It’s Time To Personalise Your Plate

One-Size-Fits-All Diets Don’t Work

Everyone wants to know what’s the “best way to eat” or the “best foods to eat” or “what is the quickest way to [insert health goal of your choice]”.

At New Leaf we’ve seen just about every fad diet and one-size-fits-all meal plan in existence. Why? Because when we discuss our clients’ relationship to food and what they are eating, they tell us about all the crazy things they have done to try to achieve their goals.

At this point they are usually sitting in front of us asking for a plan that will actually suit their lifestyle and their bodies – and not wanting to feel restricted, or guilty or starving!  Sounds like a great idea.

The good news is our training as clinical nutritionists means that we can assess your dietary needs and help you find the way of eating that suits your body and personal tastes. This is what works.

Nutritional Medicine for health, weight loss, disease management, adaptation to training, whatever it may be, cannot be managed by a print out or a generic here-is-what-you-must-eat diet plan.

WHY? Because everybody (and every BODY) is different and your nutritional needs differs from the person standing next to you.

You are not just another number trying to hit a goal.  Nutritional needs vary with age, sex, genetics, exercise levels, life stage, if you are pregnant, post-natal, menopausal, mid-life, teenage, elderly, vegan, vegetarian or flexitarian. For women it will even differ depending on where you are in your monthly cycle!

It’s time to Personalise your Plate

Here’s an example of how we approach clinical nutrition, so we can get the right eating plan for you:

1. We assess your current health through and in-depth case history

2. Ask about what you like and dislike eating

3. Explore how food makes you feel and your relationship with your plate

4. Assess foods which may be exacerbating your physical or emotional symptoms

5. Incorporate foods which your body needs

6. Reduce foods which your body may not need

7. Change behaviours to help you stop yo-yo dieting

See how individual this process should be?

So why are you still reaching for a diet plan and print out?

Diet Culture Be Gone

The diet industry is based on the premise that what worked for one person will work for you. Most of the time this is marketing BS. Not to mention this approach to food being damaging to your mind and body.

Yo-yo dieting causes havoc on your whole system, and never really serves you in terms of your end “goal”. It impacts your digestive system (restricting good carbs, fibres and starches will kill your microbiome); or mood (constant restriction of food send strange neurotransmitter messages triggering the hyperactive reward centres in the brain, leading to binge eating); or hormones and fertility (restricting calories will seriously damage a healthy female cycle) – just to name a few areas.

Apart from this – we know that meal plans and diets don’t work. In fact, all the research says that after you’ve finished your meal plan/diet you’ll just go back to eating the way you were before – but feel guiltier about it. Sound familiar?

So when our clients say “I have no idea why I did that crazy diet, I really wish I hadn’t”, or “I’m so sick of counting macros”, or “why does everyone tell me to eat chicken, broccoli and sweet potato” or “why do I have to have a hot breakfast when it makes me feel ill”, we know how to help them approach eating on a personal level.

Weight loss is never going to be a print out meal plan for three weeks and then see you later.

It’s a multi-factorial, multi-system approach. No one shoe size fits all – sorry Cinderella!

NEW LEAF NATUROPATHIC HEALTH IS A WHOLISTIC HEALTHCARE CLINIC BASED IN SYDNEY’S INNER WEST. OUR UNIVERSITY EDUCATED NATUROPATHS, HERBALISTS AND NUTRITIONIST LOVE TO HELP YOU REGAIN YOUR HEALTH AND WORK TO BALANCE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD. 

MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TODAY TO GET SOME HELP.