Fasting, Keto, and Diets Oh My!

Before anyone gets all bent out of shape, congratulations on your decision to make a healthier choice for your nutrition. At the root of it, I believe regardless of nutritional preference, people inherently want to become healthier and that’s what leads them to a particular diet, so let’s celebrate that. For some reason, this topic is highly emotional, even for me! People choose to do a diet, and they read up on all the marketing “pro’s” of that approach, which just solidifies in their mind that it’s the best diet known to man. The truth though:

There is no perfect diet.

Whether you’re a keto warrior, a fasting guru, or a green machine vegan, all of these approaches will claim their superiority over the other and all other diet approaches. Watch a Netflix documentary supporting your diet of choice, and you’ll be so entrenched in fear and information supporting your choice, that you’ll become a disciple of that diet! I’ve been privileged to work with  A LOT of people and there are some trends I’d like to share with you.

The “That really worked for me” TREND

• The answer to the statement is found within the past tense. “I did Keto for 6 months last year and lost 40 lbs” is usually how it goes. And then the next question I ask after celebrating their success is, “What happened after that?” “Well……I gained it back.”
• So this begs the question, was this a successful in the first place? My answer is no. This is VERY PREVALENT and no matter the diet approach, if the approach isn’t sustainable, then perhaps it shouldn’t be started in the first place. There’s evidence that shows losing a significant amount of weight only to gain it back is very taxing on the body.

The “Know everything about nothing” TREND

• You know how it goes. They know everything about the intricacies of Keto, the varying fast protocols, the “bad” ingredients, all the dogma about red meat, gluten, and artificial sweeteners, yet……….most of these people are rarely in good physical fitness, body composition, or health for that matter.

Why Is This?????

Ask any health and fitness professional “worth their salt” and they will agree with what I’m laying down here in Time New Roman. My answer to the “Why is this??” question above is this:

They’ve majored in the minors and don’t understand the basics of nutrition and energy expenditure.

Everything works for weight loss! So long as…….

• You’re in a caloric deficit (if goal is weight loss)

Seriously, there’s even a study of a nutrition professor who only ate Oreos and Twinkies while making sure he remained in a caloric deficit, and guess what happened? Yep, he lost weight! 27 pounds in 2 months! And guess what else happened? His blood markers improved as well! Was this study done to promote the Oreo & Twinkie diet? Of course not, it was to prove the point that when it comes to weight loss, calorie is king. Should we eat more nutritiously than Twinkies and Oreos? Yes, very much so; however, on the flip side it’s OK to eat some delicious Oreos every once in awhile! Twinkies however, that’s just nasty! 😉

Here’s the article:

https://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

Sound too simple? Well perhaps it’s an oversimplification, but it’s 1000% accurate. Perhaps the industry’s goal is to keep it complicated so people never figure it out, protecting it’s existence.

So, let’s let our allegiances die with a particular diet and celebrate the science behind weight loss.

B-B-B-But Keto……works as long as you’re in a caloric deficit, that’s right Keto Kenny.

B-B-B-But I thought fasting worked because…….you’re in a caloric deficit, that’s right Fasting Fran.

You get the picture right? So my point here is this, make sure you choose a diet approach that you enjoy, can sustain, and give credit to the caloric deficit it provides you and not the magic in the marketing.