There are a plethora of diet plans out there. I think you could spend 1 month on each diet plan and "diet" for a lifetime...never settling on just one. So how do you know what's right?
The more I research the more I decide there is no right or wrong for everyone. It's what YOU can stick to and what makes YOU feel good. For some that's the ready made meals a plan like Jenny Craig offers. For others is the calorie counting and measuring of a plan like Weight Watchers. For others it's no carbs. You get the idea. What concerns me is many of these plans encourage low fat, no fat, sugar free foods. These are exactly the kinds of foods that contain MORE artificial ingredients. Especially sugar free foods. I am convinced there is nothing healthy about sugar substitutes. They are chemically created (except things like Truvia), have no nutritional value, and our bodies don't know what to do with them.
I am looking for an eating plan that doesn't require measuring and counting and weighing and charting. I'm too lazy to do all of that. I don't like to cook as it is, let alone have the act of making dinner take twice as long while I'm surrounded by measuring cups, kitchen scales and point counter books. I want something that encourages less artificial and more natural. More like "living off the land" as well as we can in society today. Obviously we can't all live on farms and raise our own vegetables and cattle.
I have been reading up on the Paleo diet. It's something my sister and I have been discussing off and on. For those who may not know, it's basically going way back to our roots and eating more like our "hunter-gatherer" ancestors did. Primarily protein, vegetables, some fruits. It's very limiting on grains and dairy - which admittedly, as a carb and cheese lover, that will be difficult for me. But what I like about it is it emphasizes "clean" foods. NO artificial anything. NO low fat anything. NO sugar substitutes. For me that's logical. Our bodies are not wired for processing artificial anything. It's a big reason why food today lacks nutrition. They process the good stuff right out and then try to add it back in. Next time you're at the grocery store, try picking up anything you can get in both organic and non-organic forms. Then compare the labels side by side. I guarantee you will be surprised at how much longer the list of ingredients is on the non-organic label. Scary, right?
I saw a posting on Facebook the other day that demonstrated what a food label would look like if food distributors were required to list all the pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, etc used on crops. An organic strawberry was listed with one ingredient. Strawberry. A strawberry from a non-organic farm must have had 20 chemicals it was exposed to before it was picked and sent off to your grocery store.
Why are human beings getting sicker every year? I can't help but think it's partially due to the chemicals in our foods. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it's working for me.
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