What is the healthiest way to eat?

Image from Whole Living

How should you eat? It’s a question that many authors, doctors, naturopaths, bloggers or nutritionists could answer for you, but no doubt the answers would be quite different.

Is it The paelo lifestyle of no grains, sugars or processed foods. The low carb diet, with high protein, high fat foods? What about the raw food diet. The sugar free lifestyle? The gluten free lifestyle? There are so many different ways to eat, and they all claim to be “the way”.  It can seem confusing and overwhelming on which is the best way to eat for health, weight loss, and energy.

To get you thinking, have a read of all the quotes below. These are of people following a certain way of eating. Have a think about what it is and I’ll tell you at the bottom of the post.

 

 I actually ate about four times as much as I normally do, and still lost all that weight, my skin looks fresh, and my eyes have a healthy glow.

I have never felt so alive as when on her diet, and I have never recovered so quickly from a training session.

…explains why a …. diet works for heart disease, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, gout, candidasis, and almost every other medical condition. Other physicians know that ……diets are helpful, but they don’t know WHY they help. ….Highly recommended. I used …diet along with the… diet in conjunction with this diet for faster results. Remarkable!

I felt healthier, fitter and livelier and had a much improved complexion eating what is recommended in ….diet

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My skin is tight. My nails are great. My husband has trimmed 7 inches off his waist. No more potbelly and more energy and vitality than I have seen in nearly a decade. I have lost in all the major fat accumulation areas. My hair looks healthy again.

I lost 17lbs in the first 2 months of following, and it was modest… going from 192 down to 175… with little to no effort.. but what I really gained was not the weight loss. It was an *increase* in energy and not ever wanting to take a nap after work… and my ACNE almost completely disappeared…

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I’ve been following her basic principles for 6 months and have watched my skin clear up, my weight drop, my mood lifted and my general energy level doubled.

I have lost 20 lbs! While that’s great in itself, the difference I felt in both mind and body after just one week was more than enough of a payoff.

After 8 weeks on the program I feel so much better, my digestion/intestinal sluggishness is GONE and I lost 2 sizes.

I have never felt better. I feel light and never bloated, I am never stopped up, and my head is not in a constant fog.

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I cannot believe the impact this program has had on my health and energy levels. My skin has improved, I am sleeping better, I have energy all day and I no longer have the feeling of being constantly hungry. I found the program really easy to follow, and the ‘be kind to yourself and experiment with it’ approach really worked for me. I have lost 5kg since starting the program

Also felt the benefits in energy, being alert all day without the after lunch slump, and losing brain fog.

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Within a short period of time of following this diet I found that not only had my percent body fat dropped, but I was feeling more energetic, clear minded, and productive at work.

….. diet put me in the hospital literally for a week, my cholestrol was sky high, I had no energy and was fat as a pig. I have been following ….. for 1 month and have already lost 12 pounds and feel great. I have no more migraine headaches, or any of the other ailments that used to bother me.

This book and simply changing my diet, saved me from having to take medication the rest of my life (I was 27 when my gallbladder was removed). The other benefits are that I lost weight (BMI = 19) and my skin looks absolutely amazing!

My weight, BMI, blood pressure, and lipids are well under control, and I eat till I’m reasonably satisfied.

 

So what “diet” do you think it is?   The claims of the quotes are all similar – weight loss, more energy, better hair/nails/skin, better health. So what do you need to eat to get these benefits?

The answer may surprise you.  These quotes are all from different “diets”, many of the eating plans condoned here have quite contradictory messages.

Here’s what diets the quotes are from:

• block one – The Liver Cleansing Diet
• block two – The Atkins Diet
• block three – The Raw Food Detox Diet: The Five-Step Plan for Vibrant Health and Maximum Weight Loss
• block four – I Quit Sugar Diet

So how can it be that such different diets give such similar results?

One reason is that whatever the crux is of the diet – eg, low fat, low sugar, low carb… most of these diets encourage the elimination of processed, refined foods and encourage the consumption of plenty of vegetables and fruit (for some). They also encourage drinking plenty of water.  These things themselves are energy enhancing habits.

The other possible reason is the placebo affect.  People tend to pay more attention to how they feel when starting a new diet.  And the more people look for something, the more they find it!  The placebo affect isn’t something to be dismissed, as it can be quite powerful. Research has found that around one third of people who take placebos (believing them to be medication) will experience an end to their symptoms (source)

there is something about us that always wants to find the secret to good health, or the “baddie” in the world of nutrition.  Firstly it was fat, then carbohydrates and now sugar.  But we need to look at the bigger picture.  Fat’s not bad, it’s the type and how much we have that is the issue.  The same with carbohydrates.

The basics of a good diet are summed up in a few words by Michael Pollan “Eat food , not too much, mostly plants”. “Eat food” means to eat real food — vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fish and meat — and to avoid what Pollan calls “edible food-like substances.”

**Featured image from Taste