Expert Debunks Misconceptions Around Dieting For Weight Loss. Here's How

Do you have a distant aunt who asks you to eat less so that you can become leaner? Or perhaps, you have a friend who encourages you to cut out carbs and snacks from your diet and asks to survive on water. Any which way, you, being a vulnerable human being like all of us, are prone to fall into their “advice” without first checking out the facts. However, if you choose to follow their path, we can only warn you of deteriorating health. Growing an aversion towards food is not a way to achieve fitness and health coach Luke Coutinho recently emphasised just that. 

In an Instagram post, Luke asked us to respect bio-individuality, which means every individual has different nutrition requirements and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Luke did not motivate us away from dieting but helped break certain misconceptions around it. He wrote, “Dieting doesn't mean eating less. It means eating more of what's good for you and less of what's not. Don't make food the enemy.”

Luke, who often shares tips about a healthier and happier lifestyle, respected the complexity of personal diets as he said, “There is good and [there is] bad... and then there are extremes that are not needed at all.”

Luke added, “So many people out there [are] punishing themselves with diets that make them unhappy. An unhappy mind is an unhappy body. [There is] no point losing weight and looking thinner but older and more haggard and unhappy.”

Luke's way to prevent diets from being a negative presence in our lives is to open up to possibilities of nourishment. “Move from restriction to nourishment and fulfilment,” he wrote.

Luke is a proponent of holistic health and when he barred us from falling for diet myths, he left his note with an ending message, “Keep it simple.”