There Is No Perfect Diet. Build the Diet That Works for You!
- 11 minutes ago
- 5 min read
When it comes to nutrition, people often want a simple answer:
What is the best diet?
Whole30? Keto? Paleo? Vegan? Intermittent fasting? Carnivore? Mediterranean?
The problem is that there probably isn't one perfect diet for everyone.
Your schedule, age, goals, preferences, family responsibilities, budget, activity level, and even the season of life you're in can all change what eating plan makes sense for you.
The better goal isn't to find the perfect diet. It's to learn enough about nutrition, and about yourself, to build a way of eating that works for your life.
Short-Term Results vs. Long-Term Habits
When we're young, it's easy to focus on short-term outcomes.
Maybe you crash diet before spring break. Maybe you're trying to lose weight quickly for an event. Maybe your idea of a healthy breakfast is swallowing a multivitamin and running out the door.
Short-term strategies can occasionally produce short-term results, but they don't necessarily teach you how to eat well for decades.
That's why experimenting and learning early in life can be so valuable.
As we get older, responsibilities tend to pile up. Careers become more demanding. Kids enter the picture. Schedules become complicated. Suddenly, spending two hours meal prepping every Sunday may not feel quite as realistic.
Learning what works for you before life becomes increasingly complicated gives you tools you can rely on later.
Sometimes You Need a Kickstarter
That doesn't mean short-term challenges are useless.
Sometimes a structured diet or challenge is exactly what someone needs to get moving.
I've seen this with people starting Fly Bodies programs. A challenge gives people a clear starting point, accountability, and something to work toward.
The key is understanding the difference between a kickstarter and a lifestyle.
You might do Whole30 for 30 days.
You might try intermittent fasting for a month.
You might even decide, "I want to do something hard," and take on a challenge like 75 Hard.
That's fine.
But then ask yourself:
What can I take from this experience that I could realistically continue?
Maybe you can't follow an extreme program for 75 days, or shouldn't, but could you avoid alcohol for one week? Cook dinner at home for seven days? Eat vegetables with lunch every day?
Small experiments can teach you a lot.
Treat Days vs. Cheat Days
Language matters, too.
Calling something a cheat meal can create the idea that certain foods are morally good or bad, and that you've somehow failed when you eat something outside your plan.
I've certainly had meals that would qualify as ridiculous. At one point, that included a combination involving Pop-Tarts, brownies, and Reese's.
That's probably not making anyone's nutrition textbook.
But one meal isn't the problem.
The bigger problem can be the extreme behavior created by extreme restriction.
If your diet is so strict that eating one brownie causes you to think, Well, I already ruined everything, so I might as well eat everything in the kitchen, your diet may be working against you.
Instead of "cheat days," think about treats.
A healthy diet should have enough flexibility that enjoying dessert doesn't require starting over on Monday.
Your Diet Will Change With Your Season of Life
Nutrition doesn't happen in a laboratory.
It happens in real life.
There will be busy seasons at work.
There will be vacations.
There will be holidays.
There may be newborn babies, school schedules, travel, injuries, illness, and weeks where everything seems to go sideways.
Even schools recognize this concept. We don't expect students to operate at full speed 365 days a year. There are semesters, holidays, and summer breaks.
Your nutrition can have seasons too.
There may be periods when you're incredibly disciplined and focused.
There may be periods when the goal is simply to maintain.
And sometimes the goal is just to survive the week without making every meal come through a drive-thru.
A sustainable nutrition plan has room for all of those seasons.
Every Diet Has Something to Teach You
Instead of asking whether a diet is "good" or "bad," ask what you can learn from it.
Whole30 emphasizes meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and healthy fats while temporarily eliminating foods such as added sugar, alcohol, grains, dairy, and most legumes. It can help people become more aware of what they're eating, but its restrictive nature can make it difficult to maintain.
Intermittent fasting focuses primarily on when you eat. For some people, limiting the eating window naturally reduces calorie intake and fits well with their daily routine. But it says very little about what you should eat, and some people may compensate by overeating later.
Paleo encourages meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds while generally minimizing grains, legumes, dairy, refined sugar, and highly processed foods. One of its biggest strengths is the emphasis on whole foods, but avoiding entire food groups may be unnecessary for many people.
Carnivore takes restriction much further, focusing almost entirely on animal foods. Its simple rules and high protein intake can be appealing, but it eliminates fiber-rich plant foods and has limited evidence supporting its long-term use.
Vegan diets eliminate animal products and can provide plenty of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. They can be very high in fiber and nutrient-dense foods, although nutrients such as vitamin B12, and sometimes iron, calcium, vitamin D, iodine, zinc, and omega-3s, require additional attention.
Vegetarian diets avoid meat and fish while often including eggs and dairy. They can provide many of the benefits of plant-forward eating while allowing slightly more flexibility.
Pescatarian diets are primarily plant-based but include fish and seafood. They can provide plenty of fiber along with omega-3-rich fish, although seafood cost and mercury exposure are considerations when selecting certain fish.
Then there are Keto, Atkins, South Beach, Mediterranean, WeightWatchers, and countless others.
You don't necessarily need to choose one team.
You can borrow ideas.
Maybe you like the whole-food emphasis of Paleo, the vegetables and olive oil common in Mediterranean eating, the eating window from intermittent fasting, and the flexibility of WeightWatchers.
Great.
Use them.
Don't Forget the Grocery Store Diet
Sometimes nutrition gets way more complicated than it needs to be.
Here's one diet almost anyone can try:
Go to the grocery store once per week.
Buy food.
Keep reasonably healthy options in your house.
Cook most of your meals.
That's it.
Modern grocery stores are packed with healthy foods. You don't need a rare superfood imported from the other side of the world.
Eggs, oats, Greek yogurt, potatoes, rice, beans, vegetables, fruit, nuts, chicken, fish, lean meats, frozen vegetables, and dozens of other nutritious foods are sitting right there.
Your environment influences your decisions.
If good food is available in your house, eating well becomes easier.
Build Your Diet Instead of Finding One
Think of nutrition as an ongoing experiment.
Try things.
Pay attention to how you feel.
Look at your energy, hunger, digestion, performance, body composition, bloodwork, and ability to actually stick with the plan.
Keep what works.
Get rid of what doesn't.
And remember that what works today may need to change five years from now.
The goal isn't to be able to tell everyone, "I'm Keto," "I'm Paleo," or "I'm Carnivore."
The goal is to eventually say:
"I know how to eat in a way that works for me."
That might be the best diet of all.
Get After It!!
-Austin
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