Melanie O'SheaI’ll admit right off the bat – I’ve never really had much interest in fad diets. I’m one of those women other women love to hate – staying slim has always been pretty effortless for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not someone who can just eat whatever they want and never exercise and yet always stay the same weight….well, not since my early 30s anyway…. I do have good genes on my side but really, I find maintaining my weight relatively easy and simple because I have such a great relationship with my body when it comes to food.
Feeling befuddled?
Atkins. Paleo. Keto. Intermittent fasting. Mediterranean. Anti-inflammatory. Blood type. Carnivore. Vegan/vegetarian. Gluten-free. Zone. Volumetrics. Raw foods. Macrobiotic. South Beach.
Whoa!
There are literally hundreds of weight-loss diets to choose from, and all seem to come with endorsement from celebrities and backing from scientific research (some more than others!). So, how the heck is anyone supposed to know which one is the right one??
I’ve been studying nutrition science for 35 years and even the experts are confused by the science. If the people we look to for nutritional guidance keep changing their views it’s no wonder that the rest of us are befuddled and mystified.
Dr Mark Hyman, ‘Food – What the Heck Should I Eat?’
Sums it up nicely, right? It is confusing and mystifying!
How is it that there is a plethora of information about weight-loss and nutrition at our fingertips, and yet we seem to be more clueless about what is the ‘right’ food to eat than ever before?!
To start with, a brief lesson in nutrition
When I Googled ‘nutrition’ the definition heaps of definitions came up, but the one I liked the best comes from The School of Health: “Nutrition is the study of how food and drink effects our bodies with a special regard to the essential nutrients necessary to support human health.”
Those essential nutrients are: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, water, vitamins and minerals. The macronutrients – carbs, fats, proteins – are needed in large amounts and provide the body with energy (calories). The micronutrients – vitamins and minerals – are only needed in teeny, trace amounts, don’t provide any energy to the body, but are necessary for maintaining and repairing body tissues, and for regulation of all the necessary processes that go on in our bodies to keep us alive and kicking.
OK, so that’s a very basic introduction to the basic facts of nutrition. There’s so much more I’d love to write about, because I love talking about nutrition, but I’ll leave it there for now. All you need to know about nutrition, in terms of deciding which diet is right for you, is in that one paragraph. Well, that paragraph and this:
All dietary theories are based on a tweak of the balance, source and timing of macronutrients.
Yep, that’s it! Simple, right?!
Fad diets = balance + source + timing
OK, a bit more info maybe… ‘balance’ = ratio of carbohydrates to fats to proteins, ‘source‘ = types of carbs, fats and proteins, and ‘timing‘ = when to eat carbs, fats or proteins.
Don’t believe me? Maybe this lovely infographic will help prove my point:
If you’d like to see more dietary theories compared, click here to download ‘100 Dietary Theories in 10 Minutes’.
So, how does this mind-blowing information help you to figure out which weight-loss diet is best for you?
Well, lovely, by understanding that fad diets, science-based dietary theories and celebrity-endorsed weight-loss plans all boil down to timing, source and ratio of carbs, fats and protein, hopefully you now know that there is no ‘right’ diet for you based on what science, influencers, magazines, or supermodels claim is the best one.
Whaaaattttt????
What I mean is, to find the right weight-loss diet for you, all you need to do is find the right ratio, timing and source of macronutrients for your body. Yes, your body.
I understand, that may seem sooo much more complicated than trying the diet you most recently read about in Women’s Weekly, but it doesn’t have to be, if you listen to your body. For example, you can try eating a protein-rich meal for breakfast, or lunch, or dinner, and you can try only eating 50g of carbohydrates a day, and you can try only eating fat after protein, or you can try half paleo and half Mediterranean diet.
It doesn’t matter how you tweak your diet or when! It really doesn’t!
Build a relationship first
What matters is building a relationship with your body – a relationship whereby you listen to your body and appreciate your body for the completely unique miracle that it is. Your body knows exactly what it needs to keep every single teeny tiny cell in your body healthy so they can all do what they need to do.
There is simply no point in psyching yourself up to stick with the keto diet until you reach your goal weight, if you don’t pay attention to your body when it tells you the keto diet isn’t right for you because your blood sugar drops and you feel super dizzy if you don’t eat enough carbs each day. There is no point ‘sticking to your guns’ if your body is telling you that the Mediterranean diet makes you feel like crap because you’re on the toilet with the runs half the day.
So, while that magazine article about Jennifer Aniston’s amazing weight-loss on the South Beach diet may seem like the easy answer is right in front of you, the reality is the answers are actually inside of you. And it is so much easier when you create the right diet for your body, rather than trying to find it!
Start the conversation
The first question you need to start with is “what do I already know works for me, and against me, in terms of weight loss?” Ask yourself this question, and you may be surprised by how much you already know about your body and weight loss. For example, you may have cut carbs out once before and you remember that although you lost weight, you were only able to stick with it for a few weeks because by lunchtime each day you felt like you were dragging your body through quicksand!
You can use this information to start creating the right diet for you – perhaps instead of cutting carbs altogether, you might try eating carbs only at breakfast. Or, maybe you need to eat carbs whenever you feel like it, but reduce your carbohydrate serving size. Or, maybe you can replace some simple carbs (white bread, white rice, potato, etc) with complex carbs (multigrain bread, brown rice, sweet potato, etc) and find you still lose weight.
Can you see how easy it can be to create a diet that works for you? And I don’t just mean what works for you in terms of weight loss, but what works for you in terms of lifestyle. I mean, really, what’s the point of losing weight if you can only keep it off for a few weeks, or your diet becomes so restrictive that it causes you more stress than the extra weight does! And with stress being one of the major contributors to weight gain and obesity (a topic for another day!) you certainly don’t want to add any more of it to your life!
Take your time exploring
Once you start exploring what does and doesn’t work for you and your body, you will find that you will naturally and easily know how to tweak the balance, source and timing of carbohydrates, fats and protein to create the right diet for you.
Of course, you won’t be able to create the right diet for yourself as quickly as you can Google ‘best diet for fast weight loss’, and it may take a little longer for you to see results….buuuuttt, when you create the right diet for you, you will find it will be so much easier for you to move beyond ‘weight-loss diet’.
When you create a diet that really works for you, and you feel happier and more vibrant than ever, your focus will change from reaching your goal weight to enjoying how amazing and energetic you feel. And from there, it is so much easier to continue developing a relationship with your body, and to maintain healthy eating habits (and a healthy weight) for life.
If you are feeling overwhelmed when it comes to weight loss or creating the right diet for you, or you would like assistance with implementing diet changes in a stress-free way, please get in touch with me to book in an intuitive medicine session, and/or to discuss how one of my health coaching packages could help you.
