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What Diet
There are many diets around, and knowing which diet is best for you is hard to work out. There are low fat, low carbohydrate, low calorie, low gl, raw food, paleo, vegetarian, vegan, food combining (one of the better diets), and even ‘the perfect diet’; though nothing is perfect in reality.
We are not perfect either so trying to stick to a rigid diet routine is difficult enough without wondering if it is the right diet. So what is the answer. We all want to have a better diet, either for weight loss or health reasons. If it is a diet that is ‘low’ or restrictive in some way then it is probably not balanced and the nutrient content is not complete.
A complete diet is the answer and should be one that provides all the nutrients the body needs. Though I doubt any diet can do that in reality today without a lot of care and work. A diet with healthy nutritious food and few rules to follow is a good start. A diet that is not too difficult to follow and fits in with everyday lifestyles and uses everyday foods. A advocate a diet based on nutritious food and some simple rules. The main one being avoid processed foods, junk foods and soft drinks and colas including diet drinks (another story) and eat more fruit and vegetables.
You don’t have to starve yourself or count calories, and can eat as much fruit and vegetables as you like but eat more vegetables than fruit. The following is a list of foods to base your diet on and none are exotic, expensive superfoods.
Apples, Bananas, Berries, Pineapple, Broccoli, Lentils, Garlic, Onions, Mung Beans, Flax Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Nuts, Oats, Olive oil, Green Tea, Tomatoes, Sprouts (as in sproutings), Yoghurt (plain), all Vegetables, other fruits (grapefruit, grapes, kiwi, oranges, peaches, pears, prunes (high in anti oxidents)
Plenty of choice there and if you are not vegetarian make sure any meat etc you choose is organic, free range chicken and eggs, meat from organic grass reared animals and oily fish such as sardines and salmon. You don’t have to have large amounts of these or eat them every day, so the cost is not out of reach.
Age is another factor to take into account when working out a diet. While on the subject of ideal foods, the following are good for us oldies - cherries, oats, almonds, oily fish, tomato, chicken (free range), full milk (organic), together with the rest of the above foods.
Add to this healthy nutritious diet more fresh air and exercise and you have the potential for a healthier lifestyle that will make you feel good and look good.
DIET AND DIETS
We are all on a diet of some sort or other. Maybe it is a healthy diet, a diet to lose weight, a detox diet or the latest craze diet, low everything (low calorie, low carb, low sugar, low fat) et all. Just eating is dieting in many ways.
What is important is that we eat the right foods whatever our diet. A healthy whole food diet of nutrient rich foods should be the aim. Given time that is all that is needed for health and weightloss.
The other important point to remember is to know what you are doing with dieting. If you are going to change your diet to one you have seen on TV or read about in a magazine, whether for health or weightloss, make sure you find out what the diet involves, how it works and its effects, especially long term. Is this explained and if not get more information before you start cutting this or that food type. Make sure you understand what the diet does for your health. Cutting down or cutting out foods will generally mean less nutrients available. Though that also depends on your diet in the first place. It makes more sense to first look at your existing diet and cut out the bad foods, the junk foods etc and replace them with more nutritious healthy foods.
That may be all that is needed to improve your health and lose weight and you would probably be getting more valuable nutrients in the diet. Low carbohydrate diets are popular but cutting carbohydrates altogether and increasing protein can cause health problems if carried out without knowing what you are doing. The type of carbohydrate and protein used are important. using nutrient dense carbs (whole grains, vegetables, fruit) and a variety of small portions of protein plus plenty of vegetables and fruit will work just as well as restricting carbohydrates is a more balanced approach.
Low calories diets are also popular and there is also a school of thought that calorie restricted diets are a healthy option for a long term diet. Again this is another example where you could just think that you eat less and at the same time eat less nutrients that the body needs. If you want to change your diet for the better think about what you eat. Change any poor quality or processed and junk food to more healthy, nutritious foods; add variety to your meals with more fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Avoid large portions especially of meat and carbohydrates and avoid snacking between meals. If you want to follow a particular diet get the information – there is plenty around and ask questions if necessary. Above all remember that nutrient rich foods are what the body needs. Your body needs food – the right food!
