The Most Important Thing to Look for in a Diet Plan

Which diet plan do you choose? Whole food 30, macros, keto, Optavia, ideal protein, paleo, caveman, weight watchers, Noom, Atkins, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Pritikin, vegan, vegetarian, low carb, low fat, etc….  there are so many different diet plans and theories on how to eat it can make your head spin.

Go onto social media and there are tons of groups for weight loss and healthy eating. Additionally, each group promotes a different way of eating and a different meal plan. Their diet plan is always the best plan out there. As a dietitian, I have joined many of these groups because I want to keep up to date with the current trends and try to make sense of some of them. As a result, I have learned so much more about the diet culture than the actual diet plans. For instance, I have learned that people are very critical of other people and easily believe anything told to them. Some of these people are down right mean and rude and most of the time the information given in these groups is not accurate at all. 

Why can’t people question things? Isn’t that human nature? Why do people have to be follow an eating plan perfectly 100% of the time? Is it even possible to be perfect 100% of the time? If this plan was the perfect plan for everyone then why are people following other plans and achieving results? Why are these popular diet plans always coming up with up dated versions? If their plan was perfect why make any changes? If consuming certain foods in the initial diet plan was not allowed, why now in their new and updated version are they included.  Ask any of these questions in one of those groups and you will get shunned and possibly banned. 

As a nutrition professional, I have many thoughts on the matter but one important thing you need to think about when looking for diet plan is, Is this a quick fix way of eating or can you eat like this the rest of your life.  What I mean by this, is does this program support eating real food or does it support eating processed foods that you need to buy or order online that are hard to find? Is it an easy way to eat or are there all these rules that you need to follow and if you don’t follow them perfectly you will not succeed? Can you eat this way the rest of your life? Or is this just a quick fix?  Does this type of eating fit into your lifestyle or are you setting up yourself for failure, once again?  

So my answer to the question, which diet plan works the best…..The one that allows you to eat real food and live your life!  There is no one perfect plan and everyone journey is just a little bit different. Seek the advice of a nutrition professional and go from there!