March is National Nutrition Month: Finding the perfect diet for you
By Jill Fleming, MS, RD/LD, Veterans Memorial Hospital
There is no one perfect diet that fits everyone. Over the past decade, the diet industry has pushed consumers to choose a diet theory camp. You should be paleo, keto, vegan, raw, vegetarian, gluten-free, low-carb, high-protein or whatever diet happens to be trending.
It is hard not to get swept up with the hype of before and after photos or testimonials of those following the latest fad diet. You see their success story and think that if only you could follow the same eating style, you could lose weight or get healthy. The truth is that some fad diets work for some people, but most do not.
People who are able to strictly follow one of the more restrictive eating styles, will often only be able to do it for a short time. If you are following the more restrictive diet to lose weight and then later go back to your old eating style, you may end up less healthy than you were before you started the diet. You will often slow your metabolism, which will make it even harder to lose weight in the future.
The key to success is to find the best way of eating for you. Which foods actually make you feel good and give you lasting energy? I know you are thinking that a cookie or big cheeseburger makes you feel good, but does it really? Sure, it tastes good while you are eating it, but do you feel good/healthy later? When you are eating processed foods high in sugar or white flour, you will often experience a sugar-crash a few hours later.
Keep in mind that humans are cyclical beings. We change day to day, week to week and year to year. Your body is constantly changing. You may prefer more warm/cooked foods in the winter months and more cooling/raw foods during the summer months. Don’t lock yourself into one style of eating.
Most of my nutrition clients do find that they experience a greater sense of wellbeing when they include more real foods in their diets and eat fewer processed foods. The real foods I am speaking of include anything that grew with the help of the sun, rain and dirt: fruit, berries, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, herbs and spices.
Additional real foods, coming from animal sources include: eggs, dairy, fish, turkey, chicken and beef. Notice how none of these real foods even have an ingredient list. When you are eating a food that comes in a package, real foods are typically those with only one to three total ingredients listed. The goal is to consume minimally processed foods.
Use the 80/20 rule in your eating. This means that 80% of the foods you eat are considered healthy or real, and up to 20% may be less healthy or a treat. For example, if you eat two of your three meals with foods that are mostly real, you can relax a little more about the content of your third meal. This translates to being “pretty good, most of the time”.
To figure out the best diet for you long-term, start by filling at least half of your plate with non-starchy vegetables and fruit. Plan to eat foods that are in season, such as watermelon in the summertime and squash in the winter months. This eating style is called “plant-strong”.
Be sure to hydrate your body with plenty of water, as fruits and vegetables are full of fiber, which means they require water to be eliminated from your body. Drink half your body weight in ounces daily. If you weigh 200 pounds, you should drink 100 ounces of water daily. Add a little lemon, orange or cucumber for a little flavor.
Next, eliminate foods from your diet that make you feel sluggish or cause other negative side effects, such as allergies, bloating, reflux or hives/skin rash. Tune in to what your body is telling you 30 minutes up to 24 hours after eating a meal. If you suspect a specific food bothers you, eliminate this food from your diet for at least seven days, then reintroduce it and observe how you feel after eating it again.
For more information, call the Nutrition Department at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon at 563-568-3411.
