New year and the diet craze

Fact-checked – 8 min read

It’s January, so the diet-culture and the anti-diet movement are ferociously competing for attention, which prompts thousands of people across Gibraltar to begin a new ‘healthier’ diet. After indulging on food and drink over the festive season (and mostly throughout the year), many people seek help to get ‘back on track’ and consider many types of extreme dietary strategies such as ‘veganuary’, carnivore, liquid meal replacements that often involves cutting out entire food groups and contain artificial sweeteners, heavily restricting calorie intake, or ‘detoxing’ drinking just vegetable or fruit smoothies, all of which could lead to macro and micronutrient deficiencies and result in short and longer-term health issues. The image below is my visual representation of what I call ‘the yearly dietary cycle’ and is my perception of people’s understanding of dieting and health. That is why it makes sense to consult with a qualified dietary expert (like myself) who can analyse your existing dietary intake and ensure you are not worse off than when you started!

People often set unfeasible goals for themselves with unrealistic new year resolutions and no strategy, and often then take extreme measures to help them get there after many months of liberally over-consuming ultra-processed foods and drinks, as hypothesised and rendered on my image above. It’s important to remember that we should not try and undue months of less desirable dietary habits in a few weeks, its not sustainable long-term and potentially harmful or ineffective at best. I have far better strategies than new year resolutions to ensure long-term dietary success and weight loss maintenance. As a fully qualified nutrition expert with over 6 years of academic study including clinical training and over two years clinical experience, I know that fad diets don’t work in the long term. In fact, setting unrealistic goals may lead to dietary attrition as research suggests that 90% of people give up on their new year diet just 12 days into January, with 83% going on to gain back more weight than they lost ⁽²⁾.

Furthermore, evidence also suggests that frequent yo-yo diet is associated with body weight excess and abdominal fat accumulation and dieting and weight loss do not always correlate with better health outcomes ⁽¹⁾. A UK-wide study revealed that 86% of dieters who had lost enough weight to improve their health did so while continuing to eat chocolate, crisps and other refined carbohydrates ⁽³⁾. Essentially you could loose weight by following a low-calorie diet consuming a wide variety of unhealthy processed foods. So I ask the question, is that dietary strategy metabolically healthy?

Focusing on calories fails to consider the plethora of biochemical and toxin components in all the foods we consume which is well researched to influence a variety of biochemical pathways in the body, although it does affect us differently as a result of gene and biochemical individuality. A Long-term weight loss plan should therefore focus more on a persons unique biochemistry by understanding their blood work, other labs tests or my iridology sessions, and more emphasis on being mindful of chemicals (and toxins) than counting calories. As a qualified blood chemistry analyst I can arrange for lab tests and interpret them for you from a functional perspective and health and not from a disease standpoint like conventional medicine. This is why my nutritional therapy programme could pay dividends by increasing the likelihood of dietary adherence and long-term success, a dietary plan thats personalised and realistic for you, based on science and not google or ‘cowboy nutritionists’.

People often create their own ‘map of their world’ which leads them to make assumptions about foods or drinks. Coffee for example has over a thousand bioactive compounds ⁽⁴⁾, many of them beneficial to health, yet most people will always relate coffee to caffeine and determine (by mental classification which I talk about later) that coffee it’s absolutely bad for one’s health (it can be) and that’s the end of the debate. But not everyone is sensitive to the (potentially) deleterious effects of caffeine so you may be unintentionally avoiding something that could well be good for you in ‘moderation’ although for some it may not be ideal. DNA gene testing may be useful to determine your response to caffeine and I can also offer you that option.

Many commercially produced refined breads for mass production can contain over twenty ingredients (many of them unnecessary) and some of them linked to adverse health outcomes short and longer term ⁽⁵⁾. So should we classify artisan bread in the same category as a cheap, highly refined commercial white bread loaf from your local grocer? Probably not, hence the importance to make these distinctions. All these reasons underlines the importance of understanding food quality and your unique biochemistry by completing my health questionnaires and my interpretation of your medical and lab history to help devise a more personalised dietary strategy just for you. I like to base my client decisions firmly on science, not biases or opinion.

As with all foods, there is no such thing as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, in my opinion that’s simply an attempt by the human brain to assign a logical classification to things to bring clear and immediate understanding to what are essentially incredibly complex issues. I feel that the human mind does like to assign ‘grey’, and much rather prefer to assign either ‘black’ or ‘white’ when classify something and registering it as such in their ‘memory cloakroom’ for later use, leading to them drawing up their own ‘map of the world’ and their perceptions of reality. The key considerations to determine whether any given food (or drink for that matter) may be intrinsically ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for us will ultimately depend on a number of factors such as; i) individual genetics (biochemical individuality), ii) quality, iii) quantity, iv) frequency and (v) timing. Which is why it is important to understand the nutrition science and why it would be wise longer-term to invest in me with your weight loss goals and other health concerns.

Much of the research about dieting focuses on weight loss, which appears to offer conflicting evidence. For example, a study by the University of Pennsylvania’s Weight & Eating Disorders Program ⁽⁶⁾ found that only 20% of dieters successfully kept their weight off long-term, 65% of dieters returned to their pre-diet weight within three years, and only a mere 5% of people who lost weight on a restrictive fad diet kept the weight off long-term. That’s where my nutrition education sessions which forms part of my programme will help you long-term to avoid those pitfalls, keep weight off, thrive and succeed!

Additionally, according to research from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition ⁽²⁾, people who stick to their diets throughout the week are 1.5 times more likely to maintain their weight than people who are a overly flexible which potentially highlights the benefit of my NLP food behaviour change coaching included in my programme to embed new food behaviours. However, many people who stick to their dietary plans throughout the week do allow themselves a little flexibility on holidays and the weekends, albeit the words ‘flexibility’ and ‘moderation’ are two double-edged swords in nutrition as these words often relate measures of subjectivity (how long is a piece of string?). The study ⁽²⁾ found that:

– 59% of dieters said they ate the same on the weekends and weekdays
– 52% of dieters were stricter during non-holiday times compared with the holidays
– 45% of dieters said they ate the same on holidays and vacations as they did during the rest of the year
– 39% of dieters were stricter on weekdays than on the weekends
– 3% of dieters ate more strictly during the holidays than during non-holidays
– 2% of dieters ate more strictly on the weekends than during the week

Other interesting evidence according to Gallup’s annual survey on American Consumption Habits ⁽⁷⁾, found that on average people with overall healthier diets were less likely to try and lose weight than those who have unhealthier diets. Americans who described their diets as ‘very healthy’ tried to lose weight about five times in their lives. Others who described their diets as ‘somewhat healthy’ tried to lose weight about eight times in their lives, whilst those who described their diets as ‘not healthy’ ended up attempting to lose weight about nine times throughout their lives. But the key is to eat better, not to less throughout the year and understand that you simply cannot outrun unhealthy dietary choices with physical activity. Food is king, but being mindful of good eating habits with regular physical activity is key to optimise health. However, there is no one single way of getting there. So work with me to determine what’s best for you, not just copy what your friend or family member is doing.

But I know that failing to adhere to a diet isn’t simply due to a lack of willpower. People fail because often ‘nutritionists’ with no clinical training or little understanding of the nuances in the nutrition science, try and sell unrealistic goals or fad diets to clients for quick gains (but often long-term failure). Some even dish out the same dietary plans to all their clients under the guise of a ‘personalised diet’, expecting them to restrict their intakes far beyond anything that can be maintained in the long term whilst being totally out of sync with a client’s own personal, cultural, social and economic needs.

I don’t engage ‘dietary fanatism’, as you could be doing yourself harm long-term if you aren’t mindful of the unintended consequences of becoming obsessed with certain diets. My DNA gene profiling lab testing can be very useful to determine how you may respond to these nutrients and what would work best for you longer term, as every diet has inherent strengths and weaknesses (which we can discuss) and the way we respond to them differs. Thats why my nutrition therapy programme is diet-agnostic. I prioritise evidence-based nutrition science and personalised dietary strategies using health assessments and lab testing (which is what my academic studies was all about) to help me understand if they really need to restrict certain food groups or not, help them achieve their goals, consider the their dietary preferences, whilst still being culturally inclusive. You can choose to participate on the programme with me short-term or longer term, but always at a pace that is comfortabe and affordable for you

My programme will not only help you loose weight, but will help you maintain it longer term and that’s the key! It focuses on nutrition education using the latest evidence-based research which will form the foundation of your future success! Evidence is never static or ‘proven’ but constantly evolving, so it’s important to work with someone who is academically trained to understand those nuances in the nutrition science and how to transpose that research in to a dietary plan you can be comfortable with, feasible and realistic. Our goal is a journey to help you reestablish your healthy relationship with food, feel guilt-free, energised, stronger, mentally sharp and thrive!

For more info and fees regarding my health programme call / WhatsApp (+350) 54084900, use the chat dialogue on the bottom left of your screen, or simply click to email me info@andrewfortuna.com