What diet is best?

Many people struggle with their food choices and it's no wonder with the amounts of foods available from around the world, the enticing "junk" food available and the shear number of different diets that are constantly advertised in books, magazines and by celebrities. I have three thoughts about food plans (not diets!). Firstly, everyone is different, we have different genetic make-ups, we exercise and rest different amounts and we all cope with stress in different ways. This means to me that everyone is suited to different foods and ratios of those foods, so we cannot fit the population to one diet. The ideal way to reveal this is through a metabolic typing questionairre that I use with my patients. Secondly, the diets we eat today are generally so modern and refined that our bodies aren't genetically developed to eat them at all. Take for instance grains, such as wheat, which have only been available to eat since the agricultural revolution about 10,000 years ago. This period of time is a drop in the ocean compared to the 2.5 million years we have evolved prior to that. This is one of the reasons many people have a problem with grains, especially if your distant ancestors were from a climate where protein and fat was predominately eaten, rather than carbohydrates. The basics to draw from this knowledge is to eat what is known as a Paleolithic diet which means eat only foods that would have been around over 10,000 years ago. Lastly, the practical side. Keep a record of the foods you eat and monitor how you feel on them. You should be satisfied for around four hours after a meal without cravings in between. The foods should make you feel better and more energised both physically and mentally. They should not cause bloating or dyscomfort, make you feel fatiqued or tired, nor should it make you feel fuzzy or muggy headed. So keep a diet diary and try to establish what foods and in what quantity you feel most healthy on.

For more information on these concepts contact Christian on christian@theperrymount.com.