Join this debate!

 

For people who don’t have to follow a special diet which is related to a medical condition, I
believe that the only way to achieve and maintain a healthy weight is to create your own
healthy, balanced diet. I am going to consider some reasons why I think that some people
prefer to try commercially-marketed diets, appetite suppressant pills, or even cosmetic
surgery, rather than simply eating a balanced diet and increasing their level of exercise. I
would like as many people as possible to respond to my arguments, and let me know if they
have any other reasons for not creating their own balanced diet.

Some people don’t think that they can lose weight by just eating a balanced diet:

Eating a balanced diet means eating a normal amount of food. We must eat a combination of
different types of foods which will provide us with all the nutrients that we need to maintain our
health, and the appearance of our hair, skin, and nails, and we mustn’t eat or drink too much
of anything which can cause weight gain or medical problems. If a person is overweight, then
they are eating and/or drinking an above normal amount of the types of food and drinks which
cause weight gain. So eating a balanced diet must result in weight loss for those people who
are currently overweight.

Some people want to lose weight fast, and they think that fad diets, slimming pills, or
surgery are the best options:

Fad diets can certainly result in rapid weight loss. However, in order to do that, the diet must
involve a drastic reduction in food intake, which will be unsustainable and result in weight
being regained as hunger and food cravings occur. Anybody who takes appetite-suppressant
pills will not be eating enough food to provide them with the nutrients that they need, which
may result in a deterioration in their health and appearance if the pills are taken for more than
a short time, and that person will start to regain weight when they stop taking the pills anyway.
Many people are not happy with the results of their weight loss surgery, and regret having it
done. Deaths due to complications during weight loss surgery are occurring in every country
where that kind of surgery is performed. Eating a balanced diet will result in a healthy, free,
permanent, weight loss. Many people spend years trying various methods to lose weight,
including the risky options of pills and surgery, when they may as well have spent the time
eating a simple balanced diet in the first place.

Government websites often display a plate or pyramid to illustrate that a balanced diet
should include different types of foods in the proportions shown, but it can be difficult
to relate the picture of basic raw foods to a real-life diet. Additional information about
protein, carbohydrates, the percentage of fat in relation to calories, etc. may also be
off-putting to many people:

A balanced diet can be based on any national, regional, or ethnic cuisine. The Mediterranean
diet is an example of a balanced diet based on a particular regional cuisine. The key feature
of any balanced diet is that it does not contain an excessive amount of fat, particularly
saturates, or ‘added’ sugar, and it includes a variety of fruits and vegetables. Everybody
should aim to consume less than 50 grams of ‘added’ sugar per day. However, the amount of
fat we each need to maintain our health and appearance varies from person to person,
according to age, height, level of activity, and other factors which make us all unique. It isn’t
necessary to have a degree in nutrition for a person to be able to create their own balanced
diet, based on their own tastes and lifestyle, but they do need to gain enough knowledge to
ensure that they are consuming the amount of fat that is right for them, and that they are
consuming that fat from nutritious foods.

There is a continuous stream of academic research about what we should eat, when
we should eat it, what foods are ’super-foods’, and thousands of other diet-related
topics. This results in ongoing confusion about what a healthy diet actually is:

It is the job of scientists to publish research. It is how they establish their status in their
chosen field. A lot of research these days includes words like ‘probably’ or ‘likely’, and not
much research includes words like ‘this research proves conclusively’. Most diet research
soon disappears from the news within a short time, so you may as well just stick with your
own balanced diet.

I await your responses!

 

Barbz

(unfortunately my replies to comments will show me as chebarbz, which I chose to make my domain name unique) 

TIP:

If you crave for something sweet and chocolatey, try stirring some organic cocoa into a pot of HiPP organic ‘Purely Fruits’, apple and banana version. The puree doesn’t contain any ‘added’ sugar, and cocoa only contains slightly over 1 gram of fat (slightly over 1/2 gram saturates) per level teaspoon. One or two teaspoons of cocoa stirred into the puree will result in a dessert which looks like chocolate mousse, but without much fat, and no ‘added’ sugar. HiPP fruit purees are shelved with baby foods in UK supermarkets, but there should be something similar in other countries. Of course, you can also make your own pureed fruit mixture.

 

This tip is taken from The Stress-free Diet   which gives info and suggestions for meals and snacks to help people to create their own healthy diet. It’s a free site – UK based, but people in other countries should find the general info useful.