Since we're at the beginning of a new year... and many people decide to get in better shape with the turn of each year, let's chat about diets.
Before we begin, I have to confess that I am not a proponent of diets (did you guess that from my title?). You will find a few on my site, but I have carefully hand-picked them, and they all have one thing in common. More on that later.
Dieting is the limitation or reduction in amount of food a person can eat when trying to reduce their weight. On the surface it makes sense. I am overweight. Therefore I must have eaten too much food to get this way. I will reduce the amount of food I eat so this excess weight will go away.
However, it doesn't exactly work that way.
I wonder where we got the idea that overweight comes from over-food? In actuality, one of the causes of obesity comes from under-food. Reducing our food intake makes our bodies think we are starving. When we starve ourselves, our miraculous body has an app for that! In times of famine, our body plumps up to save our lives from starvation, cold, etc. If you can remember that diets=famine, you will leave the dieting train forever and begin true weight loss and health gain.
Just in case you aren't convinced, here are my top five reasons most diets fail.
1. Diets Focus on Calories, Not Nutrition
Whenever you find yourself counting calories, please stop. Calories don't matter. {gasp} What matters is the nutrient content of the food you are eating. Did you know the calorie count is the same for half a cantaloupe and one-quarter of a blueberry muffin? Yet clearly the nutritional value is light years apart.
2. Diets Are Designed To Be Temporary
Diets change how you "usually" eat, therefore when you are done with the diet, you go back to how you used to eat, and, unfortunately, how much you used to weigh. If an eating plan cannot be followed for the rest of your life, don't do it.
3. Restriction of Food Has Been Proven to Cause Weight Gain
What?? Refer back to diets=famine and you'll get what I mean here.
4. Diets Focus on Protein, Carbs and Fats
Many diets skew these three one way or another. High Protein, Low Carb, Low Fat. When protein, carbs, and fat are used to determine food eligibility for a particular diet, the dieter misses out on the nutrients in the food types that have been eliminated or reduced.
5. Diets Cause Mental Collapse
OK, not really. But when you put limitations on what you can eat, you are setting yourself up for failure. Your mind will focus on what it can NOT have and you will be miserable... and will most likely fall off the wagon. Another side to this coin is that often diets require you to change almost everything about how you eat. This can be overwhelming all at once, and again, failure or inaction are the result.
By the way, even though I don't agree with restricting food, I am a firm believer in restricting or eliminating non-foods from your eating plan, such as MSG, trans fats, fake sweeteners, chemicals, etc. You were never meant to eat these... so stop it!
The fact is, you need to eat food, and lots of it! But more importantly, you need to be nourished by the foods that your body was designed to consume. When this happens, you run in optimal condition. We call that being healthy.
I hope you're convinced to stop the uselessness of dieting. Start out right with the proper information that will allow you to achieve your weight and health goals.
PS Still wondering what the one thing all the diets on my site have in common? They all feature real live food. Amazing.
Jen Jones is passionate about healthy weight loss and living life to the fullest. Register for a personalized wellness consultation, or sign up for more great advice here, where extreme wellness is sexy!
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