“You are what you eat,” says an age-old proverb. Considering the variety of diet and the eating pattern you have developed recently, this proverb closely resonates with you all. A healthy diet helps you build a strong immune system, thereby protecting you from many communicable and non-communicable diseases like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Several “healthy” diet plans are proposed which go so far as to promise improving quality of life. However, not all of them are suitable for everyone. There are several crucial things to keep in mind when starting a new diet. While planning, it is important to ensure that the diet is healthy and it best fits your daily living pattern. The following are the ten useful guides that will help you get the best out of your diet-plan before starting one.
10 Things To Keep In Mind When Starting & Picking A Diet
- Set Achievable Goals
Setting a specific, realistic, and achievable goal is one of the most important things to keep in mind before starting a new diet. As a doctor, I had once tried to go for a vegan-keto diet because of all the things I had read online. To my disappointment however, I discovered only a handful of foods I could consume. It became challenging to stick to that diet plan. I understood the potential benefits of being under that diet like decreased incidence of heart diseases and weight loss. However the minimal food options made me sometimes binge. Therefore the first tip before starting a new diet is to make sure if you can follow it in the long run. Sustainability is the key to diet success.
- Is The New Diet Healthy And Adequate?
It has been reported that people who were on the Atkins Diet (low carbohydrate diet) ended up having high levels of cholesterol and developed a circulation-block as a result. This is why it is essential to opt for a balanced and healthy diet. Before starting a diet, it is imperative to calculate the level of nutrients such as fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and other minerals present in that diet and the nutritional requirement one has. The diet chosen must strike a balance between what nutrition is present versus what the individual needs.
- Planning Your Meals Beforehand
Planning your meals is very useful in improving diet quality. Several researches have shown that meal planning helps decrease the chance of obesity and is associated with weight loss. It is essential to know what foods will be consumed beforehand because otherwise, it is easy to binge or simply reach for whatever is available when hunger strikes. For this reason, planning ahead is one of the best things to keep in mind when starting a new diet. Decide on what you will eat for the whole week and find recipes that are easy to carry out.
- Accountability
Motivation fades off quickly when you are restricting a particular diet without giving full care and attention. Keeping a food journal generally helps, i.e. writing down the foods you will take. Research also shows that accountability makes the new plan you are embarking on even more successful. Accountability helps you stay consistent by having you report your new dietary lifestyle and whether you are following it or not. So plan a new diet journey with a friend. Or join an online support group. A platform that allows you to monitor progress, talk about challenges and serve as a community will go a long way.
- Limit The Intake Of Junk Foods
Junk foods have been identified as one of the common causes of obesity, heart attacks, strokes, dementia, and cancers. The higher calories in junk foods lead to obesity. Junk foods severely lack micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fibers, etc., which accelerates aging, gastrointestinal diseases, and angiogenesis, making you prone to develop cancer. So, no matter how much junk foods cost, their harmful effect overshadows their “deliciousness”.
- Limit Eating Out
It is easy to choose unhealthy options when you are eating out with your friends and family. There are circumstances when you eat anything for not to be marked as the odd man out and you forget to follow your new diet. It’s harder to stick to guidelines when we’re being offered a variety of enticing offers at restaurants etc. Thus, your diet plan fails quickly. It is seen that dining out limits you to calculate the amount of calorie intake, increasing rates of obesity in the long run.
- Can You Stick To Your Plan?
It will be easy to stick to your plans initially, especially with the new zeal and enthusiasm. Many diet plans fail because of a lack of persistence. It is essential not to make excuses if you wish for good health above all. Will your budget, taste buds, schedule and social commitments allow you to stick to your plan?
- Think Of Baby-Steps
We will not lose weight in the first few days of the diet. It is seen that only 1 to 3 percent of individuals lose weight and sustainably maintain it. Therefore, it is crucial to have the patience to receive the benefits of the new diet. Slow and steady is the trick.
- Carry Fruits And Nuts Wherever You Go
Unless you are on a diet plan that excludes fruits, it is best to carry some carrots, apples, nuts, yogurt or berries wherever you go. This will prevent you from buying junk foods in case you feel hungry all of a sudden.
- Take It Easy
We should remember that everything is good in moderation, including moderation. It isn’t that you should skip all the foods that your diet doesn’t permit even during special occasions. As long as you become diligent in your diet plan and are cautious, it is easily permissible to break in special family or friend events.
