Why I don’t like diet culture.

Nutrition is a lifelong passion of mine.

It all started when my brother developed a severe corn allergy at age 4. I was a only 6 at the time, so when his diet changed, mine did too. My mom focused on healthy foods she made from scratch as much as possible. By the time I was 14, I was making my food decisions for myself and experimenting with different diets. I have tried Paleo, Keto, Whole-30, vegetarian, and a handful of other dietary systems.

I learned one thing that I really held onto over the years: Don’t start diets.

It seems a little backwards, doesn’t it? Throughout my time getting my Nutrition Coach certification, I held onto this idea of mine, and I have told many people to follow the same rule.

Diets are temporary

“Sorry, I can’t, I’m on a diet right now.”

“Right now.”

I’ve heard people say this a lot, and it irks me like nothing else. Starting a diet suggests that you get to stop said diet eventually. It’s something you do for a short period of time with the expectation of a long term result. Most diets, in my opinion, fall into the “trend”category. They get popular online or in media, and suddenly everyone is doing it. Keto is one of the best examples of this that I’ve witnessed.

It’s an idea that if you take the hardcore route for a short amount of time, you don’t have to sustain a healthy lifestyle. It’s not a journey to long term wellness, its a mission for short term results. It works for a minute, and then people get bored of the rigidity and let go of their goals, switching back to easier, tastier, more indulgent foods.

I think lifestyle trumps challenges.

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be a challenge. It’s a commitment, sure, but it can start with something small. Maybe you cook something with at least a couple veggies a few days a week. Maybe you start meal prepping breakfast for work days. If you start with one thing, it carries over into other places too. For instance, if you find prepping breakfast for workdays to be something that creates ease, you might start doing it for lunch too. Maybe you get takeout less. Maybe you branch out and cook more.

Its easier than you’d think if you go little by little.

One step at a time.

All Around Wellness

I think that all around wellbeing is better than a diet challenge.

As I said, little changes are the best way to change food habits, and an “all or nothing” mentality is not productive for long term wellness. Diets are, to their very essence, restrictive. They eliminate entire food groups, categories, and macronutrients. It’s not sustainable longterm to deny your body something it needs to function.

Fat-free or carb free diets illustrate this point well. If you research and study how your body processes foods, you may come to understand the very simple fact that all macronutrients are vital for maximum health.

Or, take vegan or carnivore diets as an example of this same phenomenon. Two opposite ends of the same spectrum: denying that humans are omnivores. Its clear from everything to our systems of digestion, nutrient needs, and even our teeth that humans are meant to eat a balanced diet of fruits, veggies, meats, healthy fats and carbs, and more.

That doesn’t sound very restrictive, does it?

Sure, you shouldn’t eat pizza and ice cream for dinner every night. You shouldn’t binge on sugar and alcohol. It won’t kill you from time to time though, and freeing yourself from the mentality of being “on a diet” opens up the potential to enjoy yourself without guilt, while still acknowledging that tomorrow is a new day, and your indulgence is an abnormal factorin your all around healthy lifestyle. 

Its freeing to allow yourself to enjoy food.

It’s not hard, but it won’t be easy

Not being lazy with food is the only necessary factor.

I don’t think that making small steps towards all around wellness is hard. It starts with five minutes of effort a day. One thing I’ve always told people is to eat oatmeal or eggs for breakfast. That’s it. Two of the healthiest foods you could choose for varying reasons, extremely quick to prepare, and affordable. Swap out toaster waffles, sugary cereals, and whatever other easy breakfasts you frequent for oats, eggs, or both, and you will notice a change in your health.

(Personally, I love savory oatmeal bowls, with eggs, greens, and lots of seasonings. Its definitely a go-to breakfast of mine.)

Don’t Diet, But Do Eat Clean

What exactly is “clean eating?”

It’s not a diet, and to me, it equates to the 80/20 rule. If 80 percent of the food you eat is healthy, you will be healthy. What should that 80 percent of food be then, to improve overall wellness? 

First of all, if you can’t pronounce an ingredient, don’t eat it. 

Or, another way of saying this is: if it looks like something that would be an ingredient in cleaner, don’t eat it. This covers a lot of preservatives, additives, and other ingredients that don’t benefit health.

Secondly, if it is something you unwrap from a package, cook it yourself at least once. For instance: do you eat protein bars every day? Try preparing them yourself as an experiment. See if you can dodge unpleasant ingredients by making them in your own kitchen once. Breads, granolas and cereals, premade smoothies and juices, etc. Most of these things can be made from scratch with very little effort. It doesn’t have to be a lifelong change, but try it once to see if you taste the difference in a homemade product.

Finally, raid the produce isle. Vegetables are an absolute necessity. Even ensuring you eat one once a day is beneficial if five servings seems overwhelming. Protein is also a must; personally, I use fish, rabbit, eggs, yogurt, and chicken as my animal protein sources. Also, carbs are not bad for you. There are tons of healthy carbs to choose from and enjoy. Carbs also are a main source of fiber, which is absolutely vital to maintaining healthy digestion and a good gut biome.

To Sum Up

People need to eat. Diets can be a fun experiment, a way to kickstart a wellness journey, or even a good personal challenge. But diets can’t fix your health forever. Diets are a “quick fix solution” to an epidemic of processed, unhealthy food. 

Focusing on changing little by little, getting better and better every day, with small and incremental changes is more sustainable long term, less rigid, and more focused on wellness and happiness.