How to Use the 80/20 Rule with No Diets

By Ashley Williams

If you're like me and you have went on a weight loss journey, you have tried a fad diet or two. Or three. Maybe four. When you finished that certain diet, you either admired your figure or binged on a huge plate of nachos. Or maybe you made a vow to never do a diet again.  There are many diets in this world, so let me name a few: ketogenic diet, paleo diet, DASH diet, Atkins diet, Mediterranean diet, Nordic diet, gluten-free diet, juice fasting, green smoothie diet, etc. Many diets are used for individuals with serious health issues such as heart disease, seizures, high blood pressure, and diabetes to name a few. However, there are individuals like me who are willing to try any diet to see the scale move. Sadly, this behavior is not healthy.   

Diets have proven to cause unhealthy eating habits and binge eating habits.  When you restrict yourself, you are risking a chance of eating poorly and binging on the foods you restricted yourself from.  When I did the ketogenic diet this year, I lost weight but my energy levels for working out was poor. I binged so hard on carbs after the diet and it took me a long time to recover from binge eating.  Although I did binge eat afterwards, I had a hard time keeping up with the weight loss because the pounds were lost pretty fast. This taught me to never restrict myself again because the aftermath was a nightmare. 

As a nutrition fan, I have learned many things about how to correctly feed your body.  For a better result of weight loss without unhealthy diets, the 80/20 rule should be incorporated.  The 80 is the percentage of eating healthy and whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats.  The 20 is the other percentage is the “fun” foods that we are “forbidden” to eat. Let me dig deeper into the 80/20 rule:

80% of healthy foods are used to give your body the energy you need and provides nutrients for your body health.  Think of these foods as “living foods” that makes your body and health thrive and live. Our body is like a factory that needs important nutrients to keep going.

20% of foods that we should eat are the donuts, cheeseburgers, ice cream and other guilty pleasures nutritionist tell us to stay away from gives us the room to enjoy life.  Basically, eating these foods provides your body a balance. (If you really think you cannot eat sugar ever again, think again.)  

It is very important to put away the diet habits and incorporate a healthy relationship with food for better health and a better mindset.  Going through the whirlwind of diets and binge eating has been the story of my life for 2019 and I do not want anyone to make the same mistakes I made.  Once I put away the conditioning of diets and wanting the scale to change, I started to make better decisions and realize my worth with my weight loss. Now, I do not even look at the scale.  I just continue to do 80/20 rule and workout almost every day. Take it upon yourself to do research to find out what your body needs without diets. You will be glad to know that you can function without the conditioning of a diet.