I think for me a wellness topic is that of diets and dieting to try and
achieve that perfect weight we all hope for. Everybody and how we
metabolize is slightly different. There are many fad diets out there
that work for some people and not for others. When looking at diets
and wellness this is the perfect lens to use. We want to get to the
root of the problems. Why are they obese? What are the best food
options? What will keep them on track? Sometimes the hardest
things to overcome are mental psychological factors. There are diet
apps like Noom that will teach you your bad habits of why you eat
and what drives that. I went through the program for a year and
learned a lot about my mental state and what drives me to eat and
factors I never even really considered. Once I realized those things
and was able to apply what I had learned it helped me to avoid
certain foods. I have tried several diets but like always the minute I
broke those diets I quickly bounced back and gained the weight. In
research by Mozaffarian et. al. (2011), they found that over the
course of time in their study weight gain was most associated with
the intake of potato chips, potatoes, and red meat. These were taken
over the course of several years and over 120,000 participants.
These are identifying foods that can lead to significant weight gain
and the more processed food has become to last longer on shelves
and in the fridge or freezer the more it has changed food.
Now we can look at various diet types and determine are certain
macronutrients more important than others. Or is a high fiber diet
with lower calorie intake better than a high-fat low carb diet, are
there diets that are better than others. In research by Gardner et. al.
(2007), "while questions remain about long-term effects and
mechanisms, a low-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat diet may be
considered a feasible alternative recommendation for weight loss."
These types of research can help us to better understand what is
going to be the most impactful. While there are always new diet fads
that happen oftentimes they fall under the same scale higher protein
and fewer carbs. There is always more research to be done and as
each new diet comes out it needs to be thoroughly tested.
I found personally that when I kept my calorie count below 1800
calories and worked out for 1 hour a day I lost as much weight as
completely changing my diet habits and going to a low carb high fat
and high protein diet. I still allowed myself to have cookies and ice
cream and it kept me on track more so than the other diets. I was not
worried about never eating a piece of chocolate cake again but really
trying to balance out the chocolate cake and the rest of what I was
eating. This was much better for my mental wellness. I think this is
something that should be studied further when it comes to diets and
health, mental well-being as well as weight loss.
References
Gardner, C. D., Kiazand, A., Alhassan, S., Kim, S., Stafford, R. S.,
Balise, R. R., Kraemer, H. C., & King, A. C. (2007). Comparison of the
Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and LEARN diets for change in weight and
related risk factors among overweight premenopausal women: the A
TO Z Weight Loss Study: a randomized trial. JAMA, 297(9), 969–
977. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.297.9.969
Mozaffarian, D., Hao, T., Rimm, E. B., Willett, W. C., & Hu, F. B.
(2011). Changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain in
women and men. The New England journal of medicine, 364(25),
2392–2404. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1014296
