When someone talks about their diet, most often we envision restrictive eating where certain foods or food groups are avoided in order to lose weight or deal with a particular health condition. But diet also means the foods eaten by a particular person or group on a habitual basis. We all have a diet. It may differ based on our geographic location, the season, food availability, preferences or even our mood. But we all choose what we will eat each day. I think it is funny that we now feel we must name our diet. If we went back 100 years and told someone we followed a Paleo diet, they would look at us like we were crazy. So why does our culture label diets and attempt to make us conform to certain ways of eating now? It has not always been this way and I believe we should reconsider our way of thinking. When someone comes along claiming to be an expert and then proceeds to tell us that the ONLY way to eat is by following their specific diet plan, we should pause and question everything. There are many different population groups across the globe with different dietary patterns that have proven to be health-promoting for them. There are a few common truths, which we will discuss later, that should be included in an overall healthy diet. But for now, just remember that no one diet will guarantee us health or make us live to be 100. Our diet is an ever-evolving series of choices about which foods we eat, when we eat, how often we eat and with whom we eat. I believe Dr. Joanna McMillan summed it up nicely in her TED Talk. I have shared the video below. Feel free to leave your comments below this post.
