Dietary theories: Where do I start?

There are so many dietary theories out in the world that it can feel quite overwhelming to know where to start. Therefore, in this article I’m going to help you navigate through all these diets and theories. Here, my goal is to help you begin your health journey in a healthy and sustainable way.

The Unhealthy diets

Among the hundreds of different diets, some are very unhealthy, and can make you feel deprived, hungry and weak. These extremely restrictive diets are not sustainable at all, as they will lead to binging and overindulging. It can then cause vicious cycles of passing from one extreme to the other. Not only is it extremely harmful for your body, but it’s also mentally and emotionally exhausting. Indeed, if you lose weight very fast, you’ll also gain it back rapidly.

Think about the time when we were living in caverns. We didn’t have food in abundance all the time like we do now. When we would find food, we would eat as much of it as we could. In consequence, our bodies would stock all the sugars and fats in our bodies in order to maintain energy for when we wouldn’t have that much food available. Today, our body does the same when we pass from binging to deprivation. When we binge, our body stocks all the extra energy, which in return makes us gain weight. And, when we deprive ourselves, our body uses the extra energy. Unfortunately, this pattern puts a lot of stress on our bodies and will lead to health issues.

What’s an unhealthy diet?

As you can see, restrictive diets are not sustainable and are not the right option when you are looking to adopt a healthy diet.

Before I go into what a healthy diet looks like, let me explain to you what are the characteristics of an unhealthy diet. Basically, all dietary theories that control your calorie intake, that allows you to eat only a small diversity of foods and that are very strict are a no go. It sounds fairly simple but it can be difficult to find the fine line between a healthy or a restrictive diet.

To help you understand the difference, here are some characteristics of a healthy diet.

What’s a healthy diet?

1. Nutrient dense

First of all, you want to make sure that your diet is well balanced. Depending on the theories, some diets will contain more or less sugars, fats and protein but as long as you have enough calories and nutrients, it’s really up to you to decide what fits you best.

2. Be flexible

Secondly, if you decide to have a schedule for your meals, keep an open mind and allow yourself to be flexible. Of course, you can have a set time to eat, but make sure that it stays flexible and that you don’t feel stressed about it. If, for example, you are hungry before the time, allow yourself to eat before.

3. Listen to your body cues 

Lastly, don’t deprive yourself. One diet can be a perfect fit at one point in time and really unhealthy for you at an other. Remember that the bodys’ needs changes depending on your physical and mental activity, age, place that you live, seasons, etc. If you feel that your diet is not giving you the nutrition that you need or that you are having cravings, then change it up. For example, if you are craving a warm soup during the winter and your diet is saying that you have to eat a salad, your body is telling you that it needs more warmth and nutrition.

How to begin?

So, to come back to the main question of the article. Where do I start? How do I find the best diet for me? Well, first, eliminate all the strict rules and restrictive diets. Basically, focus on dietary theories that gives you a guideline that you can then personalize. Make sure that they offer you optimal nutrition, that you feel satisfied and most importantly that you don’t feel restricted.

To give you some examples: the Ayurvedic diet gives you a list of so many foods that you can eat depending on your body type, and the season. The blood type diet does the same but is based on your blood type. The vegan diet can seem very restrictive as it takes out all animal products, but it allows you to eat an abundance of plant foods that will keep you healthy and satisfied. The mediterranean diet is focused on eating foods that are eaten traditionally by populations who live close to the mediterranean. These populations have had records of healthy centenarians.

I’m not going to go into all the diets, but hopefully you understand what I mean by a healthy sustainable diet. 

Of course, it’ll require you to do a bit of research before you hop into a new diet as you need to understand all the components and the reason why it is the best diet.

To sum up

In conclusion, my advice to you is to experiment and do what works best for you. The hardest part is to know where to start and have a general idea of what to look out for among all these dietary theories. Each individual is different and will have different needs at different moments of time. So, make sure that your diet is compatible with your bio-individuality. If you want more information, check out my other articles about Intuitive Eating and Health Coaching in Integrative Nutrition.

I hope that I was able to help you a bit with your dietary  journey. If there’s only one thing that you have to remember, it would be to do what works for you without comparing yourself with others. Your health is way more important than following a trend.

If you need personalized guidance, please contact me in the form down below to book a free Health Coaching session. I’ll be happy to talk about your doubts and concerns more in detail and guide you to a healthier you!