Vegan, Keto, Paleo, & Carnivore - Which do you tend to lean towards or neither?

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RashadLavelle
RashadLavelle Posts: 46 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I think it's informative and somewhat a trial and error to try out different diet choices. As these are the top trending diets, I've tried them all. I learned a lot from what foods I can tolerate and which foods I thrive the best on.

Not to bash any of these lifestyle choices, but I'm curious of which ones have you tried, what have you learned, and what are you currently doing?
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  • RashadLavelle
    RashadLavelle Posts: 46 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I'm vegan, but it has nothing to do with dieting. I count calories to manage my weight.

    I have learned that I feel best when I align my consumption choices (including food) with my belief that animals deserve moral consideration.

    I was vegan for 2 years, then stopped. I definitely learned a lot from the diet itself.
  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,135 Member
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    I tried a low-carb kinda-Keto South Beach type thing maybe 10 years ago? It worked but I hated it. Had headaches all the time. Lethargic. Once I got maybe 6-8 weeks in I blew it out.

    I just do CICO. When I'm "dieting" I'll still tend to watch my carbs just because high-carb foods tend to be more calorie dense not because I'm avoiding carbs, per se.
  • RashadLavelle
    RashadLavelle Posts: 46 Member
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    msalicia07 wrote: »
    RashadLavelle wrote: »
    I think it's informative and somewhat a trial and error to try out different diet choices. As these are the top trending diets, I've tried them all. I learned a lot from what foods I can tolerate and which foods I thrive the best on.

    Not to bash any of these lifestyle choices, but I'm curious of which ones have you tried, what have you learned, and what are you currently doing?

    I’ve tried them all. Felt deprived on them all. There just wasn’t any balance for me. They also demonize food ie carbs are bad, treats are bad, etc.

    I eat everything now that I will eat during maintenance, only less calories of it. Calories are all that’s required for weight loss.

    That's true, many can be dogmatic and leaves no room for error.
  • RashadLavelle
    RashadLavelle Posts: 46 Member
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    briscogun wrote: »
    I tried a low-carb kinda-Keto South Beach type thing maybe 10 years ago? It worked but I hated it. Had headaches all the time. Lethargic. Once I got maybe 6-8 weeks in I blew it out.

    I just do CICO. When I'm "dieting" I'll still tend to watch my carbs just because high-carb foods tend to be more calorie dense not because I'm avoiding carbs, per se.

    I'm pretty much the same with you. I did all of them, Although keto I felt the best with mental clarity and the carnivore I felt the best when it comes to gut issues, (i.e. no bloating at all). Now, I'm taking what I've found the best out of all them and keep on the mid to lower carbs (about 80 to 100), and have my snacks that I crave too, while being in a caloric deficit for a period of time when I reach my goal.
  • RashadLavelle
    RashadLavelle Posts: 46 Member
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    MaltedTea wrote: »
    High protein, plant-heavy carnivore with preference for Asian, African and Mediterranean meals who occasionally IFs (14:10) but avoids white rice and other high glycemic foods (which cause her to need a nap within 20 minutes post-consumption or else a tantrum of tiredness ensues).

    I think that just about covers it 🤣

    I will never turn down fried plantains! LOL
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,970 Member
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    I've never been particularly strict about my diet (although I have briefly tried a number of them over the years), that said, getting down to my goal weight has eluded me for some time now, mostly due to a lack of discipline and being a bit too flexible in my thinking.

    When I've had a diet that worked well for me - I felt satiated, I was (slowly but steadily) losing weight, and didn't feel deprived, it was low(er) carb, higher protein and fat. Not keto low mind you, I like my veggies and lots of them - but I do find I do better avoiding grains and grain-based foods (baked goods, breads, chips, pasta etc). I don't shy away from potatoes, yams, etc, but do avoid rice or other grains.

    Historically, even when strictly following my calories, I've allowed cheat meals and days and foods as long as they fit into my calories. That, however, has far too often lead to more and more of those meals/days, until they get far too frequent.

    Hence, I'm currently doing the 75Hard, and while my diet is nothing special beyond my normal "standard" the no cheats/junk foods/alcohol are different - and I have a feeling may well help me break through this plateau I've set myself upon.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    I've never done one of the trendy diets. I mostly just focused on better overall nutrition and cut back on some things and started moving more and lost weight...I lost about 20 Lbs before I found MFP. I was losing weight just fine before MFP, but I was getting more and more into exercise and wanted to make sure I wasn't under eating for my activity.
  • Ddsb11
    Ddsb11 Posts: 607 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    msalicia07 wrote: »
    RashadLavelle wrote: »
    I think it's informative and somewhat a trial and error to try out different diet choices. As these are the top trending diets, I've tried them all. I learned a lot from what foods I can tolerate and which foods I thrive the best on.

    Not to bash any of these lifestyle choices, but I'm curious of which ones have you tried, what have you learned, and what are you currently doing?

    I’ve tried them all. Felt deprived on them all. There just wasn’t any balance for me. They also demonize food ie carbs are bad, treats are bad, etc.

    I eat everything now that I will eat during maintenance, only less calories of it. Calories are all that’s required for weight loss.

    Although some plant-based eaters do demonize animal product foods, the message of veganism isn't that specific foods are bad, it's just that the impact of using animals for food is undesirable for the animals. But you'll find vegans making vegan versions of just about any sweet, fatty, carby treat imaginable. I saw a post yesterday where someone made a fried "chicken" sandwich with cashew cheese sauce and served it on a cinnamon sugar donut.

    My friend and fellow designer is vegan, I’m gonna have to tell her about that one. She and I eat pretty similarly, you wouldn’t even really know she was vegan if you weren’t paying close attention. Fortunately there’s a lot more options for vegans these days than before. It can definitely be just as delicious, especially since carbs and treats are still very much on the table 😊
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited December 2020
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I'm a great believer in the basics of well-rounded (evidence-based) nutrition, and for me that includes not just protein/fat/fiber minimums, but also getting a boatload of varied, colorful veggies and fruits daily. (I'm old enough to have observed science "discovering" many essential and beneficial nutrients over my lifespan, and those good things were in basic real foods all along. I do love veggies/fruits from a pleasure standpoint, but I also consider them an excellent nutritional bet-hedge.)

    This is my POV too, although I have tried various diets as experiments and to see if there was anything I could learn from them. (I have pretty firm views about nutrition, and wouldn't do anything inconsistent with that--which is why I would not try carnivore, among other things--or anything where I felt like I couldn't have delicious food (same). Sometimes trying something is a good excuse to shake up my cooking, however.)

    I originally tried paleo when I was first losing (just before I started MFP), in part because I thought it seemed easy and consistent with how I normally liked to eat, and I knew some who were making a big deal about how challenging it was (including the no added sugar aspect). I found it pretty easy (but for grabbing a take out lunch for work stuff sometimes), but ultimately thought the arguments for no grains (including whole grains), legumes, and dairy were pretty silly, and for me non of those foods are triggers and I think they make my diet more healthful. I've done (mostly) WFPB just because I go no animal products at Lent anyway and decided to start early in January as an experiment after consciously trying to reduce meat/dairy/eggs in my usual diet quite a bit, and because my diet in general is mostly WF-based. I respect those who do it, but my ethical position doesn't demand it, and without an ethical commitment I'm not dedicated enough to cut out meat/dairy/eggs, vs trying to eat less and being concerned about sourcing. Keto I really just tried because I wanted to motivate myself to log for a while again (this was at maintenance) and was curious given how so many people claimed it made some huge difference in how they felt (positively and negatively). I did it with an emphasis on non-starchy veg (still had to cut back some from what I usually eat), and think my overall diet was healthy, but I didn't find anything about it that made me want to change from my usual way of eating (and I did miss fruit, potatoes, and beans/lentils in particular).

    I do change up macros or otherwise try new things from time to time out of curiosity.

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