**Video Transcript**
Which diet is truly right for you? That is what I’m going to decode in this video. Have a look at a clip now. This video is for educational purposes only and is not intended to provide any medical advice.
So which diet is the healthiest?
Finding the Right Diet
These days there’s a lot of diets out there. It seems like there is a new diet coming out every week. The sheer number of diets that are really diet plans that are out there can make it a little bit overwhelming. We know that expression, you are what you eat and what we put into the body is extremely important to the health of the body.
Sometimes it can be helpful to follow a certain diet protocol to guide one’s food choices. Again, there’s certainly no shortage of different diet plans to follow. But the question is, which is the right one, especially which is the right one for you.
I’ll just quickly go through a bit of an outline of what we’ll cover tonight. First of all, what do we mean by diet? Let’s define the term before we get into it. Why follow a diet? Why can this actually be a good thing? What are some of the factors to consider when choosing a diet? Obviously there are a few of these.
Some of the most popular diets that are out there will cover them, what they are, and how they work. And then finally, my verdict. Which diet do I think is the healthiest?
Defining Diet: What Does It Mean?
Alright, so what do we mean by diet? Well, the definition of diet is the verb to diet. I’m going to diet. Or last week I dieted. But more commonly we use it as a noun.
One definition of diet in that sense is number one there, the kinds of foods that a person, animal, or community habitually eats. For example, a vegetarian diet. Or number two, a special course of food to which one restricts oneself either to lose weight or for medical reasons. I’m going on a diet, for example.
It’s more that second definition that I’d like to focus on tonight. Diet being used more in, in a limited sense, but we’ll see as we go that sometimes more limited diets can be incorporated into a more long-term dietary regimen, if you will. That’s what we mean by diet, but what is the point of even following one?
Why Follow a Diet?
There’s a lot of reasons. One of the most common is weight loss. That’s a real big one. Using a diet, either short term or maybe even long term to lose weight. Detoxification. Diet can really be a great way to help remove toxins from the body, which we accumulate as we age. From the air, water, from the food, from electromagnetic frequencies, Wi Fi and cell phones, that type of thing.
They can also be used to identify food intolerances, allergies, or sensitivities. This can be done by elimination challenge diets, where you eliminate foods for a period of time and then challenge your body to see if it causes inflammation. And on that note, managing chronic inflammatory conditions. For example, a gluten free diet can be used to control celiac disease.
Avoiding nightshade vegetables can be used for rheumatoid arthritis. Or avoiding lactose for lactose intolerance, for example. And some of these measures can actually be incorporated into a longer-term diet. And managing other medical conditions, like for example, a higher fat diet for epilepsy, or a low carb, low sugar diet for diabetes.
Although, you could argue that both of these conditions are really inflammatory conditions. Dealing with long term health issues with diet has a lot to do with limiting inflammation. This is some of the reasons why to do a diet. What should we consider when we are looking to choose what diet is going to be the best for us?
Choosing the Best Diet for You
Of course, we need to consider our overall goals of the diet. Is it for weight loss? Is it for detoxification? Are we trying to manage long term inflammation? Is a little bit of all three of those or some combination there? Are we planning on doing a diet for a short term benefit or do we want to adapt the diet to a more longer term solution where we can maintain our health?
Then you will see as we go along that some diets might actually be appropriate in both cases. Now, when you’re choosing a diet, you want to make sure you’re considering whether it’s actually going to be meeting your nutritional requirements. Especially with some of the more restrictive diets, you need to be cautious that you’re getting enough of your macronutrients, like proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, and your micronutrients, like vitamins and minerals.
You want to make sure that the diet is not going to be depriving of you of those things. And if it’s low in some of those nutrients. Do we need to supplement while we’re doing that? Those are some considerations when choosing a diet. And then of course, are there potential pitfalls of the diet? Is it easy not to get enough calories while you’re doing the diet?
Is it possible to detoxify a little too rapidly while you’re doing the diet? Are you going to be checking for intolerances, allergies, or sensitivities to foods while you’re doing that? Or are you going to miss that? So these are some common pitfalls. These are overall some considerations that we want to look at before deciding what diet would be best.
With those considerations in mind, I’d like to cover some of the more popular diets out there.
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Until next time, this is Dr. Pat Nardini, ND, putting “Your Wellness First!”
If you have questions about naturopathic medicine, or you’d like to take your first step into the world of naturopathy, contact us at Nardini Naturopathic, and let’s book an appointment.
Yours in health,
Dr. Pat Nardini, Naturopathic Doctor
320 Danforth Ave suite 206,
Toronto, ON, M4K 1N8
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Dr. Pat Nardini, ND is a licensed doctor of naturopathic medicine in Toronto, Ontario. He offers science based natural health solutions with a special focus on thyroid conditions.