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The media bombards us with diet,
exercise, and other weight loss trends on
the regular. This diet, that detox, the new
20-minute workout, the list goes on and on.
I decided to go through and list some of the
more recent diet trends or ones that seem
to be sticking around for a while to at least
give you all a description of what these
things are.
As a disclaimer, this content is purely to
provide information. Listing these different
types of diets here does not represent any
sort of bias or support in any way.
Keto
In a ketogenic diet, you’re putting your
body in a state of ketosis by relying almost
solely on fat as an energy source. Glucose
(carbohydrates/sugar) is the preferred
fuel of the body. If the body has glucose
it will use that first. If you don’t eat carbo- oats. The major restrictions in this diet in- choose a path that will be sustainable
hydrates, your body needs something to
burn and fat is the next likely candidate.
Fats breakdown and the product of this
breakdown is ketones, which your body
can use as a fuel source. Most people
believe they’re on a ketogenic diet when
really what they’re doing is more of a “low
carb” approach (see next section). Those
that are truly in ketosis are checking their
blood ketone levels for compliance and
eating only about 5-10% of calories from
carbohydrates and 60-75% from fat. Pro-
tein is limited to only a moderate amount
as your body can choose to convert protein
to glucose if it feels it necessary. If you’re
looking at a standard 2000 calorie diet,
it’s only 25-50 grams of carbohydrate per
day. In other words, an avocado, 1 cup of
broccoli, and 2 mandarin oranges would be
your limit for foods with any carbohydrates,
and carbohydrates are everywhere!
Low Carb
The low carb approach is not as strict
as keto, but it’s the same idea. With this
diet you may eat more like 100 grams or
even closer to 150 grams of carbohydrate
36 • Sports Finest Magazine FEB 2019 sportsfinestMagzine.com 989 545 0735 kelly@sportsfinestmagazine.com
by Hannah Boyl
each day, but this depends on the person
and how much you’re eating in total. For
this protocol, carbohydrates fall more into
the range of 20% of total calories.
Paleo
In the paleo diet, you’re avoiding a
number of food groups like dairy, grains,
legumes, starchy vegetables, sweets,
artificial sweeteners, processed foods and
meats, and sugary drinks including fruit
juices. Some versions are less strict, but
that’s the basic outline. The diet encour-
ages eating whole foods that would have
been available to our hunter and gatherer
ancestors.
Pegan
The pegan diet combines both paleo
and vegan approaches. The focus is on
plant-based nutrition like fruit and veg-
etables, suggested to make up 75% of
the diet. There is a moderate amount of
meat allowed as well as fish, nuts, and
seeds, even some legumes. Some grains
are also acceptable like quinoa, rice, and
clude dairy, gluten, most legumes, sugar,
refined oils, and food additives.
Carnivore
Love meat? How much? The carnivore
diet relies on animal products only, a
vegan’s complete opposite. Most people
in the media are promoting this as a
meat-only diet. Dairy technically comes
from animals, but is usually limited. Meat
is cooked in fatty meat products like
tallow or lard and seasoned with nothing
more than salt and pepper.
Mediterranean
A recent diet promoted for overall
health is the Mediterranean diet. You eat
fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes,
potatoes, whole grains, breads, herbs,
spices, fish, seafood, and extra virgin
olive oil. Meats allowed in moderation are
poultry and eggs while red meats are sug-
gested to be eaten rarely. Added sugars,
processed meats, refined grains, and
refined oils are avoided entirely.
Zone
The Zone Diet claims to be a program to
reduce inflammation. The diet requires a
balance of macronutrients following the
pattern of 1/3 of your plate lean protein,
2/3 of your plate carbohydrates (small
amounts of fruit, focus on nonstartchy
vegetables and legumes), and only small
amounts of monounsaturated fats (olive
oil, avocado, almonds). The Zone Diet
website also sells food replacements and
other supplements that fit into the diet.
Flexible Dieting
This is where the term, “If it fits your
macros” originates. In flexible dieting,
your focus is staying within given mac-
ronutrient ratios and not so much about
the types of foods you eat. Usually, you
calculate your total calorie needs using
a specific equation, then you breakdown
your macronutrients from there. Com-
monly, carbohydrates compose 45-65%
of all calories, protein 10-35%, and fats
20-35%. People find this diet easy to
follow because they can fit foods they like
into their day as long as they fall into the
suggested ranges of each macronutrient
by day’s end.
As I mentioned above, I’m not neces-
sarily in support of any of these trends. In
fact, I find that there are pros and cons to
all of the approaches listed. When you’re
working on your nutrition, you have to
long-term. Diet protocols that only last a
few weeks or months and drastic weight
changes that happen quickly are actu-
ally detrimental to the body. Committing
to lifestyle changes in regard to diet is
the only way to work towards continued
success. Along with making changes that
you’re willing to conform to for the long
haul, nutrition also has to be individual-
ized. The types of foods/macronutrients I
may do best with won’t necessarily work
for everyone!
If you’re interested in making serious
changes and you want to do it right, get
with a nutrition professional. While the
nutrition journey is trial and error, having
an individual educated on the topic can
help you find what’s best for you!