Is there a perfect diet?

Is there a perfect diet?

Clients are endlessly searching for the perfect diet that will help them lose weight, feel great, and improve their health, and they want me, to help them find it. While I need to work within their health and fitness parameters, these five guiding principles can help clients refine their food intake and reach their desired goals.

Does the Perfect Diet Exist?

What is the ideal diet? There are numerous books that will try to convince the reader that one diet is superior to another. Unfortunately, no one diet is right for every client. Nutritional needs depend on someone’s age, activity level, health status, genetic makeup, goals, and many other factors. Additionally, as those variables change, so too should their intake. Thus, the perfect diet is one that is in constant flux and meets the current needs of the client. While it may be easier to follow a pre-programmed meal plan, that may not be ideal in the long run. Below are some guiding principles to help clients improve their nutritional intake.

Fresh is Best

Whole, fresh foods are superior to foods that are processed. The nutrition content is higher and there are no added ingredients, preservatives or chemicals, especially if the food is organic.

Processed foods provide sensory overload and nutritional deprivation. These foods contain sugar, salt, preservatives, and other ingredients that do not provide much nutritional value but may stimulate overconsumption of them.

Avoid Demonizing Foods

While fresh foods are a better choice, most clients will still want to consume some of their favourite foods, While these foods do not support optimal health or losing weight, making something off limits can make clients want it more. As the saying goes, we want what we can't have. In fact, telling a someone that they cannot eat a particular food may actually have them consume it more than they otherwise would have.

Encourage consuming more foods that are in line with their goals and less foods that are not. Establish how frequently to include less nutritious foods in their diet and appropriate portion sizes. This will allow people to meet their goals while still enjoying an occasional treat.

Include a Variety of Foods Each Week

Too often, people get caught up in consuming the same foods every day. While this may make it easier to plan and stay consistent, consuming a variety of foods can:

Help avoid developing food intolerances

Provide a wider variety of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients

Lower inflammation in the body

Encourage a diverse gut microbiome, which is associated with better immune functioning.

Encourage yourself to rotate the foods you eat, so you are not consuming the same fruits, vegetables, proteins and fats every day. Many use a four-day rotation diet, in which the same foods are eaten only every four days. This allows you to have some continuity and regularity with your meal planning while also keeping food choices varied. Eating foods in season also assists with variety.

Limit Variety within Each Meal

While variety within an overall nutrition plan is important, keeping meals simple may be better than having too many ingredients at a single setting. Some research has shown that people will consume more when there is a variety of food to choose from. In one study, participants consumed 23% more yogurt when offered three different flavours, rather than just one.

Having yourself focus on eating fresh foods and keeping the options at each meal limited helps keep:

Nutrient density high

Calorie density moderate

Quantity of food consumed reasonable

Eat Local and In Season

With the ability to get almost any food at any time of year, it makes it easy for you to eat the same foods every day. Encourage yourself to eat locally and purchase foods from a farmer’s market. Not only are you supporting your local farmers directly, but you are also buying foods that are in season and are picked at, or close to, their peak ripened state. Foods purchased from other countries are often picked in an unripe state and then chemically gassed to artificially ripen them.

Summing it All Up

There is no such thing as a perfect diet. There is no one plan that will magically help clients meet all of their goals. However, implementing these five guiding principles can help your clients make better food choices and improve the quality of their overall diet. This gives them the freedom to choose foods they enjoy, adjust their food consumption to their bodies’ current needs, and reach their health and fitness goals.

The five principles are:

Fresh is best.

Avoid demonizing foods.

Include a variety of foods each week.

Limit variety within each meal.

Eat local and in season.