My opinion on "diets", what's yours?

savbentley
savbentley Posts: 103
in Food and Nutrition
So I see a lot of nonsense on here (or at least stuff that's nonsense in my opinion) regarding "diets", and I figured I'd put my two cents in to the whole thing.

When it comes down to it, the way I see food is that it's something I need to take in to sustain my life. And with that, eating is something I have to do fairly often so it may as well be enjoyable. It's that balance between making your food be useful to your body, and pleasing to your palate (since like I said, you have to spend your time doing it).

My approach used to be something more along the lines of food -> mouth.

Now I take the time to ask myself questions like "is this going to taste good?" and "is this going to do good things for my body?".

By definition, your diet is the way you eat. The word diet is thrown around way too much. We're all on a diet if you really want to get technical. If you eat you have a diet. I'm on a diet, I just chose not to change it and I'm keeping it for the rest of my life.

I eat clean, for the most part. I hear a lot of crap about people bashing clean eating for being trendy. Most of those people seem to misunderstand the concept. Clean eating is pretty simple. I avoid packaged/processed foods as much as I can. I like fresh veggies, fresh fruit, nuts, ect. Stuff that I could grow on my own if I wasn't too lazy to do so. I don't restrict myself either, though. Yes I count my calories. It makes it easier for me to keep my old concept of food -> mouth at bay. But when it comes down to it I eat what I want. I want healthy food. I don't restrict myself or tell myself no. I just don't crave the nasty stuff anymore. but if I do get a random craving for a big ol' slice of pizza, best believe I'll have one.

So many of you act like you're punishing yourselves with these new "diets" all the time. The more you separate "bad food" and "good food" and tell yourself no, the less successful you'll be down the road. Once you take the pressure off & start putting more care/thought into what you eat, the less that processed stuff will even appeal to you. Healthy food will just become a way of living.

Let's say you're eating an apple, and someone comes up to you and tells you that you can't have a chocolate bar. You weren't even thinking about it, you were happy with the apple. But now.. what do you want?

Anyway, end of my long-winded ramble. Just food for thought. What's everyone elses take on the whole "dieting" craze?

Replies

  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    "Diets" are going to exist, so long as there are lazy, uneducated people who are willing to believe anything that they read/hear that comes across as something they want to read/hear...basically, if it sounds easy, you can bet there will be a million wheezing, heaving, sweaty *kitten* waiting in line for it.
  • savbentley
    savbentley Posts: 103
    which is ridiculous.. since trend diets are typically more time consuming/expensive lol.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    To carry out properly, yes. However, since it is made to sound easy, most waddlers will be all over it. Once they realize it isn't as easy as it was made to sound, they quickly abandon ship and go drown their sorrows in a tub of Ben and Jerry's.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,201 Member
    If I knew what clean food was then I might be able to address that argument, but I don't based on the infinite opinions of what that actually is. The more we dissect nutrition the more neurotic we become, in general. Societies where obesity is not very common I would bet that being nutritionally savvy doesn't necessarily equate better health.

    People generally like top ten lists, good-bad references, scape goats, something they can blame and after gathering enough information, do the opposite, which generally ends up being something fairly extreme. Insulin is bad, white carbs are bad, red meat is bad, dairy is bad, sugar is bad, saturated fat is bad, cholesterol is bad, eggs are bad blah, blah, blah.

    My personal dietary routine is based on my upbringing, profession and what I know about nutrition in general which is I consume mostly unprocessed foods, by that I mean fairly whole, which would include the fats, sugar, fiber found in those foods along with any other food that I enjoy consuming that may not fall into that category, those typically considered fast, processed or junk foods, I guess I'm basically an 80/20 kinda person and believe weight loss is only measured by the calories consumed.
  • savbentley
    savbentley Posts: 103
    If I knew what clean food was then I might be able to address that argument, but I don't based on the infinite opinions of what that actually is. The more we dissect nutrition the more neurotic we become, in general. Societies where obesity is not very common I would bet that being nutritionally savvy doesn't necessarily equate better health.

    People generally like top ten lists, good-bad references, scape goats, something they can blame and after gathering enough information, do the opposite, which generally ends up being something fairly extreme. Insulin is bad, white carbs are bad, red meat is bad, dairy is bad, sugar is bad, saturated fat is bad, cholesterol is bad, eggs are bad blah, blah, blah.

    My personal dietary routine is based on my upbringing, profession and what I know about nutrition in general which is I consume mostly unprocessed foods, by that I mean fairly whole, which would include the fats, sugar, fiber found in those foods along with any other food that I enjoy consuming that may not fall into that category, those typically considered fast, processed or junk foods, I guess I'm basically an 80/20 kinda person and believe weight loss is only measured by the calories consumed.

    Just to clear it up when I say "clean eating" that's my way of saying I eat mostly unprocessed/unpackaged/fresh food. I know there's lots of definitions, but that's mine LOL.
  • Shadowknight137
    Shadowknight137 Posts: 1,243 Member
    Diets are for the nutritionally uneducated and the stupid.

    These don't necessarily come hand-in-hand, granted - some people aren't overly obsessed and need to get a bit more n shape, so adopt "healthier eating habits". Others, however, take diets and fad solutions to the extreme and instead of just creating a reasonable deficit and exercising like someone with a brain, embark on moronic, miracle solutions that inevitable (and hilariously) fail.
    Jimmy Moore, lowcarbz4lyfe.
  • dr3w_s
    dr3w_s Posts: 88 Member
    If I may say this without offending the woman, in my opinion, women are the one that fell for fad diets the most, and if you just pick up any woman's magazine, there is always some kind of new diet or detox program in there. And women who are in normal weight range feel the needs to diet all the time and not happy with their body.
    Just my 2 cents
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    If I may say this without offending the woman, in my opinion, women are the one that fell for fad diets the most, and if you just pick up any woman's magazine, there is always some kind of new diet or detox program in there. And women who are in normal weight range feel the needs to diet all the time and not happy with their body.
    Just my 2 cents

    Ehhh, people have theorized heightened gullibility in women since the dawn of time.

    Some slightly amusing examples:
    “Satan first tried his assault upon the woman, making his assault upon the weaker part of that human alliance, that he might gradually gain the whole,, and not supposing that the man would readily give ear to him, or be deceived” ~~~Augustine

    “(A woman) ought not to teach (because) she is more easily deceived, and more easily deceives” ~~~John Wesley

    However, to my knowledge, there hasn't been a peer reviewed study done comparing the genders. There have been several done that explain why the elderly and teenagers are more gullible (and verified that they are), but not a comparison of the sexes directly. Well, not unless I missed something.
  • dr3w_s
    dr3w_s Posts: 88 Member
    Forgot to add, men fell for broscience
  • martinh78
    martinh78 Posts: 601
    Diets are for the nutritionally uneducated and the stupid.

    Could also read "getting fat is for the nutritionally uneducated and the stupid...


    Think about it.
  • Shadowknight137
    Shadowknight137 Posts: 1,243 Member
    Diets are for the nutritionally uneducated and the stupid.

    Could also read "getting fat is for the nutritionally uneducated and the stupid...


    Think about it.

    Hmm. Kinda. Not really.

    Most people in that case just like to eat a lot and didn't notice their body fat increasing, didn't care, or simply do anything about it. So moreso gluttony, ignorance and/or laziness. But stupid? Not necessarily. They can fully be aware of the bad choices they make and just not give a damn. Reeeespect.
  • kelly101386
    kelly101386 Posts: 389 Member
    Amen to this, all these specialized products and paying money for slimming clubs is ridiculous. I tried Weight Watchers, Slimming World and Slim Fast when I was younger and nothing happened.

    Now I am simply lowering the amount I eat a little, trying to eat fresher when I can and moving my *kitten* more. What do you know?! Weight loss!!
  • tndejong
    tndejong Posts: 463
    people have many reasons why they gain weight. and i think it is from being uneducated and not caring to do anything about it. until i joined this site, i have always been really active. im well over 200 pounds and i could run run all day. but it was the food i was eating too. regular monsters and mountain dews. then large lunches and dinners of fast food. it was nothing for me to order a pizza for me and the boyfriend and eat half. and then go and get ice cream after. i mowed the lawn that day and deserved a treat. so that was well over 1000 calories for the pizza, several hundred for the drinks, and whatever i would eat for lunch! and i would do this often and wonder why i could be so active yet not really being aware of what the food was doing to me. not to mention all the sodium and such. i would crash from the caffeine and then the sodium i would bloat up and feel like crap all the time. i know many people can relate to this. and even now, when i explain to people what im doing to lose weight, its funny to see peoples reactions when one of the first questions i ask is what they ate that day. many people are just not aware.
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
    'Diets' are for people that aren't well educated in healthy food and want a plan laid out in front of them telling them what to eat. It's the 'easy' option.

    I don't disagree with all diets. I did Slimming World for a numbers of years and I'm not saying it worked by any means, or I wouldn't be here, but it certainly educated me in what was healthy food and taught me how to cook healthily too. The one thing I don't advocate it for is teaching you portion sizes, but it was definitely one of the better diets out there.

    As for clean eating, I don't dislike or disagree with it. What I don't like is when people preach that we shouldn't eat anything BUT clean. To a lot of the hardcore clean eaters on here, by allowing yourself to have the occasional slice of pizza or a burger, OP, you are not eating clean.
  • abrahamsitososa
    abrahamsitososa Posts: 716 Member
    A diet just means what you eat. Everyone in the world is on a diet.
  • Westy5866
    Westy5866 Posts: 37
    Eat less, do more.........Simples!!

    :wink:
  • cloggsy71
    cloggsy71 Posts: 2,208 Member
    I don't like the word 'diet'; it implies 'faddy' eating and denying yourself of certain foods.

    MFP has worked for me as because it is more of a lifestyle change than a diet.
  • Cyclink
    Cyclink Posts: 517 Member
    "on a diet" always seems to imply a temporary state, like someone is only doing it for a while, then they will stop... at which point, they will go back to eating way too much and gain the weight back (often including interest)
  • LouiseH238
    LouiseH238 Posts: 199 Member
    My personal philosophy is that I ought to nourish my body and health (including mental health.) If I eat that Chinese takeaway, what nutrition have I given myself? How am I going to feel - mentally and physically - after I've eaten it? What about if I had taken the same time and money, and made myself a delicious, balanced stir-fry?

    I try to eat things that do me good. I do eat processed food - most food is processed - such as granola bars, rice cakes and bread. But I buy the best grained and seeded bread I can afford, the rice cakes made from brown rice without salt, the granola bars without E numbers and artificial sweeteners. If I understand what all the ingredients on the packet are, and if it provides a good balance of nutrition, it's okay for me.

    So it's not a diet. It's a way of learning to look after yourself.

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