To reduce weight, people flock to this or that diet in search of answers to their problems. The answer is both more simple and more complex than you might think. Diets are not about what to eat, but what your body needs and how you can use your intelligence and creativity to supply exactly that.
Two questions must always be asked about a diet.
- Is it sustainable in the long run?
- Can you actually follow it?
Someone who follows a strict “no junk food” diet but relaxes for a party or family gathering and ends up eating cake and a sugar-loaded cocktail might end up bingeing and falling off the diet soon after because they can’t control their cravings.
Someone else who matches the caloric intake of the “no junk food” diet but allows room for occasional junk food once or twice a week will not lose control so easily.
Fad diets create psychological dependencies and also a schizophrenic mental state where you are eating foods that you do not like and craving things that you do.
The answer lies in the scientific approach to understanding what the human body needs.
The average human body is subject to the thermodynamic laws of physics. If energy consumed exceeds the energy spent, it will store the excess as fat, and if the energy consumed is less than what is spent, it will burn fat.
What is essential to maintaining, gaining, or losing body weight is the overall caloric balance. The RDA for protein is about 50 grams for adults, and 50 grams of fat is also required. In a 2000 calorie diet, that account for only 650 calories. So you have 1,350 calories to spend as you choose!
The key is to ensure that you do indeed get your 50 grams of proteins and 50 grams of fat (which should consist of at least 30 grams of omega 3, 6 and 9), then eat more or less whatever you please to cover the gap.
Try eating some fruits and veggies every day and take a good multivitamin. Complex carbohydrates also keep you fuller throughout the day, so if hunger is a problem, opt for whole wheat pasta or brown rice instead of white pasta or white rice.
But have fun with your diet! Long-term sustainability while maintaining a caloric deficit is the most fab diet! The rest are fads!
