This article is a chapter from my book The Life Actionbook: Tools and Actions for Personal Development. The entire book will eventually be available on this website for free in web format, but if you prefer to read it in ebook or physical formats, you can find The Life Actionbook on Amazon.com (affiliate link).
Disclaimer: I wish I could tell you that I’m a doctor, but I can’t. I’m just an inquisitive author with a background in science and a love for practical research. The content of this article is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice. If you want medical advice, ask a real doctor.
Diet Evaluation
When most people think of the word “diet,” they think of eating (or starving) to lose weight. Diet has a much broader meaning. Your diet is the sum of your eating habits. It’s what you regularly put into your body for sustenance.
There is no easy way to measure how good or how bad your diet is. It depends on your health goals and what facts about health you believe to be true. A vegan might believe a Paleo diet to be unhealthy. A powerlifter might believe a vegan diet to be unsuitable to her goals. A marathon runner might criticize a powerlifter’s diet. There is no correct diet for everyone. As a result, the questions in this quiz are subjective. Take a look at your eating habits and answer honestly.
Question 1: How much thought goes into each meal you eat?
Your Answer:
- I eat whatever I want whenever I want: 0 points.
- I try to eat healthy when I can: 1 point.
- I meticulously plan every meal for optimum health: 2 points.
Question 2: How healthy do you think you eat?
Your Answer:
- I’m a junk food addict: 0 points.
- I eat a “normal” diet: 1 point.
- I always eat healthy: 2 points.
Question 3: How healthy does your doctor think you are?
Your Answer:
- My doctor has given me directives for what I should and should not eat: 0 points.
- There are areas of concern that a change of diet can fix (high cholesterol, obesity, etc.): 1 point.
- My doctor says I’m healthy: 2 points.
Add up all your points and see how you fared:
0-2 points: read this article now.
3-4 points: come back to this article later.
5-6 points: skip this article, you’re good.
The Importance of Diet
Sometimes the old clichés are old and overused because they are timeless truths. “You are what you eat” is one such truth. Think of your body as a system that has inputs and outputs. Every moment, you output from your body. Dead skin. Sweat. Heat. And that’s not even mentioning the obvious outputs from your body. Since you cannot create or destroy matter, as per the laws of physics, you must replenish what you lose. Everything you eat or drink becomes new cells in your body or gets purged. In that sense, “you are what you eat” is quite literal.
I’m not here to tell you what you can or can’t eat. Each person has a unique body composition, situation, and goals. An ideal diet for one person can kill another person. Instead, I want to give you a list of ideas to consider when examining the foods you eat. I am not a doctor. If you see an idea you want to try, please discuss it with your doctor before starting.
One more note. Do you ever wonder why there are so many diet books and programs? I’ve tried at least a dozen different diets. They all work if you follow the instructions to the letter. But most people don’t. They bounce around between various weight-loss plans and quit whenever one gets too inconvenient. Changing habits is hard. It’s especially hard in a world where decadent pleasure foods are abundant. But there is a solution. You need an exit plan.
Whenever you make a change to your diet, think of it as a short-term change. Give yourself 30 days to try it. If after 30 days it doesn’t work out, you have permission to quit. It doesn’t even have to be as long as 30 days. Are you thinking of going vegan? Try it for one week. Or even one day. The goal is not all or nothing. The goal is to take action. Eating healthier for one day is better than taking the stagnant path of doing nothing.
Diet Action #1: Make a change to your diet for a week. If you get the results you’re looking for, keep going. If it doesn’t work out, it’s okay to quit after the week.
Nature’s Way
Nature has a reason for everything. Be skeptical of anything that doesn’t exist in nature. You don’t have to shun technology, just be skeptical and weigh the pros and cons. When in doubt, eat whole foods and avoid processed foods. Human beings have been eating natural whole foods for thousands of years. We know for a fact that we can thrive eating foods as they exist in nature. But with processed foods, we tread into unknown territory.
At one extreme is fast food. Fast food is about making money. Fast food companies hire scientists and marketers to formulate the food that you crave. The scientists find cheaper ways of producing enticing foods. The marketers find ways to make you want to buy it. Your health is not their concern (unless showing concern will make them more money).
At the other extreme is the “Paleo” ideology. Paleo stands for the Paleolithic diet, as in, the diet people ate in the Stone Age. The so-called cavemen did not have the means to process foods like we do today. The Paleo diet represents the ultimate natural whole foods diet for humans. Skeptics like to point out that early humans did not live long. Also, there is much we don’t know about how people lived 50,000 years ago.
It might be best for us to find a healthy middle ground somewhere between fast food and Paleo. For me, that means going Paleo when in doubt, but staying informed about new technology. Early humans did not refrigerate their foods or vary their diets. But I am thankful for refrigeration and modern transportation of food. Modern humans like to sweeten and process their foods. But science has also shown that sugar and processing chemicals are harmful to our health. Often, the best course is to avoid the extremes. Extremes are what kill us.
Diet Action #2: What is one food in your diet that may be harming you? Can you replace it with a more healthful, natural alternative?
Healthy Substitutions
Despite our best efforts to adhere to a strict diet, sometimes it is not possible. Maybe you are traveling and can’t find good food on the road. Perhaps you are at a dinner party, and you don’t want to be impolite. Or maybe the foods you eat are out of stock at the grocery store. For these cases, you must learn the art of substitution.
When I was growing up, I loved to drink whole milk. Then people started telling me to drink skim milk because it’s healthier. After drinking whole milk all those years, skim milk tasted like tainted water. Eventually, my mother started buying 2% milk. It tasted about the same, so I got used to it. Then she started buying 1% milk. That tasted about the same as 2% milk, so I got used to it. Then, finally, she began buying skim milk. The skim milk tasted about the same as the 1% milk, and I got used to it. The moral of this story is, don’t change too much at once. You will have better success in changing your diet if you make small substitutions, one item at a time.
Here are a few substitutions you can consider in your diet:
- Milk → unsweetened almond milk
- Meat → tofu
- Bread → whole wheat bread
- Soda → sparkling water
- Fried foods → baked foods
- Juice → water
- Sugary cereals → muesli
Many items on this list may seem obvious. But keep in mind that there is almost always a healthier option for any food you eat. You might opt for a broiled salmon instead of a burger. But was that salmon farm-raised or wild-caught? Even if it was wild-caught, how fresh is it and was it prepared healthfully?
Even if you’re eating the healthiest version of each ingredient, people disagree on what is healthy and what is not. It varies between people and goals. A bodybuilder might tell you soy is bad for you, while a vegan might say otherwise. One nutritionist might say coffee is good, while another might say it’s bad. Depending on your genetic makeup, eating wheat can sustain you, or it can make you weak. You know your body the best. Make changes one substitution at a time and see if you feel better or worse.
Diet Action #3: What food do you eat often? Is there a healthier version of that food? Maybe it’s time to upgrade your diet.
Pick a Diet, Any Diet
Americans spend over $65 billion a year on weight loss (Marketdata Enterprises, 2017). A search for diet books on Amazon.com shows more than 194,000 results. Despite all the advice and spending, Americans still struggle with their weight.
It’s not that the advice is wrong or doesn’t work, it’s that people are terrible at following diets. Let me tell you a secret. Every diet works. You just have to pick one and carefully follow its instructions. Your diet might not work if you combine more than one diet. Your diet won’t work if you fudge the rules. Your diet definitely won’t work if you don’t stick with it.
“Adherence” is the most important word in dieting. When choosing a diet, pick one that you think you can adhere to. A vegetarian diet won’t work for you if you crave steak. Likewise, a vegan diet won’t work for you if you hate eating your veggies. The most effective diet in the world won’t help you lose weight if you refuse to follow it.
Pick a diet you can stick with long-term. Try to find one you can live with for the rest of your life. If the diet doesn’t live up to that high standard, then there’s no point in starting it. You will only lose whatever progress you’ve made once you quit.
Here are a few diets that I’ve either tried with success or look interesting to me:
Diet Action #4: Try the Slow-Carb Diet. This is my favorite diet. The goal of the Slow-Carb Diet is to help your body shed fat while maintaining muscle. In a nutshell, you quit almost all sugars and starches. Meals consist of meat, vegetables, and beans with water as your drink. One day every week, eat whatever you want. For more details, go to tim.blog/2012/07/12/how-to-lose-100-pounds.
Diet Action #5: Try the DASH Diet. According to U.S. News & World Report in 2018, the DASH Diet is the best diet. “DASH” stands for “dietary approaches to stop hypertension.” It is based on creating a healthy eating pattern to lower blood pressure. For more information, visit www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/dash.
Diet Action #6: Try the Paleo Diet. Dr. Loren Cordain developed the original Paleo Diet. The premise is that many human diseases did not exist during the Paleolithic times because our diets were different back then. Dr. Cordain advocates eating mostly seafood and lean meats, with some fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Learn more at his website, www.thepaleodiet.com.
Diet Action #7: Try the Ornish Diet. In this diet, you lose weight by reducing carbohydrates and avoiding fats. The diet allows you to eat all the vegetables, fruits, beans, grains and legumes that you want. You can also have a little low-fat dairy. You avoid all meats, sugars, oily fruits and nuts. To prevent hunger, eat small frequent meals. Exercise and avoiding alcohol is also an essential part of this diet. You can find more information at www.ornish.com/proven-program/nutrition.
Diet Action #8: Try the vegan diet. The vegan diet is simple to understand. Avoid all animal products. Obviously, that means you don’t eat meat. But it’s less obvious that you also avoid dairy products, eggs, honey, and gelatin. An excellent resource for more information is www.vrg.org/nutshell/vegan.htm.
Your Diet is All in Your Head
A diet is a state of mind more than anything else. It’s a set of rules to help you decide what to eat. It’s willpower to help you make the right choices. It’s faith that sacrifice now will be worthwhile later.
A diet is not something you can pack into a box and sell from the shelves at a store. It really is all in your head. To diet successfully, you need the right mindset. That includes the right habits, willpower, and a bit of stubborn persistence.
You might have tried and failed in the past. I would guess that you failed because you didn’t want it bad enough. You don’t just wake up one morning and decide to get in the best shape of your life. There’s always a trigger. There’s always a moment when you realize you’re in bad shape and you will no longer sit idly. It’s time to do something about it. You have to diet for the right reasons, and the right reasons are always selfish. Dieting for other people doesn’t work. You have to decide for yourself that you’re out of shape and you’re not going to take it anymore.
In practice, dieting comes down to habits. You eat the way you do today because of habit. If you drink a can of soda with every dinner, that’s a habit. If you drink a cup of coffee every morning, that’s another habit. Every choice you make for eating and drinking comes from the practices you’ve developed over the years. To change your food choices, you have to change your habits.
Habits are hard to change. Sometimes that’s a good thing, and other times it’s bad. That’s where willpower comes in. It takes some measure of willpower to change a habit. If you want to start drinking water with every dinner, you need willpower. Your mind tells you to drink soda, but your force of will tells you to drink water. Which side will win? That’s the struggle everyone faces when trying to change habits. It’s an internal battle. You must always remind yourself that your will is strong. Meditation and visualization can help here. Do what works for you.
Diet Action #9: Meditate for five minutes before each meal. Strengthen your resolve to eat healthier. Visualize how healthy you will be if you stick with your diet. Be mindful of the food you eat and its effects on your body.
Hacks
You can trick yourself into eating healthy. Since habit dictates much of how you eat, you can hack your diet by throwing some roadblocks in front of bad habits. Here are a few hacks you can try for short-circuiting your bad eating habits:
Diet Action #10: Eat the healthiest foods first. Most meals include several different dishes. Instead of going for the appetizers or tastiest foods first, eat the healthiest foods first. Eat all the vegetables from your plate before moving on to the other stuff.
Diet Action #11: Use herbs and spices for flavor. Most herbs and spices are just strong-tasting vegetables. Use them instead of sugars, oils, salts, and garnishes.
Diet Action #12: Plan meals in advance. You don’t make the healthiest decisions when you’re hungry. Pack your lunches to work. Decide your meals before you buy food. Make a shopping list before grocery shopping. Look at the menu and decide on what to eat before sitting down at a restaurant.
Diet Action #13: Fast. Fasting is not eating for an extended period. There are all kinds of benefits to fasting, including starving cancer cells. The easiest way to do it is to stop eating once the sun sets. Don’t eat again at least until the sun rises. If you want to fast for longer, don’t eat again until lunch the next day.
Diet Action #14: Practice mindful eating. Take your time when you eat. Chew slowly. Think about each bite you take. How does your body feel? Are you full yet? When you slow down your eating, you will eat less unnecessary food.
Diet Action #15: Substitute extra veggies for the carbs. Restaurants often serve bread or rice alongside your main dish. To skip the carbohydrates, ask them if you can have vegetables instead. If they want to charge you extra, either accept the charges or see if they can at least give you some extra veggies. If you are on a low-carb diet, the extra hassle or expense will be worth it.
Diet Action #16: Use smaller plates. Dan Buettner, the author of The Blue Zones, introduces a simple solution. Use smaller plates. Eating on smaller plates creates an illusion of more substantial portions. It tricks your brain to give you satisfaction with less food.
Diet Action #17: Keep no junk food in the house. We eat what is convenient when we are hungry. The most convenient food is often junk food. Make a rule that junk food is not welcome in your home. You can eat it outside your home, but don’t store junk food in your house. Doing this will remove the convenience factor of the junk food. You will eat less of it as a result.
Diet Action #18: Cook for several days at a time. Cook many servings of food at once. Refrigerate or freeze the extra food. Aside from the initial preparation, healthy meals become quick and convenient.
Diet Action #19: Drink a big glass of water before meals. Not only does it make you feel full faster, but it also ensures you drink enough water during the day.
Supplements
If you are changing your diet to lose weight, many supplements can help you. While there is no magic pill for losing weight, some supplements work well alongside diet and exercise. Here are a few popular choices:
Diet Action #20: Drink green tea. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is a compound found in green tea. Research shows that it increases metabolism. You can get it by taking green tea extract pills or by drinking green tea.
Diet Action #21: Drink caffeinated beverages. There is no conclusive evidence showing that caffeine can help you lose weight, but it makes sense that it can help. Caffeine is an appetite suppressant and appears to increase calorie burning. Be careful though. Caffeine is a drug. Like any drug, it comes with side effects, including jitters and upset stomach. Also be aware that many drinks and foods containing caffeine also contain a lot of sugar that can offset any benefits.
Diet Action #22: Take hydroxycitric acid (HCA). HCA is a derivative of citric acid that is believed to increase metabolism. Garcinia cambogia extract is the most common source of HCA.
Diet Action #23: Try chitosan. Chitosan is derived from the chitin shells of shrimp and other crustaceans. It appears possible that chitosan can help with weight loss, but so far there is no research to back up the claims.
Diet Action #24: Take conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). CLA is found mostly in meat and dairy products. Lab tests have shown some promising effects of CLA for weight loss, but the evidence is still insufficient.
Diet Action #25: Take whey protein. A by-product of cheese production is whey protein. It is an excellent source of protein and branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). There is scientific evidence showing that the compounds in whey protein may help with weight loss and muscle gain.
Tools
Diet Action #26: Track your nutrition with apps. MyFitnessPal and Lose It! are smartphone apps that help you track your food and exercise. Both apps have barcode scanners that make calorie counting much more manageable. They also both have active online communities.
Diet Action #27: Use a food scale. The nutrition information on the back of your food packages is useless unless you know how many servings you’re eating. A kitchen food scale comes in handy for portion control and calorie counting.
Diet Action #28: Make healthy smoothies. The quickest way to get all your nutrition is to throw it all into a blender and drink it as a smoothie. Use a blender to blend up all the fruits and vegetables you need for the day. You can even add sweeteners, powders, and oils to the mix to make your smoothies more palatable.
Diet Action #29: Use a mister and steamer. If you’re avoiding fat, use an oil mister while cooking. Using a steamer for cooking can also cut down on the amount of oil you consume.
Diet Action #30: Carry a water bottle around so you can always stay hydrated. Drinking lots of water also prevents you from getting hungry and keeps you alert.
Diet Action #31: Keep a food journal. Most people don’t appreciate how much food they eat each day. Keeping a food journal will make you conscious of how much food you eat each day. You can use any notebook as a food journal, but make sure you choose one that you can carry around easily.
Diet Action #32: Get your genome mapped. 23andme offers personal genetic testing at prices that are affordable to most Americans. Once you get your results, you can upload your data to the genetics tool at www.foundmyfitness.com or www.promethease.com for interpretation. It can yield insights on what diet is optimal for you.
Resources
Diet Action #33: Read books on nutrition. Here are some popular choices:
- The 4-Hour Body, by Timothy Ferriss.
- Wheat Belly, by William Davis MD
- The Obesity Code, by Jason Fung
- How Not to Die, by Michael Greger MD and Gene Stone
- The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II
Diet Action #34: Get some good cookbooks and use them:
- Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook, by Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison
- The Keto Diet, by Leanne Vogel
- The Whole30, by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig
- Well Fed: Paleo Recipes for People Who Love to Eat, by Melissa Joulwan
- Forks Over Knives – The Cookbook, by Del Sroufe
Diet Action #35: Check out these online resources:
- U.S. News & World Report annual best diet rankings
- CDC Healthy Weight Tools
- American Heart Association
- Ketogenic Diet Resource
- USDA MyPlate
- Eat Right, by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
- WebMD Diet Resources
Diet Action #36: Listen to diet and nutrition podcasts:
- The Nutrition Diva’s Quick and Dirty Tips, with Monica Reinagel
- The Paleo Solution Podcast, with Robb Wolf
- The Ultimate Health Podcast, with Dr. Jesse Chappus and Marni Wasserman
- Optimal Health Daily, with Dr. Neal Malik
- The Keto Diet Podcast, with Leanne Vogel
- Food Psych Podcast, with Christy Harrison
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