I think we can all agree that there are a lot of diets. Every couple of months, the next “best” nutritional strategy will emerge to take the place of the last.
Interestingly, these diets can often vary greatly from one another in many ways. This can become a little confusing as to which nutritional strategy is correct. How can we know which is the best diet?
The good news is that if your goals include fat loss, then there are a couple of similarities between all effective diets that I have seen over my time coaching ladies and gentleman who want to drop a few unwanted pounds.
The most notable similarity is that all effective fat loss diets optimize something called your insulin sensitivity.
To put it as simply as possible, insulin can be described as a hormone that your body produces in response to the introduction of carbohydrates into your body. In other words, more carbs equal more insulin. This can become a problem when your insulin receptors are exposed to excessive levels of insulin on a frequent basis. This desensitizes them over time and can lead to weight gain and poor metabolic function. If this continues, it can lead to type 2 diabetes.
The opposite of this condition can be described as having great insulin sensitivity, which seems to lead to a more efficient metabolism.
With this in mind, it would be understandable to draw the conclusion that reducing or eliminating carbohydrates from our diet would be the solution. You may have even tried this yourself. While this is certainly one option, it is probably the approach that I have seen people struggle with the most. There are a few other options that may be worth consideration.
A few of the most popular strategies include limiting carb intake, intermittent fasting, carb cycling and simply replacing the carbohydrates in your diet with carbs that break down slower in order to keep your insulin production low over time.
All of these strategies can be useful, so the trick is simply to find the one that suits your lifestyle and personality the best.
Please let us know what diet you have found to be the most successful for yourself. Also, reach out to us with any questions you may have and we will be excited to answer!
As seen in Modern Grace Magazine
