Extreme Diets

There are so many ways to eat nowadays and so many healing diets…..nature in the form of humans seems to be experimenting with what works and what doesn’t, in our current context. As humans we are already primed to eat, even thrive on, quite a variety of foods, as we are a highly adaptable species. We now have access to so many types of foods, that we are only partially limited by the environment we live in.

Are any of them wrong? Are they all right? I mean, can both vegans and carnivores be right? Can both keto and high carb be right?

Of course, like with many other aspects of modern life, the debate is becoming quite polarised, and this is intensified with social media’s algorithms which promote division and controversy.

I think what we are entering into is a time of individualised health approaches, rather than a homogenised approach.

It’s not just what objective information we now have access to with testing for deficiencies and imbalances, as well as thousands of scientific studies….it’s what we are intuitively drawn to, and what is right for our constitution, or at this time of life, as well as what fits with our ethics and belief systems. Not to mention our unique sense of taste. There are so many variables and factors, probably more than can be measured in any accurate way. And not everyone has sufficient education, time or interest, to analyse a vast amount of information around diet - so they find themselves going down a particular path that seems like a good idea at the time, and the ‘experts’ they follow seem to know what they are talking about.

Plant-based eating

There is a lot of evidence for whole food plant based eating having a positive effect on many health parameters, particular those affecting the cardiovascular system. Large studies show overall benefits and added years to life (and life to years). Many have reversed chronic illness. However for some it’s not enough to eat a balanced variety of whole plant foods. So then there is the raw plant food approach, that provides what has been coined hyper-nutrition, flooding the body with an abundance of living nutrients. I have seen it many heal from long-term, particularly inflammatory and autoimmune type illnesses but also cancer, heart disease, skin conditions and more. There are many types of plant-based diets and their popularity seems to be increasing. Many people thrive on them.

But some cannot find a way that doesn’t leave them depleted over time.

It could be said that the way our society promotes food and unhealthy eating has become a kind of extreme and self destructive way of life- so it can take what appears to be a polar opposite or extreme approach to counter the ill health effects from eating a SAD diet for decades. Often the extreme is just needed for a while, then a more moderate approach can be taken again, as long as you don’t go back to the way of eating/ lifestyle that created disease in the first place. For example some go on a raw food or juice cleanse, but come back to eating more cooked food after a while, once balance is restored.

Carnivore Diet

Several people I know have recently gone on the carnivore diet. This involves eating only, or mostly, meat and animal foods. There are a few variations on it. It is currently quite popular and I can understand that. It involves cutting out a lot of foods that can be inflammatory, especially to an already unhealthy and out of balance system. It seems to be able to help with blood sugar control, a calming of digestive symptoms, and weight loss. Perhaps it gives the body a sort of re-set. It seems to have been particularly helpful for some people with autoimmune conditions. But what about the lack of fibre and nutrients and all the benefits of plants? There haven’t been many studies at all on this, but the proponents of the diet say they feel good, and have remission from certain diseases. We will see how it plays out long term.

We do know that eating a diet high in ultra-processed foods, processed grains, industrial seed oils and sugar, is a recipe for metabolic issues and disease, especially cardiovascular but also all sorts of inflammatory conditions, even dementia. And humans have a hugely varying range of tolerance for foods like dairy and grains. But none of us are really built for the food like substances, ultra processed foods, promoted as food nowadays.

Personally, I have always been interested in experimentation around health and eating. I can understand the pull toward these different approaches and in my 5 and 1/2 decades I have tried many of them. I have found positives and negatives in most. I do recommend if you are pulled to a more extreme way of eating to resolve your health issues, that you keep getting tested, and stay open to when it may no longer be working as well as it did intitially, as there is usually a honeymoon period with all of them. It is only after a few months, or a year or two at most, that the deficiencies and imbalances show up.

And by then, often the new way of eating has become a new identity, especially because we probably had to defend it against well-meaning critical friends and family members.

Extreme ways of eating have a valid place, and many people have found them very healing, even life saving. And they can also be triggers, or expressions of disordered eating tendencies, emotional imbalances, or desperation. Extreme ways of eating may come as a result of poor information. They may be socially isolating. They can sometimes make your health worse in the long run.

I encourage you to use your discernment, and listen to your body. Stay open, and don’t be too dogmatic, even if you think you have found the golden grail of eating for health. Let’s see how it goes long term. It might be good for now, but not forever. It might be good for you, but not for everyone.