Ah, yes. Again. The diet word. There is such a love and hate relationship between us. I hate it so much. when people say that they want to go on a diet. Something in me just wants to get out and decapitate them all. At the same time, I love the word diet. It is everything we do related to food. It is one of the reasons to start writing about it and trying to preach it the right way.
In this blog, I want to share some thoughts, regarding all the diets out there. I want to talk about why they always work, and why they always fail. Regardless, whether you start to follow a certain diet, because you want to feel better, or lose weight.
I am not going to list all the possible diets. They are so many and most of the time are created by someone who just wants to make money. Yes, that’s right. It is super easy to write a book about a certain diet. You get scientifically proven facts about a certain food and start to brag about it. Write a book about it, share it here and there, and voila. You have created a new diet.
I mean I can do it with beetroot for instance.
It Is a natural vasodilator. It can enhance your performance by acting like a pre-workout. It can help with endurance, erectile dysfunction, it is a good source of potassium, it is red... Combine it with two kiwis for more vitamin C and you will be strong and healthy forever. I just created a new diet. I think I should write a book about it. Hopefully, it will make me some cash.
Jokes aside. It is a bit more complex, but that kind of diet exists. As well as documentaries, books, and whatnot. And it is not that they do not work. They do, but for a bit, and here is why.
Why do you lose weight every time you start a new diet.
Are you familiar with the law of thermodynamics? It states that if you consume less than you use your body will break tissue to use it as energy. In other words, if you eat less than you burn, you will start to burn what you have already stored. Essentially you will lose weight. Now, why does that matter?
Most of the diets are restrictive. When you go on a diet, most of the time you are told how much to eat. This is usually less than what you already consume. Also, no diet is going to tell you to eat cookies and cakes, which means that you will be less likely to overconsume those stuff as well. Think about it. If a diet allows you to eat apples, you will probably eat 2 or 3 per day. I can bet that it will be way different if there were cakes though.
The point is that regardless of the reason if you eat less, you will lose weight. Period.
Why it is temporary?
Do you know the Yo-Yo effect? Well, it is pretty common, I know. Let’s say you go on a diet and instead of 3000 calories you eat 1500. You will lose weight for sure. But how sustainable is it to eat half of the food you have been eating for so long? Sooner or later, you go off that diet. You are tired of restricting and forbidding yourself, so after you can eat whatever, you want, you are all in. What is the worst that can happen, after all, you lost 5 kg, right? Very soon your body is going to respond to the changes.
Your metabolism is going to be adapted to those 1500 calories. And guess what? The second part of the low of thermodynamics kicks in, which states that if you eat more than you burn, you gain weight. As soon as you start to eat more than you were used to during the diet, your body will put on weight.
This is why any diet for losing weight is not sustainable in long term. Any restrictive diet is not ideal.
But let’s say you don’t want to lose or gain weight. Let’s say you are pretty fit and healthy, but you want more. You want to feel better, you want more performance and longevity.
Why every diet makes you feel better?
You read a book that says that a vegan diet is the key and if you eat meat, you will die in agony. Or the opposite. You learn that eating meat is the key, and vegetables are poison.
Regardless of what you change to, you will probably start to feel better, because you were not doing it before.
Now let’s say you go to the vegan world. You feel lighter. Your digestion is better, you have more energy, and your skin clears up. All great. Is it because you do not eat meat anymore, or because you did not have enough vegetables in your diet before?
Or maybe you stick to a carnivore one and you have better performance and strength in the gym. Maybe more libido as well. Is it because you all of a sudden started to eat meat, or it is because you did not have enough of it before?
What about the paleo diet. It excludes all processed and farmed foods. Yea, that is great too. And it is probably one of the best choices after a balanced diet that incorporates all the nutrition you need. Of course, you will feel good about it as you will eliminate all the processed food that is full of toxins and whatnot. But how do you know, what your body can and can’t tolerate. Milk is great for you but only if you can tolerate it, right?
The fact that people associate a diet with a strict plan that tells them what they can and can't do is alarming. Diet is not a plan or regime. Diet is a way of eating. It is a lifelong unplanned plan that is constantly being adjusted by you. You are the one that can determine whether your body likes to eat more meat or not. Whether your body is OK with dairy or not. Whether you can eat nuts or not. And you are the person who can say how much is enough, or too much.
You need to know your body and listen only to it. We are very complicated creatures. Each of us requires a different approach to live at our best and no book or diet can tell us otherwise. We can learn from books and different studies, but if we blindly follow something that someone said is good for us, sooner or later we will end up failing.
If you want to create your own diet according to your body needs check this blog listed below for further information and guidance.
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