As you’ve been going through this challenge, and really
working on maintaining your weight over this holiday season, you might have
thought, what nutrition program or “diet” is the best one? What can help me
reach my goals the best/fastest/most efficiently/etc.? I have an interesting
answer to this question – are you ready? There isn’t one that is the best. But –
there is some good news. Keep reading to find out what this good news is.
Let’s first talk about why there isn’t a best one. Precision
Nutrition has some great information on this topic, and this is some of what
they have to say.
There isn’t a best diet because of many factors, such as;
clients are diverse in so many ways:
- · Their body type
- · Their fitness level and body composition
- · Their dietary preferences and exclusions
- · Their budget
- · Their organic/conventional priorities
- · Their nutrition knowledge and diet history
- · Their time availability
- · Their ethnic background and heritage
- · Their age
With all of these ways that clients are diverse, how could
there be just one diet that is best for everyone?
The good news is, many nutrition programs are more similar
than they are different. Here are some similarities between many nutrition
programs out there.
- · They ask people to care about their food and their eating. Research shows that your actual choices are probably less important than paying better attention to what you eat.
- · They focus on food quality because just eating better quality food will improve most people’s health significantly.
- · They focus on eliminating nutrient deficiencies to get more valuable nutrients in the food you eat.
- · They focus on controlling appetite and food intake.
- · They promote regular exercise.
With all of this being said, as we are finishing out the 4th
quarter challenge of “maintain, don’t gain”, don’t think that you have to find
the “best” nutrition program available, instead, find one that works for YOU
and that will help you focus on caring about what you eat, getting better food
quality, eliminating nutrient deficiencies, controlling appetite and food
intake, and promoting regular exercise. Simply said, what works for me, might
not work for you. Find what works for you, that can be sustainable, and can
help you get to where you want to be.
Something to keep in mind: when someone loses weight, what
did the trick? Was it the lack of carbohydrates (like in the Atkins diets)? Was
it that they reduced their fat intake (like in the Ornish diet)? Or was it a
specific macronutrient ratio (like in the Zone diet)? The simple answer – none of
the above. It was the control of the energy balance and focus on caring about
what was eaten, getting better food quality, the elimination of nutrient deficiencies,
the control of appetite and food intake, and promotion of regular exercise.
When it comes to eating, be smart, be mindful, be careful,
and take the time to enjoy your food. Again, find what works for you! If you
need help finding what might work for you, email me at mharris@mvhospital.net to set up a
consultation, or call us at 208-557-2823.
Good luck with the last few weeks of the challenge! Don’t
forget, the “weigh out” for the end of the challenge is January 3rd!
Put it on your calendar to stop by and get your final weight!
Until next time!
Miranda Harris, NSCA CSCS, ACSM CEP
mharris@mvhospital.net
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