Ahhhh, it’s that special time of year again… when the weather starts to warm and we take stock of the effects the winter and the last year in general had on our bodies and start to panic scroll Google for quick fix diets and detoxes to start the new season fresh and finally reach all those pesky health and weight loss goals we’ve been striving for since… well… since forever. It’s all a bit exhausting, isn’t it? I know, I’ve been there too.

This time of year, my client load in my holistic nutrition practice literally doubles as people feel that desperate need to start the diet to end all diets once and for all. And I get it! Before I got into this line of work, I used to go through this same cycle myself. But it’s a cycle for a reason. Fad diets just don’t work in the long term. You may get great success from doing keto or eating raw or doing the Cabbage Soup Diet or Grapefruit Diet or Air Diet or whatever for a month or two… but then, inevitably you either stagnate or backslide. Because these are not sustainable, long-term approaches to eating, however effective they may be in the short term. Sure, there’s the odd Keto Bro out there who will tell you he’s been doing the diet for years and feels great, and maybe for some people that may be the case! But having done a modified version keto myself for about 3 months to tackle some stubborn insulin resistance and hormonal imbalance I was dealing with, I’ll be the first to admit that it is not a diet designed for the long-term health (physical or mental). It’s super restrictive, it promotes metabolic inflexibility, it requires eating much more animal protein than is healthy for our bodies (and our planet!), and… well… it just kind of sucks.

So what, then, is the diet to end all diets?

It is so much simpler than we’ve been led to believe. Human history, epigenetics, and extensive scientific research have proven again and again that the Mediterranean diet is the most sustainable, healthiest diet in the world, bar none. And it’s EASY. And enjoyable. And intuitive. And you feel like a normal person, who can eat normal food.