What diet to you subscribe to? Vegan? Paleo? Zone? Atkins? How do you choose? Nutrition expert, Kristin Diversi, helps you navigate it all.
I was a vegan on and off (but mostly on) for about eight years.
Like most vegans, I was pretty vocal about it. I shared articles on Facebook. I tried to convince my family, friends, and lovers, that they too would see the enormous benefits of a vegan diet.
And if you were to argue with someone very dedicated to their vegan ways? Whew. Forget about it. You had to be prepared to be attacked on every level.
In my vegan journey, I did my homework. I went to lots of conferences, and even got to meet T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study. I researched scientific journals. I walked the walk.
I truly believed that a vegan diet was the answer to obesity, heart disease, cancer, autoimmune diseases, environmental problems, and even a host of political problems too.
And you know what? I wasn’t entirely wrong. There are benefits to consuming a vegan diet: largely, dodging obesity, heart disease, cancer, and autoimmune problems, to name a few. The environmental impact of a vegan diet cannot be denied either. And the political problems that a meat driven diet present? They affect how our children eat in schools, why more small farms fail every year, and why a fast food burger costs more than a salad.
But I wasn’t entirely right, either. And it took me eight years to find that I had very little ability to retain muscle mass (though this is not often the case in well planned vegan diets), near constant fatigue, and a fatty liver before I started to question my personal reasons for being vegan. Was I examining all angles? Weighing the research? Truly exploring the science and the methods?
I wasn’t. So I made a switch. I learned a lot from my husband, a weight lifter with years of different experiences in nutrition, exercise science, and fitness. I read books that didn’t have a vegan focus. I tried new diets, eliminating here, adding there. I asked people what worked for them, how they felt, and gave their recommendations a try too.
Through the last few years, I’ve compiled more research. I’ve learned more about our bodies and how we all uniquely process foods. I’ve learned about the impact of farming on the environment and the political structure of our country. And at the end of it all, I’ve come to this conclusion:
There is no right answer that applies to everyone.
The Japanese are touted for having one of the healthiest diets in the world, and it’s completely different from a vegan, Paleo diet, or Standard American Diet (SAD). And it works great for a lot of the people that follow it.
Similarly, the Mediterranean Diet is also a fantastic way of living. For some.
Closer to home, I have a dear friend who swears by the Whole 30. I’ve heard from people who follow it that it has helped their health and has helped them to learn a baseline for how they need to eat in order to achieve their best personal health. The Whole 30 also touts benefits such as blood pressure and triglyceride reduction, prevention of stroke, ischaemic heart disease and type 2 diabetes, improved glycemic control and insulin sensitivity. It may even help to heal leaky gut.
I decided to try the Whole 30, and am currently on Day 11. It’s not super easy. But it’s not incredibly difficult either. And I’m learning a lot.
If you find yourself lost in the sea of dietary theories, wondering what diet is right for you, based on my experience, I think the best piece of advice is this:
Find a diet/lifestyle/way of living that is right for your body, one that makes your body feel awesome and healthy every day. No one else’s.
You get one body. Treat it like a friend.
About the author:
Kristin Diversi is a star child, born and bred in rural New Jersey and currently enjoying the good coffee and fried chicken in Durham, North Carolina. Kristin has a bunch of education, but it took her eleven years of school and work experience to do absolutely nothing related to any of her degrees. Find the things that make you come alive- and go do them. Find her at her blog, on Twitter, or on Facebook!
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Photo credit: Flickr/AlanCleaver
I had tried going Vegan before (and Vegetarian) several times, and never stuck to it for long. The problem with the American approach to vegetarianism is that it simply replaces the meat that forms the centerpiece of the SAD diet with a meat substitute. The result is not satisfying for someone who enjoys food for more than mere sustenance. So two years ago I hit upon the idea of cooking daily the authentic Indian foods that I loved so much at vegetarian Indian restaurants. It is a lot of work in the kitchen, and many of the ingredients can only… Read more »