Petra @newmiboI get requests to post my meals quite often which is why I’ve decided to address my stance in this opinion post. I used to post my meals on Instagram back in a day, when I first started with intermittent fasting. I have since stopped.. here I try and explain why.
THE TWINKIE DIET
Believe it or not, you can lose weight with any diet. When I say any, I mean any diet. Have you heard of the Twinkie diet experiment? Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition wanted to prove that only calories matter when it comes to weight loss and decided to prove this by eating a diet consisting of pure junk food, mostly twinkies, doritos, oreos, for 10 weeks. He kept his calories to 1800 during this experiment and he had claimed to have lost 27 lb at the end of it.
I recommend you read Dr Fung’s critique on this experiment here.
THE POTATO DIET
To drive the point further, have you heard of the potato diet? Australian Andrew Taylor lost 117 pounds in one year eating nothing but potatoes. He didn’t count calories, ate as much as he wanted but focused only on one food. Then there is also the bacon diet which I touched on in my previous post and I’m sure many others.
Food is not what makes us gain weight, food is energy, eating TOO MUCH is what does, in most cases. Logically, what will make us lose weight, primarily, is figuring out a way to eat less. In the first example, the person counted calories, in the second, the person only ate one food. The method I find the most effective long term is intermittent fasting, it doesn’t include specific food group or calorie counting. Fasting is not about food.
THE CONSTANT
I have started off as a high carb sugar addict, proudly taking photos of my lavish ice cream deserts gradually transforming into a high fat low carb eater, drinking butter coffee and avoiding all sugar. Throughout all these changes I have maintained my weight loss because I always followed the principles of intermittent fasting.
Fasting is what gave me the freedom to experiment with different foods.
Once you master intermittent fasting it really doesn’t matter what you eat. Fasting is not a diet. It does not dictate what to eat, it focuses on when to eat. This is the point I want to stand out.
I don’t want anyone to follow what I eat but I would like everyone who is trying to lose weight to follow my fasting routine and principles. My emphasis is on the importance of finding a balance between eating and not eating, feasting and fasting. I want you to be confident with your fasting routine and to stop obsessing over what to eat.
Stop searching for fat burning foods, calorie free foods, detox foods, foods which help you lose weight because all those things are a myth. Most importantly, I do not recommend anyone who is starting with intermittent fasting to simultaneously change their diet. The more rules and changes we try to implement the faster we give up.
The first reason I don’t post my meals, is because I don’t want to take the spotlight away from fasting. My diet has changed drastically over the years but fasting is what has remained the same and why I’m able to experiment with different foods without gaining weight.
CONTROVERSY
Another reason why I don’t post what I eat is because with the rise of social media, nutritional science has become ridiculously controversial and divisive. Some are convinced that dairy is the devil, some believe in the benefits of dairy, some tell you to avoid carbs, some tell you to only eat carbs, some claim vegetables are poison and others recommend 6 cups of green veg per day. I’m sure you know what I mean. It can be confusing and frustrating trying to figure out what the right answer is.
Everyone has a different opinion, different needs, budget, availability, preferences, reactions, sensitivities to particular foods. Best option would be to hire a professional nutritionist who can design a specific eating plan for you, or do your own research as to what you think is right for you. I believe in experimenting, evaluating and adjusting. I do not believe in following someone else’s eating plan as seen on social media.
Regardless of what diet you choose to follow, you can still include the principles of intermittent fasting. You can follow a plant based diet, carnivore diet, keto diet, “everything goes” diet and still incorporate fasting principles. In fact, you can enhance a diet with health benefits that come with intermittent fasting, such as lowering blood sugar, autophagy, immune repair and many more.
The second reason I don’t post what I eat, is because my food represents my taste preferences, my beliefs, my budget, my sensitivities, my family tradition, my state of health, my bmi, etc.
On the other hand, fasting is universal. Everyone, regardless of all the varying factors mentioned in reference to eating, can fast (and lose weight).
THE TAKE OUT
We’re not gaining weight because we eat carbs, or because we eat ice cream. We are gaining weight because we are supplying our body with more energy than it can use, hence it keeps storing the excess for later. It stores it in our fat cells. Interestingly, our fat cells have very impressive ability to expand which means they offer unlimited storage space for excess energy. Fasting is what helps us access some of that storage and burn it as fuel. Make fasting and fat burning your number one focus, not food.
- focus on Intermittent fasting first and foremost
- copying what someone else eats on social media makes absolutely no sense
- figure out what foods make you feel your best
- eat the foods YOU enjoy
- follow a diet which doesn’t make you feel stressed or deprived
- improve your diet gradually
- learn to be comfortable with intermittent fasting on a daily basis as this is the key to your weight loss success
Hope you have found this helpful, you can always message me with any questions xox
