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How NOT to choose a diet!!!

It is important to recognise that eating is personal, public and political and impacts all aspects of human life. Nothing more fully and powerfully influences the daily lives of everyone than our food, food choices and food systems. Food is a tool to nourish life but also for taking political action and for averting the dangers of climate change and preventing unnecessary harm.

Diets, an ideological stance.

Some diets, from plant-based diets(like the Vegan diet) on one end of the spectrum, to meat only diets (like the Carnivore diet) on the other extreme end of the spectrum and everything  in between (Keto, Atkins, Vegetarian); have reached cult-like status, turning one camp against one another in a partisan fashion, to the extent that switching allegiances is often perceived as a betrayal… . Truth be told that diets are, more than people probably would like to admit, a reflexion of our political/societal views as well as our desire to belong to a group of individuals who share similar values, thoughts and overall perspective on the world in which we live(There is even a diet called The World Peace Diet).  By and large, our choice of diets are often intrinsically governed by our ideologies. Take the Vegan diet for example. A majority of people adopt a plant-based  diet for one of three reasons(Health Benefits, Environmental Protection and/or Animal Rights). The last two often prevail over the first one, for arguably good reasons (More on that debate in my article titled “The Top 3 Reasons People Adopt A Vegan Diet…and 2 Reasons No to Adopt It…” ). The Carnivore or the Paleo diet, on the other end of the spectrum, tend to attract politically conservative folks with more historically and traditionally entrenched views. Many animal-based eaters(including myself) become so largely because of cultural, social and familial pressures. The feeling of alienation one is subjected to when pressured to give up a particular food group is often seen as an infringement on someone’s rights and freedom of choice. Without waning to generalise, people on the more conservative side to the political spectrum tend to downplay issues such as climate change an animal rights. 

“Thank you for the ideological rant about how not t adopt a particular diet…but what about my health?” ; and “How do I choose a diet that is right for me?”

1. Nutritional Density/Quality

I am going to try as much as I can not to fall prey to such dogmatically held beliefs when comparing diets. I strongly believe that there is no perfect and/or ideal diet and that by and large, the quality of the food you eat (its nutritional density) is a lot more important than your diets’ macro-ratio. Ask me to choose between a grass-fed/grass finished steak and GMO derived apple, chances are I will go for the steak, every time. On the other hand, if I am handed an apple from my grand-mum’s organically grown garden and a steak from an intensive/battery raised cow, I will definitely choose the apple over the steak. What does that make me? Yes, you guessed it right…this makes me a nutritionist. Nutrition is, has always been and should always be about nutrient density, never about macro-ratios or food groups. Don’ get me wrong though. I am not asking you to eat organically grown tropical fruits (read high sugar) all day long as this would spike your insulin and could potentially lead to type 2 diabetes; nor am I telling you to turn into a carnivore, unless your objective is to reverse/combat an auto-immune disease… A good starting point is to simply avoid and eventually eliminate so-called processed foods from your diet. Here are a few rules of thumb to avoid processed food:

Don’t buy/eat food your grand-mother would not recognise as food

When reading labels, don’t pick packaged food containing   Artificial Coloring (Yellow #5 & Yellow #6, etc…); Artificial Sweeteners (High Fructose Corn Syrup, Aspartame, etc…); Additives(Monosodium Glutamate, Potassium Bromate, etc…); Preservatives(Sodium Benzoate,Sodium Nitrite, Sodium Sulfite, Sulfur Dioxide, etc…) and by-products of processing fats (TransFats). Unpronounceable and/or unidentifiable names should serve as a yardstick (More on Preservatives and Additives to avoid in next week’s article). 

Only shop around sections located at the outskirt of your grocery store and/or supermarket. That’s where you find fresh fruits/vegetables, raw seeds/nuts/legumes, fresh fish/poultry/meat and fresh herbs/spices. The  sections in the middle are where most of the processed foods are located.

2. Allergies, Genetical Predispositions and Medical Conditions

This brings us to the second most important determinant  when choosing a diet, allergies, genetical  predisposition and any other medical condition that is specific to you. I have always been a big advocate of reverse engineering when it comes to choosing your lifestyle diet. A lifetime diet is a diet designed to sustainably suit/support your health markers. It is also a diet that you can sustain and enjoy over the long term without feeling miserable. As a rule of thumb (and based on my personal experience), any diet that promotes avoidance and /or elimination of major food groups should raise a fair degree of skepticism. As funny as this may sound, Keto (High Fat), Vegan (High Carb) or Carnivore (High Protein) diets all have something in common, they all eliminate one or two other major macro group(s). This is not to say that these diets are to be avoided like the plague. Far from that. They can definitely serve as powerful “tools” during short periods of time to achieve specific objectives such the reversal of auto-immune diseases (Carnivore), the reduction of cholesterol and blood pressure (Vegan) or the treatment of certain neurological ailments (Keto).

Your GP can prescribe two main types of allergy tests : the first is a skin tests and and second a blood tests:(sometimes both are prescribed as part of an annual health check).  A skin test (also called a scratch test) is the most common allergy test. With this test, the doctor or nurse will put a tiny bit of an allergen (like pollen or food) on the skin, then prick the outer layer of skin or make a small scratch on the skin. Blood test  cover a wider array of health markers, including triglycerides , cholesterol  levels(LDL and HDL), creatinine, etc… .

3. Personal Health Goals

The most important question you must ask yourself before adopting any diet is: “What is my goal? What am I trying to achieve here?”.  Now that we have ruled out ideological, political and any other partisan stances from the equation, we are going to solely focus on health goals.  As mentioned earlier, I tend to look at diets as tools for achieving certain goals at particular points in time. Whether it is putting on muscle for a competition (or simply to look good in front of the mirror …and other people), quickly loosing weight so that you can fit into that beautiful dress/suit you havent you have last worn a decade ago, or simply adopting a diet that is going to expand your lifespan and overall health so that you get to see your grand-children grow, your short, medium and long term goals must be clearly identified from the outset. These goals can and shall be revised periodically as you move through life. A body of studies of shown that people adopting plant-based diets tend to live longer on average, but controversially not for the reasons you might expect. Vegans just tend be more health conscious than the average folk. They usually exercise more often, drink less alcoholic, are less prone to consuming harmful drugs, etc…basically their entire perspective on health is inherently determined by an intrinsic desire to adopt a better “lifestyle”. On the other hand,  people who wish to improve athletic  performance, especially strength, might want to adopt a diet  rich animal-proteins (animal-proteins have been proven to be more bioavailable and to possess the full spectrum of amino acids necessary to building muscle). Once your objective has been achieved, it is usually recommended to switch back to  healthier “maintenance” levels. The bottom line is that “context” is key. It goes without saying that, as with any other major decisions pertaining to your health, consulting with your GP is highly recommended.

I sincerely hope that this will help you and your loved-ones  to make an informed decision….

To Your Health

The Health Messenger