The Meaning of Diet

variety of healthy foods — A variety of clean, whole foods should be the staple of every healthy diet. (Photo Credit: 123RF.com Image ID : 75076205 Copyright: Dusan Zidar)

The meaning of diet has changed over the years. It used to mean whatever it was that you ate on a day to day basis. But it has come to be a term which brings about illicit dread and to be another word for restriction, starvation, or eating nothing but boring salads. Your diet should be your lifestyle habit, not a trend or temporary form of torture. I’m not really sure where the idea started that a healthy diet has to be boring. That couldn’t be further from the truth. If you’re seasoning your food properly, it shouldn’t be boring. On that note, it doesn’t have to be bland or boring either. And it most certainly doesn’t mean starvation.

The meaning of diet in this website will refer to your regular eating habits. It could be a diet of fast food. Or, it could be home cooked meals. Does your diet consist of high-fat and high-carb foods? Is your diet pretty healthy for the most part?

The concept of a balanced diet has also changed over the years.

outdated vs updated food pyramid meaning of diet

The food pyramid we grew up with, which emerged in the early 90’s had everyone gorging themselves on processed carbs. This was the base of the pyramid. Not only were the portions incredibly wrong, but it neglected to show that whole grains, such as brown rice, quinoa, and oats are healthier. The updated pyramid reflects these should be eaten in much smaller amounts.

diagram of healthy portion sizes in relation to your plate — Copyright © 2011, Harvard University. For more information about The Healthy Eating Plate, please see The Nutrition Source, Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, www.thenutritionsource.org, and Harvard Health Publications, www.health.harvard.edu.

The diagram of the healthy plate above indicates a much more balanced and healthy idea of portion sizes with fruits and veggies taking the largest portion. Healthy whole grains and lean proteins are at approximately one quarter each. Keep in mind that we are all unique. That means that some of us won’t tolerate and process certain foods as easily as others. For example, I can’t process grains as easily, which means that I gain weight if I don’t keep this amount down to even less than one quarter of my diet. Finding out what works for you, may mean you go through a period of experimentation. But the diagram above is a good place to start.

In a nutshell…

Humans eat for fuel. Healthy food is fuel. There’s absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t taste good and be satisfying.

The following pages will cover a variety of topics referring to diet, including some trending diets.

Are body cleanses for weight loss effective and safe?

Why a starvation diet will fail