Most people are told a lie when it comes to changing your diet to manipulate your weight or cholesterol or blood sugar or blood pressure. They are told that they need to reduce certain food groups or macronutrients (Carbs/Fat/Protein). For example, has anyone ever told you that you need to:
- Reduce carbohydrates ( paleo diet, atkins diet, whole30, low-carb diet, and south beach diet )
- Eliminate carbohydrates almost entirely (keto diet)
- Cut out animal products (vegan)
- Reduce fat (Hello 1990’s low-fat disaster and low fat cookies)
- Gluten-free
- No white sugar, No white flour
Each and every diet I just listed restricts what you are eating. And while there may be a time and place (or health condition) that warrants focusing on restriction, most people need to focus on just the opposite. More important than cutting out foods, is adding many more whole-food and plant-based foods to your diet.
Here are 3 reasons to say YES to all the food groups, with an emphasis on plants:
Reason #1 to say “yes” to all food groups:
Plant based foods provide many benefits for us, including being our best source of phytonutrients. Phytonutrient-rich foods are foods that are full of plant chemicals.
Phyto is Greek for plant. Phytonutrient-rich foods are foods that are full of plant chemicals.
#CheckBoxHealth
There are more than 25,000 phytonutrients; about 150 have been analyzed and are shown to fight heart disease, diabetes, asthma, eye-diseases, cancer, inflammation, and other chronic conditions. That’s a lot of reasons to add more plant-based foods to your diet!
Every single research study shows that plant-based foods are the basis of a healthy diet that prevents chronic disease.
It matters less what you cut out, what matters more is what you put in.
#CheckBoxHealth
Half your plate can be leafy greens and non-starchy plants (i.e. baby spinach, roasted green beans, sautéed cabbage), a quarter of your plate can be starchy plants (i.e. legumes, potatoes, carrots), and the last quarter of your plate can be eggs, chicken, turkey, fish, meat, or dairy. Add some nuts, flavorful herbs, avocado, or sauerkraut, an olive-oil dressing, and enjoy!
Reason #2 to say “Yes” to all food groups:
Variety of foods: There are so many different plant-based foods to choose from! Just a few examples:
- Non-starchy leafy greens, broccoli, cabbage, herbs, and garlic and ginger and turmeric
- Starchy vegetables: sweet potatoes, carrots, corn, squash, beets…
- Beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas
- Fruits- too many to name
- Intact grains: wheat berries, farro, barley, oats, quinoa,
- Fatty plants: nuts, seeds, olives, coconut…
- And so many more
You also have a variety of flavors and textures when you include more food instead of cutting out food:
- Hot
- Cold
- Crunchy
- Smooth
- Sweet
- Savory
- Crispy
- Tangy.
If you cut out these flavors, you might end up searching for them in the form of junk food.
Reason #3 to say “Yes” to all food groups:
Every time you start a diet based on restriction, you are telling yourself that food is something to restrict, food is the enemy, food is to be avoided. With that mindset, it is easy to fail. Your mind wants what it can’t have. That is why restriction very often leads to the exact opposite– overconsumption.
Also, if you are not able to keep to your restrictive diet, you feel like a failure. I see this negative mindset with my clients all the time. They tell me “I ate badly this week,” “I had no willpower,” “I need to get back on track.” I teach my clients that these kind of statements are the result of a mindset that is focused on restriction.
Over time, we shift their mindset from a place of guilt, to a place of healthy forward-thinking; to positive changes they can make immediately to INCLUDE plant-based foods, not EXCLUDE whatever the latest fad diet tells them is bad. To rejecting a diet based on restriction and embracing a diet based on nourishment.
To your health, Debra