Things to Consider when Choosing a Diet

Many diets work. Here’s a list of some more healthy ones (and some to avoid).

What diet will work best for you? Well, that’s a pretty complicated question, and in the end, only you can answer that. Hopefully, this guide will help you pick somewhere to start. And from there, you can tweak and make it the perfect diet for you.

What I should mention next is that unless you are following a specific diet for medical reasons (prescribed to you by a doctor, dietitian or nutritionist), there is always leeway in the “rules” of the diet. The extent to which you bend the rules may dictate the efficacy of the diet for you.

Factors to consider when choosing a diet

There are several factors to consider when you are choosing a diet for yourself. I think the most important thing is to be honest with yourself about these things before starting. Don’t try to talk yourself into eating only cabbage and eggs if you really can’t stick to it for eternity. You won’t be happy if you try.

Here are some things to consider:

• What is your tolerance for eliminating foods from your diet
• Do you prefer a strict set of rules or not
• How much time do you have to prepare your diet
• How much do you exercise, and what level of intensity is it, and what type of exercise is it
• Your genetics and other physical influences
• Support System

Completely Eliminating Foods

Some diets require you to eliminate entire foods or food groups from your diet. For example, a vegan diet does not allow any type of meat product including dairy, eggs, and honey (and even gelatin, so no more gummy bears). If the thought of eliminating any of these things makes you cringe, it’s not for you.

On the flip side, a Keto diet requires you to not eat high-carbohydrate foods. While you can eat a ton of vegetables that fall in the “low-carb vegetable spectrum” like leafy greens, and other veggies that grow above ground, you much completely eliminate grains (including rice, pasta, and bread), beans, potatoes, most fruits, and anything that contains sugar. If your knee jerk reaction is “I can’t give up french fries”. Then probably Keto isn’t for you.

Paleo also requires the elimination of foods. Dairy is one thing not allowed on the Paleo diet. So, if you’re an avid cheese (or ice cream) eater, this probably isn’t for you.

This isn’t to say that eating large quantities of fries and ice cream is actually good for you. It isn’t, not in large quantities, regardless of your goals. But, you can choose to eat healthy and not completely eliminate these foods. Though, you do have to reduce the consumption of some foods. And in certain circumstances may be able to still enjoy some foods in relatively large quantities, depending on the diet you pick.

If you have tried strict diets in the past that eliminated a favorite food, and as a result, you wanted that food even more, then recognize that as a sign. Often withholding that food from your diet just sets you up for failure. Why take that chance? If you can control yourself and have a little bit of that food weekly, or even daily if in small enough quantities, why fight it if you can eat it and still be healthy?

It’s ok to eliminate some foods

One reason that you should eliminate foods, is because of an allergy or intolerance to it. For example, don’t eat peanuts if you have a peanut allergy. It’s not good for you. But also, some lesser noticed intolerances can be plaguing your body and making you feel like crap when you don’t even know it. Dairy and wheat or gluten can pose issues even without a full-on allergy or autoimmune disease (like celiac disease).

Another reason to eliminate something from your diet is if you have an unhealthy addiction to it. You need to be honest with yourself if you’re facing even the slightest addiction. Seek professional help if necessary. Pretty much everyone is aware that alcohol can be addictive, but even the seemingly innocuous sugar (or high carbohydrate foods even) can be just as addictive, and quite destructive to your health.

Strict Set of Rules

Some people cannot stand having a set of rules to eat by. Others welcome the structure. Dig deep and figure out who you are. Think of it on a continuum. On one side of the continuum is a very strict set of allowed foods, banned foods, eating times and calorie or macronutrient counts. On the other side of the continuum is a veritable free-for-all. You eat as much of what you want whenever you want. Now, I’m not going to be able to sit here and say that you can totally eat anything you want in the quantities you want and still lose weight, or gain mass, or get healthy. But, it is the other side of the continuum. It’s up to you to figure out how far to the left (the rigidly controlled side) you can go without having issues with it.

The rigid control of the diet plan may come relief for some. If you follow a diet that tells you what to eat, what not to eat, and even offers meal plans, it may be easier in the beginning especially if you don’t already know how to cook or where to even start making up your own meal plans. Here is where I would caution you if you choose to go the meal-plan way. Every diet is ultimately successful if it controls the energy balance and is something you can sustain forever. It may not be feasible to follow a strict meal plan forever. So, if this is the path you choose, I encourage you to seek help learning why the plan works, so that you can eventually manage it yourself without needing someone else to tell you what to eat.

Having some rules is important though. I prefer to think of these as self-imposed guidelines. They are there as guard-rails to help you keep on your path toward your goals, but can occasionally be bent or broken a little with no serious detour from the path.

Your schedule and free-time

It is really easy, especially in the beginning of the year when we make resolutions, to decide to change the way we eat. Remember that any kind of change from your current daily habits will take a concerted effort to effect that change. If you embark on a diet that requires a lot of thought or planning for the meals, you need to have time to put into it. A diet that requires 4-6 meals a day may take more time to prepare than a diet that only requires 2 or 3. It will certainly take more time to eat. Or, maybe not entirely, but will require to eat more frequently throughout the day.

Also, if you like to eat a variety of foods throughout the week, you will need to spend some time planning what that week will look like. I think it’s really important to recognize this. It’s really easy to just go for whatever is easiest to prepare or eat and that might not be the healthiest choice.

If you are following a set meal plan, you may need to prepare something fresh every evening for dinner, for example. Do you have time for that? Or would it be easier to have a known set of favorite meals you can throw together in a few minutes that are supportive of your goals, but quick to make and/or eat.

Physical Activity – Exercise

How much you exercise in a day or week will affect what your dietary needs are.

You may have read somewhere that Michael Phelps eats 9000 calories a day. Or You may have seen the 7 meals that the Rock eats in a day. That’s a lot of food. If you are an Olympic or professional athlete, or someone who’s day-job requires a high performance or really sculpted physique, then yeah, you will need to eat a LOT of food. And, let’s be honest, the bulk of Phelps’ 9000 calories or the Rock’s 7 meals is not made of cake and bacon.

If you are mostly a couch potato, you will not need to ingest very many calories to be healthy. In fact, the average American diet may consist of 2-3 times as many calories as you really need. Keep in mind that both low-fat and Mediterranean diets require a lifestyle that includes exercise to get the full weight loss benefits. Granted, it’s always recommended to exercise. But, if that’s not already part of your lifestyle, keep in mind that it is easier to only change one thing at a time and maintain that change than it is to try changing two or more things at a time.

Also, if you exercise moderately to intensely, on those days you may need to eat more carbohydrates unless you are fully fat-adapted from eating a Ketogenic diet or intermittent fasting. I’m kind of assuming that if you’re reading this, you haven’t already fat-adapted yourself with a diet. You don’t actually have to be fat-adapted to lose weight or gain muscle. It just means that you won’t need carbs for energy like you would if you aren’t fat-adapted.

Additionally, if you are doing a lot of weight training, getting enough protein to rebuild and repair your muscles is important. While no safe diet eliminates protein, some diets are easier to get protein than others.

Genetics and other Influences

I’m not a geneticist. But there has been some study into how genetics play a role in your food preferences.

Some people tolerate carbohydrates more than others. They tend to be taller naturally thinner folks. This is where you can experiment. Unless you have an allergy or addiction, you can play with the amount of carbohydrate you have in your diet. But be honest with yourself. Just because you like the way they taste doesn’t mean your body really deals with them well.

Likewise, this could be the same for fat. For some people, living on bacon and butter is a perfect world. For others, it seems like it’s a great idea, on the surface. But when actually fueling themselves with a fat-filled diet, they may feel more sluggish or have digestion issues. Again, pay attention, and be honest with yourself.

There is new science diving into the gut microbiome. I’m mentioning this here because our gut microbiome is just as unique to each of us as our fingerprints are. The theory is that this gut-print may be able to tell us something about our ideal diet. But the truth is that we have solid science to identify our microbiome. But it’s not quite there yet to give a fool-proof food prescription. Just cause science doesn’t support meal planning based on gut-prints, doesn’t mean that the microbiome in us doesn’t have some effect on how well we respond to foods. It does. So take that into consideration when evaluating your diet.

Support System

I think it’s important to mention that your social circle should be supportive of your diet of choice. For example, if 99% of your friends are vegan, choosing a Paleo diet heavy on meat may invite a lot of criticism. And the reverse is true as well. Unfortunately, people can be quite zealous with regard to their diet beliefs.

Also, consider who, if anyone, you live and hang out with. It’s important you understand how your family and friends may react to a change in your food choices. Hopefully, they will be supportive. But if you have always gone out to happy hour with your buddies on Thursday nights for wings and beer, and now you have chosen a diet that doesn’t allow wings or beer, you will have to consider the social aspect. Can you still go out with your friends? Can you have some wings and only have water (or salad and beer)? Is the habit you want to change so severe that you need to refrain from happy hour altogether?

If you live with someone, how will your new eating habits affect them? First, even if you are choosing a healthier lifestyle doesn’t mean they are ready to. Also, remember that not every diet works for everyone. So, if you have chosen a high fat low carbohydrate diet, that might not work as well for the rest of your family. Some may need more carbohydrate and less fat.

Conclusion

Choosing a diet for yourself can be a daunting task. There are a lot of things to consider. It must be said that the best diet for you is truly the one you can stick to very long term. Keep that in mind when answering some of the questions. One of the most important things is being honest with yourself about how you feel and what you are willing to trade-off. If your reason for choosing to change your diet isn’t strong enough to overcome some of the challenges or roadblocks figure out a way to work around them. No diet is intrinsically better than any other. But there may be one that is better for you. Finding the best-customized diet for you is more important than sticking to a specific planned diet, or doing what worked for your neighbor because it worked for your neighbor.

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There are many diets to choose from when trying to lose weight, improve your health or even increase muscle mass. But, how do you know what the best diet is? Is the diet your neighbor on something you should try? If your friend has lost 30 pounds on the Keto diet, will it work for you as well?

Many diets work. Here’s a list of some more healthy ones (and some to avoid).

What diet will work best for you? Well, that’s a pretty complicated question, and in the end, only you can answer that. Hopefully, this guide will help you pick somewhere to start. And from there, you can tweak and make it the perfect diet for you.

What I should mention next is that unless you are following a specific diet for medical reasons (prescribed to you by a doctor, dietitian or nutritionist), there is always leeway in the “rules” of the diet. The extent to which you bend the rules may dictate the efficacy of the diet for you.

Factors to consider when choosing a diet

There are several factors to consider when you are choosing a diet for yourself. I think the most important thing is to be honest with yourself about these things before starting. Don’t try to talk yourself into eating only cabbage and eggs if you really can’t stick to it for eternity. You won’t be happy if you try.

Here are some things to consider:

• What is your tolerance for eliminating foods from your diet
• Do you prefer a strict set of rules or not
• How much time do you have to prepare your diet
• How much do you exercise, and what level of intensity is it, and what type of exercise is it
• Your genetics and other physical influences
• Support System

Completely Eliminating Foods

Some diets require you to eliminate entire foods or food groups from your diet. For example, a vegan diet does not allow any type of meat product including dairy, eggs, and honey (and even gelatin, so no more gummy bears). If the thought of eliminating any of these things makes you cringe, it’s not for you.

On the flip side, a Keto diet requires you to not eat high-carbohydrate foods. While you can eat a ton of vegetables that fall in the “low-carb vegetable spectrum” like leafy greens, and other veggies that grow above ground, you much completely eliminate grains (including rice, pasta, and bread), beans, potatoes, most fruits, and anything that contains sugar. If your knee jerk reaction is “I can’t give up french fries”. Then probably Keto isn’t for you.

Paleo also requires the elimination of foods. Dairy is one thing not allowed on the Paleo diet. So, if you’re an avid cheese (or ice cream) eater, this probably isn’t for you.

This isn’t to say that eating large quantities of fries and ice cream is actually good for you. It isn’t, not in large quantities, regardless of your goals. But, you can choose to eat healthy and not completely eliminate these foods. Though, you do have to reduce the consumption of some foods. And in certain circumstances may be able to still enjoy some foods in relatively large quantities, depending on the diet you pick.

If you have tried strict diets in the past that eliminated a favorite food, and as a result, you wanted that food even more, then recognize that as a sign. Often withholding that food from your diet just sets you up for failure. Why take that chance? If you can control yourself and have a little bit of that food weekly, or even daily if in small enough quantities, why fight it if you can eat it and still be healthy?

It’s ok to eliminate some foods

One reason that you should eliminate foods, is because of an allergy or intolerance to it. For example, don’t eat peanuts if you have a peanut allergy. It’s not good for you. But also, some lesser noticed intolerances can be plaguing your body and making you feel like crap when you don’t even know it. Dairy and wheat or gluten can pose issues even without a full-on allergy or autoimmune disease (like celiac disease).

Another reason to eliminate something from your diet is if you have an unhealthy addiction to it. You need to be honest with yourself if you’re facing even the slightest addiction. Seek professional help if necessary. Pretty much everyone is aware that alcohol can be addictive, but even the seemingly innocuous sugar (or high carbohydrate foods even) can be just as addictive, and quite destructive to your health.

Strict Set of Rules

Some people cannot stand having a set of rules to eat by. Others welcome the structure. Dig deep and figure out who you are. Think of it on a continuum. On one side of the continuum is a very strict set of allowed foods, banned foods, eating times and calorie or macronutrient counts. On the other side of the continuum is a veritable free-for-all. You eat as much of what you want whenever you want. Now, I’m not going to be able to sit here and say that you can totally eat anything you want in the quantities you want and still lose weight, or gain mass, or get healthy. But, it is the other side of the continuum. It’s up to you to figure out how far to the left (the rigidly controlled side) you can go without having issues with it.

The rigid control of the diet plan may come relief for some. If you follow a diet that tells you what to eat, what not to eat, and even offers meal plans, it may be easier in the beginning especially if you don’t already know how to cook or where to even start making up your own meal plans. Here is where I would caution you if you choose to go the meal-plan way. Every diet is ultimately successful if it controls the energy balance and is something you can sustain forever. It may not be feasible to follow a strict meal plan forever. So, if this is the path you choose, I encourage you to seek help learning why the plan works, so that you can eventually manage it yourself without needing someone else to tell you what to eat.

Having some rules is important though. I prefer to think of these as self-imposed guidelines. They are there as guard-rails to help you keep on your path toward your goals, but can occasionally be bent or broken a little with no serious detour from the path.

Your schedule and free-time

It is really easy, especially in the beginning of the year when we make resolutions, to decide to change the way we eat. Remember that any kind of change from your current daily habits will take a concerted effort to effect that change. If you embark on a diet that requires a lot of thought or planning for the meals, you need to have time to put into it. A diet that requires 4-6 meals a day may take more time to prepare than a diet that only requires 2 or 3. It will certainly take more time to eat. Or, maybe not entirely, but will require to eat more frequently throughout the day.

Also, if you like to eat a variety of foods throughout the week, you will need to spend some time planning what that week will look like. I think it’s really important to recognize this. It’s really easy to just go for whatever is easiest to prepare or eat and that might not be the healthiest choice.

If you are following a set meal plan, you may need to prepare something fresh every evening for dinner, for example. Do you have time for that? Or would it be easier to have a known set of favorite meals you can throw together in a few minutes that are supportive of your goals, but quick to make and/or eat.

Physical Activity – Exercise

How much you exercise in a day or week will affect what your dietary needs are.

You may have read somewhere that Michael Phelps eats 9000 calories a day. Or You may have seen the 7 meals that the Rock eats in a day. That’s a lot of food. If you are an Olympic or professional athlete, or someone who’s day-job requires a high performance or really sculpted physique, then yeah, you will need to eat a LOT of food. And, let’s be honest, the bulk of Phelps’ 9000 calories or the Rock’s 7 meals is not made of cake and bacon.

If you are mostly a couch potato, you will not need to ingest very many calories to be healthy. In fact, the average American diet may consist of 2-3 times as many calories as you really need. Keep in mind that both low-fat and Mediterranean diets require a lifestyle that includes exercise to get the full weight loss benefits. Granted, it’s always recommended to exercise. But, if that’s not already part of your lifestyle, keep in mind that it is easier to only change one thing at a time and maintain that change than it is to try changing two or more things at a time.

Also, if you exercise moderately to intensely, on those days you may need to eat more carbohydrates unless you are fully fat-adapted from eating a Ketogenic diet or intermittent fasting. I’m kind of assuming that if you’re reading this, you haven’t already fat-adapted yourself with a diet. You don’t actually have to be fat-adapted to lose weight or gain muscle. It just means that you won’t need carbs for energy like you would if you aren’t fat-adapted.

Additionally, if you are doing a lot of weight training, getting enough protein to rebuild and repair your muscles is important. While no safe diet eliminates protein, some diets are easier to get protein than others.

Genetics and other Influences

I’m not a geneticist. But there has been some study into how genetics play a role in your food preferences.

Some people tolerate carbohydrates more than others. They tend to be taller naturally thinner folks. This is where you can experiment. Unless you have an allergy or addiction, you can play with the amount of carbohydrate you have in your diet. But be honest with yourself. Just because you like the way they taste doesn’t mean your body really deals with them well.

Likewise, this could be the same for fat. For some people, living on bacon and butter is a perfect world. For others, it seems like it’s a great idea, on the surface. But when actually fueling themselves with a fat-filled diet, they may feel more sluggish or have digestion issues. Again, pay attention, and be honest with yourself.

There is new science diving into the gut microbiome. I’m mentioning this here because our gut microbiome is just as unique to each of us as our fingerprints are. The theory is that this gut-print may be able to tell us something about our ideal diet. But the truth is that we have solid science to identify our microbiome. But it’s not quite there yet to give a fool-proof food prescription. Just cause science doesn’t support meal planning based on gut-prints, doesn’t mean that the microbiome in us doesn’t have some effect on how well we respond to foods. It does. So take that into consideration when evaluating your diet.

Support System

I think it’s important to mention that your social circle should be supportive of your diet of choice. For example, if 99% of your friends are vegan, choosing a Paleo diet heavy on meat may invite a lot of criticism. And the reverse is true as well. Unfortunately, people can be quite zealous with regard to their diet beliefs.

Also, consider who, if anyone, you live and hang out with. It’s important you understand how your family and friends may react to a change in your food choices. Hopefully, they will be supportive. But if you have always gone out to happy hour with your buddies on Thursday nights for wings and beer, and now you have chosen a diet that doesn’t allow wings or beer, you will have to consider the social aspect. Can you still go out with your friends? Can you have some wings and only have water (or salad and beer)? Is the habit you want to change so severe that you need to refrain from happy hour altogether?

If you live with someone, how will your new eating habits affect them? First, even if you are choosing a healthier lifestyle doesn’t mean they are ready to. Also, remember that not every diet works for everyone. So, if you have chosen a high fat low carbohydrate diet, that might not work as well for the rest of your family. Some may need more carbohydrate and less fat.

Conclusion

Choosing a diet for yourself can be a daunting task. There are a lot of things to consider. It must be said that the best diet for you is truly the one you can stick to very long term. Keep that in mind when answering some of the questions. One of the most important things is being honest with yourself about how you feel and what you are willing to trade-off. If your reason for choosing to change your diet isn’t strong enough to overcome some of the challenges or roadblocks figure out a way to work around them. No diet is intrinsically better than any other. But there may be one that is better for you. Finding the best-customized diet for you is more important than sticking to a specific planned diet, or doing what worked for your neighbor because it worked for your neighbor.

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