Which diet is best?
When trying to get healthy there’s no shortage of advice online about different ways of eating. Some swear by low carb, others feel better on a more vegan style of eating. So, what is the best ‘diet’’ for heath. Well, the answer to this may be any of them.
Latest research is now showing how important nutrition is to good health. Nutrition can affect many aspects of our health including immune function, mood and can even alter the way some genes are expressed. Good nutrition also lowers the risk of almost all types of chronic disease including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. However, it is less clear to many what good nutrition actually involves because there is so much conflicting information online. In addition, what foods might suit one person, may not suit anther. For example in a large study published in 2015, it showed that different people have different blood sugar responses to the same food.
So where do we start when it comes to knowing what is good for our individual health?
Well, current research looking at the effect of all of these different ‘diets’ shows that all of them can improve health to a certain degree. This is because, each of these types of eating patterns have certain benefits when compared to the standard western diet – which is associated with increased rates of chronic disease, due to its high makeup of ultra - processed food and refined carbohydrates.
The other ‘diets’ share some key beneficial features. For example, they all encourage consumption of more whole unprocessed foods, discourage refined carbohydrates (such as white flour products and sugar) and are more plant focused, with an emphasis on fibre, colour and healthy fats. This does not mean it is necessary to completely exclude animal products altogether, but consuming a wide variety and large number of whole plant foods will provide beneficial micronutrients and antioxidants that the body needs to stay healthy and repair damaged cells.
Although science cannot yet tell us which exact eating pattern is best for each individual person, we do know that eating more whole foods, more plants and less sugar is beneficial for everyone, no matter which ‘diet’ you choose. What is clear though, is that the best ‘diet’ for health is the one that you can stick to and is sustainable in the long term.
https://www.nature.com/articles/ejcn201631
