Why One Diet Does Not Fit All and What YOU Can Do About It

There are many excellent and reputable weight loss programs in this country. Most are reliable for producing significant results….for many people … for awhile. Unfortunately, despite this fact, the United States remains the most obese country in the world and the health implications mount daily. Something is off here.

You may be one of these people being affected by this national trend and you are looking for real answers. You may be wondering why the diet that worked for your best friend, your spouse or one of your parents is not working for you.

The missing ingredient in many of the well-designed and well-executed programs is YOU. No matter how wonderful the program, if it is not designed to address your life, your needs, your body chemistry, your wellness habits (or lack there-of), your genetics, and even your permanent re-orientation to a healthy-weight lifestyle, the program will ultimately fail. Because we are all different and so many individual variables that have an impact on our health, there is literally no way that one diet can work for all of us. If it could, whenever we put on a few extra pounds, all we would have to do is start the “universal diet” and we would lose the weight we needed to lose.

So maybe you have tried the no-carb diet, the juice diet, the all meat diet, the no betime snack diet, the calorie counting diet, the portion diet, the vegan diet, the celebrity diet, the late night TV diet, the by our food in a box diet…and literally hundreds of others programmed diets under a myriad of names and promises that this is “the one”. Yet not one of those diets, which has helped so many other people, has worked for you.

Those diets all have one thing in common: they were designed to mass market to a large number of people. Do they help people? Yes, of course they do. If you literally have the right combination of body chemistry, genetics, propensities, habits, and wellness conditions, those programs will work for you. It is a numbers game. Mass marketing a diet will have enough people try it that some success stories will enevitably bubble up to the top. But no one diet is right for everyone. Trying mass marketing diets hoping it will work for you, is as effective as throwing darts at a board blindfolded. If you hit the target and the diet actually works – it was just luck.

This leaves people with the experience of trying literally everything out there and finding nothing that works for them. You may be one of those people who now believe that “diets” don’t work for you – or it is all your bad genes and there is nothing you can do that will make a real difference.

So what is the missing piece? How do you find the diet that is right for you?

Let’s start by taking the luck out of the equation.

You start by getting “what’s so” with your condition, level of health, body chemistry and wellness habits. Find a nutritionist, nurse practitioner, naturopathic doctor or similar health professional who can help you get some straight forward blood work done and then help you begin the process of analyzing what is needed in your individual case. This might cost a couple of hundred dollars depending on what you have analyzed, but it is worth it. It is the best way to begin to get a clear picture of what is really going on inside your body and what your body might need.

Next you can work with that professional or another to design a diet and exercise plan that is right for you rather than trying to fit your life into a mass marketed wellness plan. Almost every community has health professionals who are highly trained and have the skills needed to help you begin to design your own program. Begin to seek them out. The key is that you have to take ownership of your own plan.
And remember, you paid for the lab work – ask for a copy of the results. Ask them to sit down with you and go line by line. They may not know everything, but if you keep a copy you can take it to another health professional. Many times a nutritionist or similar professional will be able to tell you what supplements you can take to begin to balance out your numbers.

Remember - You own your medical record. Don’t be shy about asking for copies. Some offices may charge you a nominal fee, but it is a lot less expensive than running the tests again when you visit another practitioner’s office.

Also remember you don’t have to try to fix everything at once. Your body may have taken decades to get in the shape it is in. Don’t expect things to change ove
ight. You can start with two or three items that seem the most critical. Put together a 3-6 month plan. At the end of the plan, run the blood work again and see where you stand. Make adjustments and repeat.

Life does not sit still. It does not fit in a box. It does not follow a prescription. Nor do you. A well designed weight loss or wellness plan applies the best in weight loss science with our skills in intrapersonal development: spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically. This is what makes each of us unique. Take ownership of an individualized wellness plan that is designed to work for you by taking into account you body’s needs right now!