Why Your Diet Sucks (but mine doesn't)
The Atkins Diet, the Dukan Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Whoops I Gave Myself Food Poisoning Diet, the Blah Blah Blah Diet. There's literally thousands of diets out there. And you know what? Yours sucks - mine is better.
'I've been following the Atkins Diet and it's amazing. Why would you ever follow a different diet? I'm losing loads of weight, feeling leaner, fitter and more confident. All you have to do is avoid carbs - you aren't even allowed one lick of a prune once a month. But I've burned loads of fat - you should try it.'
'No no no, you need to do that Hay Diet. I feel amazing on it and it's so simple to follow - I'm getting in great shape. You just don't eat your protein when you eat your carbs - easy right? Shredding fat off my stomach right now.'
OK, I'm being cynical. The number of times I've heard debates over which diet is best is getting me a bit pissed off.
No one looks at how these diets are the same, they just look at how they are different. People are constantly talking about why you should do one diet over another - but guess what? They are all the same. You wouldn't have heard about the diet if it didn't work. They all work.
So why is YOUR diet, better than mine? The best diet, is the diet that works. The diet that works for you. What works for one person, might not work for everyone.
The best diet, is the diet that works. The best diet is the diet that gives you the result you want. The best diet is the diet you can maintain. The best diet is the diet that best fits your life, preferences and habits.
We live in a world where it's easy to compare ourselves to others. Social media paints the perfect picture of our lives and it's easy to feel like someone else must be doing something better than you. Don't go for the perfect diet, go for 'this is working for me right now'. If someone is happy with their diet, congratulate them and move on - they don't need to know about yours. If it's working for them, be happy.
Rant over!
Updates
If you've been following along with my Sixteen Week Transformation, you'll know what I'm doing diet wise. Hang on, I've been blogging about my diet! Aren't I being a damn hypocrite? That's why I wanted to write this post. Bruce Lee (one of my heroes, I'm sure I'll quote him a lot) once said, 'Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, and add what is uniquely your own'.
I don't post because I want you to think what I'm doing is better than what you're doing, or to tell you to change. I want you to find what works for you, but if you can take something from what I'm doing and add it to your routine, please do!
In terms of progress, after ten days I retook my measurements - you'll find them below. I've lost 2.4kg over the last ten days and have dropped 1.3% body fat. I'm pretty happy with that as a start.
I've recently started a new diet, and despite normally having very yellow urine (I suck at drinking water - but am working on it!) it's suddenly clear. Does that mean I'm losing water weight instead of fat?
Now that is something nice. you have brains bro!
Thank you @danzub!
where i am, normally people do not, cannot and will not follow the diet. I will talk to people around and propagate the idea further. They do not have enough money and surprisingly these leaves are very expensive.
You're right - there's many factors that could effect which diet is right for different people. One of those factors is budget!
I had a friend at university who could only afford £5 per week on food. That's not a lot of money. He still wanted to try and be healthy. So, he used to buy frozen peas, dried noodles, vegetable stock cubes and bags of 40 frozen chicken nuggets for £1. That was the best diet for him right then - it was all he could afford!
that is absolutely true. I remember my university days of Hertfordshire. we use to get it done in £25 for a week and then there were awesome days of £100/week.
But here back home, the things are like a roller coaster. the inflation has remarkably changed the food market. Things that are good for you are expensive and there is no 'Jamie Oliver' that could guide you what to eat good in budget.
At the end of the day it is a function of calories in-calories out. I found that I could reduce my daily calorie intake by 500 calories a day by just reading the labels on things and making a few substitutions, like for example an English muffin has 100 calories less than a bagel. Every 3500 calories your either don't consume or you burn through activity equals one pound of fat loss so if you can reduce your calories by 500 a day you can lose one pound a week.
This theory is so far from the truth, I can't believe people actually still trust it. But, But it's science!
Come on man, we don't live in a world where everyone eats whole and natural foods that honestly shares its caloric value. We live in a world where poisonous ingredients are added to your food and drink to show you that the calories are low, when really they just put in a viral ingredient that consumes calories as well as eats away the lining of your stomach.
Weight management has nothing to do with caloric intake vs. output anymore.
I've proven this theory for myself, I was on a diet of store bought cookies and frozen pizzas for a while and lost quite a bit of weight by eating the right number of calories. It's physics, of course everyone's body responds to different foods differently and some foods can jack up some people's blood sugar which makes them eat more than they ought to. Of course artificial sweeteners are sketchy and those can throw things off as well.
1 can of diet soda with 0 calories, or 1 pint of ale with 200 calories. If you drink one of these a day for a year, which one will cause you to gain more weight?
Both contain poisonous alcohol sugars, hard to say. I did just hear an interview with a woman who turned 104 and attributed her longevity to a daily Diet Coke.
Like I said "Of course artificial sweeteners are sketchy and those can throw things off as well."
Agreed, eating right is more important than eating less calories of whatever than one consumes.
it depends what your goals are, if you want to be healthy then it gets complicated, if you only want to lose weight it is simple.
Good discussion from everyone. I really like that @funbobby51 is making more informed choices about food and using calories as a guide for that.
It's great that @ponts is also thinking about the impact that crappy foods and chemicals might have on the body too.
@karlvillem, I nearly always try aim for quality first but obviously calories and food quality can both be important at different times.
For me, diet is so multi-faceted that it's impossible to say which way is right. Calories in versus calories out is technically referring to the first law of thermodynamics - energy is neither created or destroyed, it is only transferred. However, our bodies aren't an isolated science experiment. The body is subject to so many factors that it won't always be that simple.
What I wanted to get across in my article is that we can end up debating diet too much. If something is working for someone - either from a fat loss, lifestyle, stress or practicality stand point, then that's really awesome. It doesn't matter what they are doing, just that they are trying. That's whats most important for me.
Thanks for the thoughtful posts guys! You're a credit to the Steemit community
Practical and delicious, congratulations.
Thanks @mrskatie, sometimes you just need quick and easy!
This Vegetables is a best....Beautiful phototgraphy....I like your post..
Thanks :)
Hey Thats a Great Diet Plan I would try it and see difference but I think Military Diet is much more effective
:D I love the dead pan humour, so funny @basit90
What you say is right because feeding is not all about quantity of food but how rich the nutriets of food .i also changed my diet now i have a strong immunity.
Dirty first others follow is my motto.
It's definitely really important to get the right nutrients in, and that will be over many different and varied meals. This is just a snapshot of one small meal :) Thanks for the post
Well done. Keep going
Thanks @kakkalama, it feels quite manageable, as long as I stay busy! Thank you for the support :)
Every diet can work if one eats real food
That being told, the only thing unprocessed here is the lettuce and it's not known for being nutrition-dense.
Your snack is basically the Atkins' equivalent of french fries with ketchup...
@creept0 proving my point spectacularly, thank you. You've jumped straight in to critisize someone else's diet and tell them that there's a better and different way - your way. 'Your diet sucks (but mine doesn't)'. If you were going for ironic, you nailed it ;)
Nowhere did I say that my diet is better. Moreover - I said that every kind of diet can work. I literally wrote that :)
But ok, let's keep it simple: will you agree that the less processed food in a diet, the better?
You said, 'every diet can work if one eats real food'. Implying that diets that include any food that you don't categorise as 'real' (that's a very vague concept) can't work. I don't agree with that. I believe diets that contain some non-'real' foods can work.
Do I agree that the less processed foods the better the diet? It depends. It depends what works for that person, at that time, in their current situation, with the resources they have.
I don't obviously believe that a diet coke is better than some fruit that's been smoothied - but if I had an individual who wanted to lose weight but were struggling to change, I would perhaps ask them to switch their normal soda intake to diet soda intake. If anything the diet soda is more processed, but it might be better for that person at that time.
Does that make sense?
Real food is not really a vague concept - it's meat and vegetables (plus eggs and dairy) - everything that can be eaten and is bought raw.
It doesn't mean that one has to eat only that -just that the more the better.
As for the coke - if somebody NEEDS his daily coke AND enjoys the taste of diet coke - I think it's a step in the right direction (though a bit risky as it might raise insulin levels).
But if he hates the taste - I'd say staying with normal coke but decreasing the amount would be more beneficial, as he won't feel like he's giving something up, which would cause additional stress - and we want to minimize that when changing eating habbits.
I believe that what you're trying to say is that for every person with given restrictions (life habbits, budget, goals) we can propose a different diet and relatively this diet will be better - and I agree with that.
What I disagree is that you're going a bit too far with that - because in absolute terms this diet will still be worse than the "best" diet following the guidelines I'm pointing out.
The thing is - it's fine. Your diet doesn't have to be perfect. But to make conscious food choices we have to know on which part of the "healthy" spectrum we are. And that's just it - awareness is key, and by saying "every diet is good if it works" you are one step too close to denial/ignorance.
"The best diet is the diet that works." So very true! My first post today was also about diets.
:D Thanks @katyfitz, I'll check it out!
So many GREAT points here! I'm a personal trainer and I can't even begin to explain how often someone asks me from my friends, family, and clients what the best diet is! So frustrating since there's no such thing! To be honest, I'llprobably refer them to this post to help them out lol Thanks!
Thank you @soul-lifter. It can take people a long time to find something that works well for them. I often see people chopping and changing their diets to follow the new trends or follow what their friends are doing - they could be much better off just working hard to adapt what they're already doing :)
Just to know, I'm a doctor, are you "find your diet way" under medical control?
Look is not only about weight loss/fat loss. But also the vitamin, right amount of protein, and carbs need to be monitored and balanced for a right introduction.
I really hope you are under a med supervision, otherwise your diet really is not better the one of anyother!
So no-one can make any changes to their diet unless they are under the medical supervision of a doctor? Don't be ridiculous!
Good idea for a quick meal, often the thing that keeps me away from healthy choices is the fact that sometimes they are more time-consuming to prep.
"The number of times I've heard debates over which diet is best is getting me a bit pissed off." LOL! I could have said that!
That's so helpful, thanks so much! I'm newbie here, I'm hoping for more helpful post from you.