What is a "diet?"

What does the word, "diet" mean to you? Well if you do a quick Google search for the definition, the first one will tell you that a diet is "the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats." Simply put, your diet is what you eat.

Why the vocabulary lesson? It is because as the Earth has rotated and the time has past us by, I feel that that definition has changed and we have lost focus. Here's what I mean: Definition number 2 of the Google search of the word, "diet" states that it is "a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons." This definition is what is focused upon the most by mainstream media. This is what is called a "fad diet."

What is the problem with this definition and why should I care? Well this will require some brain power. The reason can be found simply by asking yourself why you care about a "diet (fad diet)" in the first place. Is it because you want to lose weight or those "ten pounds?" Is it because you want to lost body fat? Is it because you don't fit your clothes anymore, your unhappy with the way you look, or you are developing medical issues? Whatever led you to seek out a "diet," more than likely you are going off of the mentality of definition number 2.

---

Maintainability/Reality

So for the sake of argument and so we don't confuse the true meaning of "diet," let's refer to definition number 2 as "fad diet." That is what it is. It is what is in style for the time. That is why there are so many.

Now, let me ask you some more questions: How many fad diets have you tried? How many have worked and most importantly, are you still on one? How long will you be on it? If your answer to that last one is anything other "forever," there is the reason you should care. Maintainability is the reason that fad diets do not last nor do they work. Don't misunderstand. I am not saying that you won't get results from one, but unfortunately it will be as temporary as the duration of time you are on it. Do you only want temporary results? Do you want your hard effort of calorie restriction, depriving yourself of foods that you find delicious, or eating food you find offensive to gain results only to have them ripped away from you?

If your answer is "no," then you may want to reconsider going on a fad diet and focus more on definition number 1. With that definition, you are more focused on the type of food you eat and learning a technique called moderation and making lifestyle changes. True moderation varies from person to person depends on their goals. I say "true" because there are those individuals who try to rationalize how eating their sugary vices contain enough nutritional value to eat it every single day and call it moderation. Is this you?

---

Cheat Meal vs Treat Meals

By now, I'm sure we've all heard of "cheat meals" and maybe you yourself have engaged in that activity. I'm not here to judge you for them because they can work for some people. Keep in mind that everyone is different. My question to you is: How many are you having per week? The answer to that question will speak volumes about how your results are coming along and also about how your life in general is going. We are going back to definition 2 again for reference. No one likes restrictions. Think back, however many years is ago it was, when you were a kid and were told that you couldn't have or do something. How did it make you feel? Were you rebellious against that command? Did it make you crave it more? You can find videos on YouTube where kids were tested this way with food, but gave into their baser instincts or underdeveloped willpower to do the opposite of what was instructed. So naturally if you were never taught self control or almost never practiced development of your willpower, you therefore become virtually powerless against life's sweetest temptations. You see this with food, infidelity, sports, school, and other temptations.

What does this have to do with my food? If you've never grown out of the that "cheater" or sneaky mentality as it pertains to your life, it will translate into your nutritional habits as well. You may not say it aloud but you will think similar to, "Oh it's just this one time, it won't hurt anything" or "No one will know." WRONG! YOU will know and it will show. You will continue to literally wear your shame because you will either not get the results you seek, be it you "break even" on the calories you put in versus the calories you put out or you end up gaining more weight on top of what you failed to lose.

So how do we solve this mentality? There are a number of different ways. First of all, like any addict, you have to admit that there is a problem. Then, once you come to grips with it, you can start to change the way you see and speak things. In this case, one thing that can help is to start using the phrase "TREAT meal." Think about the way people typically think of a treat. To keep it simple, let's use a domesticated pet, for example; a dog. A well cared for dog will be served it's common every day meals and gets taken for regular exercise. Occasionally, it gets trained a new trick and gets tested on maintaining those new tricks. With the occasional training, as a reward, the dog gets a treat outside of the common meal choices. The dog knows how amazing the uncommon treat tastes so therefore he/she wants it more. It is up to the pet owner to dictate the frequency of often the dog gets that treat. This can be a better way of thinking, getting used to the idea treating yourself OCCASIONALLY. Now granted some dog owners go way overboard on the rewarding their companion. We see this a lot where the dog ends up getting fat, sluggish, and/or lazy due to overfeeding because they think that the dog "deserves it" for every good deed. If this is not a clear example of the rationalization of moderation, I don't know what is.

It is important to not get into trouble is having too frequent "treat meals" and losing focus on the occasional part. That is where development on willpower comes into play. Start small and practice, practice, practice! Focus on the incline or progression of your lifestyle changes. There are plenty of tools online these days to help as well. The biggest thing is listening to your body and how it feels. Many times you don't even really crave what you think you crave. Many times it is that you just need to drink a big glass of water because you are actually closer to dehydration than you think. If you struggle with cravings, what if you made valid effort to ween yourself off of that vice or at least cut back on it. If you are over-treating yourself, let's say every day. Start by cutting back to every other day. Then eventually once a week. Then every two. Maybe you can get down to once a month. If it is something very harmful to you, you definitely want to keep up that process until it is no longer a part of your life. Some food addictions, you can gauge the frequency based off of your goals.

HELPFUL LINKS:

FitMen Cook

https://youtu.be/vYeJUtMCAzc

Dr. Eric Berg

https://youtu.be/7VhvSmY9qss