The “Exclusive” vs “Inclusive” Mindset While Dieting: Here’s Why You Need to Choose The Latter

Egis R.
In Fitness And In Health
4 min readApr 25, 2022

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Image by the author

Why are there so many people failing to lose and maintain weight loss? Simple: Because they focus on excluding foods that aren’t high in micronutrients aka “bad” foods instead of including foods high in micronutrients.

When people decide to lose weight they do what any sane person would do:

Google → the most popular diets + the best before and after pictures = start eliminating “bad/dirty/unhealthy” foods left and right from their diets.

Think of any popular diet and it will be based on the exclusion of particular “bad” foods or “fattening” macronutrients:

Keto reduces carbohydrate intake to no more than 50g/day for no reason at all. Paleo excludes dairy products, legumes, & grains based on prehistoric speculation. Carnivore excludes vegetables, fruits, grains, seeds, legumes, & nuts ‘cos carnivore folks are nuts. Alkaline excludes wheat, pasta, meat, fish, dairy, tea, coffee, sugar, alcohol, etc. because… reasons?
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The problem is that this “exclusive” mindset leads to a rigid diet of only “good/clean/healthy” foods which can then lead to developing an unhealthy relationship with food. In research, rigid dieting is highly associated with eating disorder symptoms. The 2002 study found that:

“Individuals who engage in rigid dieting strategies reported symptoms of an eating disorder, mood disturbances, and excessive concern with body size/shape.”

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Egis R.
In Fitness And In Health

I’m Egis, an online weight loss coach who has heightened BS sensors for fitness & nutrition. Only evidence-based & sustainable fat loss. www.absscience.com