Diet (n) vs. Diet (v)

Diet (noun) the kind and amount of food prescribed for a person or animal for a special reason

Diet (verb) to eat sparingly or according to prescribed rules

I love this quote from a Lily Tomlin routine:

“I have gained and lost the same ten pounds so many times over and over again that my cellulite must have deja vu.”

Most diets make you feel deprived, especially if you focus on losing pounds rather than becoming healthier. The media and entertainment industry makes us think thin is beautiful, while advertising offers us all sorts of ways to "lose that weight". Most of us know people (especially females) whose obsession with eating or not eating is at best narcissitic and at worst a form of eating disorder.

A simply put ideal can be found in Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto —

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

What I have read, and now experienced, is that calories and fat are not what should determine what or how much we eat. More important is whether or not what we ingest can be assimilated and digested. For instance:

There’s a difference between fats in nuts, avocados, and non-heated oils (these can be used by our bodies) and fat from dairy, meat, and fried foods (these fats clog us up and have been shown to contribute to all sorts of diseases, including cancer).

I have been focusing on diet (noun) rather than diet (verb). But, in doing so, I’ve lost more weight than I ever did by cutting out fat or worrying about portion size and calories.

What's also surprising is that my taste buds have changed, and I don't feel hungry as often or as desperately. I no longer crave cheese, bread, pizza, etc. It seems true that when you get nutrients that the body is able to absorb, you also get energy, less craving, and less food hangovers.

My meals, snacks, programs, and limitations have included:

I started out thinking I would do a few days’ juice fast, or eat less of some kinds of foods and more of others. But since I began to feel drastically better, I’ve decided there’s probably no going back.

Because I’ve been doing this while earning almost no income, I am doing it simply and inexpensively. I take a few supplements that I already had (B12, Vitamin D, multi-vitamin/mineral, hemp protein powder) and haven't bought other pills and powders. My goal has been to get healthier from the foods that I do eat, along with the avoidance those that I eat less of.

Whole Foods

I’ve been buying ingredients rather than packages, eating most of my food in its natural state, while feeling more satiated and better about myself. And shopping takes much less time (and expense) when I don’t cruise all the other grocery aisles in a daze.

Dieting is wasteful in more ways than one

Smart for Life 30-day diet kit

Like most convenience foods, "diet" foods are overly processed, overpriced, sold in wasteful packaging, and low in nutritional value.

With Budget Gourmet, Jenny Craig, Smart for Life dieting kit…there are plastic containers covered in plastic wrap, enclosed in a cardboard box, which looks a lot bigger than the actual portion. Then you put it in the microwave and the nutritional value plummets even further.

Do plastic containers of yogurt really contain probiotics to improve your digestion, or just end up in a landfill without making a dent in your hunger?