I am not a fan of the word ‘diet’; diets always have an end date and my goal with my clients is to create a sustainable way of eating towards optimal health. What if you could choose a healthy way of eating and stick to it? Here is a look at three very different fad diets, some pros and cons, and how to choose a food regime that’s right for you.

Ketogenic Diet:

The ketogenic diet was originally created to help patients with severe epilepsy. The main goal of the diet is to be in ‘ketosis’, this is when your body is using ketones produced by your liver as energy instead of using glucose. When on the ketogenic diet, you are eating less than 50 g of carbs per day and most of your calories come from fats to achieve this state of ketosis.

Pros: It has shown to help people lose weight fast, because when we are in ketosis we tap into our fat stores for energy. Some of the meals look delicious – egg bakes with cheese and avocado, bullet-proof coffee with MCT oil, peanut butter fat bombs, yum!

Cons: Keeping your carb intake under 50 g per day means that your fruit and vegetable intake goes down significantly. To give you a rough idea of how quickly your carb intake will get maxed out – one apple is worth more than half your daily intake of carbohydrates on the keto diet.

Juice Cleanses:

Juice cleanses can be any where from 2 weeks long to 3 days long. You can do them through juice companies or make you own juice at home. Some juice cleanses also include smoothies.

Pros: You get a huge amount of phytonutrients daily that you wouldn’t otherwise get, unless you ate pounds of veggies per day. Juicing veggies takes out the fiber and it actually makes it easier for us to digest plants, especially those of us who do not eat a whole lot of fiber to begin with. Juices can be a great addition to cleanses as they  get in extra phytonutrients and antioxidants to help with cleansing the body.

Cons: It is an extreme calorie restriction; you may experience fatigue, hunger, headaches and mood swings. You are not consuming any solid food or fiber, therefore you will not be able to form proper bowel movements and may become constipated, which is not what we want on a cleanse. Juices can contain a lot of sugar.

The Whole 30 Challenge:

This ‘diet’ is 30 days long. During the 30 days, you will eat foods in their whole form, or as close to their whole form as possible. The Whole 30 challenge eliminates sugar, grains, legumes, sulphites, MSG, alcohol, dairy and any processed packaged foods.

Pros:  You have a wide variety of nutrient dense foods to choose from. The Whole 30 Challenge discourages stepping on a scale and measuring portions, this encourages a healthy relationship with food and takes away the pressure of losing weight on a diet. Eating whole foods is one of the healthiest ways to approach nutrition; participants will develop skills in the kitchen preparing these whole foods that they can take away and continue to use forever.

Cons: Whole food prep can be overwhelming to some newcomers. The ‘quick’ meals that have the Whole 30 approved stamp, can be quite expensive and hard to find in small communities like Valemount.

It is important to do your research if you choose to try a new way of eating. Ask yourself:

Can I keep up with the demands of my life on this diet?

Could I continue to eat this way long term?

Does this feel nourishing in my body physically and emotionally?

If you can answer all these questions positively, it is safe to say you have found a sustainable way of eating that is right for you.