Fad or Fab Diets......let's take a look.
It seems like every year there is the “now” diet that some celebrity is spruiking. There is Paleo, Keto, South Beach, CSIRO, DASH, low GI, low carb, the Mediterranean, intermittent fasting, low fat and if you are a certain age you may remember the Atkins. Honestly, the list is endless and quite exhausting if you really are considering making some changes to your daily nutritional intake and looking for either weight loss or just a better way to eat.
Diets trends, just like celebrities come and go, but we thought we would have a look at a few of the more popular ones around and present some facts.
The first point that should be up most in everyones mind when considering a diet is that not all two bodies are the same. What works for me, may not work for you. You may find one diet plan restrictive and boring, whilst someone else might thrive and think they are have struck gold. What is important is that we look into what is good about a way of eating and ensure that it is not fad, but much more fab for you.
Paleo - Wow doesn’t this way of eating get some column inches at the moment. There are a number of high profile people who live and swear by this one and it is also deemed controversial. Let’s look closer at the main idea. Paleo is about restricting all grains, legumes and diary, whilst you can include meats, fish, fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds. The theory behind the diet is that in caveman times, they existed solely on meat, vegies, fruit and seeds and they survived. It was not until farming practices began almost 10,000 years ago that grains started to be consumed in larger quantities. If you ask most dieticians they will say to steer clear because it restricts an entire food group from the traditional five and that we need to eat from all five groups to maintain a healthy life.
Keto Diet - The ketogenic diet is a very low-carb, high-fat diet that shares many similarities with the Atkins and low-carb diets. It involves drastically reducing carbohydrate intake and replacing it with fat. This reduction in carbs puts your body into a metabolic state called ketosis. Ketosis is a natural metabolic state. It involves the body producing ketone bodies out of fat, and using them for energy instead of carbs. To go into ketosis, people generally need to eat fewer than 50 grams of carbs per day and sometimes as little as 20 grams per day. This requires removing certain food items from your diet, such as grains, lollies and sugary soft drinks. You also have to cut back on legumes, potatoes and fruit. Again this way of eating comes in for a lot of criticism for eliminating a whole food group and the low carb aspect from dieticians. It is super popular at the moment, but is quite restrictive and some people report the keto headache in the first couple of weeks.
Intermittent Fasting & the 5:2 Diets - both of these diets are similar in that the theory is about limiting intake to certain times. The 5:2 diet that Dr Michael Mosley created is based on limiting calorie intake for 2 days to 600 for men and 500 for women and then on the other 5 days you can eat normally. The theory is that when you fast over a certain period you body will automatically start burning energy stored and the weight loss begins. The research suggests that if you can stick out the 2 days of limited calorie intake you are likely to see results both short and long term. Likewise with intermittent fasting, which is the daily practice of fasting for 16 hours of the day and eating your normal array of foods in an 8 hour period. The principal being the same that while you fast, your body burns up energy stores and you replenish when you eat during your feasting period. Every diet receives criticism, however, both the 5:2 and intermittent fasting seem to fair better than some of the aforementioned as they both don’t limit any food groups and this way of eating encourage normal consumption of a balanced and wholesome diet during the feast times. So pizza on the 5 days of the 5:2 is probably not going to help you see the results you might like.
The Mediterranean Diet - This diet has been around for quite a while now and is still popular due to the fact that it is based on the traditional foods that people used to eat in countries like Italy and Greece back in 1960. Foods that are encouraged on this diet are vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, potatoes, whole grains, breads, herbs, spices, fish, seafood and extra virgin olive oil. Foods to eat in moderation are poultry, eggs, cheese and yoghurt. Food to eat rarely is red meat, and foods to avoid entirely is soft drinks, foods with added sugars, processed meats, refined grains, refined oils and highly processes foods. Researchers noted that Italians and Greeks were exceptionally healthy compared to Americans and had a low risk of many lifestyle diseases.and numerous studies have now shown that the Mediterranean diet can cause weight loss and help prevent heart attacks, strokes, type 2 diabetes and premature death. Dieticians are generally in favour of the Mediterranean Diet, as it promotes variety without restricting entire food groups.
As we have said before in our blogs, we are about whole foods that benefit our gut and will subsequently benefit our bodies. We aren’t into fad diets, we love our guts and we love your guts too. Eating a fresh, whole, nutrient dense foods every day is our goal. Forget the fad and get into the fab way of eating. Whilst some of these diets may work wonders for you and you may have the results to prove it, for others it might not. Look into it, don’t take a celebratory’s word for it, do the research and always get medical advice before starting a diet.
The way you eat reflects in every aspect of your day. Gut Happy focuses on gut health first and the health benefits flow from that .
Stay Gut Happy
The Gut Happy Girls
xxx