If you’re anything like me and you have a slight interest in keeping healthy, you would have done your fair share of reading things about how to adopt a healthy lifestyle. You may even have made some changes to your diet as a result of this… Carbs are the devil sound familiar to anyone?
I’ve spent a lot of time (and in some cases money) following trends, fads, lifestyles in the past… and yes, I’ve seen results. Me and my inner cave girl loved the lean feeling from the Paleo diet for example – you cut out all grains, dairy, starches and legumes, and basically live off the natural protein and vegetables that cavemen would have (the argument being that this type of nutritional approach appeals to our natural genetic makeup). It’s fairly similar to the Harcombe diet which says that sugar is the absolute spawn of Satan and that (good) fat is the way forward (so again, basically, just eat meat and veg). And there are hundreds of other ‘ways of life’ (as in ‘oh hell no, this ain’t another diet, this is a way of life man!’) that undoubtedly have the right kind of reactions and suit an awful lot of people. But not me.
My problem with these different lifestyles is that I just couldn’t make them stick – the extremist in me just couldn’t make it work. So I’d follow the rules religiously for a few months, lose weight and feel good…. but then it would all come crashing down around my feet (my arse that is), as I couldn’t sustain it. There are a number of reasons why, and they all sound like excuses:
- I didn’t have the time or desire to bake my own healthy paleo snacks that didn’t really taste like the things I was actually longing for
- I was doing it on my own with little support except for the online community I’d found
- There were RULES man, RULES. And lots of them. Who wants to follow rules?!
- PMS vs paleo…. PMS wins. Hands down.
I could go on, but you get my drift. And for everyone of my friends who have had some amazing success with other ways of life, man like WeightWatchers, Slimming World and all that jazz, there are other friends who have given up all hope in a point-counting whirlpool of frustration. So I’m guessing I’m not alone.
When I started this nutrition course, I was faced with the Eatwell Plate. The actual nemesis of someone like Dr Zoe Harcombe. It says we should EAT CARBS *GASP*! And, not only that, it makes allowances for foods high in FAT and SUGAR *DOUBLE GASP*!!!! I can’t tell you how this screwed with my mind… I was genuinely torn. I’d just committed to doing a course that went against everything I’ve spent the last few years of my life believing.
But then as I carried on with the course, I think I got it. You only need to watch programmes on TV like Secret Eaters to realise that the majority of the population are incredibly naive when it comes to understanding the basics of healthy eating. And who can blame them, with there being 1,001 uber confusing messages out there. To me, the Eatwell Plate is a classic representation of everything in moderation… it’s a guide. Something to help people understand what moderation looks like, to get people thinking about what ‘healthy’ might mean for them. It’s not asking you to give up entire chunks of your diet. It’s letting you know how much of those chunks is a good/bad thing. For people who can and are able to commit to a more intensive way of life, then that’s great – if it’s working for you and you can stick to it, that’s awesome. But for others who find it difficult to wade through the sea of conflicting messages, moderation is healthier than doing nothing.
Belle Bites by NutriBelle 