Lift contacted me a couple of weeks ago to see if I would participate and encourage participation in the Quantified Diet Project. Because I have a strong interest in the science behind nutrition and enjoy the challenge of seeing what works and doesn't for me on a personal level, it wasn't hard to say yes. Their aim is for one million people to participate by making healthy diet changes based on one of ten popular diets that are randomly assigned to people willing to participate. This could be the largest study conducted on these diets to see how they compare and their success rates.
Lift is partnering with UC Berkeley on the science and analysis. While the diets are assigned randomly, there is an option to opt-out of the randomization. I would imagine this might need to be the case for people who are afraid to be assigned to Paleo because they are vegan. I would consider a Vegan-Paleo diet pretty challenging. They will be looking at different variables as far as adherence to the diet, weight change, mood, and demographics via occasional surveys.
The requirement for participants is to accept one of the following diets for four weeks: Paleo, Slow-Carb, Vegetarian, Whole Foods (not the store, but actual whole foods), Gluten-Free, No Sweets, DASH, Calorie-Counting, Sleep More, Mindful Eating. You will get daily prompts, tips and instructions via the app.
I'm looking forward to my assignment on January 1. I have to admit, I have no interest in one of them and four of them would be rather difficult for me but that is part of the challenge. The difficulty is surrounded by behavior change and changing behavior is what I am about. I've been thinking my diet needs tweaked and in the last month have eaten fish three times and bison twice on top of a plant-based diet. My Mom asked me why I measure my food when I was home for Christmas. It's part habit and part comfort. I don't feel overly crazy about it and I don't do it all the time. Mostly on certain things and mostly at home. Changing things up for science and to see how it affects me will be interesting.
Will you join? It's only four weeks. Do it with me.