TO THE EDITOR:
Vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, paleo, pescetarian, dairy-free and the list goes on. How does the average person tell which one is for them?
This is an anxiety-inducing question that we all ask ourselves at some point. All of these diets have convincing evidence and science behind their effectiveness, but all seem to think they’re better than the rest.
How is it that we hear about Vegan marathon runners, paleo Olympic swimmers and dairy-free bikini models, and all of them seem to be succeeding, feeling and looking good?
It turns out the answer is simpler than one would assume. All that this means is that all of these famous people are good at listening to their bodies. That’s right, it’s that simple! The secret to finding the perfect diet is to listen and feel how your body reacts to different foods.
Learning to be in tune with your body is super important, so we should push for it to be taught in school alongside our sex education and drug prevention programs.
If nutrition education was taught to people at a young age, we could prevent many health problems, obesity related spending, increase productivity in the work world and increase happiness among adults across the United States.
Lanie O’Neill
Chapel Hill
