The Best Diet Tips to Pinch From Keto, Paleo and Other Big Trends
Millions (and millions!) of nutrition providers claim to have the best diet programme out there, from keto diet delivery services to digital metabolic diet meal plan apps and everything in between.
One of the issues is that every diet has a different approach, and sometimes it's hard to work out which option is best suited to your health, dietary requirements, and end goals.
Whether you want to get fitter, overcome health issues, lose weight or gain muscle, you'll find a review of all the best diet programmes over at Best10Index!
In the meantime, we thought we'd share a snippet of some of the best advice and tips you can steal from the most popular nutrition schemes.
Top Nutrition Tips from Keto Diets
If you're already a subscriber to a keto diet delivery plan, you'll know that the core focus is on high-fat, low carb nutrition.
- Bacon and eggs for breakfast!
- No fruit allowed!
- Limitless steaks!
It all sounds too good to be true, but there's a fair bit of science behind it, with countless people claiming to have lost considerable amounts of weight.
There aren't too many studies that consider long-term impacts since it's such a new diet trend, but the signs are that keto might be a good idea.
Here are the big takeaways to apply, whether or not you've decided to eliminate all fruit and whole grains from your diet for the foreseeable.
Fat is not evil - in fact, it's really crucial to keep our bodies running! Just about every diet focuses on low fat, but that means stripping out healthy fats as well as the bad stuff.
Healthy fats in things like nuts, seeds, olive oil, and avocados are jammed with nutrients and vitamins and can make us feel a bit fuller, so we're not tempted to snack on refined sugar.
What Can We Learn From Paleo?
Another big trend is paleo (the caveman diet), which is all about eating fish, meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and seeds exactly as they are without being processed or adding seasoning.
The concept is that humans are designed to eat simpler meals.
Our tendency to process and complicate things with synthetic additives, preservatives and weird chemicals is a leading cause of illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
Small research groups have found that paleo can be a great way to lose extra fat and reduce waist size - very likely from eliminating salt and sugar that cause bloating and water retention!
The downside is that anything cultivated (think chickpeas or legumes) is banned, which isn't great because that means you won't be getting access to some of the healthiest foods in the world, with nutrients such as magnesium.
What should we note? That whole foods, without ultra-processing, are way better for us than anything that looks completely different from the original meat or plant.
High-fibre, low calories vegetables and fruits can definitely make us all a bit healthier!
Intermittent Fasting Diet Tricks
Intermittent fasting goes by many names - often called 16/8 (so you eat everything during eight hours of the day and fast for the other 16).
There are tons of variants and metabolic diet meal plan services that tailor your eating / not eating windows to your age, gender, health and other factors.
You can still drink water and anything non-calorific like coffee outside of your allocated eating hours.
Still, the idea is that by limiting when you eat, you immediately reduce what you eat and how many calories you consume.
Research does indicate that fasting can prompt us to burn stored fat, but the jury is out on whether intermittent fasting has a long-term benefit.
We should learn that we don't need to eat continuously or have a snack every hour to remain full and satisfied.
While there are concerns that fasting can cause poor relationships with food or mean we don't listen to natural hunger cues, harnessing a little willpower can go a long way!
Pick and Choose Your Healthy Eating Approach
Almost every diet on the planet aims to help you lose weight, but it's important to point out that there are many other reasons you might be pursuing a different approach to your food.
For example, you could decide to go on a diet (or a healthy eating kick) to:
- Reduce high blood pressure or alleviate conditions such as diabetes.
- Help become fitter, faster, stronger or more active.
- Cut down on unnecessary additives and preservatives.
- Switch to a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle.
- Deal with intolerances or digestive issues caused by your diet.
- Avoid aggravating health conditions with less beneficial foods.
Whatever the reason, the intent is often to reduce the calories you eat, which is the basic maths behind weight loss.
Every calorie we consume is a unit of energy. Cutting back too much can cause no end of health issues, fatigue, loss of organ function and brittle hair, bones and skin.
We'd advocate for doing your research, identifying achievable goals, and choosing your diet plan carefully. Hence, it's suitable for your lifestyle.
Calories in - calories burned (through exercise, everyday activities or passive living) is a simple calculation you can do to see whether you're getting enough or whether you're missing out on valuable nutrients. Checkout our detailed Keto Cycle review.
Essential Diet Advice for Any Nutrition Programme
The core messages that we can learn from diet plans are:
- A balanced approach is a key to success. Cutting anything out entirely rarely works, so your nutrition needs to be realistic and suitable for your lifestyle.
- You need food to move. Reducing calories to an unsustainable level and then adding exercise on top will probably result in burnout or injury, so fuel yourself properly.
- Fruits and veggies are the mainstays of a great diet (we hear you keto fans!) - any diet that cuts out essential vitamins should be a short-term fix.
- Processed = bad, a consistent idea across several of those diet plans we've talked about today. Go for organic, local, natural produce, and you'll soon see the benefits.
If we've piqued your interest and you'd like to see what a keto diet menu looks like, how intermittent fasting would fit into your day, or whether paleo could be a great lifestyle swap, please visit our nutrition planning and meal delivery service reviews!