What is a diet?
I hate the word “diet” more than almost any other word you frequently hear in the world of health and fitness…except maybe “snatched” but that is a whole other bit of two-cents.
If you look up the work diet, you’ll see definitions like: a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons
…and synonyms like: be on a diet, eat sparingly, lose weight, watch one's weight, reduce, slenderize, crash-diet
A more accurate definition that you come across is: the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats
Let us assume we are working from the more accurate definition – the kinds of foods you habitually eat. However, when we hear the definition in this way it is usually applied to animals, not humans.
For Example: The main portion of a koala's diet consists of the foliage of eucalyptus species and the leaves of gum trees.
The koala isn’t trying to slenderize; he is eating what nature and instinct have provided him.
When we talk about human beings and diets we say, “Debbie is on a diet.” What does that even mean?
In most cases, what is means is that Debbie is eating a select group of very restricted foods to lose weight for a specific purpose. Sadly that purpose usually has nothing to do with changing her life and kicking bad habits by choosing a healthier and life style as it applies to food. Nope. Debbie is more than likely trying to look good in time for a cruise, a trip to Cancun, a class reunion, her wedding or her ex’s wedding!
HA!
It means that Debbie wants to hit a number on the scale for a specific event…and then what? Debbie is probably going to go back to eating crap and gain all the weight she lost. Until the next event when Debbie decides she needs to crash diet again.
People, a yo-yo dieter has just been born…poor Diet Debbie. Let us have a moment of silence for Diet Debbie and her bad choices.
This is a terrible way to approach your weight, your health, your life and food in general. If we must use such a nasty word, we have to stop thinking about the word diet as something you “go on” and start thinking of the word as the variety of food you chose to incorporate into your life in healthy portions.
I know that is a mouth full but work with me for Debbie’s sake.
Fad Diets
There is always a new fad diet. A fad diet is a diet that promises quick weight loss through what is usually an unhealthy and unbalanced diet. Fad diets are targeted at people who want to lose weight quickly without exercise. (UMPC Life Changing Medicine) I am talking about keto (if that makes you mad, GREAT), grape fruit diets, juice and broth fasts, soup diets and liquid/protein shake diets. Yes there are crazy people out there who try to lose a lot of weight very fast by drinking a protein shake for every meal for a month.
There are ways to spot a fad diet.
Does the diet promise quick weight loss?
Does the diet sound too good to be true?
Is it marketing a specific product?
Is it requiring most of you meals to be the same food – e.g. only grape fruit?
Is it requiring you to eat only one type of food – e.g. only meat?
Does is say you can take this magic pill and eat as much as you want of anything you want?
If any of these things apply, you are likely looking at a fad diet. These types of diets have are terrible for long-term weight control. Aside from the fact that you – I mean Debbie – is probably only intending to be on the diet for a set amount of time, the diets are usually too restrictive for a person to adhere to them long term. In addition, an attempt at long-term adherence to a fad diet is very unhealthy in most cases. Excessively low carb diets can diminish your athleticism – as if Debbie is concerned about that; but what about kidney stones or gout from eating too much protein? What about ketoacidosis? What about heart disease, high blood pressure and osteoporosis? Do any of those things give you pause Debbie?
So, what do you do?
First, get the idea of going on a diet out of your head.
Secondly, make a life style change. Don’t approach healthy eating as something you do for a set period of time. Healthy eating should be life-long. You can’t set a goal, reach it and then go back to your bad habits. When you rebound off an overly restrictive diet, usually you will put back on more weight than you lost.
Third, make a list of the things you like to eat. I mean EVERYTHING you eat that you enjoy – from cucumbers to jelly doughnuts. Now, put a line through those things you know are terrible for you. I’m talking about that jelly doughnut Debbi!
Go on…put a line through it. Do it for Debbie! Set the example for her!
You should also include sodas, juices, candies, pastries, cookies, canned fruit, and processed/boxed foods.
Now put a circle the things that are not necessarily good for you but aren’t “junk food”. Deep Dish Pizza. Fried Chicken. Burgers. French Fries. Fried Pork Chops. Pasta. White Bread. Chose a day of the week that you want to allow yourself to eat these “not good for you foods” for a meal. Once a week treat your taste buds to one of these kinds of meals if you so desire. Think of it a TREAT DAY, not a CHEAT day. It is acceptable to have things you like in moderation without the self-quilting of call it a cheat meal.
Look at that list of terrible things, the pastries and candies and sodas. I’m going to be realistic. Most people, including Debbie will not turn away from these things completely. These are small treats you should have every once in a while. Junk food should not be a staple in your eating. They shouldn’t be daily things and I’d argue that they shouldn’t even be weekly things. These are NOT things you should see on your grocery shopping list every week.
Now look at what you have left. These should be meats, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, wheat bread, eggs, nuts and etc., maybe even whole wheat pasta. Create your meals from these foods. This is your arsenal. Find healthy recipes that incorporate these kinds of foods.
A collection of healthy options are here! (Insert link to JTA Recipe Page.)
To save yourself from making bad food choices during the work week, learn to food prep. Insert link to JTA Meal Prep Page.
Nothing except for foods you don’t like should be off limits all the time. This isn’t to say that Debbie shouldn’t try foods she has an aversion to prepared in a different way. What I mean is that the things you aren’t eating shouldn’t be because a diet says they aren’t allowed.
Find Some Self-control
Excessive control is a symptom of a lack of self-control.
It makes me nuts when people say things like “Oh I can’t keep those in my pantry or I’ll eat the whole box.” 📷
Really? You can’t not eat something unless it isn’t present? If this is you, leave this page immediately and seek professional therapy or counseling. A balanced diet does not absolutely cut out anything that you enjoy…even jelly doughnuts and the path to health is not to pretend that you don’t enjoy what it is you enjoy. The path to health is to not eat what you enjoy to excess. 📷
Learn to incorporate portion control when making your meals. These containers that save you from measuring foods because they are meant for certain types of foods and can only hold a limited amount of that particular food. There are also plates that have separators based on food types. What you should eat of a particular food type should fit into the section identified for the kind of food.
📷
Find Out Much You Should Be Eating
Speak with your doctor or conduct some research on your own to determine how many calories you should be consuming in a day based on your fitness goals and find an app that allows you track your calories. This is not so you can count calories; this is so you can get an idea of whether or not the portion sizes you are giving yourself are in line with your goals and a healthy body fat percentage for your sex, build and height.
There are several but I recommend the My Fitness Pal app. You can tell the app your current weight and your weight goal and the app will tell you how many calories you need to consume to lose 1-2lbs a week. The app will also tell you what you need to consume to maintain your weight once you reach your goal. This app will track your food, calories, and exercise so you can see your calorie deficit at the end of the day. A calorie deficit is what you consumed minus what you burned. This app also lets you save meals. If you meal prep, you can just click those frequent meals instead of repeatedly selecting the individual parts of the meal. This app also has foods by brands and stores as well as allowing you to build custom food items from things you might have made from scratch. Once you make caloric intake and portion control a habit, you won’t need the app anymore. You will know what is too much and what is not enough.
This is the first step. They say fitness is 20% exercise and 80% nutrition. Get the hard part out of the way first. Healthy eating along with portion control energizes you and prepares your body for activity. There are so many chronic illnesses that can be avoided and even reversed by changing your eating habits. Plenty of people been saved from taking multiple pills for heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and etc. by changing their eating habits. People have increased their mobility and quality of life by changing their eating habits.
Don’t be a Diet Debbie. Once you master good nutrition and toss the word diet in the trash can where it goes, you’ll be ready to get in the gym or outside and #LiftSomethingBih and I hope to see you there!
-JustTammyA
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