Confused about diets?

Many of my clients have mentioned that they are confused by the plethora of conflicting information about diets. This is TOTALLY UNDERSTANDABLE. I defy anyone listening to all the different advice and thoughts not to be confused about it.

What we have to remember is that each person making a public statement or writing an article /book or even talking on social media, is answering one of 2 very different questions (see below). And we also need to remember that NUANCE is important and usually gets lost in public fora.

The 2 Questions being asked:

Either

1. What is the right diet for Average Adult Averageson?

   (or they may have narrowed specifically to only cover a specific race or gender, but still the average person within that)

Or

2. What was the diet / intervention that helped me personally (that I absolutely now know will help everyone else)?

You, and in fact any one individual is never going to be completely average, nor are you the person who has just had their own health epiphany and wants to share it.

On top of this, both these sets of people usually share their learning in the style of broad sweeping generalised statements - such as "it's really important to eat lots of good protein like red meat" or conversely "its so important not to eat much red meat" ... CONFUSING.

The thing is that in fact BOTH MAY BE TRUE - or rather both may have elements of truth. .. and these elements will depend on the meanings of the words "lots" "red meat" and "not much", but also on the current and previous health issues of the individual, the goals of the individual and also the genetics, gut microbiota and stresses of the individual.

So 2 issues we really need to delve into are

1. Who am I as an individual?

2. What is the nuance behind the statement in question?

Who am I as an individual?

Our health, our health goals, our needs, our strategies to meet those needs and our tolerances to various changes and outside influences will change how some of the generic and confusing / conflicting advice relates to us.

We need to ask questions such as

• what are my genetics?

• what is my main goal?

• what are my risk factors?

• what is my personal gut like?

• what are my health issues and my health strengths?

• what foods do I love and why?

• what food do I hate and why? (and do I believe these likes and dislikes could change)

• do I have foods I refuse to eat for personal / ethical / religious reasons

• what are my biggest health fears?

What is the nuance behind the statement in question?

The main problem we actually encounter here is that the statements made are usually very broad, but the evidence they came from may in fact be relatively narrow. .. and so we need to look at the broad sweeling words of the statement and narrow them down.

Here are some examples:

Red Meat

Statement:  "it's really important to eat lots of good protein like red meat"

Evidence: Red meat such as Beef, Lamb/Mutton, Venison etc is helpful for maintaining and even improving haemaglobin levels, more than any other source of iron. Where it is organically and pasture farmed (or wild) it contains a plethora of really important nutrients and a great source of some essential amino acids that aid the anti-inflammatory pathways in metabolism.

Statement: "its so important not to eat much red meat"

Evidence: studies that have looked at red meat (and most have included pork) suggest that large quantities of red meat consumption can lead to an increase risk of bowel cancer. This is particularly true where a person does not have adequate fibre intake and is made worse if the meat is intensively reared due to changes in the muscle that lead to a preponderance of pro-inflammatory amino acids.

Carbohydrates

Statement: Carbohydrates are bad for us

Evidence: It is widely accepted that most people in the western world eat far too much carbohydrate for the energy they expend. Processed (and particularly grain based) carbohydrates are too easy to chew and therefore usually eaten at speed and without going through the first stage of digestion (chewing and mixing properly with saliva). On top of this they are fairly "pure" carbohydrates with few micronutrients in them. This combination of factors causes a few issues - firstly the amount eaten causes sugar spikes followed by dips (and often then more eating due to hunger messages) and secondly the undigested elements cause inflammation (particularly in the gut) and often an overgrowth of some of the gut bacteria leading to further problems. The final result is inflammation in many systems of the body with too many calories - which get laid down as unwanted and problem causing fat - and not enough micronutrients.

Statement: Carbohydrates are vital for energy

Evidence: It is well documented that athletes need to "carb load" before their event in order to get through it well. This is because carbohydrates give the most easily available energy and require the least effort for the body to digest into useable molecules (in this instance glucose). Carb loading prior to a physical event gives a boost of energy to the body just when it needs it. This is then used up and not laid down as fat. It also does not have time to spike the blood sugar levels and then cause crashes that would be seen at other times.

Brown vs White

Statement: Brown rice / bread / pasta / flour etc is better than white

Questions:

• Better in what way?

• Better for whom?

Brown is no better than white if you are looking at the sugar conversion (see Sugar Inforgraphics) but might lead to slower conversion of that starch to sugar in some poeple

Brown improves the IBS symptoms of some people, but makes them worse in others

Brown provides important amino acids you may not get elsewhere if you are vegan, but is of little to no importance for this in a meat eater's diet.

Fats

Statement: Animal Fat is bad for us

Questions:

• Which animal fat? - pork fat is notoriously hard to digest, goose fat very easy.

• How is it being cooked? - using ghee, goose fat or beef dripping may in fact be preferable to using vegetable oils at high heat due to the chemical reactions that take place as an oil burns / browns.

• Is it from an organically reared animal? - a lot of growth hormone given to intensively reared animals ends up in the fat - and this we do not want to consume, but pasture fed organically reared animals will have fat that contains many fat soluble micronutrients and many important fatty acids

I know that this is a huge topic. The confusion felt by so many is real and understandable. We are all individuals and we all probably need to eat slightly differently. a good guide is to get to know how your body feels after different foods. Questions I recommend people ask themselves are:

How long do you stay full after eating that?

How is your gut feeling after eating that?

How much energy do you have 30 mins after that?

How well do you sleep after eating that?

Do you have any aches / pains / stiffness the day after eating that?

I understand it can be overwhelming, and to start with it can be hard to hear our own body telling us it's needs - however it is something we can all learn and it does get easier with time.

If you feel you need help getting started I can help you to find what is most likely to work for you through my thorough and holistic approach to managing your current health and your future health goals.

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