“What is the best diet for You.....?” - Coach Amanda

Fad Diets

Hi team,

Okay who has tried a fad diet?  Me, me and me. How about you?  I think we have all tried several fad diets over the years. So are Fad diets good for us?

Fad diets not only on the extreme end, they are unsustainable, restrict our calories, but most of all our macronutrients and micronutrients.  And furthermore, studies actually show that we put on the weight we lost plus more when we go back to our normal eating. They are a quick way to lose weight, however they do not empower us by changing our habits and mindsets.  Therefore are they beneficial in the long run for our health?  

What type of fad diets have you tried? There was the “Lemon diet”, the “Juice diet”, the “Keto diet”, “the Gluten free, Lactose free, Lectin free” diets.  The list goes on and on and on.

The concerns with these fad diets are that they eliminate a lot of food groups.  For example,  our fibrous fruits and vegetables. Also our good Omega 3 fats like nuts and seeds and our good oils. Eg Olive oil and avocado.  Not to mention that our healthy gut microbiome gets a complete beating.  Our gut is also greatly affected by fad diets in a negative way and our good bacteria can be impacted quite severely which then can lead to our immune system being compromised.

Let’s face it, we all want that “magic pill” that is going to make losing weight “easy”.  Breaking news team, there is no “magic pill”.  Booo hoooo!!! I know, I know.  

The actual word “diet” implies that we are going to restrict ourselves. Research shows that restriction more than likely leads to binging.  Therefore the word “diet” definition is the what and how we eat. Rather than looking at “diet” as restricting ourselves.  Instead we should be adding beneficial macronutrients and micronutrients into our diet. 

As a nutritionist and personal trainer, I believe that we should concentrate on “nutrition” as a whole, rather than focussing on just losing weight and restricting calories. We need to eat a whole food, well balanced and nutritious diet that includes all of our food groups, our macro and micro nutrients, we need to consume more protein and reduce our processed carbohydrates.  

The rule of thumb is to keep it simple.  A lot of the time we tend to overcomplicate things.  Try to cut out the processed foods. Of course we can have them “sometimes” however not everyday. 

Coach Amanda x