What is a diet?

According to Merriam-Webster, a diet is:

1. food or drink regularly consumed (noun)
2. habitual nourishment (noun)
3. the kind and amount of food prescribed for a person for a special reason (noun)

As a surgeon, this is how I used to define “diet.” When I’m caring for my patients in the hospital, I select their diet. And I make my selections according to their needs:

• High blood pressure? Low sodium diet.
• Weak kidneys? Low potassium diet.
• Diabetes? Low sugar diet.

Made sense to me! A diet is simply what someone eats. And you pick what you eat based on what your body needs, right? It turns out a diet is not that simple. It doesn’t just address a physical need. It incorporates mental and emotional needs too. And that’s how it gets complicated.

What is a diet … really?

Merriam-Webster also offers these definitions of diet:

1. A regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one’s weight (noun)
2. To eat sparingly or according to prescribed rules (verb)
3. Re...

I have a confession to make. I love sensational television. When I was a kid, I watched soap operas regularly. General Hospital was my favorite. This was before the age of DVR and I was a student. So, I had to be pretty dedicated to keep up with it. But it did help that neither the plot lines nor the characters changed very quickly. 

But eventually I stopped watching GH. For me, the magic was gone. But I still like dramatic television. Now, it’s most often “reality” tv like The Real World (yes, I just dated myself), The Bachelor(ette), or The Real Housewives … I find them incredibly entertaining! I confess! But I never watched one of the biggest reality television shows in history, The Biggest Loser. It was … too much for me. And that’s saying a lot! Because … The Bachelorette is just too much!

via GIPHY

The Biggest Loser was hugely popular! It was one of the most successful reality television shows ever and absolutely the most popular weight-loss show ever. It had a really long r...