Why I’m anti-diet

18th April 2007

posted in Diets, Health, Nutrition & Fitness |

Browsing through my referral logs, I was a bit surprised to see a number of sites and blogs concentrated on a diet and weight-loss endeavour of some kind. While I have absolutely no problem with those who want to become healthier, and, of course, welcome readers with a spectrum of viewpoints, The-F-Word is strictly an anti-dieting forum.

Why? Because as the American Psychological Association reported this week, dieting doesn’t work.

While recovering from an eating disorder, I realized that only a permanent (and healthy) change in one’s eating habits can result in sustained weight loss and good health. No food should be classified as “good” or “bad,” and none should be off-limits. Want pizza? Sure, just not every day. Chocolate? Go ahead – just in moderation.

Most people see diets as a temporary fix. As the APA study shows, more than 83 percent of overweight patients who embarked on a diet gained back the weight, and more in less than two years. Furthermore, researchers discovered that it would have been better for most of the study subjects if they had not gone on a diet at all.

“Their weight would be pretty much the same, and their bodies would not suffer the wear and tear from losing weight and gaining it all back,” explained Dr. Traci Mann.

I recognize the benefits of diets for some people, in that it teaches them portion control and size, and to eat healthier foods. But, diets also place a large, if not extreme, focus on rules and control, which are too drastic and/or unrealistic to maintain for a lifetime. You can’t eat NutriSystem foods forever, or attend Weight Watchers classes and closely guard your carb intake all your life.

Eventually, the diet’s lack of flexibility, its complexity, and feelings of hunger and deprivation takes its toll. Instead of listening to our body’s own physical needs, we follow the diet plan’s prescription on what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat it. Instead of controlling the diet, the diet begins to control us.

It’s this built-in failure that has made the diet field into the multi-billion industry that it is. Instead of blaming the diet for its ineffectiveness, we often blame ourselves, thinking it’s we who are lazy or undisciplined or a failure. But only five percent of people who lose weight on a diet keep it off. It’s through this yo-yo dieting that diet companies make the most profits.

Instead of dieting, we should instead learn to listen to our bodies. Eat healthy foods but feel free to indulge every once in a while. Move. Instead of obsessing over calories and carbs, live and enjoy life.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 7:38 pm and is filed under Diets, Health, Nutrition & Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On April 19th, 2007, Mari said:

I am at the beginning of my health journey. I have spent a LOT of time looking at all the diet books and stuff on the net. I’m glad I came across this post because it helped me decide once and for all to not diet. So far, I’m just eating and eating healthy. And as long as I stay within the guidelines of carbs, fats, protein, and calories I think that’s going to work just fine. And I agree, if I want to go out to dinner at a restaurant and we share dessert, that’s fine too. Moderation. That’s the key (I think, I hope.) Thanks for this.

posted on April 19th, 2007 at 12:41 am

2 On April 19th, 2007, Kelly said:

So true! That’s why I’m enjoying the SparkPeople website (I promise, I’m not a corporate schill. I just really like it). The focus is very much on staying healthy and the (sane) members on the message boards help foster a healthy community.

I honestly don’t think I have the will power to do a diet, because I love food. But I really enjoy learning all I can about the foods I’m eating and figuring out the best way to keep my body strong and healthy. And yeah, I had some cheesecake on Tuesday. I worked it in and I enjoyed it, without feeling guilty afterwards for eating a “bad” food.

posted on April 19th, 2007 at 4:45 pm

3 On April 19th, 2007, almost vegetarian said:

Heaven knows, everyone should know this. But, yet, diets persist. I suppose it is because they are perceived as the easy fix. The fast fix. But they aren’t are they? Because once you start down that path, you have to stay on it, because your weight will yo yo up and down.

This is why I’m foregoing diets in favor of the healthy route. Not losing any weight yet, but not gaining any either. And haven’t, for some time. And, even better, I’m feeling (and getting) healthier and fitter.

Next step is to increase the exercise. Then we should see some weight movement … down. For good.

Cheers!

posted on April 19th, 2007 at 5:50 pm

4 On November 22nd, 2008, Dino De Lelelis said:

I agree completely !! , diet has such an negative connotation to it , it brings up feelings of deprivation that can can only worsen the situation.

Feeling deprived can have a dangerous opposite effect , when the body is starved it can trigger it’s survival mechanism causing your metabolism to drop and whenever you get a chance to eat you tend to go into a feeding frenzy.

You are so right moderation is the key , you get to satisfy your cravings and maintain balance in your body

posted on November 22nd, 2008 at 11:18 pm

5 On February 20th, 2009, Joan said:

I ask people who say they are starting their new diet tomorrow when the last time they ate when they were actually hungry was; I mean their stomach is growling and they can say for sure that they are hungry? The next question I ask is when was the last time you stopped eating when you were full; not stuffed or their plate had nothing left on it, but that they had been satisfied and had a fullness level of roughly a 5-6 on a scale of 10? Most people don’t know what their body is telling them. They eat because they feel that they should eat or are bored and hit the fridge to bring excitement to their lives for the next 10 minutes. The only reason why someone is over their natural God-given weight is because they are eating for the wrong reasons. Some people’s natural weight might be bigger than other people’s, but if you eat other than when you are hungry, you are eating for the wrong reasons.
On the concept of moderation: I disagree with the statement, “you can have pizza, but just not everyday.” The truth is you can have pizza everyday and not gain a pound if you eat when you are hungry and stop when you have had enough. by putting the phrase, “but just not everyday,” you are placing a restriction on yourself, which will eventually end up in rebellion. I have had an eating disorder for 8 years and the only time I naturally lost weight is when I told myself one day that I can have what ever I want when I am hungry. I ate cookie dough for breakfast, cinnamon rolls and chocolate for lunch and cheesy breadsticks with ranch dressing for dinner and I lost 21 pounds. I told myself I could each as much as I wanted, but to just stop when I was full. That is the hardest part. You have to tell yourself that there are other things besides food that are comforting and that you will have another chance to eat something wonderful the next time you get hungry. After about 2 1/2 weeks of eating nothing but cookie dough and chocolate, I naturally started to crave other types of food like broccoli, eggs, and dried fruit.
Stop counting calories! It’s just another way of putting restrictions on your self that you don’t need. Your body will tell you when it has had enough and I gaurantee it is not that many calories, so stop obsessing about it.
I also limit weighing myself on the scale to every three weeks, that way I don’t think about judging who I am or how my day will be based on how much I weigh.
Exercise should also not be something you dread. I hate gyms, so I never go to the gym. I run outside on a nice day or play tennis with my boyfriend.
Everyone thinks their life will lose all of its problems when they are thin, but the problems are still there. I am not any happier now that I lost 21 pounds than when I was heavier. The only thing that is better is that I don’t think about food and weight 24 hours a day.

posted on February 20th, 2009 at 8:38 pm