Yes this is my take on diets and how I think have wasted my time (actually I learned ALOT) since I have to abide by rules.
Every Diet I have ever jumped on had a restriction of some sort, was it either fat, carbs, sugar, gluten, dairy etc. Some diets spoke about certain macro nutrients and worked with a quantity of fat, a quantity of carbs and a quantity of protein. Now don't get me wrong, I got good results from all of them. So why am I complaining?
Because of those restrictions I was actually not very happy since I had to miss out on things I genuinely enjoyed eating. I was able to feel good about myself temporarily, until I realized the truth that I was actually wanting some of the junk food I enjoy every once in a while. The other interesting thing was after understanding nutrition better and better I decided to try the diets again for a little while but this time, I decided to eat more and realized that the diet I was in was still making me gain weight But why is that? Now none of these diets have ever spoken about one very important thing, which is "Calories". Understanding Calories will help you understand nutrition.
Now i live by the rule of Calories in vs Calories out. The amount of energy you eat vs the amount of energy you burn. It is the NUMBER 1 thing to understand before jumping into restriction of food. I live by two things, 1) QUANTITY of food represents your weight gain/loss and 2) QUALITY of food represents your health. That means that I can have a Pizza every day and still lose weight if I am able to burn that pizza off every day. But I would not have a very healthy body inside since the quality is low. Know how much you are eating and make sure that it is a balanced meal. Fats are good for you, Protein is good for you, Carbs is good for you. They all play a part.
Now does that mean that junk food is bad for you? well not exactly, Junk food such as sweets chocolates and fast foods can help after a really intense workout but only once or twice a week depending on your level of athleticism, and if you have earned it, personally. It also actually helps with your sanity because there are people that crave this as much as i do and I want to live my life when it comes to foods I enjoy. Unless you are very overweight, then I say enjoy yourself since 90-95% of the time you are fit, healthy and taking care of yourself.
Who are the ones that need to be put on a diet though? In my opinion if you have any sort of allergies to certain foods or you have any sort of tolerance then yes maybe bread or/and dairy is not an option for you. If you have certain levels of blood pressures or cholesterol then maybe cutting some bad fats is what you need. Diabetics need to monitor their carbohydrate intake. But for those that do not have any of these issues and are eating well, training hard and are always active lifestyle, don't be afraid of enjoying things when they are there, especially if they are there once every once in a while. This is my opinion towards Nutrition.
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