Separate fad from effective.
There are so many diets out there to try with so many different focuses that all of them have pros and cons. You need to find the best one that suits your lifestyle, body type, and what you are trying to achieve. The only way to find the diet that works for you is to try a few out, listen to your body, and see the results you create.
There are many great diets that are “trending” at the moment, that I predict will become even more popular in 2015. Let’s take a look and talk about the pros and cons.
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The Paleo Diet:
I think this is a great diet to follow if you are looking eat clean and get back to how the cavemen ate. The Paleo Diet essentially consists of only eating what cavemen ate, prior to the rise of processed and sugary foods, which are unnecessary in our diets. This diet heavily consists of meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, and nuts. I personally semi do this diet as I think it really helps cut the rubbish out of my food and keeps my protein levels high, but I find it lacks in the right amount of carbohydrates I need to give me the energy to train in the gym at the intensity I like.
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If It Fits Your Macros (IFYM) or Flexible Dieting:
IFYM is a diet where you can eat whatever you like as long as it fits your protein, fats and carbohydrates macronutrient requirements. A macro from ice cream is the same as a macro from a sweet potato, meaning any macro is a macro and you just need to fit your requirements. This works well if you are trying to gain some muscle fast and you are unable to eat a clean diet. However, when I tried IFYM, I didn’t feel great. I felt bloated, watery, full all of the time, gave me spots, and I just didn’t feel healthy at all. In my opinion IFYM is a way out, or cheat, of putting in the effort to eat clean. Don’t get me wrong, I love eating ice cream and chocolate, but overall, I didn’t feel healthy and at my best on this diet.
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Carb-Cycling:
Carb-cycling is extremely effective if you are trying to cut some body fat. Carb-cycling is where you limit your carbohydrates from day to day. This often comes with three types of days- a high carb day, a low to moderate carb day, and a no or very low carb day. You rotate these three types of days throughout the week. I suggest having a high carb day on your heavy workout days, such as legs/back/full body. This is a great way of shocking your body on a day-to-day basis while trying to get lower and lower in body fat. It does work well but I have noticed that it works better if already have low body fat and you are trying to cut the last little bit off. I personally don’t like carb-cycling as it makes me crave the high carb days and dreading the no carb days. I couldn’t get my head around this principle.
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Intermittent Fasting:
Intermittent Fasting consists of fasting for a period of time in the day, and once the fasting period ends you eat all of your daily macro requirements. Intermittent fasting causes your body to go into different states throughout the day. In the ‘feed state’, your body digests and absorbs the food you consume during your ‘feeding hours’. The ‘post absorptive’ state is when your body finishing processing food and your insulin level drops. Finally, there is the ‘fasted state’, where your body burns fat. This seems to have worked well for people trying to cut body fat. I personally didn’t give this diet the best shot, as it made me feel weak and I couldn’t get my head around not eating throughout the day.
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Carb Backloading:
Carb Backloading is where you only eat carbs post workout. In my case, I train after work, at about 7pm, and therefore do not eat any carbs in the day, and then eat carbs after my workout. Post-workout is when your body needs carbs to repair broken down muscle. A key thing to remember about this diet is that you do not cut back on the amount of carbs you eat, rather, you simply monitor when you eat carbs. This diet is to help your body use food to repair your body from the workout. I personally do like this diet as it made me focus on getting good fats and a lot of protein throughout the day. However, I now consume carbs pre-workout because I feel carbs give me the energy I need to train with more a more ferocious intensity.
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Clean Eating
In my opinion, clean eating is great way to eat. You eat real, wholesome foods throughout the day, while providing your body with all the macronutrients and micronutrients your body needs to feel healthy and look great. Clean eating consists of eating lots of vegetables, fruits, clean meats and fish and healthy carbohydrates all day in moderation. When I did this I felt great from the inside and felt full of energy.
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To Wrap It Up
Currently, I personally do not follow a ‘single’ diet. After trying in full, or elements of the diets listed above, I feel I can get great results by mixing them together. I have found what worked and didn’t work for me in these diets, and used what I like in the way I eat today. I would say my diet is a mix of paleo, carb-backloading, and clean eating principles. I find that paleo and clean eating principles help me make healthy choices on foods throughout the day, by consuming lots of protein, vegetables, fruits, and carbs that digest the best in my system to give me good results in training. However, I also use carb-backloading principles as I consume 70 percent of my carbs post workout. The other 30 percent of my carbs I eat before a work out, because as mentioned earlier, I found not eating any carbs before a workout didn’t give the energy and strength I needed to train to the best I can do.
No matter which diet, or combinations of diets you try, my advice is to give it everything you have to make yourself the ‘best you’, and improve each day. Decide on a diet carefully, and have a reason why you do it, not because it is the easy one to do. Think carefully about your goals. Make sure to consider yourself and which diet you feel you will be able to stick with to get the optimum results.
Work hard and explore your limits!
Hi, I’m Dan, a 26-year-old fitness, food, supplement and health geek living just outside London. I became a fitness enthusiast when I started training 3 years ago. Since then, I have tried a variety of different training styles, supplements, and diets. I love to keep learning and sharing the knowledge I have picked up over the years. Hope my experience can help you too!
You can check me out on my official at website www.danbrofitness.com or hit me up on my Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
