Diets and their purpose

A diet based on body composition is not necessarily the same as a diet that takes health into consideration.

To be fully empowered to make good decisions related to our diets we need to completely understand what different diets are trying to achieve.

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Very few diets focus on health.

They mainly focus on parting unhappy people with their pennies by exploiting problems and utilising psychological bullying to make the unsuspecting individual buy into their product as the solution to long endured body image issues.

That is.

Diets are rarely there to solve your problems.

Rather they are there to make someone a great deal of money via temporarily 'fixing' you whilst also sending you on a long cycle of reinvesting in their 'solution'.

Yoyo dieting anyone?

The above pyramid demonstrates a hierarchy based on body composition.

If it was health based then 'Quality' would be directly above adherence.

ADHERENCE

This trumps everything.

All diets work if you stick to them.

And none work, if you don't.

CALORIES

In vs out.

Consumed vs used.

Specific to the individual and is currently the only way we have to measure quantity reliably.

MACROS

If you want to look lean and strong then you will need adequate protein.

If you want to support high intensity training, you will need carbs.

If you want to maintain health you will need healthy fats.

If you cut calories without consuming adequate protein then you will lose muscle mass as part of your weigh loss.

QUALITY

What you choose to consume is essential for health (but not for weight loss).

- you can certainly lose weight eating cornflakes and KitKats, but I don't advise it!

* EVERYTHING ELSE

At the top of the pyramid is all the fluff.

- supplements

- timing

- fasting

- nuance

That is not to say these thing should NOT be taken into consideration.

It is just that many people start here and overlook that the foundations are the essential components that will bring about success.

Reach the top of the pyramid once you are certain you have nailed down the lower levels.