As research continues to emerge about the harmful effects of processed foods and refined sugars and fats on the human body, people increasingly turn to diet styles that allow the body to achieve a natural state of balance. Whether recommending foods that are as close to the source as possible or advocating diets that aim to balance your body type, natural-balance diet experts agree that the best plan is to eliminate artificial ingredients and emphasize lean proteins, fruits and vegetables.
Paleolithic Diets
The early years of the 21st century saw attempts to return to nature by eating more like our prehistoric ancestors did. This diet style goes by many names: the caveman diet, the paleolithic diet and the evolutionary diet. After examining fossil records and modern hunter-gatherer cultures, advocates of this diet argued that eating grains is a recent development in human history and doesn't suit our bodies well. People with a gluten intolerance or those seeking a low-carbohydrate diet can greatly benefit from the paleolithic diet, notes Loren Cordain, professor of exercise physiology at Colorado State University, in an interview on the website Health & Beyond. On the down side, with its heavy emphasis on meat, this diet is impossible for vegetarians to follow.
Body-Type Diets
If you've struggled with diets that seem to work for everyone except you, you might not be eating correctly for your body type. Body-type diets include different eating plans according to your metabolic type, your blood type and your hormonal type. This type of plan often includes a questionnaire to help you determine your category and offers a specific list of foods to avoid. The secret to the success of these plans may not be the fact that they are tailor-made for you, however. Body-type plans succeed because of their sensible emphasis on lean protein, unsaturated fat, fiber, fruits, veggies and mild calorie restriction, according to Stefanie Shaver, a sports medicine physician in Blue Ridge, Georgia, in a 2002 interview published in the book "Complementary and Alternative Medicine Secrets."
Energetic Diets
A variation on body type diets, energetic diets seek to return you to a natural state of balance by working on your qi, or vital life energy. What distinguishes these diets is their emphasis on your emotional well-being and your physical health. In traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM, a practitioner might diagnose you with a particular condition, such as "liver fire rising" or "kidney yin deficiency," and recommend a diet with therapeutic amounts of certain foods to return balance to your internal organs. Ayurveda, East Indian traditional medicine, categorizes people according to three doshas. While vata and pitta types tend to be on the thin side, kapha types are most likely to struggle with weight and should avoid eating dairy, meat and wheat in the evening, according to John Joseph Immel, director of Ayurveda for Yoga Spirit Studios in Acheville, North Carolina, writing on the website Joyful Belly.
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