Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~Robert Frost
I’m travelling a diet path, as Frost’s The Road Not Taken says, “… knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.” That is the plan, of course, to take this journey only once, and NOT come back. And I chose a path I believed could bring success. Lasting success.
But it’s interesting how everyone who learns I’m on a diet, has a recommendation about some other diet and how effective it is. In fact, some people go on and on about it. My dental hygienist, for example: through my entire cleaning, told me about the diet she’s doing (because she needs to lose 25 lbs). The 5:2 Fast Diet. That’s five days of normal eating, with little thought to calorie control. Then, on the other two days, you reduce your calorie intake to 500 calories (for women). She said it was easy to stay on this regimen since you are only fasting for two days of your choice each week, and eating normally on the other five days. She does protein shakes only, on the fasting days. I don’t know if that’s her thing or a part of the diet. But again, do you do this for the rest of your life? I’m pretty confident that I would stay on this type of diet exactly NO days!! Not that I’m criticizing people who can, just saying I can’t.
Then a gal in the locker room at the pool encouraged me to consider the “ketogenic” diet. It’s a diet of high-fat, moderate protein, low carb. She said up to 75 percent of your daily calories come from fat, 5 to 10 percent from carbs, and the rest from protein. Apparently, by severely limiting carbs, the diet forces your body to burn fat for energy. The “keto” plan doesn’t work in phases. You sustain the low-carb, high-fat, high-protein eating ratios until you reach your goal weight and there is no maintenance plan once you reach your goal. Sustaining this eating approach seems suspect to me. And how do you return to normal eating?
Another lady at the pool suggested I include juice fasting or a juice cleanse once a month. But I think juice fasting or juice cleansing, is really just another fad diet where you consume only fruit and vegetable juices while otherwise abstaining from food consumption for three-day periods. This is great to empty your colon and drop some water, but a lasting idea? Not sure about that. I read on one diet evaluation website that this diet is promoted without any evidence to support claims for its health benefits. That would make me a little nervous.
I guess the bottom line to all of this is that I appreciate any and all supportive conversations about diet! I even appreciate some other perspectives, diet suggestions, and stories about other people’s successes. However, I will not be dissuaded from my path. I’ve had a couple of really difficult days in diet world, but I’m soldiering on … because I want to both lose weight and retrain my mind and body to have a healthy eating plan for life.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.