Diet Vs Lifestyle

   You may have heard people say: "Diet has the word 'die' in it for a reason." Clearly, there's not a negative connotation to the word diet without a reason. The word makes you think of having to restrict things you love and enjoy just to try and fit this perfect image created in your mind. You don't create this image on your own. You see it on all the celebrity, models, and influencers accounts. This pressure to live up to those expectations, and the fear of not and being criticized and shamed by others, is impacting many.

 

  Originally the word diet simply meant "the foods one consumes." Now, it's shifted to a focus on regimen and restriction. Counting calories, fat, and protein, with little focus on vitamins and minerals, and whether or not those vitamins and minerals can actually be absorbed properly by the body. Diet also doesn't take into consideration things like stress, amount of sleep, sleep quality, as well as shifting hormones. Now it's centered mainly on numbers on the package and the scale.

   With this negative attitude towards one's diet, there's another word being thrown around in the health and wellness spaces: lifestyle. Lifestyle is different from diet. It means, "The way in which one lives." And there's a number of creators and wellness coaches online who teach this whole body approach. That true health and wellness is more than just the food we consume, it's the water we're drinking, stress, relationships, getting enough quality sleep, practicing our beliefs, and getting some form of exercise and physical activity in. So, the question is which is better?