In the last several months, I’ve been asked by a few people what I think of intermittent fasting (the latest tread in dieting).
My response when asked the question, what I think of any of the latest diet trends is usually,
“What is your goal?”
Often times I reply back with the general (but true) statement for any fad diet that isn’t sustainable,
“If you feel deprived on it, chances are, you won’t be able to sustain it and therefore, isn’t the “diet” for you.”
This is usually where people tilt their heads and gaze up out of the corner of their eye to recall what diet they tried that actually worked long term…
Then they come back down, look at me and nod, “Right. I guess that does make sense.”
There are very few diets that are sustainable but truthfully, I wouldn’t call them diets. I’d call them lifestyle choices.
For example, here in Vegas, we have a big Crossfit/Paleo community as well as a strong Vegan community. These diets are completely opposite yet people tend to be able to sustain those better because their motives or goals are deeper than weight loss.
In my experience in this industry, diets that change due to motives around morals, internal health or food allergies tend to work better for people because it’s about the overall lifestyle change.
Which is why the question “What are your goals?” is a great question to ask yourself when a new diet is circulating and you find yourself being overcome by FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).
If your goal is to do your first body building show or train for your first marathon, these are very specific goals and require specific diets that you may not be able to sustain for your lifetime because the goal is so specific and the diet is too restricting for long term.
If your goal is to lose weight, improve over all health and feel better in your body, that approach is more flexible. That can look different for each individual. It takes learning about your unique body and listening to the your natural hunger signals while learning behavior modification.
If I’m going to continue being honest, messing around with diet after diet (yo yo dieting) can be harmful to your metabolism and in the end, make it very difficult to lose weight.
So while I’m flattered that people want to pick my brain, the one you should be asking the questions to is YOU. The most important outcomes are improvement in health and sustainable changes. If those are not going to be the outcome for you on the latest trend in dieting, I’d pass.