Which is the best diet for optimum health?

The short answer? There isn’t one! This is such an incredibly individual matter, that there are essentially as many ‘right’ diets as there are humans on the planet. We each have our own unique version of ‘ideal’, and it can be a challenge to find, but it’s the ultimate commitment to your health and to feeling as good as you can.

There are as many ‘right’ diets as there are humans on the planet.

There is so much information out there, and so much of it is conflicting, it’s no wonder so many of us become befuddled and freeze at the thought of what to prepare for our next meal. This is a very real problem for many people, catchily summarised in the title of Dr Mark Hyman’s book: “WTF Should I Eat?”. And the stakes feel even higher when you are trying to find the best way to eat to improve a health issue. For example, for IBD: do you go down the GAPS and SCD route with their gut-healing claims and heavy focus on meat and saturated animal fats, or do you aim to alkalise your body, with the goal of reducing inflammation, by including more plant foods and cutting out acid-forming foods like meat and dairy? Do you try Paleo or the full AIP? How about Vegan? You can find epic success stories and colossal failures for any diet out there, and this really just reinforces the notion that any diet should be tailored to an individual’s needs. There’s nothing worse than trying a dietary protocol, having it not work for you, and feeling like a failure for not being able to stick with it past a certain point or because you snapped and ate one of its ‘forbidden foods’.

While dietary protocols can be a great guide, especially when you are starting out or when you feel overwhelmed by the mountains of conflicting dietary information and theories out there, they are ultimately only as good as they are workable for you and your needs. If following your chosen dietary protocol creates more stress than benefits, leaves you feeling deprived or even unwell, or makes you feel guilty for any deviation or ‘breaking of the rules’, then it’s time to reevaluate.

It’s important to note here that the beginning of any change to your way of eating can be challenging. If you are making these changes for the purpose of improving your health or managing a condition or an acute situation, then yes, some difficulty and feelings of deprivation may be inevitable. But we are talking about the short-term here.

Dietary protocols…are ultimately only as good as they are workable for you and your needs.

The way you choose to “eat for health” for life, must work for you in the long-term. By all means, experiment with dietary protocols and use them as starting points - I certainly have and still do! - but do not let them take over your life. Your body’s needs change, so you must allow your diet to change accordingly. Feel free to bend, and even break, the so-called rules of dietary protocols and tailor them to your unique needs.

During times of health desperation, I have adhered very strictly to a variety of dietary protocols over the years, with varying success. While grains have often proved to be a problematic food for me, white rice has always been the exception. It has quite literally always been the first ‘forbidden food’ I have reached for when hit with strict-protocol-frustration, and it has truly earned its rightful place on the list of foods that help me “eat for health” in general, and for IBD in particular. This may change at some point, and if it does, I will need to adjust and adapt. This is of course specific to me and my situation, as rice is a major trigger food and irritant to many people, but it just goes to show how incredibly different and unique we all are.

IN A NUTSHELL…

At the end of the day, the ‘best’ diet will always be one made up of ‘real’ whole foods, that gives you a wide spectrum of nutrients, without irritants or pro-inflammatory ingredients, and – here’s the most important part – that you enjoy and that makes you feel good, both while you are eating it, and afterwards!

If you choose to follow a dietary protocol, because you want to see how you fare on it, or because it quite simply works for you as it is, then do so without allowing the label that comes with that protocol to ‘trap’ you if and when you need to make a change and move away from its ‘rules’.

For some straightforward basics on how to “eat for health”, check out this post.