So many diets to choose from

I’ve been trying to figure out what to eat. Yet there are so many diets to choose from — Atkins, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, raw, fruitarian, juice, low-carb, ultra low-fat, zone, blood type, South Beach, Weight Watchers, Mediterranean, DASH, and Ornish.

Whew! The Institute for Integrative Nutrition indicates it will train students in more than 100 different dietary theories. One of their blogs said the Crowding Out diet is the healthiest way to go.

But what is a diet? Some times the word refers to an eating plan we use to lose weight. The dictionary says the word also means the kind of food that we eat every day.

So how do we use a diet?

We can go on, be put on, have, and be taken off a diet.

A diet can reference what we eat and what we don’t eat. I have two books on the intermittent fasting diet, which means you only eat sometimes. I’ve tried that many times.

I hear opinions every day about the best diet. I even have my own. What to eat or not eat, how often and how much.

There is even eating psychology, which is the attitude I should have when I am eating.

Sometimes I eat when I’m in hurry or angry. Other times I love what I’m eating or can barely stand it. Usually I throw it away before I throw it up. I guess psychology could include how many times I chew my smoothie.

I don’t think the Fast diet has anything to do with speed. But what about the Slow-Carb diet. And just what is the Don’t Eat Anything White diet?

There are opinions based upon the environment, how animals are treated, season, time of day, even how far away the farm is.

There are ideas based upon whether we buy food at a grocery or the farmers market, the lack of toxins, religious beliefs, brand names, and our own heritage and culture.

At times we agree on what we should be eating, at other times we actually fight about it and yell at each other. Sometimes we throw our food instead of eating it.

There are diets that even reference what’s healthy for your body. Yes, it’s true. This amazes me that we actually can conclude a diet might have something to do with what is healthy for us.

This include diets for our heart, allergies, gut bacteria, energy, brains, skin, physical performance, immune system, getting rid of fungus or belly fat, or increasing lean muscle.

And what about the high metabolism, low blood sugar, detoxification, and ketogenic diets? Some of your old college buddies may still advocate the pretzel and beer diet.

I regularly get asked about the keep-it-up-longer diet or the migraine diet. Which is typically supposed to keep you from getting a headache, not give you one.

There are experts everywhere. This ranges from our parents to friends, from doctors to environmentalists, yoga teachers to loggers, health coaches and animal rights activists, food industry lobbyists, government officials and strangers we meet at the health food store, speakers, book authors, politicians and movie actors, even bicyclists get into the action.

I think my own kids believe they are the experts. They certainly lean towards the high-sugar kind of diet. Though my daughter has to be on a gluten-free diet.

There are diets astronauts eat in space, dumpster divers eat in the city, and college kids eat in the dorms. There are diets for celebrating weddings or grieving divorces.

It can all get a bit confusing. But one thing is for sure, we all must eat and drink something pretty much every day. Unless of course you are on the air diet. And our body does an amazing job at sorting it all out for us.

Come on down and help me sort it all out.

Scott Porter, a functional medicine pharmacist, is the director of the Center for Functional Nutrition at Sandpoint Super Drug.