Mr. Jason H. Pooler

There are a variety of diets that can help with weight loss. That being said, some are healthier than others and some will help manage cravings while in a caloric deficit better than others. A variety of studies show that vegan/plant-based diets have an edge over popular fad diets. Fad diets may help you lose weight quickly but do so at the expense of your long-term general health and mental health. Being high in fiber and antioxidants, a vegan/plant-based diet helps prevent long-term disease like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and digestive issues that fad dieters often get later in life. The high fiber intake of a vegan/plant-based diet is also helpful for sustaining a healthy gut microbiome.
All that being said, diets that promise quick weight loss are typically more hype than reality. Studies show that those who jump from one diet to another often risk gaining more weight back than they started off with. Sustainable weight loss requires more than just changing food habits. Other aspects of health such as quality sleep, physical activity, rest/restoration, play, and mental health play important roles in both losing weights and keeping it off.

There are a variety of foods that can help boost vitamin A. Typically it's best to get vitamins from a variety of sources and not just rely on one source. Happy to go into detail during a personalized nutrition consult (in person or via telemedicine).

Those with celiac don't actually have to radically change their diet. The major issue with celiac disease is gluten containing foods. That means avoiding gluten containing foods is the major dietary change. The issue is that many foods contain wheat, rye, or barley, which are the gluten containing grains to avoid. Some people have to also avoid oats because oats are typically processed at facilities that process gluten containing grains. Some do not react so severely that oats are a problem, so this should only be done under the supervision of a medical professional. Fortunately these days many stores now carry gluten free products. When unsure, it's important to check the labels of all processed foods when shopping to make sure they do not contain gluten.

Many diets can help with weight loss. The key is losing weight without sacrificing long term health. Mountains of studies show a mostly whole foods plant-based diet to be the best with losing weight while also healing your body and supporting a healthy gut microbiome in the long run. This is due to the high levels of antioxidants and fiber found in whole plant foods.

Alcohol certainly doesn’t help with any medical condition. Any stress relief benefit will be countered by the longer term harm that alcohol does to our bodies. Leave alcohol for special occasions and limit to one standard drink for women and two for men.

Some research has linked metabolic problems being associated with weight gain. When it comes to weight gain and metabolic issues, one problem we encounter is that the research isn't clear yet which comes first, weight gain or metabolic issues. There is a high incidence of those with metabolic issues being overweight or obese, but it can be difficult to say if the weight caused the metabolic issues or if the metabolic issues made weight gain more likely. Either way, it's important to work on both issues since they definitely influence each other even if we don't yet know for certain which comes first in most people. We see that weight loss can be a powerful tool to help change our lab work showing a metabolic dysfunction. This is the reason so many health professionals focus on weight. Often just loosing 10-15% of your weight can result in improvements in metabolic function and so it's not always necessary to get to the normal weight BMI in order to see improvements in metabolic function.