do with lifestyle than which foods you are allowed to eat. Having a balanced, long-term plan is the only way you won’t fluctuate in weight or create a negative relationship with food.