Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
973741 tn?1342342773

What diet works the best for you?

I'm not a huge diet person.  But am always interested in checking out different ones and what recipes or styles I can glean from it.  Everyone is different for what they need or what works.  I recently compiled some Mediterranean  recipes and have some DASH diet recipes that I use.  My friend is doing Whole 30.  That seems hard to stick to.  What diets have you tried and how did they work?
5 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
Avatar universal
I have tried many diets and read about many of them, but I do not understand why they are necessary. The main thing is that the body gets everything it needs. If it is not a diet prescribed by a doctor, then you can hurt yourself. I'd be interested to read about the diets you mentioned, I've never heard of them.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Best diet for me was intermediate fasting it's helps me a lot in stopping my craving for sugar or fast food and i lose almost 8 kg in a 2 month and i am feeling happy about that.
Thanks and have a nice & healthy life.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
When you say 'intermediate' fasting, do you mean intermittent? And could you define it? For some people, intermittent fasting is only eating every other day, for others it is not eating for at least 12 hours in a row every day. Which way works for you?
Avatar universal
Honestly, to me all diets are fads. The only diet that was tried and true for me you can eat ANYTHING on. It's the calorie restriction diet. At the end of the day, it does not matter WHAT you are eating, just basic science of calories in and calories out. The calculation is different for everyone, but 1,200 had me losing 1 lb a week
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
I don't believe this is actually true, although if it works for you don't change it.  Science doesn't put that much emphasis on calories, it puts most of the emphasis on the metabolism of what you eat.  It is in fact what you eat, not how much.  As for diets, I've seen more than anyone, as I managed health food stores for many years.  The fads came fast and usually went fast, too.  The one that had the thinnest adherents was the macrobiotic diet, but they also seemed nervous from it.  You really have to love cooking and learn how to cook to do it, though, as it sees cooking as the center of life.  It's a Japanese thing.  Personally, I have never dieted, but I have borrowed something from a whole lot of them.  I'm more a fan of eating healthfully than dieting most of the time, and eating what you want otherwise.  Austerity works for some, but it's very hard to stick to.  I also think foods just affect different people differently, so what is one person's gainer is another's no problem food.  I only know that long-term studies keep ending up with what we call the Mediterranean Diet, but it's really not just one diet, as the studies looked at people in communities all over the world.  The common thing was not eating a lot of meat, eating a lot of plant food, but some of the things people ate told to avoid, such as bread -- you really don't eat a meal in much of the world without bread being part of it and it doesn't seem to get people fat.  So it's really hard to differentiate foods that cultures are used to and foods they are not.  Take Italy.  They are awash in eating nightshades and pasta, but none of that is traditional food for that culture.  The pasta was imported from China and the nightshades -- potatoes, green peppers, and tomatoes -- came with Europeans eating foods that came from the Americas that the native peoples for the most part avoided.  So it goes.  Peace.  
134578 tn?1693250592
Like Barb, I have only come lately to watching what I eat. My husband has been on a diet his whole life (and at 5'9" and 165 pounds, it's clear it works for him to do so -- he had a really fat upbringing and a lot of bad food habits to fight). But I had slim parents (and probably also benefited from growing up with their Mediterranean-style eating patterns), which meant I could indulge in a fattening snack every now and then and never see a change on the scales.

But alas, no more. I am sure the culprit is sweets. I can eat fats and never see a bad result, but these days one sneaked sweet and I'm a pound heavier the next morning. The added weight is all at my waistline, a classic "sugar tummy." I don't look fat overall, but it's there, hiding in looser shirts. Too bad I don't look fat overall, it might help my resolve to dump the bad habits.

Regarding a desirable diet: we're generally Mediterranean and healthful when it comes to meals. Always veggies and a protein, almost never a dessert. Lots of homemade soups, lots of salads. But I keep random snacks around for my son (age 13 and can eat anything). That said, even cookies or candy aren't that much of an issue for me, I mostly can take them or leave them alone. My downfall is Dr. Pepper. I've been able to cut out the D.P. habit sometimes (and it does result in a smaller waist when I do). But in these days of Covid and comfort food, I drink one almost every day. I kid myself that since I cut it in half with sparkling water, everything is OK, but it isn't. It's a truism in the dieting world that if you stop drinking sugared sodas and do nothing else, you'll automatically lose ten pounds in a year. You could prove it by me, but that hasn't been enough to motivate me to stop.

D.P. combines two habit-forming ingredients (sugar and caffeine) and maybe as a result, I find breaking away almost as hard as quitting drinking is said to be for an alcoholic. Just like an alcoholic, I behave badly: I try not to drink it in front of my son, I justify it as not hurting me that much, I wait until the family isn't home to pour myself one, I'm embarrassed for my husband to see me buying it, I overlook how much I consume. I hope it doesn't sound like I think this is funny or cute -- even if it's only about sugared pop, it's how people behave who have an addiction. I don't want the fat waist; I obviously just haven't found the resolve to get rid of the habit by sheer force of determination.

For me, then, "diet" is not so much particular foods, but getting out from under a bad habit.
Helpful - 0
649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
If you look "diet" up in the dictionary, it says diet is what you eat so I've come to the conclusion that trying to stick with a specific eating plan isn't necessarily for me.  :-)

I've tried a ton of different eating patterns, ranging from Slimfast to Mediterranean - all in the past 13 yrs because I didn't ever have to worry about my weight before that.

It's really hard for me to stick with any diet because of the way my husband eats and reacts to any kind of structured eating plan I try.  I think the Mediterranean would be easy for me to stay with if it was just up to me because I love fish and I like trying various veggie dishes, using a variety of spices, etc.  My problem is that even cooking fish makes my husband sick to his stomach, so the only time I eat it is when we go out.  He also doesn't eat much in the way of veggies and dislikes most spices.  That means that we either end up cooking 2 separate meals, which is a real pain.  I'm not placing blame - it is what it is.

I've heard that Whole 30 is good, but know people who have tried it and no one I know has ever been able to stick with it for any length of time.  Same for some other diet plans.   I hope you do well with it.

If I try to eliminate certain foods, I end up feeling deprived and eventually, stop any type of plan I may have started and may even end up "binging" on things I've denied myself.  I've come to the conclusion that trying to limit portions and exercise works best for me, along with trying to add in more of the veggies I like so I won't eat so much of the more unhealthy things.  
  
Helpful - 0
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the Weight Loss and Fitness Community

Top Healthy Living Answerers
649848 tn?1534633700
FL
Avatar universal
Arlington, VA
Learn About Top Answerers
Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
14 super-healthy foods that are worth the hype
Small changes make a big impact with these easy ways to cut hundreds of calories a day.
Forget the fountain of youth – try flossing instead! Here are 11 surprising ways to live longer.
From STD tests to mammograms, find out which screening tests you need - and when to get them.
Tips and moves to ease backaches
Here are 12 simple – and fun! – ways to boost your brainpower.