Mindful Eating versus Fad Diets

Mindful Eating versus Fad Diets

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As we move forward with this article on Mindful Eating versus fad diets, I would like to review some of the parts we have covered in the previous mindful eating articles here on ProKensho, and then put them together and take a look at the whole.

I want to take the specifics of the building blocks of the science of nutrition and see how it can work for us in our day-to-day life.

So now, let’s move forward and look at how our diet as a way of eating is a way of living. It can support us on our journey in the pursuit of lifelong health. But first let’s take a look at some of the exclusion diets, what I consider to be fad diets because this is where I have many serious concerns.



Let’s first take a look at them:



Low-Carbohydrate Diet

The low carbohydrate diet is sometimes known as the zero-carbohydrate diet. These diets severely restrict carbohydrate intake, and carbs are replaced with proteins and fats.

Now the extreme form of nearly no carbs at all works by forcing you into a diabetic-like state. The energy production from the glucose takes a minimum of about 100 grams of carbohydrate to prime the Krebs cycle.

So the 100 grams of carbohydrate are the match and lights the fire in your furnace, without it the body switches to burning fat. And this is very nice to most of us who want to lose fat selectively without losing muscle, and that’s why it’s so popular.



But when you do that, the body behaves like a diabetic who hasn’t taken his insulin, and that’s not good. Because then you can go into what’s called Ketoacidosis.

When you selectively burn the products are no longer the clean burn that you get from the water, glucose, and carbon dioxide. But instead, what is known as very acidic ketone bodies, and in extreme cases, they could cause serious illness and even death from acidosis.

Remember that body likes to maintain its PH just a little on the outline side of neutral, and any big changes could be fatal. At the minimum, you are not gonna feel very good.

Now, most people are on a low-carb diet, don’t go that far. But in my opinion, it’s just still not a healthy way to lose weight.



The factors that result in weight loss on this kind of diet are:

  1. Initial weight loss due to to-
  2. Water loss
  3. Calorie reduction
  4. Appetite loss from ketoacidosis


If you use diets at all, I would like to recommend that absolutely should be under medical care, and even then, I would continue having a very strong reservation about this kind of diet. And many healthcare professionals think it’s not a healthy and a good one.

Note: Very low-carb diets should always have medical supervision and last for less than a year.

(Related: Eating Well: Yoga Poses for Mindful Eating)



Low-Fat Diets

The other diets that are very popular are low-fat kinds of diets. It’s the same story, and there is no magic bullet. If you lower fat intake, you’re gonna effectively lower calories because fat has twice the collared value per gram than proteins and carbohydrates have.



Note: Low-fat diets decrease calories because fat has twice the calories/gm of proteins and carbohydrates.

But the body can interconvert most nutrients and make exactly what it needs and wants. It’ll do what it wants, and it won’t follow your diet.

So selective restriction of any of the main Macronutrient like proteins, fats, and carbohydrates will not fool the body.  Remember, if you eliminate all the fats, you’ll be eliminating a lot of the good fats too.

Note: Macronutrient includes protein, fat, and carbohydrates.



Reducing Calories does result in weight loss

Reducing calories does result in weight loss, it’s exactly as we would predict, and one study found that it doesn’t matter which group of the macronutrients you reduce the calories count no matter how you choose to restrict them.

But the new England’s journal newspaper was exclusively speaking to diet in the way we are trying to get away from as a way to lose weight.

Note: Reducing calories results in weight loss.



So, speaking about diet as a method of dropping pounds all three of them can do the same job. The problem is for me to those diets they study the low carb and low fat would be very unhealthy over the long term, and it’s not easily sustainable.

Note: Low-carb and low-fat diets are very unhealthy in the long run and are not easily sustainable.

But when we apply the definition of a diet as a way to live and as a way to eat then the two macronutrients that restricted the way of eating fall very short.



Mediterranean-like Diet

The Mediterranean-like diet comes out on top because of the proportions and quality of its macronutrients. And remember I said Mediterranean-like diet because it’s the proportions of the macronutrients that matter. As well as the quality of those foods, and it’s just not those foods that are found in the culture around the Mediterranean.

As long as you maintain a proper proportion, you’ll come out about the same place in nutrition. So, use a Mediterranean-like diet as a template for any regional and ethnic foods. Its sustainable, healthy, and delicious.



Mediterranean Diet

So let’s take look at the Mediterranean diet itself, and I think this is a way of eating that may be the one that someday replaces all the others. This way of eating has been in the spotlight for over the past several years and is much longer than that.

It’s been named the Mediterranean diet, but it certainly is not limited to Italian foods. Many variations take the principles and apply them to almost any ethnic taste. And it works as a way of eating whole foods and a way to keep us on a path of a sustainable and healthy and well-balanced kind of lifestyle.

The Mediterranean way of eating and foods that are combined to make it up didn’t originate from scientific research or in a laboratory setting, it was discovered by observations pointing to a variety of cultures where the diets were very similar.



And the people in those cultures more often lived ling and healthy and active lives. So once again the scientists noticed the benefits long after what was the equivalent of the clinical trial that had been going on naturally and actually for centuries.

These were the cultures and the diets typical of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. And we are learning that the key to health and longevity is not a magic bullet, but it’s a secret, and it was in plain view all the time. 

“Whole, healthy foods, along with regular exercise, and lifestyle choices are the key to Mindful living.”


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  1. Pingback: Achieving Optimum Well-Being with Mindful Eating - ProKensho

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