South Beach Diet. Atkins. The Master Cleanse. NutriSystem. Weight Watchers. Whole 30.
They all have something in common. They are all temporary.
Not a single one of these was meant to be a long-term fix for your health. I've never met anyone who has followed any of these diets for more than a week, a month, or maybe a couple of years. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you feel good while they're doing it (minus the Master Cleanse - don't do that to yourself). However, as soon as it's over, your "old ways" creep back in and at that point, you not only feel all your old symptoms coming back, you can add "defeated" and "frustrated" to the list next to headaches, gas/bloating, allergies, weight gain, low energy, and irritable.
When did diets become the answer? When did we lose our ability to eat for nourishment while enjoying the process of actually preparing the food and consuming it? When did we decide that eating food had to be such a difficult task?
If you've ever decided that you want to have a healthier lifestyle, I bet one of the first things that happened was that you went to Google or Pinterest for ideas and quickly realized you didn't know where to begin. I see a lot of people start with food, which is great, but what happens there is people get overwhelmed with all the suggestions, recipes, and ingredients to incorporate for their new and improved lifestyle. If it's overwhelming, I promise 0% of anything will happen or change.
Our defense mechanism in situations where we feel overwhelmed goes something like this: I AM PUMPED! Let's do this! It's time to get my butt in gear. (We google it, search Pinterest, and then...) It's too much. Where do I begin? I can't. I'll probably fail. I choose not to even attempt.
I get it! I found out I had a severe gluten allergy in my late 20s, and I swear, y'all...it was like someone told me I had to figure out how to get to Mars without NASA's help. I saw food in a whole new light, and I felt like everything had wheat in it. Like someone had gone through the grocery store and sprinkled wheat dust on every single food just to see me cry out of frustration. Luckily, I had good friends who knew what they were doing, and I am pretty good at adapting to change.