I regularly asked by my weight loss and gut health patients what’s the best diet for me to be on? The answer is we dont know. Studies on are going in the areas of nutrigenomics (how the foods we are eating are effecting our genes and therefore our health) and in epigenetics (how the environments we live in are effecting our genes) but we have no conclusive data on this yet.
From years of treating clients and years investingating my own diet, i believe there is a perfect diet for each of us but whether that is keto, paleo, vegan, low carb, high good fat, low fodmap etc remains to be seen. Because that depends not only on DNA, genetic snips, actual diet, our activity level, our lifestyles, personal internal self talk, our subconscious, our motivation for health, our microbiome, our metabolism, our levels of hormones leptin, ghrelin, insulin, oestrogen, testosterone, progesterone, cortisol the list goes on!
For now mainstream information tells us eat a Mediterranean diet rich in protein, meat and oily fish, lots of good fats like extra virgin olive oil, nuts, seeds, leafy greens, lots fruit and veg, wholegrains, herbs and spices. To aim for 40 plants a week.
Remember carbs like pasta, bread and potatoes pile on the pounds for everyone!! so try to remember vegetables are carbs too, aim for max a quarter a plate of rice, pasta, bread carbs, then aim for half plate of fruits and veg and the last quarter of the plate fats and protein like my example here. Personally when i eat like this i have no trouble with weight gain.
The average person is filling their plate with 50% pasta, potato, or rice not because they want to eat that much starchy carbs but because they don’t know what else to eat!
Mums often fall into this category as spaghetti and pasta dominate kids and therefore family diets. Here is an example of how i plan my dinner plate.I work with you on your existing diet to overhaul it. I dont give out diet sheets. Food plans and extreme diets dont work folks, not for the long term anyway. I work with you to give you a diet that is sustainable for your lifestyle & cooking skills.
To book an apt to overhaul your diet see www.gowithyourgut.ie
Fiona
