So what diets actually work? That’s a damn good question. First off, you need to understand that every single person is different and what diets actually work for them may not work for you. The best you can do for yourself is learn how to do these diets properly and stick to them.
TL;DR: What diets actually work? Intermittent fasting is the best for long term, and Paleolithic diet and ketogenic diets are great for weight loss. These worked wonders for me, but don’t take my word for it. Do your research.
What diets actually work for weight loss? Depends.
In my travels about the world wide interwebs, I’ve encounter countless informational websites. I’ve read so much that it makes my head hurt trying to think of it all. I’ve read good sites and I’ve read sites with iffy information. What diets actually work in the long term? How do I determine which ones are worth my time and effort? There’s a lot of information out there and not all of it agrees with each other. You have a choice in who you trust for your information.
Here’s an example of how one could look at this blog, Angry Nutrition.
“He’s an idiot who has read too many sensationalist articles from psudeo-scientific fad diets and can’t make up his mind. Crazy son of a b***h somehow did something stupid to lose all that weight that somehow worked, but he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s not a doctor, how the hell can he do all this crazy stuff to his body? How the hell is he still alive??” *closes window*
Or you can think like this:
“He’s lost over 100lbs so he must have done something right. How much does he really know? He’s studied a bunch of perspectives on the human body… He’s tried many things, succeeded in some, failed in others, which gave him a good perspective. He’s not a doctor/PhD, doesn’t have a 4 year degree in biology, but he understands how the body works enough to reach a goal. He also has a healthy dose of skepticism… but open minded as well. I think I’ll try some of what he says and see if it works for me.” *subscribes to email list*
I’m not trying to toot my own horn here. These are the same kind of thoughts I’ve had in the past regarding various other bloggers, doctors and various health websites. It comes down to a matter of trust as well as critical thinking. You can take either perspective for ANYONE, not just me. This applies to all walks of life!
Everyone is telling you how to lose weight, but what diets actually work?
Usually it’s whatever way of living that you can actually stick to. Short term diets may help in the short term, but you need to correct your lifestyle or you’ll find yourself back at square one. The diets you actually use depend on your ability to stick to them as well as underlying efficiency. While your doctor might say one thing, I’ve found alternate options that seems to fly in the face of old ways of thinking about nutrition.
Your doctor might say what diets actually work are things like eating 3 or more square meals a day, or going low-fat diet, or vegetarianism. I can’t say I personally agree with any of those. If anything, I believe most medical schools encourage narrow minded thinking and complacency in modern doctors! A horse with blinders on, if you will. They are encouraged to stay within very specific guidelines. They often will not admit fault.
In the same way, someone without any special credentials is not necessarily a complete dumbass. When you generalize about people and dismiss the person or their information/perspective/experience, you may miss out on something potentially important.
Along the river of fools gold, you might find a nugget of truth.
I’m going to fully admit that I still don’t know all the answers. Yes, I admit that I may be biased or missing some crucial information regarding what diets actually work. I’m fully willing to accept that I’m wrong on something if sufficient evidence and experimentation proves otherwise. The people to trust are the ones who are constantly changing and improving their knowledge and testing it with high quality scientific techniques.
Most people, especially people who get into tight-knit dietary communities of similar ways of thinking, makes for group-think. Group-think eventually makes people biased and single minded. When you’re biased, you start unconsciously ignoring or actively fighting any opposing viewpoints. The brain naturally does this because it wants to live in one reality where it is right and unconsciously fights off anything that does not agree with that world view. It’s called conformation bias! So who should we trust when find what diets actually work?
As a rule of thumb, I tend to gravitate towards people who can talk the talk and walk the walk. I’ll trust someone who can spout worlds like “Catecholamine” and “lipolysis” like its everyday speech, link to numerous scientific articles as sources, and looks like this. Compare that to someone who barely looks healthy but has mostly pseudo-scientific anecdotal information. Doctors generally are more trustable, but at the same time they may have ulterior financial motives. F**k Dr. Oz by the way. He lines his pockets with b******t sales from “raspberry ketones” Don’t waste your money on this crap. Plus he looks like a creepy supervillian from a B-movie.
Good news: the simpler and cheaper option is usually the right one!
Here’s my current list of what diets actually work and why. It may not work for everyone but these worked for me and they might work for you. I’m always looking for the best of the best and I will keep you up to date as I learn more. I want to learn the truth so if you disagree, talk about it in the comments and help me understand your viewpoints. Provide some studies, provide some experimental/anecdotal evidence, provide links, whatever it takes. I won’t be swayed by a single scientific study, but I will listen to other’s perspectives and try new things to discover new approaches. I’ve done crazy things to find the truth… Just remember, correlation is not causation and because I’m only one person doing all this, n=1! If others follow my suggestions and get similar results, great.
Remember my mission: the purpose of this blog is to educate and inform, but it will also act as an online journal of my experiences. There’s a lot of information floating around in my head and I want to share it and learn from others.
If this information can change at least one person’s life for the better, I will achieve my goal.
So what diets actually work? The ones that won’t drive you crazy and the ones you can stick to. That’s for you to decide, but I’ll help you with the best I’ve found so far.
Your friend,
– Yossif
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