I Have Concluded...

Graelwyn75
Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
edited January 8 in Food and Nutrition
from reading endless material on various diets and studies, including Paleo, Atkins, engine 2, vegan, primal, south beach etc etc, that maybe the best thing to do is to simply eat everything in moderation, and avoiding eating an excess of anything.

I think looking at the Engine 2 diet book today was the final straw, so to speak. It is a plant based diet that advocates as much as 70% of the diet from carbs, with low protein/fat, claiming a 150Ib male only needs 22g of protein per day. Compare that to something like Atkins were protein is quite high and carbs very low, then paleo where a lot of meat is eaten, and often a high level of fat, all of these seem to be extremes, where one thing is had in excess at the expense of another thing, for example, high protein, low carb/high carb, low protein/high fat/low carbs, it sort of seems more sensible to me to just have a balance of these things.

One day might naturally end up being higher carb, lower protein, while the next might end with a high protein intake and not much fat etc.
You could drive yourself insane reading all the various research studies on how you should and should not eat.

Replies

  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    Has anyone else concluded the same thing ?
  • Today414
    Today414 Posts: 118
    That's what I (try to) do. Moderation is key! It also depends on your goals though. For generally healthy life style with moderate exercise yes, but say, for someone who is trying to gain muscle, train for a marathon, etc, they'd need different macros.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,272 Member
    I just follow my country's food guide as minimums. My taxes paid for the scientists to follow the peer reviewed research so I may as well use it.
  • MidwestAngel
    MidwestAngel Posts: 1,897 Member
    I pretty much just eat below my TDEE.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,577 Member
    It's all very confusing, I may give up eating altogether.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    All three macro nutrients are important...I don't believe in trying to eliminate or serverely restrict any particular one. I do try to get more protein to aid me in retaining my lean mass while I'm at a deficit, but that's really about it.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    It's all very confusing, I may give up eating altogether.

    Yes, the more I research and read, the more stressful I find the whole process of eating, and in the end, I begin to feel that will shorten my lifespan more than anything else at this rate, lol.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    All three macro nutrients are important...I don't believe in trying to eliminate or serverely restrict any particular one. I do try to get more protein to aid me in retaining my lean mass while I'm at a deficit, but that's really about it.

    Yes, I tend to naturally end up with a fairly high protein intake(lot of fish, some chicken and add in a pot of greek yoghurt or cottage cheese and a seed bar each day, and we are talking about 100g), and to then read that apparently most people eat too much protein... (in engine 2 diet) sort of left me a bit perturbed.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    Has anyone else concluded the same thing ?

    Yes, I agree.
  • NCchar130
    NCchar130 Posts: 955 Member
    The kiss of death for me when trying to diet/change lifestyle, is telling myself anything at all is forbidden. To the best of my knowledge I don't have any food intolerances, so I'm not jumping on any diet plan that cuts anything out. I was raised a vegetarian (have always eaten eggs and dairy though) and introduced some meat to my diet when I was a teenager. So, I occasionally eat fish, chicken, turkey, but have never developed a taste for red meat or certain other meats. So other than the meats I will not eat, and that's just personal preference, I'm not giving up anything such as grain, carbs, dairy, etc unless my body turns on that food or I have some disease process like diabetes or celiac disease where I need to restrict/remove something.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    Has anyone else concluded the same thing ?

    Yes, I agree.

    Me too. I'm over worrying about how much of everything to have. I've stopped logging too because it was making me binge as soon as I stopped. Now I'm just eating instinctively and it's going great. I will however have say a tub of Greek yogurt or something for extra protein after doing weights though.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    Nutritionally speaking, we don't need that much protein. High protein diets like Atkins are designed to get your body to work differently, not to supply proteins that your body needs for proper functioning.

    My partner wants to gain, well at least not lose, while I am obese. Our solution is to have lots of healthy foods in the house, he just eats twice as much as I, two of everything at shared meals, plus whole grains, fruit, nuts and cheese for snacks.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    Nutritionally speaking, we don't need that much protein. High protein diets like Atkins are designed to get your body to work differently, not to supply proteins that your body needs for proper functioning.

    My partner wants to gain, well at least not lose, while I am obese. Our solution is to have lots of healthy foods in the house, he just eats twice as much as I, two of everything at shared meals, plus whole grains, fruit, nuts and cheese for snacks.

    I just naturally seem to have more protein these days. I think reading all the anti carb material on here had some sort of subconscious effect on me and gradually, I ended up cutting out the baked potatoes, rice and sandwiches I used to have as part of my days, I am now taking the approach of varying things and having a little of everything, I think I run better on carbs anyway, with the daily cardio I do, and oddly, my weight was lower when I had a more balanced approach, without loads of protein.
  • Deka61
    Deka61 Posts: 74
    I eat what I enjoy, and yes in moderation.
  • Topher1978
    Topher1978 Posts: 975 Member
    I just follow my country's food guide as minimums. My taxes paid for the scientists to follow the peer reviewed research so I may as well use it.
    ^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^
  • Keiras_Mom
    Keiras_Mom Posts: 844 Member
    I usually just ingest what my body tells me it wants. That's usually wine. ;-)
  • Phoenixchichima
    Phoenixchichima Posts: 416
    ah yes, but how do write a book ab out having common sense?
  • ShandiH
    ShandiH Posts: 232 Member
    Yep, I totally agree.

    In addition to moderation is key, I believe each person needs a varying degree of protein/carbs etc. For example, for my dieting/lifestyle change, I need more protein than the average suggested amounts - not as much as Atkins, or similar diets, but still more than the average. If I try to eat a low protein diet I get this terrible, terrible stomach pain (and no, it is not hunger pains as one doctor I went to suggested . . . completely and totally different pain) that does not go away until I start eating protein again.
  • ShandiH
    ShandiH Posts: 232 Member
    ah yes, but how do write a book ab out having common sense?

    Hahaha! Yep, that book would not sell!
  • Topher1978
    Topher1978 Posts: 975 Member
    ah yes, but how do write a book ab out having common sense?

    Hahaha! Yep, that book would not sell!
    Have you ever heard of G K Chesterton? He is "The Apostle of Common Sense." Fantastic literature. Give him a few rounds and you will be no worse for the ware!
  • andrewws13
    andrewws13 Posts: 1
    It's all very confusing, I may give up eating altogether.

    Lol :)

    I pretty much agree with OP. I've been through the same. Where I'm at now:

    1) Calories in versus calories out. Do more, eat more. Do less, eat less.
    2) Higher protein keeps me full - so do fats but they're so much cals they're a bad idea.
    3) More activity is better powered by more carbs.
    4) Carbs without activity make me hungry and cost me a lot of cals.

    This is working for me I think will continue to.
  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
    from reading endless material on various diets and studies, including Paleo, Atkins, engine 2, vegan, primal, south beach etc etc, that maybe the best thing to do is to simply eat everything in moderation, and avoiding eating an excess of anything.

    I think looking at the Engine 2 diet book today was the final straw, so to speak. It is a plant based diet that advocates as much as 70% of the diet from carbs, with low protein/fat, claiming a 150Ib male only needs 22g of protein per day. Compare that to something like Atkins were protein is quite high and carbs very low, then paleo where a lot of meat is eaten, and often a high level of fat, all of these seem to be extremes, where one thing is had in excess at the expense of another thing, for example, high protein, low carb/high carb, low protein/high fat/low carbs, it sort of seems more sensible to me to just have a balance of these things.

    One day might naturally end up being higher carb, lower protein, while the next might end with a high protein intake and not much fat etc.
    You could drive yourself insane reading all the various research studies on how you should and should not eat.

    Some commercial diets are for health some for weight management, the two may be one and the same they may be mutually exclusive.
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