What is the best diet ever?  Is it “Eat Right for your Blood Type” or Atkins?  Is it Dukkan, Paleo, Raw, Vegetarian or Vegan?  Or is it the diet that hasn’t yet been invented?  Maybe it’s the Food Pyramid after all?!

The best diet is none of these.  But it is all of these.

We have some basic food groups, they are: Animal (meat, fish, eggs), Dairy, Grains, Legumes/Beans, Nuts/Seeds, Fruit, Vegetables.  We are taught, that so long as we are eating these and minimising processed foods high in sugars and transfats then we will be more likely to maintain a healthy body weight and optimal health.

But then Mr Blood type comes along and tells us that if you are an A type, that grains are your friend and meat, not so much.  Mr Dukkan and fellow Paleo writers tells us that it’s meat all the way.  Raw Foodists tell us that nothing should be cooked and Vegetarians tell us that meat rots in our intestine.

So what these diets are telling us is that not all healthy food is healthy.  Wait, what?

They are half right.  Not all healthy food is healthy – but the only person who can determine that is you.  Not some diet writer and not someone who has only found data to support their particular diet regime.

Let me explain with some easy examples.  Grains are supposed to be good for us, but in someone with Colitis, grains can cause inflammation and gut issues which fires up the immune system leading to all sorts of other health conditions.

Dairy is supposed to be good for us.  But for those without the enzyme DPP-IV the metabolised casein molecule can swim around the brain as Casomorphine and cause psychological disturbance.

Onions are good for us, but if you bloat and fart, then just maybe your stomach isn’t happy with it.

The best diet ever is the one that keeps your body in balance.  The one that provides the foods for optimal function from head to toe.  Such things to consider are:

• Energy levels
• Sleep patterns
• Brain fog
• Weight maintenance
• Bloating and other digestive issues
• Elimination function
• Migranes and headaches
• Absence of food cravings
• Healthy functioning immune response
• Good hair, skin & nails
• Good cognition and lowered anxiety, depression or stress response

Food provides the building blocks to our entire body.  We all know this, but we struggle to listen to our body when finding out what it really needs, instead we listen to our brains or egos and diet writers.

It takes time to work out what the best diet is for you, and it will also change as the years pass.

There is a best diet, and it is the one that brings your body into balance.  A great place to start is to see what foods you’re intolerant to and to take time out and listen to your body.

The best diet for me is Paleo (meat, nuts, seeds, fruit, veges).  Eat right for my blood type tells me to eat lots of grains, but guess what – I don’t digest them well, so who is right?  Some book…or my body?

Start playing around with your food groups and write your own perfect and best diet while the diet writers and scientists battle it out amongst themselves.

I’m really pleased to be a guest blogger here and I thought I would make my first post just a little rundown on who I am and what I believe in when it comes to health and fitness.

I spent the greater part of my life in pain and discomfort. The range was huge: depression, anxiety, stomach issues, elimination problems, weight issues, energy, lower back pain, painful menstrual issues, binge eating disorder,  sinus and gland problems…. Just to name a few.

“Health and fitness” in the traditional sense only got me so far. The so-called “healthy diets” designed to alleviate these problems weren’t working and the “go hard or go home” approach to training only provided results for a short time. The traditional model of food and exercise had helped me, only to a certain extent but had let me down overall. The bodybuilding “model” of training and nutrition that I also undertook depleted my cells so far that the good ol’ healthy food and multivitamin couldn’t even bring me back from the deep damage that had been done.

Even my education in fitness and nutrition didn’t have the answers. I felt totally stuck.

I then discovered Paul Chek and his concept of “sometimes to work out, you need to work in”. I found an Integrated Dr and learned about adrenal fatigue, toxicity and thyroid issues. I started reading material from Weston A Price and learning about the GAP’s diet by Dr Natasha Campbell McBride. I started reading Charles’ Poliquin blogs and got involved in reading information by Personal Trainers who also followed these methods.

The message became perfectly clear. If I didn’t balance out my nervous and endocrine systems then those systems would continue to work against me as they fought for homeostasis. I had to accept that I was going to have to “go soft…or go home”

And I did. I followed the non-conventional concepts of diet and exercise, replacing my lean chicken breast for chicken thighs cooked in coconut oil, including fatty gelatinous broths and enjoying my soaked oatsfried instead of boiled, and added tasty condiments like Rapadura sugar, cocoa and coconut. I switched my gym sessions for complete rest, tai chi, walking and just recently pilates. I began listening to what my body needed, guided by the teachings of Paul Chek and Sally Fallon Morrell. 100% of the time I kept away from the foods I was intolerant too, I took all the supplements I was told to and I was given instructions that detoxing my overburdened body is not over…until it’s over.

I am now at a stage where I can start putting gym workouts back in (May/June 2012) , and those workouts will be dictated by the teachings of Charles Poliquin, Paul Chek and Bret Contreras (The Glute Guy). I refuse to hire another personal trainer in my town unless they are CHEK trained, and currently I’m the only one.

I am a CHEK Exercise Coach, Weston A Price Foundation member, CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach and a traditionally trained Personal Trainer and Nutritionist. I operate my practice in Hamilton New Zealand.

So I intend to guest blog on this site about health and fitness based on the teachings of the aforementioned people. Together we will take a trip back in time before things like heart disease, obesity, cancer and mental illness were so commonplace. I will not be singing the praises of the Food Pyramid, nor will I be touting the benefits of polyunsaturated oils. I certainly won’t be looking for the next best “health food” or the most amazing diet.

I look forward to sharing with you how to become your own Health Detective and how to make objective decisions over the heath and fitness techniques you select.

Peace,

It’s also a great source of magnesium, which will keep your energy levels up and vitamin B6. This will boosts your metabolism so you’ll burn more calories in the gym.

Here’s also a great quick tip. If you wash the rice in cold water before cooking, it removes any excess starch making it even healthier!