{"id":27814,"date":"2022-11-17T17:53:56","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T17:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roadtolivingwhole.com\/?p=27814"},"modified":"2022-11-17T18:01:29","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T18:01:29","slug":"3-mistakes-make-diet-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roadtolivingwhole.com\/3-mistakes-make-diet-diagnosis\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Mistakes You Are Making When You Diet for Your Diagnosis and What To Do Instead"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was on my quest to get healthy. To not struggle with my psoriasis, acne, weight fluctuation, migraines, severe asthma, and hormone imbalances, I tried every diet out there. Anything that someone would claim would help, I would follow. I was in a \u201cdiet for diagnosis\u201d mentality. I just wanted to feel better. Through my own experience plus coaching for the past 10 years, I see the same 3 mistakes being made over and over again. It\u2019s harming you and now allowing you to heal as quickly as you could.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Role Therapeutic Diets Play<\/h2>\n

Therapeutic diets absolutely have their place. I mean, that\u2019s my specialty. Helping people follow therapeutic diets necessary to help them regain their health. However, there are 3 traps people fall into that set them up for frustration at best and at worst, making their health problems worse due to nutrient deficiencies and sometimes even developing an eating disorder.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your motives are pure. You want to feel better and each expert promises their way is the right way. It worked for all of these people, why wouldn\u2019t it work for me, right?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been there. I was able to escape this \u201cdiet for diagnosis\u201d mentality and find the real foundation for a healthy diet I could actually do and it supports my health. I\u2019m grateful for my journey. It\u2019s made me a better health coach and I\u2019m able to help a wide variety of people. What took me years to learn, I\u2019d love to help you learn in much less time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 3 Mistakes Typically Made<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Doing a complete 180 from what you\u2019re currently eating and jumping 100% into a therapeutic diet<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Staying on that therapeutic diet for too long<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Going right back to the way you were eating before you started the diet when the time is over<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These might not sound like harmful strategies. Let me explain why there are mistakes, then I\u2019ll go into what to do instead.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Number 1: Jumping from what you\u2019ve been eating straight into a therapeutic diet<\/h3>\n

    You want to feel better fast. You\u2019ve been feeling awful for a very long time and you just want to feel good so you can live your life. So you learn about a diet that is supposed to help and you do a complete 180 to jump into this thing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    But then find that it takes so much mental effort and time it\u2019s only sustainable for a very short time. Then you feel like a complete failure and like you\u2019re doomed to suffer your symptoms forever because you quote-unquote lack the willpower to stick with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The reason this doesn\u2019t work is directly linked to the fact that jumping into a new diet and doing a 180 from what we have been doing requires much more mental effort than we expect. It also requires us to change the way we meal plan, grocery shop, prep, and cook our meals. It\u2019s basically a brand-new lifestyle and doing it all at once is basically impossible. You haven\u2019t failed at anything! It\u2019s just too much to take on all at once.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    A much more realistic and sustainable approach is to make over what I call your Food Baseline first. Make that second nature so it requires very little thought and effort. Once you\u2019ve done this, strategically make changes over a few weeks to build up to transitioning onto the therapeutic diet.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Number 2: Staying on the restrictive\/therapeutic diet for way too long<\/h3>\n

    Therapeutic diets are restrictive for a very good reason. They are removing foods that inhibit the body from healing itself for a short amount of time. Usually 30 days to 6 months. They aren\u2019t meant to become your new dietary lifestyle!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The reason they can\u2019t is because of how restrictive they are. For a short time they\u2019re extremely beneficial, for the long haul they include too few of nutrients and you very likely will become nutrient depleted. If you stay nutrient depleted for too long you can have permanent damage from these deficiencies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    A couple of examples: I\u2019ve seen people stay on the ketogenic diet for too long and have their thyroids completely crash. They then have to stay on thyroid medication for life.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve also seen people stay on a Low FODMAP diet for too long and have permanent neuropathy from nutrient deficiencies. They also develop disordered eating and require much more intervention than they would have if they had followed it properly and gotten off of it when they were supposed to.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Staying on these therapeutic diets for too long can also cause you to be afraid of food. Please eat. Please. You need to eat. Not only do you need nutrients and calories, but food also brings us closer to those we love, it builds community and connection, and it\u2019s just plain an important part of being human.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Therapeutic diets absolutely have their place but very few have been designed to be long-term dietary lifestyles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Number 3: Going back to your old way of eating right after getting off of the therapeutic diet<\/h3>\n

    Another thing I see people do is for those who are very good rule followers, they will follow the rules of the therapeutic diet to a T no matter how hard it is but once they\u2019re told to transition off of it go absolutely crazy and eat all of the foods, usually highly processed, sugar filled foods they\u2019ve been missing. They got right back to their old way of eating, or sometimes worse, because they felt so deprived and hungry the entire time.<\/span><\/p>\n

    All that hard work just got flushed down the toilet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    This isn\u2019t healthy either. If the goal is lifetime health, and management of symptoms, then you need to eat in a way that supports that. The therapeutic diet is there when there is a flare-up of your symptoms, but like I\u2019ve been saying, it\u2019s a short-term tool, but your regular diet, your Food Baseline, is what will keep you healthy\u2026or if you don\u2019t make it over, symptomatic, for life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    These don\u2019t work. This is why you\u2019ve been frustrated. You might even feel like you\u2019re doomed to feel awful forever. Don\u2019t blame yourself. You just need guidance.<\/span><\/p>\n

    What To Do Instead<\/h2>\n

    It\u2019s time to get out of the \u201cdiet for diagnosis\u201d cycle, makeover your normal way of eating to support the healthy life you desire, learn how to use a therapeutic diet properly so your other therapies work more effectively, and then go back to your food baseline easily, enjoy food again while experiencing vibrant health.<\/span><\/p>\n

    It\u2019s not as hard as it seems. It\u2019s just different. It requires a complete mindset shift away from a pill for every ill or diet for every diagnosis, and onto something so much better. Tangible, realistic healthy living that can be done for life. And really, that\u2019s the goal, right?<\/span><\/p>\n