Losing weight, maintaining a healthy weight and staying fit to either look better or stay fitter would have been a part of all our resolutions at some point of time. Majority might have it on the list for 2022 too. But how many of you have replaced healthy eating with 'dieting' or 'keto diet' or other popular diets that you have no idea about.
Before you start to work on your resolution list, we are here to convince you why your strict diet resolution or fad diet concept should not be a part of the list or truth be told- it is not at all realistic or healthy. Let's have a quick look on the reasons that might change your mind for the good.
Diet Doesn't Mean You Have to Starve Yourself
People are often confused between dieting and starving. Most of the diets make you either consume less calories than usual or limit the time you can have your food for. It might work for some but it might have negative effect on others. Your body requires calories to provide energy and keep you moving.
Make sure that you do not starve yourself to look a certain way or shed the extra kilos, you can always keep a check on your hunger pangs by eating healthy snacks, drinking more water and increasing the percentage of certain nutrients that keep you full for longer.
Diet Might Give Unsustainable Results
We are pretty sure by now everyone is familiar with 'keto diet' and some must have even tried it at least once. Social media can be proof of how fast people have lost weight with the low protein, high fat, mild protein and low carbs diet but is it a sustainable way to lose weight?
According to US NIH, these strict diets that restrict the nutrients or limit it, help us gain the quick results but one easily loses track after few weeks and start regaining the weight after few months. Such diets also affect the ghrelin and leptin production that might lead to obesity taking all your efforts in vain.
No One Nutrient is Healthy
One common thing that all the diets have in common is that they exclude certain nutrients from the diet while glorifying a couple of others. But these are strictly against the advice of dieticians and nutritionists. All the micronutrients, minerals, fiber and antioxidants are necessary for the body.
According to the PubMed, fiber is essential for smooth digestion, carbs break into glucose to give us energy and protein help in fat loss while repairing muscle loss. It is better to consume fewer calories rather than cutting down any particular nutrient. They all have a role in keeping our body healthy and functioning.
Diets Might Confuse the Muscle Loss for Fat Loss
According to Heathline, what we might assume to be fat loss after few weeks into dieting is actually muscle loss and when start to lose muscle, our body requires less calories which makes weight loss management even tougher.
Men can have up to 1,500 calories per day with women having at least 1200 calories. You can make sure to have enough protein and include weight training in your workout regime to prevent the muscle loss.
They Promote the 'All or Nothing' Approach
A diet has a negative or a strict approach or as we assume it in our head because most of the diet promote the concept of excluding all of our favourite things, limiting our options or cutting down all our sugary foods.
One day of enjoying a dessert after dinner makes us feel guilty and makes us stick to our diet even more, but what is wrong in enjoying your favourite things once in a while. Focus on eating a balanced diet rather than a strict diet that cannot be followed in the longer run. Do not cheat on your healthy diet once in week to eat all healthy for the rest 6 days.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)