WHAT IS A DIET?
Like many words in the English language, the word DIET is often used
interchangeably when people are referring to completely different things.
In simple terms... your diet is what you eat. What foods you eat and how much of
them you eat. By definition, "diet" refers to what a person eats or drinks during
the course of a day.
However... the word is also commonly used when referring to a controlled eating
plan specifically for the purpose of loosing weight. This is when you commonly
hear words like: “I’m on a diet” “I didn’t stick to my diet” “I’m going off my diet” etc.
When it is used in this way, the word diet is viewed almost the same as other four
letter words. But the bottom line is that anything you eat is your diet.
If you eat in quantities that are too large, you will take in too many calories and
will gain weight.
However, if you eat what’s considered “the right amount of calories” for you, but
you get them from only one food group, you will lack essential nutrients which
may cause health problems.
A diet that limits portions to very small sizes, or that excludes certain foods;
entirely to promote weight loss may not be effective over the long term. You are
likely to miss certain foods and find it difficult to follow this for a long time.
Instead, it is considered better to gradually change the types and amounts of
food you EAT and maintain these changes for the rest of your life.
The ideal diet is one that takes into account your likes and dislikes and includes a
wide variety of foods with enough calories and nutrients for good health.
How much you eat and what you eat play a major role in how much you weigh.
A healthy diet is one that helps maintain or improve health. It is important for
lowering many chronic health risks, such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes,
hypertension, cancer, etc.
A healthy diet involves consuming appropriate amounts of all essential nutrients
and an adequate amount of water. Nutrients can be obtained from many different
foods.
A healthy diet needs to have a balance of macronutrients (fats, proteins, and
carbohydrates), calories to support energy needs, and micronutrients to meet the
needs for human nutrition without inducing toxicity or excessive weight gain from
consuming excessive amounts.
But that is the question that eludes everyone. What is a healthy diet?
And even though we hear these terms on a daily basis, what is nutrition? What
are calories? What is fat? What are carbohydrates? Etc.
It is these most basic and fundamental things that we all hear about frequently.
But few of us truly understand what they are and what role each plays in your
overall DIET.
Once you learn these basics, it will affect the choices that you make on a daily
basis. And that will significantly improve you being able to reach your weight loss
goals.
