New Year’s Resolutions Should Be Year-Round

In this age, society is fed an abundance of medical opinions on health and nutrition. This can oftentimes lead one astray, because with so many voices, it is hard to determine which ones to believe. Countless new studies come out stating what to eat and what not to eat, and yet other investigations are published that refute them. For tens of thousands of years, the human species has survived optimally, faring better than it is now, on food. Why is it that all of a sudden our concern has peaked? We have survived this long without excessive thought on what goes into our stomachs. Why, for example, in the early 20^th century, was the Food and Drug Administration established and the Food Pyramid created in 1992? A concern for the gastronomical has spiked awareness for many Americans, and this health frenzy is very new.

We have survived for millennia without having major anxiety about what we consume. The Atkins diet, the Paleo diet, and the ever-so-popular gluten-free diet are a few examples of this anxiety, while really the best option is much less complex. Less complex, yes, but easily accepted? Not even close.

“Everyone’s looking for a quick fix. They don’t want to make very many changes; they want change or results without the effort, and that’s not the way health and nutrients work. Everyone’s looking for a way to get thinner, but a fad diet is not the way to do it. Any time a diet pulls out certain nutrients or types of food, you may lose weight initially, but ultimately you’re hurting your body by not getting those other nutrients,” assistant professor Jennie Oler at Utah State University said.

Many people may succumb to the appeal of new dieting ideas because they want to lose weight, have more energy, or feel healthier. However, most people do not realize a multitude of facts when it comes to health, such as that losing weight is not equivalent to regaining health. You can’t lose weight instantly, and in order to keep that weight off and keep your overall health, you can’t return to your old habits. In order to lose weight or become healthier, one must commit to a steady, lifelong plan instead of adhering to the promise of speedy health that fad diets advertise.

By dictionary definition, a fad diet is a diet that promises immediate weight loss while excluding a main food group. By a specialist’s definitions, it’s the same thing.

“Most fad diets are going to have you removing certain foods or nutrients from your diet, and that can mean that your diet is not well-balanced. You’re going to be missing certain key nutrients that the body needs. I can’t say they’re all dangerous, but I definitely wouldn’t say that most fad diets are all that beneficial or healthy for the person,” Oler said.

Atkins and the gluten-free diet pull out protein, a nutrient which the body needs. Gluten, for instance, is the protein that gives bread its taste, so while foods may be devoid of gluten, manufacturers add sugar and fat to compensate for the loss of taste, thereby making certain brands of these foods unhealthier.

The taste of bread that people are used to may also contribute to why the gluten-free diet is believed to promote weight loss. When bread tastes different because it has no gluten, a person could end up consuming fewer calories because he or she no longer craves bread. While someone may not be doing more exercise, that person may be losing weight on the gluten-free diet simply from consuming fewer carbohydrates and less protein, again, nutrients that are vital to the body’s function.

“A gluten-free diet isn’t necessarily unhealthy. It’s a very difficult diet to follow; it’s expensive, and really the only ones who need to be following a gluten-free diet are those that have been diagnosed with celiac disease, who truly are allergic to the gluten. Otherwise, it’s a fad,” Oler said.

Motives for going on a diet are countless, from wanting to lose weight to seeking more energy from the food a person eats, but while these health problems are many, the answers to them are few. In order to have overall health, a person must put in physical work as a part of gaining health.

“Is it going to make you lose weight more? No. It’s not the avoidance of gluten that causes weight loss,” Oler said.

Media plays its role significantly when instilling fear into the minds of the public, who as they hear of a newly-found disorder, apply it to their own health problems. Self-diagnosis is an important part of self-awareness, for there is no one but oneself who understands that person’s body the best. However, in this age of advanced medical technology, should there be a limit to how quickly a person jumps to conclusions when giving a title to health concerns?

“They always say, people in medical school suddenly have every disease… You hear about it and [you think] oh, that’s me, and especially something like gluten sensitivity, where the reactions aren’t always extremely strong. You could just think, people with gluten sensitivity have messed up stomachs, I get a messed up stomach; I must have gluten sensitivity,” SPA sophomore Kat Jackson, who was diagnosed with gluten sensitivity from a blood test, said.

Jackson is one of the few Americans whose motive for following a special diet was not induced by the media. Unlike many of the uninformed health extremists out there, she adopted this diet because of her allergic reactions to gluten, not for weight loss, energy boost, or overall improved health. These dilemmas have no promise of being solved by the gluten-free diet, and they are up to the individual to solve.

Fad diets are not backed by scientific research, but by the person who first comes up with them. This is self-diagnosis in its origins, where the accuracy of diagnosing another person’s health problem can be faulty. It is up to people themselves to decide whether or not particular health habits are beneficial, while at the same time, considering a medical opinion in times of need. The media does not know someone’s body better than that person does, so instead of jumping onto the bandwagon with each new medical miracle, people should learn to attune themselves to what they have found works for their personal health.