Since what you eat makes the largest impact on your health and any changes in your weight, let’s start by covering diet versus dieting.
When I tell people “I changed my diet” or “I watch my diet”, I’ve received responses that confuse “diet” with “dieting”. As in, “Oh, so how long are you dieting” or “I don’t like to diet.” The confusion arises because many people associate “diet” as a temporary change in your eating habits to bring about weight loss—with the implication that reaching your goal allows you to return to “normal” eating. Or, that “dieting” means following a food plan that makes you eliminate a food group like carbs or fat.
Really, your diet is everything you consume at any time in your life—the only difference being whether that diet is healthy or unhealthy and whether it promotes weight-loss or weight-gain
I want to point out here that a diet that makes you lose weight is not automatically healthy, and neither is a diet that makes you gain weight automatically unhealthy. Bodybuilders might want to gain weight to add more muscle—and they can gain that weight healthily with a healthy diet. Just as someone with an eating disorder can lose weight—but with an unhealthy diet. In my case, my diet prior to this promoted unhealthy weight gain. Coupled with being physically inactive, I gained that weight in body fat).
To lose weight and keep it off, you need to make permanent changes to your diet. You may adjust your diet to eat more when you no longer want to lose pounds, but it shouldn’t regress to an unhealthy diet.
What is a healthy diet? Well, researchers have travelled the world studying diets that vary across the entire spectrum comparing them to our diets(from high carb/high protein/low fat, low carb/high protein/high fat, etc.) and found physically fit and healthy people.
One similarity across these cultures were the lack or low consumption of processed and refined foods like the food we find in our supermarkets: white breads and starches, cookies, candies, chips, etc.
They also were low in sugar, particularly refined sugars. If you look at the labels in most packaged products you’ll find High Fructose Corn Syrup added in to almost everything—from tomato sauce to “juice” drinks. Prior to the modern age, human diets didn’t include nearly as much sugars as we now consume.
Third was portion control. Obesity skyrockets in cultures where “Super Size” is a standard feature of meals. Any diet can quickly become unhealthy if you’re eating too much. Moderation is the key. Of all the secrets about eating that I’ve learned, it’s this. It’s about how much you eat that is as important as what you eat. You can do the South Beach Diet or the Keto Diet or any other prescribed diet and it can work—but you don’t need to. You don’t have to be avoid carbs like some diets prescribe. You don’t even have to avoid fat, like I used to do. Instead, eat nutritious carbs and fat whenever you want to in small portions.
While you may not be “dieting”, you do have A “diet”. When I began to approach my eating this way, I thought about permanent ways to change my eating habits rather than a temporary change (i.e. “dieting”). While I may temporarily include foods in my diet I don’t normally eat (like birthday cake at a party), I make sure my current diet is low in processed foods and refined sugars and are in small portions.
So, what’s in your diet?
Secret Tip #1: Half-It
Just ordered your meal? Sitting in the drive through or at a restaurant table waiting for your food? A good way to take control of your diet is to half-it. Split your meal into 2 portions and save 1 portion for your next meal. Most restaurants give you portions fit for 2-3 separate meals. Ask the server to take the rest of your meal to-go. Or cut that burger in half and put the other half back in the bag. Eat only half that Subway sandwich (Yes, even those “healthy'” subs are too big for one meal regardless of what Jared says). At home? Use a small plate for your meal. Researchers have found that larger plates encouraged increased eating. Smaller plates caused people to eat smaller portions.
