Everyone loves food. Eating is a social and cultural way of bringing people together; food is satisfying physically and emotionally. Thats why the word diet is heavy with baggage and evokes so many negative associations. “Oil-and-vinegar please” salads, Slimfast shakes, and Gretchen Weiners whining, “I wanna lose three pounds” come to mind. Dieting is associated with deprivation. However, the first definition of the word diet is: the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats, i.e., your diet is quite simply what you choose to eat on a daily basis.

Its important to learn about the different types of diets so that you can develop an informed opinion on the subject rather than making assumptions based on hearsay.

Chances are if you’ve ever thought about trying to lose weight or making a healthy lifestyle change you’ve heard of many different styles of eating—paleo, clean eating, gluten free, and IIFYM to name a few. Every Instagram "fitspo" and their mom claims that their style of eating is the best and its hard to keep up. If you’re hopelessly confused about what type of diet best suits your lifestyle, read on.

Clean Eating: "Eating clean" is a phrase we hear everywhere. In fact, "clean up your diet" is the first piece of advice people are given when they want to make a lifestyle change and clean eating typically entails eating more whole foods and eliminating processed ones. While the concept of clean eating has good intentions, its actually quite a vague term—what makes a food clean? Does that mean that there are dirty foods? Certainly not. I personally believe that the prominence of "clean eating" promotes unnecessary restriction and implies that other foods are dirty (whether this implication is intentional or not). In a nutshell, I believe eating healthy is important but including "fun" foods in your diet is just as important. #mentalhealth #balance

Ketogenic: A high-fat low-carb diet where dietary and body fat are converted into energy. When a person’s carbohydrate intake is lowered to a certain level the body will go into ketosis, a state in which the body burns fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates. The Keto diet is cousins with, and the basis for, the Atkins diet (Kim K's post-baby diet) and the South Beach Diet.

Gluten Free: Eating gluten free is a diet that excludes gluten, a protein composite found in wheat, barley, rye, and all their species and hybrids. People with celiac disease need to eat gluten free because eating gluten causes the lining of the small intestine to become inflamed or damaged. Eating and purchasing gluten free food replacements has expanded beyond celiacs and gluten-sensitive people and has become a major trend in the last several years; however, there is no proof that eating gluten free aids in weight loss or other conditions.

Paleo: Also known as the “Caveman Diet”, paleo is a diet based on promoting health by eating the foods presumed to be available to Paleolithic humans. The diet includes food such as meat, nuts, roots, vegetables, and fruits and excludes processed foods such as dairy products, grains, alcohol, or coffee.

HCLF Vegan: A "High Carb Low Fat" vegan is a vegan who eats primarily carbs (from fruits, vegetables, rice, potatoes, etc.) and eats very little fat or protein. Some vegans take it a step further and eat a diet comprised of completely raw foods because heating food destroys its natural enzymes and nutrients.

IIFYM: "If It Fits Your Macros" is the science-based eating style that states that you can eat any foods you want as long as you stay within your body's individualized macronutrient goals because your body cannot tell the difference between carbs that come from an apple and carbs that come from Lucky Charms cereal. The three macronutrients are protein (4 calories per gram), carbs (4 calories per gram), and fat (9 calories per gram). The total sum (in grams) of these three nutrients is equal to the total amount of calories a person consumes daily.

Intuitive Eating: Intuitive eating is exactly what it sounds like: eating instinctively without conscious thinking. Most people practice intuitive eating by listening to their body's hunger cues i.e. eating when they're hungry and stopping when they are full.

The reason that there are so many different types of diets is more obvious than you would think: different bodies respond positively or negatively to different things. There is no universal way of eating and everyone's version of health is individual.