If you’re a fan of dieting fads, then take note: hitching a ride on this next eating trend may be your undoing. That’s because the diet to end all diets is here and it’s called ‘JERFing’.
The reason JERFing is so special is not because it claims to make you lose weight, fight fat or eliminate carbs. There are no calories to count, no pre-mixed shakes to drink and no pills to pop.
Instead, its secret lies in the acronym: to ‘JERF’ is to ‘Just Eat Real Food’.
Basically, ‘JERFing’ is the new badge for good old-fashioned healthy eating and dietary advice that captures what dieticians and health professionals have been saying for some time now: limit the amount of highly processed foods you eat; cook as much food yourself as you can at home; buy healthy and naturally occurring ingredients; and try to keep your recipes simple so that you cook more often.
Wholefoods and organic ingredients, if you can afford them, are encouraged, as is a focus on nutrition and health over weight loss. Whole fat milk, butter, eggs, wholegrain bread, meats, vegetables, seeds and nuts are all on the list of ‘real foods’ JERFers should eat.
Instead, its secret lies in the acronym: to ‘JERF’ is to ‘Just Eat Real Food’.
A lifestyle, not just a diet
JERFing doesn’t appear to be an official brand of diet, nor does it seem to have a trademark protecting or limiting its use. Instead, JERFing seems to be more of a lifestyle of sorts that’s arisen from the social media hashtag, #JERFing
Simone Austin, Accredited Practising Dietitian and Spokesperson for the Dietitians Association of Australia says ‘JERFing’ appears to endorse positive eating values.
“The diet aims to limit the amount of processed or packaged foods you eat. It also refers to eating lots of vegetables, nuts and grains as they will feed your microbiome. This is really what dietitians tell people to eat all the time.”
According to Australia's Health 2018 report, 96 per cent of adults don’t eat the recommended intake of five serves of vegetables a day.
Australians are also falling below par with their wholegrain intake.
The Grains & Legumes Nutrition Council (GLNC) recommends that Australians consume 48 grams of whole grains a day to protect against chronic disease. A recent study by the GLNC shows that most Australians only have 21 grams of whole grains a day – less than half the recommended intake.
Given these statistics, Austin says she supports JERFing if it means people incorporate more wholegrains, dairy, fruit and vegetables into their daily eating plans.
1. Cook like your grandmother used to
JERFing advocates suggest cooking and eating simple meals just like your grandmother used to.
“Cooking and eating doesn’t have to be gourmet or expensive. You can go back to simple meals and have a dinner of meat and three veg. Just remember to make the vegetables the hero on your plate.”
However, there are just a few caveats to eating like your nan did, Austin suggests. “Returning to how our grandmother’s may be a good thing but it depends on how your grandmother used to cook and their cultural heritage.”
She says consuming regular lashings of lard, sprayings of salt or mountainous meals made with bowls of cream are obviously not recommended.
“The other thing we wouldn’t recommend people to eat [like they used to] are meat trimmings because of the saturated fat content. I understand that people used to eat meat trimmings in the 1930s but they didn’t eat as many processed foods back then and there wasn’t so much saturated fat around.
“So if you are planning to eat meat, just trim off the fat and then cook the meat.”
2. Avoid over-processed foods
Austin points to the notion of limiting or removing processed foods from your diet. One person might enact this JERFing recommendation by cutting back on take-away food while another person might eliminate canned foods or pastas.
To be clear, Austin says that some processed foods are okay: baked beans, tinned tuna or packaged pastas are fine. Highly processed foods – discretionary items like lollies, chips, cakes, burgers and pies – are what should be reduced.
So if you are planning to eat meat, just trim off the fat and then cook the meat.
“When a highly processed food is low in fibre, high in sugar and low in nutrients, like a cake or potato chips, then you may want to reduce that food in order to reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes,” she says.
“Instead, look to consume nutrient-dense foods that have other nutrients like healthy fats, fibre and antioxidants. They are the types of foods we want to eat – foods you can buy in the fresh food aisle of your supermarket not highly processed and packaged foods.”
3. Just get real
Of course, just like any food trend JERFing can be misunderstood and misinterpreted. So if any online dieting advocate turns the hashtag for simple, old-school eating into a complicated food plan, it may be time to Google another #JERFing follower.
Austin says, just remember JERFing only requires you to do as the acronym suggests – eat real food, as dietitians the world over have been encouraging us to do well before social media was even invented.
“I’m hoping that JERFing will make people feel more free so that they don’t feel restricted to following a certain type of diet,” explains Austin.
“Instead, it should encourage you to focus on your health and feeling good. JERFing may help us to remove the labels around eating so that we just eat simply - so we can Just Eat Real Food.”
