What does the term “diet” mean to you? I ask because I think we’ve got it wrong.
On our holiday in August there was a “Diet Corner” in the all-inclusive buffet. And this sums up how negative our associations are with the term “diet”, it was 3 dishes: sautéed pumpkin, sautéed red cabbage and white rice. This was the night I took the picture, but it didn’t range to much else. No protein, just carbs and fibre. White rice? 150g of cooked white rice has the same effect on our bodies as 10 teaspoons of white sugar….
The word diet means “the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.” but then has another meaning of “a special course of food to which a person restricts themselves, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.” These meanings are opposite…habitual versus restriction. When you see it like this, it’s obvious where the problem is. We should be focusing on the original meaning of the word. Restricting your intake of food and nutrients not only starves your body of the things it needs, but also can develop a volatile mental relationship with food.
So, let’s start using the term as it was intended for. What happens if you want to lose weight, or have an allergy or intolerance? Then we need to look at changing your diet for the long term, not for a measurable amount of time. Most people know what they need to change in order to lose weight. The problem is when we go on calorie or some other type of restrictive “diet”. This becomes unsustainable and we go back to our original lifestyle. The only times I use limited diets for eating, is when we are identifying intolerances or allergies and then using a method of removal to enable us to eventually add the problem item back into the diet.
Majority of the time, we go on a “Diet” (using the term in restrictive means) because we’re unhappy with our weight, or figure. So, the unsustainable cycle begins, we deny ourselves what we like and regularly eat and change our food to something perhaps we aren’t as fond of. We then start to create a negative association with food because we’re no longer enjoying it. Mealtimes become a hassle, a chore, and difficult because we feel restricted in our choices.
Instead, if we need to lose a bit of weight, we should be recognising that our current diet and lifestyle needs to be changed. Perhaps reduce portion sizes, or look at our diet and habits. Habits can make a huge difference to our health, and usually, they are simple to change. As long as you don’t try to change too many at once!
Generally, living by the 80/20 rule is a great idea. Make sure your diet and lifestyle are good for 80% of the time, and then 20% of the time you can go for things you know aren’t great for you. But how do you know what’s good and what’s not? With so much in the media around UPF (Ultra Processed Foods) at the moment. A lot of food is being incorrectly labelled as unhealthy and healthy. I’ll be posting another blog soon about UPF and general rules to follow. So, look out for that if you want to learn more! There will probably be a few more blogs as this is an area I have a lot of views on!
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