The Dieting Controversy
No matter where you turn - everyone has an opinion on various diets. Whether it's registered dietitians, nutritionists, doctors, the man on the street, or even bloggers ;-), no one can quite agree.
One camp says fat is the devil, and we should only eat low-fat products the rest of our life. The other says carbohydrates are the cause of all ills, and should be minimized or eliminated. A third group dismisses any diet seen as high in protein - claiming that a diet high in protein unduly stresses the kidneys and liver - among other things.
If we believed everyone we'd eat nothing and starve to death - so where is the truth?
I believe that nutrition is individualistic, and different things work for different people. Often it's not so much the diet itself that is the problem, but the mentality of the person implementing the diet. Yes, people have rebounded even after using some of the safest and most "balanced" diets.
It's a mentality that wants to lose weight without bothering to understand nutrition, and how our bodies (individually) react to it. It's a mentality that believes radical short-term change will bring about long-term results.
For most of the last decade or two, conventional science and health authorities have preached the message of a high-carb, low-protein, low-fat diet as being the ONLY way to go. Yes, this is appropriate for many people - but not everyone. It can also lead you to believe that anything that doesn't fit with this must be unhealthy and dangerous. As it turns out the above wisdom has also left more people obese than ever - obviously there is more to weight management than macro-nutrient ratios.
There is no one-size-fits-all.
A diet is a means to an end. It's a way of getting your eating back on track - not just for a few weeks or months - but for the rest of your life. Flip-flopping on and off different dietary regimes surely indicates a lack of understanding of ourselves and our food. Until we attain this understanding we are doomed to go on repeating past failures. The concept of going "on" a diet means that we haven't yet understood the interaction between food and our body. Yet hopefully why we are "on" that diet - a point will come where we begin to understand what works for us. At that point, the word "dieting" will no longer be a part of our vocabulary.
The goal is fat loss - not just weight loss. Health and energy - not fatigue and lethargy.
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Being fat, who's fault is it? It's not the TV, it's not the book reading, it's not the fast food places we eat at; the buck stops here. It's all about me! It's my lack of an active life style, my not being informed sufficiently about nutrition, my hidden dislike of myself, and my inappropiate choices of eating the empty calorie foods. I need to be more aware of what I eat, how much I eat, when I eat, where I eat, and why I eat. I struggle with myself all of the time. I'm learning all it takes is for me is behavior modification. Looking forward to helping myself and then pass on tidbits that may help others. Thanks for listening.
ReplyIt's definitely true that different diets work for different people based on your body and lifestyle. Very athletic people usually don't tolerate a low-carb diet very well whereas diabetic/prediabetic people usually do pretty well on them. It's all a matter of moderation though. It's possible to follow a well-balanced low-carb diet or a low-fat diet or whatever. You just have to make some common sense choices...choose lean chicken instead of bacon, choose whole grain pasta instead of white, etc.
ReplyI've got something to say about Margarets comment...
Not all fat people are lazy. Not all fat people eat alot of 'empty calories'. This is the percentage of fat people the media chooses to highlight. Like every type of people, there will be different types of fat people.
There are fat people who are healthy (go ask them!) and there are fat people who aren't. Body weight does not always determine ones fitness.
You'll also find there are happy fat people. I know of them. And not all overweight people eat alot.
I don't.
ReplyI agree with Cath. Let's also not forget the prevailance of some disorders in our society like hypothyroidism, or even the active person who gained weight after an injury. Fat doesn't mean = lazy person who eats too much.
ReplyThere are also a lot of thin people that are more unhealthy than a lot of heavier people. People who smoke packs of cigarettes a day, or who eat nothing but junk food. I have a friend that is tiny but she eats nothing but candy, soda, and chips. She also never works out and has high blood cholesterol. She's probably at a higher risk for heart disease than many overweight people that have very healthy bodies.
ReplyIn defense, far be it from me to judge other people, that's not my style. I can judge myself and be accountable for the mistakes I make with my health. (see Sept.22) When other people are listening, I try to limit my confessions to MY eating stlye, not my boring health problems or my complete deductions that were formed from learned conditioning way way back. One equation (for me) is I went hungry a lot of times and when I eat extremely below my daily required intake, I feel that my own body shifts into a starvation mode and stores instead of burns. I (only) think that metabolism plays one of the leading roles in being over weight. Peace out!
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