Plenty of people consider themselves to be health experts. They alone know what is truly healthy and unhealthy, and other people should be judged and corrected for their silly dietary mistakes. Here is the secret: everyone is wrong to some extent. Healthy eating is not about fad diets or fasting, and it is certainly not about finding the perfect combination of diet and exercise either, because that does not exist.
Many people know about Weight Watchers, the Atkins Diet, Jenny Craig and other fads. Have you heard of the Paleo Diet? Look that up, it’s absurd. People claim to be vegan or vegetarian for their health. Being gluten-free is the newest trick guaranteeing health. Juice fasts and seven-day cleanses all promise a healthy glow. These have temporary merits, but overall, they are missing the point.
So what’s the key? Moderation. This is the only way to lead a healthy lifestyle. Like choosing clothes to flatter your body, choose food to do the same. Do not obsessively count calories, but pay attention to them. Know when to say no to yourself. Do not make up excuses to celebrate with food. No, writing half a page for a paper does not justify an entire frozen pizza.
Cutting out carbs, gluten, red meat or dairy can initially make you lose weight or feel better. If your body cannot process dairy or gluten, by all means stop eating it. You are not doing yourself any favors indulging in ice cream or a pitcher of beer. But people lack a lot of common sense when it comes to diets and health.
If you are on a diet, be prepared to do it for life. Remember how you ate before you went on Weight Watchers? That is what made you gain weight in the first place, so even if you lose 50 pounds on a fad diet, that weight does not magically stay off your body.
Of course you lost weight—you removed something from your diet. With the exception of trading celery for brownies, if you cut out meat, carbs or milk, you will lose weight initially—particularly if you have a little extra to lose. The second you pick up that food again, that weight is coming right back.
Even alternative fads can be unhealthy. If you cut out beer because you think gluten is bad, you may replace it with hard cider. I have some magic knowledge: a 6-pack of Angry Orchard is 1,260 calories. It is not a good alternative unless you are allergic or resistant to gluten.
The amount of food you eat matters just as much as its content. Yes, Oreos are Vegan, but the average container of Oreos has over 2,000 calories. So you might try to justify eating 40 cookies in two days but I have news for you; that is a mistake. That is a seriously undervalued health tip. Do not try to convince yourself that four cans of diet soda are somehow better than one can of regular soda. Do not convince yourself that walking to and from the kitchen burns the calories you absorbed from the cake in said kitchen.
Everyone has something they do for their physical well-being, but everyone has a weakness. People who can eat multiple servings of fruit and vegetables each day might also eat a pound of candy every other day. Someone might be a vegetarian because they believe red meat can kill, but they eat nothing but bread all day. We all have a different frame of reference for health and most of us judge or resent others for how they eat because their diet is different from ours.
Recognize your weaknesses and strengths and do what goes hand in hand with moderation: balance. Do you have a sweet tooth? Give in to it sometimes, but do not keep chocolate in the house. Are you a bread addict? Maybe try some gluten-free or multigrain alternatives. There is no such thing as perfect, stop obsessing about your body image and start caring about long term health.
Do not be afraid to try different diets to see what works for you but do not call it a diet. Call it a lifestyle and always be aware of it.
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