Change Your Mindset About Diets (if you want lasting weight loss)
There seems to be an unlimited stream of diets these days
How did eating so complicated?
People keep paying out lots of money for new fad diets when they’re merely the same old thing repackaged with impressive marketing strategies.
A Google search on the word “diet,” will bring you a huge amount of search results.
It’s so great that the internet is loaded with information.
What’s not so great is that it’s also filled with huge amounts of data that portray dieting as the panacea for weight loss.
The word diet has come to mean a method of restrictive eating habits aimed at losing or gaining weight. With an emphasis on “restrictive.”
This is primarily because the idea of what a “healthy” body looks like, or how a “healthy” body should be shaped has changed in the last 50 years.
Men and women have always been obsessed with body image, shape, and size. Whatever the status of body image for both men and women was in the past, the fat style of body image is no longer desirable.
So, what do we do?
We change our diets. We look for quick fixes that will correct our undesirable body condition with very little effort. We want that one secret that makes all of our mistakes go away instantly.
We jump into fad diets.
We engage in the diet mentality.
We become ever so serious about diet restriction!
This diet mentality is a way of approaching nutritional choices through dysfunctional corrections like:
Is this “healthy?”
Does what I’m about to eat fit into my restrictive diet?
What will I have to sacrifice later?
What’s the cost on the treadmill to pay for this cupcake?
When we are faced with food choices, plus the need to eat, the inner discussion includes:
It’s after 6, so I can’t eat now.
I can only eat carbs before working out.
Added sugars have to go.
I must control my calories per meal.
Didn’t I just eat? Then why am I still hungry?
I wonder how many calories are in these bread rolls?
It’s not the right time to have a snack now.
I had such a big dinner last night, so I must fast today.
There are many different restrictive “diets” with thousands and thousands, of voices barking at us every day why their particular version of restrictive diet is the greatest one to follow. We want to lose weight, so we get on board.
But…
Is it possible this diet mentality is completely wrong?
These types of diets just don’t work. You might lose those extra pounds at first, but eventually, they’ll return. Fad diets fail in the long term.
The reason these kinds of weight loss diets fail is because:
They make people feel quite miserable
They insist on strict tracking of everything you eat
They limit macronutrients or calories, or restrict certain types of foods. This leads to bingeing.
Dieting can cause you to obsess over food
Our bodies feel dieting is starvation. They’re hardwired to fight against that.
It cause you to be disconnected from your ability and willingness to listen to what your body is telling you it needs
They teach us arbitrary rules about food.
They can cause you to binge or develop habits of overeating.
What’s a diet, really?
A “Diet” is the entire pattern of your eating habits. Our physical health is closely linked to our food choices. Those food choices and our physical health are cumulative. Your diet is the sum of your eating patterns.
A diet is not suitable if it’s restrictive or punishing in some way. Those raving voices yelling in your face about how low carb is best, eat more protein, fat is bad for you, or giving up sugar will help you lose weight, want to sell you their ideas.
It’s about selling. They offer you a secret, little known, or scarce resource which are nothing more than marketing tricks aimed at your self-esteem to get your money.
Isn’t it time to change the diet mentality?
Instead of spending cash on false promises, how about changing the way you approach your overall diet, and physical well-being.
Let go of all of those “don’t eat rules.” Once you do, certain foods begin to naturally lose their attraction.
Get used to your body’s food cues, and feelings so you understand what your body is really looking for.
Give your body what it needs, so it doesn’t fall into starvation mode and fight against you.
Realize that eating a wide variety of foods, not restricting nutrients, creates better health.
“When we reject diets and diet culture, we learn that our bodies have amazing internal wisdom. They can tell us how much to eat, when to stop and what foods make us feel most energized.” ~Christine Byrne