Ending the "Best Diet" Debate

When it comes to diets, I've tried most of them and I've seen people of all walks of life try all of them. "The best diet" comes down to a few very simple factors which I will cover in depth below.

My intent in this article is to infuse common sense to modern nutrition and draw parallels to other things in life that help us digest (see what I did there?) the different diet options out there in the wild world of the internet. For example: what diet information is published with the authentic purpose to help you vs what information is meant to sell a product or a dream?

Don't Get Sold

1. The food industry trying to sell you stuff. Just like the best apps are engineered to engage and then keep us locked on that app for as long as possible so that can eventually monetize their audience - there are thousands of companies that have preyed off of popular diets and society's thirst for the quick fix. Best practice: If it looks too good to be true ("lose 20 lbs by taking this twice a day!") - it is too good to be true. Ask anyone you know that is in great shape - they'll tell you that almost everything out there is fake and it takes effort over a long period of time to get results. There is no magic pill or program. I'll talk more about this in the "real foods" section below.
2. Read studies, not articles. Studies are backed by science, articles are published by companies or people trying to sell you stuff. At the end of MOST (not this one) articles, there's a link that solves the problem brought to the surface by the article. Example: an article will present "evidence" that it is harder to lose weight when you reach a certain age, then it will sell you a fat burner or testosterone booster at the end. As you can see, any schmuck can write and publish an article (?? ). So in your research to see if there is legitimacy in a diet or product, search for studies with cited sources.
3. Know who you are getting information from. There are a lot of trainers that sell products and plans that will "help you" achieve your goal, but are using performance enhancing drugs to achieve their body. PED's are extremely common, I came to realize this when I entered the world of bodybuilding in 2015 and did my first two Men's Physique shows. Here's my take - I genuinely don't care what other people are putting into their body. I DO care when they are selling products to Jane Doe, the working Mom of 2 who is trying to drop a few pounds and get stronger WITHOUT disclosing that they use these drugs. Do what you want with your body - but don't sell people the dream of looking like you when you're cheating and not telling them.

*steps down from soap box*

What the Best Diet Looks Like

1. Staying Power. Health is a life pursuit. You wont find a diet today that will last you the rest of your life, but it should be something you can sustain for 6+ months. If you're in it for the quick results, you'll miss out on the golden opportunity to build strong habits and discipline that will serve you for the rest of your life. Quick results (example: lose 30 pounds in 30 days!) are typically followed with a nasty rebound in which those results are lost. Example - someone loses 15 pounds on a low carb diet in 1 month, then gains 20 back after 2 months because the diet was too restrictive and they binged afterwards. Why? That person never learned the discipline needed to BECOME stronger inside and out. They cheated themself out of the development needed to be able to stick to something. Lesson: Focus on the process and you will find the result.
2. Real Foods. Again, food is an industry just like Real Estate or Technology is an industry. People are trying to sell you stuff. I often see clients switch to popular diets such as Keto / Plant Based / Gluten Free / Paleo which causes them to eat all of these brilliantly marketed packaged snacks that are marketed towards those diets "Keto Burritos", "Vegan Donuts etc... A burrito is still a burrito and a donut is still a donut - they have preservatives and added ingredients that our body is not able to process and convert to energy. If a diet requires you to eat more packaged foods, specifically foods that would not rot if you left them out on your counter after 6 hours - that is NOT a good diet. A diet should promote more whole foods. A whole food is one that would rot if you left them on your counter (example - apples and avocados turn a different color even after 10 min of being left out). Your body is equipped to process whole foods and turn them into energy, it is not well equipped to process "food" that was made in a warehouse. Paleo / Plant Based / Keto / Gluten free packaged snacks are still snacks, just like a snickers bar is a snack. Eat more real food. Lesson: If a new diet requires you to eat special packaged food - I would strongly reconsider that diet.
3. Realistic. Your diet needs to be aligned with your goals and lifestyle. Some diets require such strict removal of foods or measuring of foods that it becomes a burden to our other roles in life. Choose diets that are aligned with what is truly important in life. If cultural foods are non negotiable and they are carb based - choose your diet accordingly and try to moderate, opposed to remove carbs. If you are super short on time - choose a diet that is simple and does not require extra steps such as weighing and measuring food. This may limit your options, but it doesn't mean you cannot get great results over time. I'm sure there is someone with your life and nutritional needs that has got in really good shape eating similar foods that you eat, by making small refinements over time such as eating 85-90% of their meals from their own kitchen and removing processed foods, sugar and alcohol.
4. Growth mindset. You have to believe you can do this. How: earn that confidence over time by sticking to the plan. There is no shortcut to health because it is not a destination, it is a pursuit. You can't take a shortcut to something that you can't arrive at. Just like you will never be the perfect human - you will never "achieve perfect health". It is a constant pursuit and a learning process of getting and staying in touch with your needs as a person and as an athlete (if you got this far - you are an athlete, congrats!). Progress is not linear (read the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy). Just like acquiring a skill at work or learning a new sport - you were probably terrible when you started, then slowly over time - as you invested time - you gained an understanding and competency around that skill. Now that skill is something you do everyday without even thinking about it. Your nutrition will work the same way if you make that same daily investment.

In Conclusion

Nutrition is simple (see the last sentence of #3 above) - but it's not easy. This takes effort. The great news is that effort is accessible to everyone. Effort is not reserved for the elite, for the wealthy or for the athletically gifted. Effort is accessible to everyone. It's free and it's there for the taking.