After a week, two weeks or even a month of over indulging in December, I think a lot of us are ready to dust ourselves off and begin thinking about how we can either undo the damage that has been done or start to make some clear health and fitness goals for what we want to achieve in the new year.
When it comes to food plans and diets quite simply, in my opinion there is no one-size-fits-all way of eating.
At the moment, there are so many different plans to follow out there, it can be quite confusing for people to figure out which one suits them best. Social media, especially Instagram is flooded with all types of good and bad information. Celebrities and health ambassadors of women with these perfect unattainable bodies have millions of young women and adults aspiring to look like them. But unfortunately what people don’t seem to realise is that most of these beautiful brand ambassadors are either professional models and have been relatively slim and trim most of their lives also have a lot of help on hand to keep their bodies in shape. Personally these aren’t the Instagram accounts I follow myself as they don’t motivate me. I follow and support real women on Instagram, that have come a long way and you can see they are working their 9-5 job or raising their kids, basically living in the real world and they still manage to make healthy choices that will support their body and mind.
Other Instagram accounts which are more like conglomerate companies, often suggest this will be the “last diet you’ll ever need.” They all sound great, even magical, but each of them ignores a pretty simple yet profound truth: Everybody is different. So with 2017 just around the corner I want to share a few my tried and tested favourite food plans out there that will suit certain individuals depending on your lifestyle and preferences.
Before I continue I just want to say I truly believe that the ideal food plan depends on your own personal goals, your activity level, your body type, your genetics etc. and all of the food plans out there most certainly have their pros and cons and most require not just a change in your eating habits but for the results to last you will need a lifestyle change. These are just the few that in the past I have found easy to follow and most helpful in weight loss.
Paleo. I am putting this one at the top of my list as it is the only one I haven’t tried yet. As a nutritional coach in training, I am starting to understand the many benefits of leaning towards this type of food plan. In short you will be eating food from your natural environment (hence why it has been called the caveman diet) it is high in fat, moderate in animal protein and low to moderate in carbohydrates.
Turning Paleo in 2017 will suit people who are looking to add more healthy fats to their diet, who don’t like counting calories or measuring their portion sizes. Most importantly this food plan would work well for people with food intolerance’s or food sensitivities like myself as it eliminates dairy, sugar and gluten. To read more about the Paleo diet click here.
Group Meetings. The likes of weight watchers and slimming world have been around for years and have a great name for themselves. There are lots of tools and resources out there to help you stay on track as these approaches require you to write down most of the food like to keep more control over what they are eating. I have done both myself and most of the time loved my leaders and found them very inspiring. This approach is suited for individuals who like to be weighed in weekly, still want to appreciate a wide variety of food and enjoy a more social aspect to weight loss. Find your local Weight Watchers meeting here and your Slimming World meeting here.
Intermittent Fasting. The 5:2 diet, is a diet which restricts your calories intake for two non-consecutive days a week and allows you to have unconstrained eating the other five days. There are definitely results to be made with this approach, however weight loss may be slower depending on how unconstrained you are on your regular days so I would suggest keeping a relatively healthy diet throughout your week.
The 5:2 is good for people who don’t like counting calories, points or syns 7 days a week. It allows for flexibility, with a main emphasis on the 2 fast days. Find out all you need to know about intermittent fasting here.
Juicing. I have followed short juicing plans with both Jason Vale and Joe Cross. I went through the whole detoxing phase, felt great usually by day 3 or 4 and I lost about 10lbs in a week on both. Juicing is Juice fasting, also known as juice cleansing is a bit of a controversial fasting method and a detox diet in which a person consumes only fruit and vegetable juices to receive nutrition from food consumption. Juice fasts may last anywhere from a few days to several weeks. In my opinion this approach is good for someone interested in feeling a good cleanse and to reduce the belly bloat after the Christmas blow out. However the most important part of this process whether you have completed a week or a month on a juice diet, is the refeeding process. With juice fasts, weight gain is inevitable but you can control how much you put back on by keeping a clean diet in the weeks following your cleanse. Find more info on Jason Vales cleanse here and Joe Cross’ juice diet at http://www.juicemaster.com/ and http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/
I hope this has helped some of you decide which direction to take for healthy in eating in 2017. I’ll be starting the Paleo in approach January 1st, wish me luck and follow my snaps (leonie.em) to see how I get on!
Wishing you all a very happy and healthy New Year,
