Have you ever considered dieting? Have you ever been on a diet? Are you curious about what dieting entails? If yes, then read on as we explore: what diet really means, the right way to dieting and how some diets can be dangerous to your health.
Diet refers to the type of foods that is eaten habitually by a person or a group of people over a period of time. For example, the typical Nigerian diet includes starchy foods such as rice, fufu, amala, and garri; tomatoes, vegetables, and oils among others.
Dietary modifications can be made by a Nutritionist-Dietitian when needed in response to a health challenge and this would constitute a new diet. An example of this is the low protein diet where a person reduces the amount of protein rich foods in their diet to a specified quantity.
‘Dieting’ is a popular term used for situations where a person regulates their food intake or changes their diet so that they can lose, maintain or gain weight. The most popular reason why people go on a diet is to lose weight. Due to this, different diets and modes of dieting have become popular especially on social media. Some examples are the ketogenic diet ‘keto’, detox diet, juice diet, water diet/fasting, intermittent fasting, gluten free diet and Atkins diet. These diets are not advised as they have extreme dietary restrictions and are not sustainable in the long term. They also lack the adequate amount of nutrients needed to meet the needs of the body. To avoid unhealthy diets and practices, here are some points to bear in mind if you want to go on a diet for weight loss purposes:
- Avoid fad diets: These are also known as popular diets. Just because a diet is recognized as the fastest and best approach to weight loss on social media does not make it evidence based. The ketogenic diet popularly known as keto has been quite the sensation on social media. This diet is high in fat and low in carbohydrate. In clinical practice, the ketogenic diet is prescribed for patients with intractable seizures as one of the ways of therapy. However, using it as a weight loss diet is not advised because it contains a large amount of fat which would increase the risk of developing dyslipidemia and ultimately heart disease in the long run.
- Avoid diets with extreme restriction: the water diet/ water fasting ask people to drink only water for a few days and start eating only fruits and vegetables when they notice weight loss. The detox diets ask people to drink only particular juices for a period of time. Although people would lose weight while on these diets as they are extreme forms of calorie restrictions, it lacks the nutrients needed by the body for optimal functioning and has also been associated with fatigue, malnutrition, dizziness and electrolyte imbalance. These diets are not sustainable and most often participants gain the weight back when they stop.
- Avoid diets that try to eliminate all types of food e.g. no carbohydrate, no fats or no protein.
- Avoid diets that require you to take only pre packaged meal replacement drinks or eat only a particular food. For example, a diet plan that asks you to take only a particular ‘health drink’ and no other food is risky.
- Choose an adequate diet: Choose a diet that has a balanced approach to food and nutrition; which promotes calorie restriction while ensuring that the diet contains carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals the body needs to function. These are gotten from the food groups such as cereals and grain, legumes and nuts, tubers, fruits and vegetables, milk,meat and fish. A healthy diet will not blacklist a particular food group but would focus on portion control.
- Do speak with a health professional before dieting. A dietitian is best suited for this as they can give advice on healthy diet and how to make proper meal plans.
Most importantly, the healthiest approach to ‘dieting’ is to make small and healthy changes that fit your lifestyle while ensuring that your nutritional needs are met.
