The Best Diet Is the One You Can Keep
When calories and protein are equal, low carb, low fat, and timed eating look much the same, so the diet you can stick with decides, he argues.
Andrew Huberman · The Science of Eating for Health, Fat Loss & Lean Muscle | Dr. Layne NortonLayne Norton, a nutrition researcher who studies fat loss and muscle, was asked how to choose among diets that all claim a special edge. His answer was not about carbs, fat, or timing, but about tolerance.
"So pick the form of restriction that feels the least restrictive to you as an individual," Norton said.
By restriction, Norton meant three broad types. A diet can limit nutrients, as low carb and low fat plans do, limit hours, as intermittent fasting does, or limit calories directly through tracking and portion control.
He said he tracks everything himself and eats varied foods, including treats, and after years of practice it does not feel hard. For other people, he said, tracking feels stressful and simply not eating for 16 hours feels easier.
What persuaded him, he said, was adherence. In meta-analyses of popular diets, he said, the plans looked about equally poor for long term weight loss, and none was better overall at getting people to stick with it.
But when researchers ranked dieters from least adherent to most adherent, he said, weight loss rose in a straight line. In his reading, the result points to one question: which diet will be easiest for a particular person to follow long term.
The controlled comparisons pointed the same way, he argued. Time restricted eating showed no clear edge in weight loss, fat loss, or most health markers once calories were equal, and low carb showed no clear edge over low fat once calories and protein were equal.
He pointed to a 2017 meta-analysis by researcher Kevin Hall, which he recalled as covering 22 studies, in which all food was provided to participants. That matters, Norton said, because providing food keeps adherence much higher than in studies where people eat at home on their own.
Norton also warns against picking keto to burn more fat, or any plan for its internal logic, unless it passes a durability test. As he put it, "Can you do it for the rest of your life?"
He said studies show a honeymoon period in which adherence is high, then fades after a few months on every diet studied. His conclusion, in his words, was that no tool looks much better than another, "so pick the one that works for you."
Questions people ask
Why do diet comparisons match protein as well as calories?
Researchers match it because protein affects the comparison. It helps preserve lean tissue while dieting, tends to keep people fuller, and costs more energy to digest than carbohydrate or fat.
Does this mean keto or intermittent fasting do not work?
Norton says if low carb, fasting, or another approach feels easy and sustainable, do that. He frames the choice as which restriction feels least restrictive to keep following.
What kind of study does Norton trust for comparing diets?
Norton points to studies in which all food is provided because, he says, that keeps adherence much higher. He also notes that studies with weekly dietitian support tend to have pretty good adherence.