Why you don’t want a balanced diet

The conversation got me thinking about the whole notion of a balanced diet. I think it is a dangerous concept. We can take balanced to mean almost anything. We can put all kinds of garbage in our diet in the name of balance.

The research is pretty clear. You don’t need bad carbs to balance your diet. Bad carbs are anything white:

• Wheat
• Sugar

Let me stop there. That covers a lot of territory. If you eliminated these two things you would almost certainly lose weight. Three more:

• Potatoes
• Rice
• Corn

All of these foods have a high glycemic index, meaning they turn to sugar very quickly. This raises insulin levels and causes you to get fat.

You don’t need any of these at all. You may want them. They might taste good. You might choose to eat them. They won’t kill you, at least not if you don’t eat much of them. But, don’t justify eating them in the name of a balanced diet. Justify eating them in the name of, “They just taste good and I want some.”

Veronica Morgan lost over 100 pounds employing what she called the 80/20 rule. She meticulously counted her calories and made sure that less than 20% were from these food groups. There is a rule of thumb you might consider. She tells her story in Diets Don’t Work.

You may want to adopt a similar strategy. I just want to invite you to think clearly about a balanced diet. We don’t need any of the white foods listed above in our diet. Saying that we do is like saying we want to balance our intake of clean air with some tobacco smoke. These white foods are poisons that your body can tolerate in limited quantities. The more limited the better.