How Fad Diets Measure Up
The battle between holistic lifestyles and holes in your diet
You know how the saying goes: “The proof is in the pudding (that the latest fad diet says you can’t eat anymore).” When beginning your health journey, the appeal of the latest diet can often overshadow the downside of ignoring your own genetics. Below, see how fad diets stand up against the holistic nature of eating for your metabolic type.
WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
Fad diets promise fast results, but with any quick fix solution, they’re unreliable and inefficient to maintain. Allow me to demonstrate this concept with a little help from T.Swift herself, “Band-aids don’t fix bullet holes.” Sure, this Bad Blood lyric wasn’t surrounding the health ramifications of ill-formed diets, but the metaphor measures up. A Two-Week Makeover Cleanse or 27 Day Celebrity Body diet may help you lose a few pounds whilst under a restricted calorie deficit regimen, but it’s not sustainable and will result in packing on the pounds on day 15 or 28 when the diet is over. The key to a healthy lifestyle is a strong foundation of nutrition that won’t cause yo-yo weight loss and weight gain with every new diet bandage.
Eating for you metabolic type is an easily adaptable lifestyle change, not a “get skinny quick” scheme (though, that’ll happen too). When you assess your metabolic type, you’ll learn to eat the foods that are most compatible with your natural chemistry, and you won’t be struck with analysis paralysis when choosing the right foods for your diet. This structure simplifies why certain foods leave you craving a nap or even just craving more food, and how to solve that through fine-tuning your macro/micro nutrient profile.
Winner: Metabolic diet. If you’re eating according to your individual genetic makeup, you’ll avoid feeling overwhelmed by the latest diet craze or financially drained by expensive one-size-fits-all cleanses and supplements. What’s more? You’ll have quick and consistent control of your weight loss goals by eating the foods that are right for you.
METABOLISM
Fad diets seem to work at first because they often require eating a minimal amount of calories in a minimal time frame throughout the day. This, of course, will help you drop water weight, but it will also disrupt your natural metabolism: the rate at which your body burns calories — even at rest. You’ve seen the celebrity-endorsed juice cleanses poised to shed weight within – gasp – days. Though, does the short term water loss benefit your long term health goals? Not a chance. The reason? It’s not conducive to your overall metabolism or sustainable overtime. Chronic dieting may actually slow an already fast metabolism and cause you to burn fewer calories during the day than would have naturally.
Eating for your metabolic type works with (surprise!), not against your metabolism to keep you feeling full between each meal while boosting your metabolism to burn even more calories during workouts and rest periods. When you’re harnessing the foods that fuel your cells, you’ll be able to eat with less restriction while sticking to the longstanding nutrition strategy that will speed even the slowest of metabolisms.
Winner: Metabolic diet. More food, more energy, more calories burned.
ENERGY
Fad diets operate like most trends. They ramp up in popularity and seed themselves throughout pop-culture until they’re replaced and become another “Why did I ever think that hairstyle was a good idea?!” photo tucked in the back of your family album. Much like those fashion trends that burn out quickly, a trending diet is not built to last. The lack of complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and essential nutrients within fad diets will not only cause fatigue and irritability, but it will also cause an increase in stress and fat cells.
A healthy diet that caters to each metabolic type focuses on you and your unique build; from your genetics to your stress and sleep patterns. Through a detailed assessment that measures optimal nutrition specific to each, you’ll be eating the correct foods in the correct quantities instead of fighting to maintain an unrealistic diet. The holistic nature of metabolic nutrition focuses on the food that mitigates cravings, deprivation, and fatigue as well as the environmental stressors of everyday life such as stress, sleep, digestive health, and your existing daily schedule.
Winner: Metabolic diet. Tailoring diet and exercise to your genetic makeup will identify your personal super foods (and the foods to avoid) to maximize strength and energy — simply through small adjustments to your holistic lifestyle. Through this simplified balanced approach, you’ll have more mental and physical stamina.
MUSCLE
Fad diets are rarely – if ever – touted by bona fide athletes or fitness professionals — and for good reason. An overly restrictive diet can’t provide the fuel necessary to build muscle, increase respiratory strength, or mental clarity because of nutritional deficiencies that often follow. Even when diets are loosely (read: entirely) tied to a sport like the ties between paleo and crossfit, but that restrictive diet is rarely used by professional athletes because of the unbalanced nutrition it provides for daily life. As increased muscle mass prepares your body to burn more fat, it’s important to focus on building strength at every phase of your holistic journey.
Following a metabolic diet emphasizes that the pillars of health and fitness extend not only to the food we eat but the mental and physical habits as well. When you provide your body with the proper nutrition it needs to operate at full capacity, weight loss and muscle gain will quickly follow.
Winner: Metabolic diet. You wouldn’t put diesel fuel in a car that requires standard premium fuel, right? This same concept applies to the fuel that makes your body run (and jump!) (and squat!). Eating according to your metabolic type ensures that your nutrition keeps all internal cylinders operating at peak efficiency during and after workouts.
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Noticing a theme here? When you eat according to your metabolic type, you’ll never be dieting. Instead, you’ll be making small changes based on your genetics and everyday stressors to consume the kind of foods that will energize and optimize your body. By committing to a lifestyle change, progress will begin.
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