Hey there! I had to share this post with you since it has been on my mind for some time! I hear you though – dieting noise? What exactly is dieting noise? I promise I will get there in a few moments. But first, let me lay this out so you can get the full scenario.
Does this sound like a familiar scene?
The routine is always the same. You head to your Dr. appointment and after a series of tests, the Dr. tells you it is time to lose some weight. Losing weight will help reduce your blood test numbers they say. His or her fix to weight loss: Stop eating carbs, do not eat any sugar and stop eating gluten. That is it. That is all they tell you as they push you out the door.
Now please, don’t get me wrong. I am SO thankful for Doctors. They have helped me and my family several times but it is important to note that Doctors do not get adequate training when it comes to nutrition and weight loss. There are too many other things that they need to focus on.
Just like the rest of us, Doctors are telling you what they know from the ‘Dieting Noise’.
While they really do mean well, this type of information is not helpful. Yes, we need to limit our sugar. Absolutely agree with that. However, giving up carbs is a bad idea. We do need to limit our intake of refined carbs but completely cutting them out with no direction is disastrous for our health. Oh yeah, and gluten… if you have no sensitivities to it or do not have celiac disease, why would you want to cut out a vital part of our nutrients?
The Doctors only know what they hear which is what they currently hear floating around in the world of ‘weight loss’ … aka what I am calling the ‘dieting noise’.
To put it bluntly, most Doctors are not fully understanding their patients or the reality of long term HEALTHY living when throwing around such statements.
Here is what I have learned:
First, let’s talk about carbs.
One of my most trusted sources when it comes to health and wellness is Dr. Mark Hyman. He wrote an amazing article about the low-Carb craze and how it is not helping individuals in the long term. I highly suggest you read it. When it comes to carbs here is what he says:
“Traditional thinking suggests carbohydrates are bad for you. I have something surprising to say that might go against everything you’ve heard: Carbs are the single most important thing you can eat for health and weight loss. In fact, I often say my plan is a high-carb diet.”
I would have to agree with him. My diet is heavy on a variety of carbs and when I started eating the way I do now, I lost weight and that was not my focus. I highly recommend reading his words (link directly above) as he says it best and will help guide you on the right type of carbs to eat every day.
Now, let’s cut to the sugar.
Like I said above, cutting back on sugar is important but living a long-term lifestyle of avoiding all sugar is not realistic. What if you had someone guiding you on how to live a healthy lifestyle while learning how to find a healthy balance to include non-refined sugars and cut out the addictive white sugar, corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup. FYI: That person is me, I can help!
Ok, moving on to the gluten.
Gluten is a mix of two proteins that helps give the elastic texture in things like pasta and bread. It is bad for some people but not everyone. One way of knowing is to take a food sensitivity test or enroll in my Living Refreshed program. If you can tolerate gluten, the best options are to include the WHOLE GRAINS and eliminate the white processed flours. WHOLE GRAINS are essential to our health and it is important to get an understanding if you have a sensitivity or not. Excluding gluten ‘just because’ it is on-trend right now, doesn’t help lose weight in the long term.
What can you do right now?
- Stop the dieting and learn how to eat for YOUR body, YOUR goals, and YOUR lifestyle.
- Ask someone who has studied nutrition what the best options out there are. FYI: I am here to offer you my input anytime and have free discovery calls to answer your questions. You can email me here for availability.
- Learn how to eat a Whole foods/Real foods diet that doesn’t involve any ‘diet foods’. You want to think about long term success!
Do you have any experiences of someone telling you what to do based on what they hear from the ‘dieting noise’? If so, I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below.
The most important thing is to do what works for you and your family. Keep the focus based on how you want to feel, what your long-term goals are, and if what you are currently doing is supporting or going against those two things.
