We’ve all been there. Going from one diet to the next trying to lose weight or trying to get healthy as certain diets might promise.
Following a specific diet might help you lose weight temporarily or even get you a bit healthier for a while. What you don’t realize that almost anything will work initially if your diet is pretty crummy.
There are a lot of popular diets circulating around but what works for one for one person does not mean its good for your own body. There are a lot of factors that come into play when it comes to your diet and health. There are plenty of women out there that might look like they are healthy because they have been blessed with “I can eat anything I want and not gain weight”. Their diet might include lots of coffee, bagels and pizza! There is no nutrients in this type of diet and eventually this will catch up with them in some form or another. Usually looks like catching colds often, viruses, hormonal issues, lethargy, hair loss, autoimmune issues, or something worse.
Everyone needs a good mix of nutrients that will help your body thrive. Mixing up your meals from week to week is a good way to get in as many nutrients as possible instead of relying on isolated supplements to make up the difference. Your body just doesn’t work that way. It often needs another nutrient or fat to absorb it.
Next time you are meal planning. Think of your plate as “how much energy and nutrients am I getting from this meal”. When you sit down to a eat plate of pasta with meatballs feels a lot different than sitting down to meatballs on top of a bed of zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash.
There are three macronutrients required by humans: carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Each of these macronutrients provides energy in the form of calories. From there it’s micronutrients which are vitamins and minerals.
The quality of each of these is important. Eating grass-fed meat is much healthier than eating conventional raised meat. Eating healthy fats such as an avocado, coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil is much different than eating unhealthy chemically processed oils such as canola and soybean oil (aka vegetable oil). Many people assume because it says “vegetable” oil it’s good, it’s not – almost all soybean crops in the US are GMO. The nutrition make up is totally different. The amount of omega 3’s to 6’s are the perfect ratio in grass-fed meat. In conventional raised meat it’s about 1-20 ratio of omega 3’s to 6’s which is off balanced. We do need omega-6’s in our diet but too much causes inflammation in our body leading to high blood pressure and clots.
If you are counting calories then you have to remember not all calories are the same. And, calories in, calories out is an outdated method of losing weight nor is it effective. Or, is it useful when it comes to your health. Eating a 100 calorie snack pack is definitely not the same as eating a 100 calorie apple. The nutrition, vitamins and minerals that in an apple plus the fiber your body needs to move your waste along does not even closely compare to the 100 calorie snack pack. Plus it isn’t even real food so your body doesn’t even know how to process it. And, please don’t fall in the trap of using a “low calorie” flavored creamer in your coffee. It’s filled with junk and preservatives and sometimes chemicals that is not good for your body.
When you eat a nutrient dense diet that is unique to you, you naturally lose weight. And, you will naturally boost your health because your body is getting the nutrition it needs to thrive.
It may not happen overnight as say a 500 calorie deprivation diet that is for sure to set yourself up for failure. But giving your body the nutrition it needs is sustainable long term where you never have to diet. You lose your cravings because your body is getting exactly what it needs.
Many times cravings are just your body begging for the void nutrients. Like when you find yourself reaching for chocolate possibly your body is just lacking some magnesium.
What about sugar cravings? Certainly, sugar is not good for us right.
Every cell in your body actually needs glucose and often times these sugar cravings are a sign that we are deficient in certain trace minerals like chromium, magnesium, vanadium and zinc from a poor diet. But if you are eating a lot of refined sugar then you will certainly be craving more sugar. The easiest way to stop that refined sugar craving is cold turkey. Try eating sweet vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes or fruit. Do not replace sugar with artificial sweeteners. They are not good for you at all!
Our food is meant to be diverse in nutrients and taking one supplement for a specific mineral if you are deficient is not the same.
Your body is designed to work perfectly given the right nutrients and environment.
Everyone is unique.
Everyone needs to eat according to them not what everybody else is doing.
A varied nutrient dense diet will bring you more vitality than following a diet that will leave you void of certain nutrients. Your body becomes imbalanced and often leads to sickness when it doesn’t have proper nutrients.
Most times we are eating for the wrong reasons ~ namely stress, avoidance or just numbing out what we do not want to feel or deal with at the moment. We use food for comfort whether you realize it or not.
Diets are directly setting your body up for deprivation. This usually backfires because it usually leads to massive cravings, binging and overeating which will sabotage your attempts in the first place. And, you set your brain up for feelings of guilt, unworthiness, undeserving, etc.
When you figure out what works best for your body is where you feel your best. You don’t get sick as often. You have sustained energy all day. You aren’t craving foods left and right.
You don’t have to eat perfect and there really is no perfect anyhow. Forget all those crazy diets out there! Just start eating a variety of food and nutrients that your body is craving and needs to thrive.
You don’t have to eat less you just have to eat right.
