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What is the best diet?

Paleo, Vegan, Intermittent fasting, small multiple meals, low carbs…

The most truthful and the most annoying answer is… THERE ISN’T ONE! The single most important reason for that answer is our DIVERSITY.

When I say diversity, imagine…

• Body type: Some of us are tall and thin. Others come short and stocky.
• Dietary preferences & exclusions: Some eat lots of meat every day. Others eat no meat at all.
• Budget: Some are well to do in terms of resources and better access to variety of food; others are not.  
• Organic / conventional: Some prefer only natural foods; others are open to packaged and processed foods.
• Nutrition knowledge: People have varying degree of knowledge about their bodies and nutrition they need.
• Time: Some people are super busy and find it tough to get time for themselves; while others have lots of free time for their health and fitness goals.

As you can tell, a single nutrition program isn’t going to help all the people. If a particular nutrition idea worked for someone personally, that’s great. But to suggest that because it worked for someone, at one point in his/her life, under a particular set of circumstances, now everyone else should follow the same program is antithesis of good health.

Physiologically, the human body can do well under a host of different nutritional conditions. This is clearly demonstrated by examining the traditional diets of various tribes and ethnic groups throughout the world. E.g. the Arctic Inuit and African Masai eat traditional diets that are very high in fat and animal products with very few vegetables. Conversely, the Kitavans in the South Pacific eat traditional diets that are low in fat but very high in vegetables and starchy carbs. And the Tokelau near New Zealand eat traditional diets that are very high in saturated fats.

Crazy differences here… yet all traditional diet eaters are relatively healthy people with minimal incidences of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, inflammatory obesity, etc. This is only possible because the human body is amazingly adaptable to a host of different dietary conditions.

So, you can adopt a diet that suits your lifestyle and preferences.

But, how can all these different diets actually work?

The answer is… they’re not as different as you might think. All diet plans, when done rightly, have the potential to achieve the following…

1. Raise nutrition awareness and attention. Everyone wants to talk about the food itself – the proteins, carbs, and fats. What to eat more of and what to avoid. But research is now showing that simply paying better attention to what you eat is a key factor in whether you’ll lose fat, get lean, and improve your health. Whether your attention is trained on avoiding carbs, eating more vegetables, seeking out organic / free-range food, avoiding animal foods, or avoiding “non Paleo” food, it’s all good. Because what you focus on may not matter as much as simply caring more about what you’re eating in the first place.
2. They focus on food quality. Some diet advocates would want you to eat more natural, free-range animal-based foods that are higher in protein, higher in fat, and are minimally processed. Others want you to eat more natural, plant-based foods that are higher in fiber, antioxidants, and are minimally processed. Recognize what’s common here? Indeed, very few nutrition camps recommend you eat more processed, chemical-laden “junk” food. Instead, pretty much every camp recommends eating whole, minimally processed, nutrient-rich foods. And that may be one of the most important nutrition interventions of all, regardless of the protein, carb, and fat breakdowns.
3. They help eliminate nutrient deficiencies. The best nutritional advocates are the one that help you shift away from highly processed foods, which are often low in nutrients because they’ve been stripped out during processing, and toward more whole, minimally processed foods, which often have their nutrients intact. Thus, a properly designed diet of any kind eliminates some of the most common nutrient deficiencies (water, certain vitamins and minerals, proteins, and essential fatty acids). We often look, feel, and perform terribly when we’re deficient in important nutrients. But within a few weeks of correcting these deficiencies, we feel totally rejuvenated.
4. They help control appetite and food intake. When you are more aware of what you are eating, choose more satisfying, higher quality foods, and eliminate nutrient deficiencies, you almost always end up eating less total food. You feel more satisfied. Ye lose fat, gain lean muscle, and perform better. Notice that you don’t need calorie counting here. Focusing on food awareness and food quality is usually enough for people to tune into their own hunger and appetite. And that means calorie control without the annoying calorie math. It also means more sustainability since counting calories has a shelf-life. No one does it forever.
5. They promote regular exercise. When people start paying attention to their eating, they usually start thinking about physical activity too. In fact, many of the diet camps recommend regular exercise. (Which is a good idea, since focusing on diet alone may actually interfere with establishing a consistent exercise routine.) When a person exercises regularly, with a mix of high and low intensity activity, they dramatically improve their ability to turn the food they eat – whatever food that is – into functional tissue (instead of extra fat). You can now understand how different well-designed dietary philosophies – even when they seem oppositional and antagonistic on the surface – can all promote good health, body composition, and longevity.

So, all in all…

1. There’s no such thing as one, universal “best” diet. There’s no one absolutely, positively, without-a -doubt best diet for everyone. Humans have evolved to do well under all sorts of dietary conditions.
2. Most popular diets actually have a lot in common. Most popular diets — when done with care, attention, and a little coaching — help control appetite, improve food quality, promote exercise, and raise nutritional awareness.
3. Habit-based diet planning is better than ingredient-based diet planning. Long-term nutrition habits trump diet plans and “rules”. Always. Following good habits is way better than following a diet.

The best diet to follow actually is … the one that’s best for you.