Which diet is the best?

This is a question I get asked quite often. "Which diet is the best?"
Answer: Most of them.
At this stage you are thinking 'what the?' So let me explain.

A diet is simply a strict plan of what you are going to eat in any given day/week/month. And after having reviewed numerous diets and approaches and seen the results I have observed that many diets 'work.' I put 'work' in quotation marks because the definition of a diet 'working' is often very slippery. On many diets, people seem to be able to lose fat (often quickly) then put it back on (sometimes even more rapidly) when they are 'finished' with that particular approach. While I commend people for reducing their body fat in the initial stage, I don't believe such a diet to have 'worked' which is why I encourage people to take a different approach. (More on that in another post).

The truth is that your long term wellbeing plan must be practical and sustainable for you to keep the weight off long term. Many diets 'work' while you stay on them but that is only half the battle. You must be able to see yourself doing a diet long term and you must be HAPPY to live that lifestyle long term for optimal results. Most diets have the potential to work but only if followed strictly and long term.

Here is my take on two common diets used in todays society;

Low Carb, High Protein:
Pros:

• You can generally eat a large volume of food and still reduce body fat.
• The high protein content contributes to satiety (So you feel full and more satisfied)
• Most of these low carb diets have a 'cheat day' or 'freedom afternoon/evening' which means you can consume whatever you want for a certain time period which often has a profound psychological benefit. 

Cons:

• When you blow this diet you really blow this diet. Remember the story in my last blog about how I put on 9kg. Well that was going from a low carb diet to a higher carb diet while I was on holidays. Many other people have reported the same problem, due to the fact that if the body is starved of a macro nutrient for too long then fat gain will increase if high amounts of this nutrient are reintroduced.
• Going on from the last point, if you are on a low carb diet, you must slowly wean yourself off it when you want to introduce more carbohydrates to avoid excessive weight gain.
• Low carb is inconvenient; It is very difficult to find foods when you are on the move that stay within the guidelines of low carb diets. Most convenient food is high carb.
• Low carb diets tend to be extremely strict with their guidelines which interferes with your ability to problem solve and can have social ramifications.     

Calorie Counting:
Pros:

• Theoretically means that you are guaranteed to lose weight (though not necessarily fat). According to the law of conservation of energy; "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only change forms." So this means that if you ingest less energy than what your body needs for metabolic processes then energy stores will be utilised (eg. Adipose tissue, Glycogen).
• Raises awareness in the individual about high caloric food and often changes perspectives on foods that they once believed to be 'healthy.' 

Cons:

• Psychologically challenging; People can become obsessed about everything they consume and often feel constraints as they are try to prevent ingesting more energy than they are 'burning.'
• It sets up a reward eating mentality; if someone goes for a run, they think that they have 'earned' the right to eat high calorie foods.
• It is human nature to want what we can't have; The more you deprive yourself of certain foods the more you may desire them, meaning you are setting yourself up for a constant mental battle in which even the strongest willed will probably binge at some point.        

Personally, I believe a diet should be defined as 'An educated approach to deciding what you are going to consume to obtain YOUR specific health outcomes.' This means that a diet that someone else has created may not be appropriate for your lifestyle.
So instead of spending your time looking for the perfect diet, look for a diet that is OK but sustainable for you long term. Analyse your current lifestyle and be realistic. Construct your diet around your lifestyle, NOT the other way around.

Until next time, Jack.