What is the perfect diet? Is there such a thing? Why are there so many, and how is it that all these experts disagree on which is best? In this page I will attempt to clear some of the confusion, offer some tips to dieting, and tell you what I feel are the best diets.
There are of course two ways in which the word diet is used. One is to describe a specific eating plan that may encompass restriction of certain foods or the amount of calories consumed.
Another way that the word is used is to describe how and what you eat by routine. It becomes clear when you think about this, that the best diets are the ones, which make it easiest to integrate the various tips to dieting into your habits and lifestyle.
Why Are There So Many?
In our search for the perfect diet there appear to be as many dietary regimens as there are nutritional experts is seems. There are a number of reasons for this. Lets look at why this is so.
Conflicting Nutritional Theories
Branding and marketing
Economic and political agendas
Nutritional experts tend to divide themselves into camps with regard to their theories and beliefs. There are the low carb advocates, the high carb proponents, the vegetarians, and those who believe in calorie restriction for longevity.
All these people cite evidence to support their position, so you might ask how they can believe so many seemingly contradictory things. The answer is really twofold. First, they assume that one size fits all and that there is one dietary plan that will be right for all individuals. Thus the widely varying tips to dieting in their dietary programs.
The other reason is that they do not interpret the scientific data correctly, or they do not set up their research studies the right way and so of course do not get accurate results. Sometimes this is done deliberately to promote an agenda.
One good example of this is the USDA food pyramid. Rather than being the optimal, this set of dietary recommendations is a nutritional disaster. This came about because the USDA is a government agency that is heavily lobbied by the producers of processed carbohydrates and the grain industry.
Thus the recommendations of the USDA reflect the economic interests of the food industries involved in promoting certain types of foods for public consumption, rather than the best diets. This motivation is both economic and political, and means that government organizations like the USDA and FDA often do make recommendations and regulations that are decidedly against the public interest.
What Makes For a Healthy Diet?
Nutritional experts do legitimately disagree on what constitutes the perfect diet, in part because they focus on the differences rather than what is common to all these approaches. Any valuable tips to dieting will encompass these common elements.
- Avoidance or reduction of refined carbohydrates
- Appropriate levels of dietary fiber
- Inclusion of fruits and vegetables
- A healthy balance of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates
These elements seem to turn up in all of the most successful and best diets out there. When nutrition experts are trying to market their books, courses, and tips to dieting, they are trying to differentiate themselves from their contemporaries.
This is a function of branding, where they want consumers to identify their dietary program as the perfect diet. Thus you have The Zone, South Beach, Atkins, and others all vying for a share of the consumer market in diet books and other products.
It is easier for some to follow something very precise and structured because there is no guesswork involved. For many people this is the ideal approach. For others taking the most relevant tips to dieting from best diets may work to their advantage.
Truthfully, there is no one approach that will work for everyone all of the time. The perfect diet is no diet at all, or rather one, which will be adapted to fit your unique biochemistry and lifestyle.
The antiaging guide on this site provides some guidelines for creating an eating plan that will work for your individual needs.
Also, check out the books by nutrition guru John Berardi on Amazon!
There may be no dietary program or system that will work for everyone, but you can be sure that the perfect diet for you will be one which will suit your individual needs and allow you to maintain a healthy weight without feeling like you are ON A DIET!
