Is there one holy grail diet that works for everyone without exogenous drugs and or supplements? Probably not but I ask that you hear me out and think about what I have concluded for myself after decades of diet research and diet flexibility.
First of all, I have never been morbidly obese but have gotten upwards of 25 percent body fat at times. One of my hobbies has been as a body building enthusiast in my adult years. I have bulked and cut at times but mostly like to stay at a relatively constant weight range in the 15 percent body fat zone and sometimes less.
In the 80’s, I went on low carb Atkins and found that I could maintain very low body fat while working long hours in my business. I lasted for around five or so years on 50 carbs or less per day until I decided that carbs needed to be re-introduced into my diet for energy and strength.
The Challenges of Diet Flexibility and a Metabolic Flexibility Diet
Since then, I have yo-yo gained and lost weight returning to low carb and in more recent years, keto and carnivore variations with success. I even tried mostly vegetarian, fruitarian and other options for brief periods. My point is that I have tried a wide variety of diet approaches over time and have a pretty good idea of what works and what does not for me and maybe you.
One reason I believe what I am going to propose will work for you is that my diet research evolution has caused me to conclude that it is all about metabolic flexibility. What type of flexibility? Metabolic flexibility or conditioning your metabolism to adapt to a variety of diets based on season, purpose and age. In other words, man cannot live by bread alone… at least not forever.
My rational is that unless you or your significant other is a gourmet cook, rotating diet/nutrition, a simple menu is a good approach. Variety is the spice of life as it’s been said and a broad spectrum of foods ultimately offers the most nutrition.
There’s a Multitude of Diet Flexibility Options
There must be a thousand recognized diets currently being promoted and this is not an exaggeration. I do not know the breakdown but would guess that the vast majority have nutritional deficiencies. The hottest diet currently and for the last couple of years has been the ketogenic diet.
In the event you were in a coma, this diet is yet another low carb, almost no carb, diet but with the twist of high fat and low protein. As with other low carb entries, the gut biome can improve and weight loss is a good possibility. So what is the problem you ask? No matter how keto proponents spin it, this diet lacks in electrolytes and other micronutrients, fiber and, oh yeah, carbs.
Sure, you can metabolically adapt, there’s that term, and go from burning glucose from carbs to ketones from fat but can you live well on this diet forever? I submit that you cannot and you will find that the vast majority of keto fans cannot either whether they admit it or not. They will say they are cycling off or taking a cheat day, week, month:)
We Must Be Cautious with Diets Lacking Essential Nutrients
I am not trashing keto by any means but putting this diet and others that lack complete nutrition on notice. Do you ever hear how Vegans will go to the ends of the earth to convince you that they are doing the best diet for health and the planet? Do you notice that if you disagree with them on even the slightest point that they might stab you at any moment?:) To be fair, you will get the same fanaticism from keto and carnivore dieters and others. I find it very odd that many of these fanatics will never vary the diet protocol and deny any proven flaws with their lives!
Doing the carnivore diet for about three months I was dangerously depleted in Potassium and C to the point that I thought i was having a heart attack and was about to go to the hospital. Being very body aware and having been a supplement junkie with probably over a hundred supplements on hand, it occurred to me that I might be dangerously low in Potassium.
I found my electrolyte powder that I was rarely using and blasted down about 2,000 mg and waited. My rapid heartbeat and breathing problems remained but did not get worse so I did another 3,000 mg a few minutes later and waited. I recalled that you need to watch K amount and space it out so after another 15 minutes or so, the symptoms began to subside. Another dose about an hour later and all symptoms were gone.
Very scary and glad I knew about potassium as a possible issue or I could have really been in trouble. Common sense is to gravitate to known healthy food options and listen to your body during diet experimentation.
In Your Diet Flexibility Research, Walk Before Running
If you have no problem eating everything and maintaining ideal body composition, I hate you:) For those like myself, we need help. I have autoimmune issues, pre-diabetes and genetic mutations like millions of us and need to be cognizant of them and adapt my diet.
A mono type diet has its place during the year. Carnivore, keto and Atkins come to mind and these low carb diets drop body fat and heal metabolic issues. I truly believe in going low carb for much of the year as it keeps my weight down while limiting autoimmune issues. I suggest that you try this also as the no sugar, low carb lifestyle has proven benefits. Unfortunately, for most of us, these extremely low carb diets come with pitfalls and nutritional deficits.
The goal is to move to more complete foods from time to time such as fruits and select grains. Gluten intolerance is a consideration you need to look into for your application and possibly never put these foods back into your diet. I avoid gluten but do not have the issues many have. After several months on low carb, the idea is to re-introduce seasonal foods. As I have mentioned, some of us fall off the wagon by re-introducing carbs and crash. Diet testing leads to metabolic flexibility that allows us to take advantage of missing nutrients in a mono type diet like keto.
Tread lightly and after a few months, think about putting back in some carbs for a couple of days and return to low carb. See how you adapt and if you have no issues, you are on the right track. I have found through several of these cycles, it gets easier to get closer to metabolic flexibility in your diet testing journey.
What if a Metabolic Flexibility Diet Isn’t Working?
This is a great question to consider because there are many of us that can go all in or all out. It could mean staying on low carb longer and when taking a carb reload break, only do so for a day. I found it was easy to get right back on low carb this way. If you can’t seem to become more metabolically flexible, you must consider broad supplementation as I do.
A mono type diet will fall short no matter what some of the proponents of keto say. You will find that almost all of the keto gurus eventually admit taking a long break from it begrudgingly. By supplementing all vitamins, minerals, herbs and other molecules, you can avoid the low carb crash much longer while staying very healthy!
An odd factor turns out to be anxiety! Research indicates that the gut is negatively impacted by stress and anxiety creating the inability to absorb nutrients. If we cannot effectively absorb nutrition, it follows that we have little chance of sticking to a healthy diet and diet experimentation is only going to create binge eating for most. This is why we recommend going with a mono type diet to reset the gut even when suffering anxiety. It can not only benefit weight management but lower cortisol and anxiety.
Pro Tip: Entirely out of left field and covered in this post called Kill Hunger with Two Hormones , I swear to you that getting vitamin D from the sun will greatly benefit your metabolism and appetite and help create metabolic flexibility
Dave Moody
Simple Mono Diet is Easier than a Diverse Metabolic Flexibility Diet for Fat Loss
I cannot lay out an exact plan and say with confidence that this is the absolute way to go. On the other hand, with a little intuition and less drastic seasonal changes, a solid plan can be made.
Let me explain and I know many of you will understand what I am about to say. If you have gone low carb and want to cycle or have a cheat day, some of you can do so with ease while others will go off the deep end and never return from the cheat day and go back to pizza and pasta in a heartbeat. You know who you are and what type of constitution you have and how flexible your metabolism actually is. This is not to say that you can’t improve your flexibility with practice as I have.
You can actually go through the fire and back from keto to carbs with some fortitude and commitment and this makes the next cycle that much easier. It’s not just knowing that you can survive the difficult few days of transitioning but your metabolic flexibility actually improves! I personally will continue edging up in body fat using the traditional well rounded diet year round because the metabolic flexibility diminishes like muscle without practice.
I like to go keto or carnivore for a few months and re-introduce complex carbs and some fruits when in season. The phyto-nutrients in many vegetables and some fruits are very beneficial to our health and no matter what the detractors say, fruits and vegetables have their place for overall robust health long term.
The Bottom Line
If you have no weight issues and can eat just about anything, disregard this article and count your blessings. If you have to watch your waistline and suspect you have nutritional deficiencies, I suggest trying this metabolic flexibility approach. I will be putting together a year round plan and post it in an upcoming issue for your reference. For now, know that by rotating your diet over the course of a year to take advantage of seasonal foods is a good goal.
If you are quite obese, consider the keto or carnivore diets that will absolutely get you on a good track for the next few months. Keep an eye on your caloric intake if going other than very low carb, avoid sugars year round and do some daily walking and resistance training a couple times a week.
Failing only means that you are one step closer to success! This applies to diet flexibility in my opinion. If you never experiment, you will never know what diet is best for you on an ongoing basis. Experimentation also builds metabolic “muscle” to become metabolically flexible. If you cut out sugar and simple carbs, your diet journey will be much easier and allow you to adapt faster.
Eating the same thing every day gets boring and your nutrition will suffer so try diet testing and get in on the spice of life through a metabolic flexibility diet lifestyle!
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Another great one for diet research is the AIP diet
