Do you find that you are prone to all the thought? Something is either black or white, good or bad, wrong or right? I think we are all prone to this kind of binary thinking, at a variety of degrees, and most cases that are not good. Why? Because you find it difficult to hug the gray areas, find the middle path or be fine with “good enough”, it can hinder your health and happiness. And this includes when we are all or nothing about nutrition, perhaps because we are looking for optimal diet.
Nutrition culture is built with binary thought. A food is healthy or not healthy, complying or not complying … good or bad. But funny how no one seems to agree on the rules. Whether you use magazine articles, books, social media influences or celebrity doctors as references, a food or type of food – let’s use fruit as an example – a place may be sophisticated and demonized in another.
Even the titles report that legitimate scientific research can contribute to Whiplash dietTo deal with the benefits of a vegetable diet (so much higher carbohydrates) one day, then the KETE diet (very low carbohydrate) the next one. Let’s see why this is happening
Diet is not a size-it hits everything
When considering nutrition research, there is a reason for seemingly opposite results: there are many ways of consumption that can benefit our health. I will offer some warnings:
- Randomized controlled diet studies (the gold standard) is studied for the short -term (anywhere from a few weeks to months) because it is expensive to run. These studies May be able to tell you if a particular diet reduces blood pressure, blood sugar or some other “intermediate” health index, But they cannot tell you if people who follow this diet will be less likely to develop heart disease or diabetes down the road.
- Long -term Studies examining people following a particular diet model and how likely they are to develop chronic diseases are observation (epidemiological), so researchers I can’t prove the cause-and-resulting Because they cannot control for other variables that affect health and can weaken the strength of their observations.
- The most randomized controlled diet studies do not compare a possible healthy diet against another (For example, vegan vs. Keto). Participants are generally randomized to follow the study diet or continue to eat their usual diet.
- Even if a diet/diet plan shows a promise to improve health, If he is very expensive or otherwise not sustainable in the long run then his hygiene really matters?
That is why I want to say “noooooooooo …” when someone tells me they are trying to “optimize their diet”. Unfortunately, it is a common feeling, especially among people trying to prove chronic illness, increase their longevity or maximize their energy/productivity. The biohacking trend supported by (though not started by) Silicone Valley Tech Bros is an example of standout. Sigh.

Optimal diet cannot prove you
If you were to “optimize” your diet, you should perform an extensive, expensive, experiment with a group of one – you. This is because we do not all respond the same to the same inputs. We’re not a robot.
But even if you had the interest, time, money and energy to do this, There is no guarantee that, even if you found your ideal entrances, they would have resulted in the results you hope. In other words, you may not receive a fair performance of your investment. You may still have days of low energy. You may develop another chronic illness. You may die even earlier than you hoped.
When you believe in the benefits of nutrition, it is easy to believe that you can deal with the disease if you are adequately dedicated to your broccoli consumption. Now, there are many good reasons to eat broccoli. It is delicious, specially roasted, and is full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and nutrients. However, eating broccoli will not turn you into a hundred years without illness, even if you combine it with a large piece of wild salmon to comply with the current obsession with protein.
The idea that we can use nutrition and lifestyle to avoid all diseases is attractive. The reality is that while eating well and maintaining other health promotion habits reduces the risk of illness and premature death, it cannot wipe all dangers. Genetics and social factors – income, living environment, relationships, stigma and oppression – also affect health.
This means that diet does not matter. No, of course not. But Trying for optimal nutrition-by filtering the diet through a lens of all or nothing-you create a problem while trying to solve another. You emphasize yourself by supplying stress and developing disturbed food.

Eating skill for winning
I mentioned intuitive food, but I am also drawing the idea of consumption of capacity, developed by Registered Dietitian Ellyn Satter, RD, MS, LCSW, and they are described in her book ”Secrets of a healthy family diet: how to eat, how to increase good eaters, how to cook“And On the website of Ellyn Satter Institute.
When I am interviewed by Satter for an article several years ago, he said that the greatest misconception of people have a capacity “that it is about eating proper food and avoiding the wrong food,” he said. “Immediately enter ‘good food, bad food.’
The nutrition model includes a hierarchy of food needs. The base or foundation of the pyramid of needs is Get enough to eat. This challenges so much for people who live with food insecurity along with those who have chronic diet to lose weight. I also think that many people do not eat enough because they are not sure what to eat. They don’t know which foods are “okay” or “enough healthy”, so sometimes they don’t eat at all.
(I also see many people – new customers or otherwise – who do not eat early enough to day. Sometimes this is simply because they do not prioritize their need for regular meals and snacks. Sometimes they are because they have paralysis of food decisions.
Once you reliably feed yourself enough food, the next step is to leave yourself quite pleasant food. “You must be able to give yourself this institution,” Satter told me. “After doing this, people usually get the kind of selective. They finally get to the point where they are interested in unknown foods,” he said, helping to build a more varied and nutritional diet.
Consequently, the investigation shows that competent eaters have higher quality diets, in part because they are not forced to eat fruits and vegetables will allow them to become food eating for pleasure. “People eat nutritious foods because they enjoy it, not because they should.

The wisdom of soft nutrition
The intuitive principle of the nutrition of “your health price with a gentle diet” has some similarities to consumption of capacity. The gentle diet is the tenth and final intuitive nutrition authority, and the primary reason for this is that most people know almost too much about nutrition and already have many food rules.
Work through other principles first allows you to approach diet with a new, open perspective. When people become specialized intuitive eaters and have:
… then this opens the door to the “gentle diet”. The soft diet honors your health and your flavors while making you feel good. It is an approach to the nutrition he cultivates, he does not punish.
It also gives you the space when you are interested in a new nutrition trend to weigh it against what you know about yourself, your life and your past experiences. This includes your levels of activity, your health status, your sympathetic and dislike and the time/energy/skill you need to devote to cooking.
If you think you can enjoy or take advantage of this trend or new part of the diet information, You can decide whether to give him a test unit or not. And if you decide to try it, you can see if it suits you, like a pair of shoes. If not, you can release it and return to what you have already learned fits best.
Hi, I am Carrie dennett; Mph, rdn, a weight-inclusive Registered Dietitian, Nutrition Therapist and body image consultant. I help adults of all ages, shapes, sizes and sexes who want to escape from disturbed food or chronic diet, Learn how to Manage IBS symptoms with food, or Improve their dietary and lifestyle habits to help manage A current health concern or just support them overall health and prosperity. This post is only for information purposes and is not a personalized diet or medical advice.
Seeking 1-in-1 dietary counseling? Programming a Free 20 minute discovery call To discuss how I can help you and explore if we are appropriate!
Want exclusive content About nutrition, health, nutrition and much more, as well as criticism of nutrition and health journalism? Sign up on my food noise newsletter! 📣
Print this post