Diet

This word has a stigma with it. If you are on a “diet” you must be trying to loose weight. You’re obviously restricting your eating or setting limitations on what you can/can’t have. You must think you’re fat. You can’t eat anything unhealthy. You’re following some sort of program that is telling you this is the way you need to eat if you want to get those pounds off! There is probably a list of yes and no foods… I could go on and on about the things people think when the word diet is mentioned.

However, a diet is simply, “the kinds of foods that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.” Someone talks about a rabbit’s diet and they’ll discuss that it eats leaves and carrots. A bear’s diet consists of fish and berries. I mention my diet, and suddenly I’m trying to lose weight.

I think you see what I mean here, but just so we’re clear, my diet is what I typically eat on a day to day basis. Now this doesn’t mean I dont have preferences on what foods I consume and what percentage of macros I eat. This is where some confusion lies. I say, “hey, I’m on a low carb diet”. You think why you dont need to lose weight… right?

Well here’s the thing, my goal of my “diet” is to fuel my activities in the best way with the best fuel for my body. For example, MY body doesn’t exactly enjoy a carb heavy diet when I attempt to do long runs. I adjusted so that I eat low carb, so that I’m able to actually enjoy running and not have to find bathroom stops along my route… in the country… where bathroom stops are actually trees. My body has decided it doesn’t really care for dairy much after having my second child. So my diet is void of dairy products that don’t agree with my stomach.

The term diet should not automatically have a negative context of limitations and restrictions, but rather it should be viewed as an informative decision you’ve made based on your unique preferences and discoveries on what your body can and cannot tolerate. A diets goal should be to fuel your day to day activities. Food is fuel. It might be fueling your day at work, or your play time with kids, or your 10 mile run, but either way, the things you put in your body will determine how you feel during your next activity. Your diet directly affects all these activities and your emotions that go with them.

Now, you might have a goal to lose weight, and you might indeed adjust your diet to reach that goal, and that’s great! We are constantly learning what foods work for us and what foods don’t; which foods are helping us toward our goals, and which are not. Just don’t let anyone else tell you your “diet” is wrong. You know your body best, you know what foods make you feel sluggish and which give you sustained energy. And next time someone says they are on a “diet” of any kind, don’t assume their goal is weight loss…