The Perfect Diet For You

This time of year (well, any time of year to be fair) you have all the diet companies out there trying to get your money off of you. They’re all telling you that the best way to lose weight, get fit, fix your ailments and otherwise be healthy is to buy their product.

Well they’re all wrong!!!

Or are they?

Actually, some of them are right. Yes, some of those diet offerings flooding your feed do actually deserve your money. If not yours then somebody’s.

I say this because different people do actually need different things. Physically our bodies are different. A pair of identical twins may look the same on the outside but on the inside they’re likely to have different things going on. Their ability to process foods will vary. One may be better off with meats while the other may be better off with vegetables.

And different ancestry will have an affect on what suits us as individuals. As will age, sex, activity types, moral choices, religion, culture, legal restrictions, environmental factors, local availability, affluence, disease, allergies and many others.

As for the diet offerings you see everywhere – set plans will suit some people who need clear directions to follow. The ones that involve a weekly weigh in have a sense of community that suit some people. Some have accountability which some find a powerful tool to help stick with their diets. Some do everything for you and that suits some people. Lots of options and there may be one that suits you.

We do have to be a little careful though. Some diets have massive followings and some have big business funding the research and the information we get to see. That makes them potentially questionable but doesn’t invalidate them as being suitable for you.

So how can you find out what’s going to work for you?

Cut through all the confusion and you are left with just two options:

  • Pick a random diet and follow it till it no longer appeals.
  • Start with what you are consuming now and look at what is good for you and what isn’t.

For instance...
Sugar: How much? How often? There are a few things we know (from science, from what our grandparents or parents tell us, etc) that we can use to guide our choices. We can safely say that most processed foods and most sugary things are not ideal.

Alcohol: Contains a lot of sugar. Some people can have a lot, some less so. What is your personal level?

We can look at reducing sugar and alcohol and replacing them with other things that we might consider better for us.

Food Diary: The next step would be to start to write down what we eat and drink. I use a Food Diary (find it here) for this which is a bit different to most. Whether you use my version of the Food Diary or someone else's it should help you answer:

What am I eating?
How much am I eating? (see below for the caveat on this)
When am I eating?
How do I feel about what I'm eating? (Physically and emotionally)

Recording our intake is important. Firstly, when we see it in black and white on the page we do not need anyone to tell us what tweaks to make. Secondly, you also need to think about how the foods work for you.


Quantities aren’t that useful to most people (yes calories matter scientifically but there are so many factors that make the numbers invalid. Such as: we each process foods a little differently; the calories are measured by scientific equipment in a lab and don't represent the energy we can get from via our stomachs; the quantities in the package are averaged and not a set in stone amount of each ingredient; synthetic versions of vitamins and minerals don't act the same as the real thing; the list goes on...

So record what you eat, roughly how much and when. That’s normal. Also record how it makes you feel. What were you feeling (physically, mentally, emotionally) before eating, during eating and after eating. I want you to notice if you’re hungry or if you’re eating just because it’s a certain time of day. I want you to notice whether you’re more or less stressed after eating. Do you feel bloated. Does your arthritis affect you more or less. Is your IBS better or worse.

You are well on the way now to building a picture of what’s right or wrong.

This picture becomes a work of art as you progress. It is called...

THE VERY BEST DIET FOR YOU

And is… the one that YOU have worked out suits YOU best. That’s it.