Diet works or it doesn't work, what does that mean? page

[KathyH]

How is one determining whether a diet works or it doesn't work? I hear many times people say "I tired this diet and it didn't work for me". How does one determine that? Don't you have to wait 30 years or so to see if you haven't developed some disease that you would normally expect to develop? There is no miracle after a month or a year. So why so many claim this or that diet is not working for them after trying to eat different for 2 months or half a year or two? What's the timeframe criteria?

[Crofter]

People want Instant gratification! I have 2 friend who decided to try Primal. Both, after only 2 or 3 days, said " Oh, your diet (My diet!) is making me feel sick, it's obviously not for me".
They never even got past the "Carb flu", which I had warned them about.
The people who stick with this are in it for the health benefits and are in for the long haul. Yes, we may tweak things here and there from time to time, but we're "core" Primal.

[KathyH]

The people who stick with this are in it for the health benefits and are in for the long haul. Yes, we may tweak things here and there from time to time, but we're "core" Primal.

How do you figure that in a long haul this is the proper diet for health benefits? What are the measures and what is the evidence?

[Dirlot]

When people say a diet does not work for them they often mean they didn't loose enough weight fast enough and were hungry all the time.

As for what diet is optimal that is more difficult to say. If you look around the Government's recommended diet where 1000 Cal comes from grains clearly is not working. By replacing a grain portion with veg or some extra protein means I replace empty calories with nutrient rich food....makes sense to me.

[RitaRose]

That's going to depend on the individual.

For me, a diet "doesn't work for me" if I either can't follow it without losing my mind or I don't notice any improvement in how I feel after a couple of months.

[KathyH]

When people say a diet does not work for them they often mean they didn't loose enough weight fast enough and were hungry all the time.

As for what diet is optimal that is more difficult to say. If you look around the Government's recommended diet where 1000 Cal comes from grains clearly is not working. By replacing a grain portion with veg or some extra protein means I replace empty calories with nutrient rich food....makes sense to me.

I am not sure what government you have in mind. Are you assuming that all governmets have identical guidelines? Isn't a diet really more cultural than governmental? I am not defending any government here, I never really gave it a though what a given government recommends. Isn't the cultural consumption of food predating governments anyway? If one is not following some governmental guidelines what criteria of improving ones health can one employ to be sure that a certain diet is beneficial to ones health in a long haul?

[KathyH]

That's going to depend on the individual.

For me, a diet "doesn't work for me" if I either can't follow it without losing my mind or I don't notice any improvement in how I feel after a couple of months.

So, does that mean that one has to feel bad to start with in order to decide whether the diet is good or bad for them? Or if one feels good to start with and then switches his/her diet and starts feeling bad, does that mean it's a bad diet? What does that mean in a long run (30 years or so)? Could I feel good after 2 months but actually be causing harm to my health in a long run?

[Dirlot]

Western governments US, UK, France, Canada is not has high on grains etc but all recommend in the area of 8-12 portions of grains a day.
http://turamavision.com/bodymind/201...ality-problem/

Answered the second part eat nutritious food you can' really do much more can you. Most people feel short term improvements, then you just start to follow the long term yourself.

I thought I felt great before but now....wow!

[Gorbag]

What works of Diets and what not is relative to where you are coming from. Going from the typical SAD way of eating, and almost every change will work for the better. For a while at least...

[sbhikes]

I think most people when they say a diet doesn't work they mean they did not lose weight and/or they could not stay on the diet due to either being too hungry or not feeling well on it (for example, low carb flu or whatever) or possibly because the ingredients in the diet are too difficult to prepare or obtain.