Stop overcomplicating nutrition!

Get back to basics and feel better for the long haul

Christiano Pinto via Unsplash

The science is clear: diets don’t work¹. If you want to lose weight, perform better, feel great, and live a long, healthy life, don’t diet. Let me say that again: don’t diet! Restricting food groups, precisely measuring macros, obsessing over specific phytochemicals, and engineering meals with the perfect number of calories is not the answer. In fact, there isn’t “an answer.” Whatever the current diet trend is (this week, it seems to be keto) isn’t a free ticket to perfect health. Developing a sustainable, enjoyable, healthful way of eating takes intention and patience — and trial and error.

What’s wrong with diets?

A diet is a prescribed type and/or amount of food. Despite the consistent allure of a one-size-fits-all plan, diets aren’t good for health²! Let’s look at why.

1. Following complicated plans takes enormous mental energy and isn’t sustainable for most people. Whether it’s calculating nutrient ratios or figuring out what you can eat at the party without being “bad,” all this thought has an opportunity cost — the rest of your life. Have you ever started a diet or a health kick only to abandon it a few days, weeks, or months in? It probably took too much energy to keep it up.
2. Food serves many purposes besides providing nutrients; denying yourself the social and pleasure aspects of food can undermine health and wellness³.
3. Nutrition research is notoriously tricky: short-term studies often lack relevance to real-world conditions, so relying on such studies for decision-making is iffy. Long-term cohort studies lack the ability to isolate key variables, so findings from this kind of research are best taken as general guidance and not a specific prescription. This is compounded by methodological concerns like how food intake and metabolism are measured and what outcomes are reported. Plenty of studies cited by diet evangelists weren’t even conducted with humans. The science is helpful in a general sense, but it isn’t perfect! A diet that’s “evidence-based” isn’t necessarily right for you.
4. Conflicts of interest are rampant in how we are socialized to view food and how food is bought, sold, and advertised. Even nutrition research is riddled with bias⁴. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans come not from a professional organization of dieticians but rather from the Department of Agriculture. Government subsidies keep corn and animal products affordable, while many find fresh vegetables and fruits out of reach. Sporting events are sponsored by beer and soda manufacturers. With all this background noise, it’s very difficult to judge the quality of nutrition information you’re taking in.

Back to basics

Have you ever seen someone writing a $10,000 road bike, but their technique is poor, and their fitness isn’t really there? They’re going for the sexy quick-fix — buying some speed in the form of carbon-fiber — but they’d get a lot more bang for their buck with some extra training. The same principle applies to nutrition. Nail the basics first — then you can play with fancy hacks and tweaks if you want to.

The basics are, as Michael Pollan memorably wrote: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants⁵. Translated into practical guidance, this means to eat whole, unprocessed foods, including a variety of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. If you do this, you don’t have to worry about the lycopene in tomatoes, the non-heme iron in spinach, or the grams of protein in your beans. These compounds occur in healthful combinations in the food you eat, and your body utilizes them, and you are nourished.

If whole plant foods are the basis of your diet, it is difficult to eat too much, and if you eat a variety of foods, you will reap the benefit of a variety of phytonutrients, whether or not you know their names. There are plenty of different ways to eat within this basic framework, and that’s a good thing! You can choose what works best for your body and your life.

This seems too simple.

Simple doesn’t mean easy. If it sounds like this can’t possibly be enough advice, stop and ask yourself if you’re really following it. Did you eat vegetables with every meal today? Are you eating a lot of packaged food or restaurant food? Are you trying new things regularly? Are you eating excess food because you’re bored or tired, or upset? Approach yourself with curiosity, and see if you can move closer to consistently nailing the basics. This is where you might benefit from working with a health coach.

If you’re truly eating mostly whole plant foods already, and you’re eating an amount that nourishes your body, awesome! You have my permission to experiment with different styles of eating. Curious about a trend or protocol you’ve seen? Maybe you seek out higher-protein foods and find this keeps you feeling full longer. Maybe you experiment with different kinds of fats and see if your brain feels sharper. The key to this approach is flexibility: try something, and see how it works for you. Pay attention to your response, and if you need to change something, do! The diet won’t care, I promise.

References

1. Pietilainen, K., Saarni, S., Kaprio, J., & Rissanen, A. (2012). Does dieting make you fat? A twin study. International Journal of Obesity, 36(3). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21829159/
2. Memon, A. et al. (2020). Have our attempts to curb obesity done more harm than good? Cureus, 12(9). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33042711/
3. Rozin, P. (2005). The meaning of food in our lives: A cross-cultural perspective on eating and well-being. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 37. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16246277/
4. Soares, M. et al. (2019). Conflict of interest in nutrition research: An editorial perspective. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 73. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31485036/
5. Pollan, M. (2009). In Defense of Food: And Eater’s Manifesto. New York: Penguin. https://michaelpollan.com/books/in-defense-of-food/