Diets vs healthy eating

There’s been a lot of talk about healthy eating and diets with the New Year’s resolutions upon us / underway / discarded / misplaced (delete as appropriate).

My healthy eating plan is going great, because that’s what it is: healthy eating. I took a tumble off the healthy eating wagon in December only to suffer the consequences – a very glum me as I tried to put on my skinny leather pants,and an even glummer me when I weighed myself after a two-day party-a-thon.

So, I’m not cutting back on calories as such, because I workout for about 14-20 hours a week, depending on my schedule, and I need the energy, but I am eating healthily and am not having sugar or refined carbs. I have to admit, though, yesterday in class I almost blacked out as my sugar-detox set in. Luckily I had some protein powder to indulge in and it did the job.

The thing is that a lot of people want to diet and that’s not, as we know, sustainable. We want to eat healthily, right, and make it make it part of your lifestyle? However, a recent U.S News article took a look at the best and worst ‘diets’ of 2014.

U.S. News evaluated and ranked 32 diets with input from a panel of health experts. To be top-rated, a diet had to be relatively easy to follow, nutritious, safe and effective for weight loss and against diabetes and heart disease. The government-endorsed Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) snagged the top spot.

Apparently DASH was developed to fight high blood pressure, not as an all-purpose diet. It got high marks for its nutritional completeness, safety, ability to prevent or control diabetes, and role in supporting heart health. Though obscure, it beat out a field full of better-known diets such as Atkins and Paleo. Here‘s the full list of the top 32.

I bummed that Paleo falls so far down the list because I’m going to undertake Paleo for Athletes as part of my training plan soon. It appeared to work for my pal, Hank, who also experiments with healthy eating and certain diets.

He’s currently undertaking the JJ Virgin elmination diet. Already, it’s having an impact on him and the lack of sugar and snacking is hard – and he’s one of the most dedicated and fittest people I know, so it proves that it is tough. He is committed though – you can follow his progress here.

So, whilst I’m back on the healthy eating and working out regimen, I’m happy. No booze for six weeks, I said. Ouch, that will be tough, but I’ll do it. Feeling healthier already!

Claire Bolden

Claire Bolden McGill is a British expat who lived in Maryland for three years and moved back to the UK in August 2015. Claire wrote about her life as a British expat on the East Coast and now works in travel and hospitality PR in the UK. She still finds time to blog about her repatriation and the reverse culture shock that ensued – and she still hasn’t finished that novel, but she’s working on it. You can contact Claire via twitter on @clairebmcgill or via her blog From America to England.

www.ukdesperatehousewifeusa.wordpress.com