Did you know there is a difference between healthy eating and dieting? We hear about diets all the time. Whether we read about a celebrity special diet or influencers giving all sorts of tips on social media, dieting doesn’t necessarily mean eating healthy. Let me explain the difference.
Diets have one purpose: losing weight, except when recommended by the doctor for specific health conditions. Therefore, when a person is on a diet, they refrain from eating sustainable food. Whether we talk about a low-carb, low-fat, low-calorie diet, they all lead to losing weight through food abstinence.
However, you can’t undernourish yourself forever. I’ve been posting a lot about all kinds of diets, and although they all involve healthy foods, it is important actually to eat healthily. Healthy eating shouldn’t be conditioned by losing weight. For example, a chicken salad is healthier than a cheeseburger with fries, containing fewer fats and calories.
There are other factors to healthy eating that will help you lose weight, such as making sure you don’t have a calorie deficiency. This is the reason why some people don’t lose weight although they eat healthy foods. We think a low-calorie diet is always healthy, but that’s not always the case. Many other healthy options don’t include dieting. Here are a few examples:
- all fruits and vegetables
- whole grains
- protein
- plant oils (other healthy fats)
- vitamins and nutrients (a variation of food)
- low on sugar food
All of the above choices are not low in calories. Try some chicken thighs, eat your salad with a delicious dressing, and don’t forget about potatoes. I dont know how some people can live without potatoes. Healthy food doesn’t come in small portions. Try eating 700 calories of nutritious food and see how you won’t get hungry so fast. What’s the point of a low-calorie diet if you’re just going to put the kilos back once you stop dieting?