A much easier approach to diets – and dieting (!)

 

We’re sure you know the usual answer to this question.  

 

A rigid diet, incorporating all the things you probably don’t enjoy eating. Exercise you don’t enjoy doing. Calorie counting. Complicated shopping lists and meal plans. Perhaps, the latest celebrity endorsed diet. All in the hope that the weight will magically drop off and you can then go back to all your usual less than positive habits. And, sadly, we know what the end result will be. The weight comes piling back on – usually with a few extra pounds for good measure – and the Little Monster in our Heads has yet another stick to beat us up with. 

 

And, as a quick aside, have you ever wondered why you tend to end up carrying more weight than you did to start with? 

 

Well, it’s quite simple. From your body’s point of view – and this is a theme we’re going to return to in a minute – a diet is essentially controlled starvation. Yes, starvation. You might like to read that sentence over a few times and let this different perspective sink in. 

 

So, not knowing when – or if – the supply of food is going to return to normal, the body starts making minute adjustments to guard against that eventuality. The metabolism slows down, non essential activities are curtailed or shut down and fat becomes increasingly harder to shift as the body goes into protective survival mode.  

 

Now, here’s the crucial bit. This continues even when normal eating resumes, after all, the body doesn’t know whether this is going to continue or not. It’s no coincidence that long term or repeated dieting – so called “yo yo” dieting – leads to a lower metabolic rate and it becoming increasingly difficult to obtain – and hold – the desired results. 

 

It also explains why the latest “quick fix” – and, with there having been a lot of coverage about it in the media, we’re sure you know what we’re talking about – also doesn’t give the desired long term results. Not only does it fail to give the desired results long term, but also ignores the underlying causes which led to it in the first place. 

 

Added to this, it comes with serious and potentially life threatening side effects as the body’s normal functioning is overridden. 

 

So, from that perspective, does it still seem like such a good idea?!? 

 

Having highlighted the flaws in the conventional approach and logic, it’s time for a simpler approach. One that works with our body rather than against it. It’s one we’ve already hinted at and so simple you’ll probably wonder why you haven’t thought about it before. Rather than looking at diets as something we do to our bodies, it’s time to look at them from our body’s point of view. 

 

In other words, what our body needs to function at optimum health. 

 

And this means thinking about its design parameters.  

 

Put another way, what foods are our bodies are designed to function best on?  

 

What do they actually need in terms of resources and nutrition? 

 

Perhaps a car related analogy, although not perfect, will help here. 

 

How well do you think your petrol car would function if you put diesel in the tank? Or engine oil? Or something else completely alien to it? 

 

If you used cooking oil instead of engine oil? Fizzy water instead of coolant? Filled the tyres with water instead of air? 

 

True, the effects may be much quicker – and, probably, much more dramatic (!) – than those from some of the things we eat and drink on a regular basis, but the damage would still be happening, even if it took much longer for the consequences to start to appear. 

 

And, for those of you are thinking this isn’t the best analogy, then you’d be right. Yes, the human body is very different to a car. Much more intelligent, refined and intricate. However, this greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. One that lulls us into a false sense of security, so we don’t realise what’s happening until the consequences are already well underway. And it applies to any of the less than optimal (!) lifestyle choices we make each day, not just our diets… 

 

Unlike your car, the human body is endlessly adaptable. Making huge numbers of tiny adjustments and changes every second – well, millisecond – to keep us functioning at our best optimal level, taking into account the resources available. In other words, what we eat. And you may want to read those couple of sentences over a few times to let them really sink in. Or, put another way, we are what we eat. 

 

Regardless of what our diet is like, our body will always make the best of it. Extract the maximum possible resources while making all those tiny adjustments needed to help keep us functioning. 

 

However, the signs of strain will still be there, if we look for them. Low energy levels, hazy thinking, poor sleep, sluggish digestion, weight in the “wrong” places, hormonal imbalances, persistent feelings of things “not being right”. All those seemingly modern, ongoing minor annoyances which many people have come to think of as “normal.” 

 

Longer term, the so called “Lifestyle Diseases”, which are increasing at an alarming rate – and no longer the domain of those in middle age and above, but children and teenagers too. There are many but we’re sure you’ll have heard of the most common. Type II Diabetes, Obesity and High Blood Pressure. 

 

While we like to think that we’re very different to our ancestors, the basic design of the human body – its design parameters – and the resources needed to function at its best have changed very little. Once we start to look at what we eat – and drink (!) – from the body’s point of view, it very quickly becomes clear what our bodies need. What is best to eat. And, just as important, what we need to avoid, however much the Little Monster in our Heads and the latest advertising tries to convince us otherwise. 

 

It’s all the things we talk about regularly in this blog. In other words, a varied wholefood diet rich in vegetables, salad and fruit with small quantities of good quality protein from meat, fish, dairy, eggs or pulses prepared and cooked at home. Not only is it what our bodies are designed to thrive on, it simplifies our lives no end. Instantly reduces any food shop to a handful of shelves or aisles or, even better, our local independent and farm shops who need all the support they can get. 

 

We appreciate that this very different, but much simpler, approach can feel a little daunting at first. So, next week, we’re going to give a few simple tips to help get you started – or improve what you’re already doing. Then, over the coming weeks, we’ll talk about some of the most common food related myths and misconceptions we come across with Clients. Look at them from the body’s point of view and explain which are – and definitely are not (!) – the best choices. 

 

And let’s finish with a very positive message and another of the body’s under appreciated skills. Unlike your car (!) the human body is self repairing, once given the resources and time it needs. Whatever may have happened in the past – or still be happening – the human body wants to be healthy, to function as its best optimum level. We just have to get out of the way and listen to what it needs. 

 

As always, the choice is yours.