Can you relate to this line of thinking?
I know dieting doesn’t work long-term, and eventually I really want to try mindful and Intuitive Eating. But I’m at my highest weight now, so I’m going to try just this one last diet to get the weight off. And THEN I’ll work on my relationship with food once I’m more comfortable in my body. Because my body right now is unacceptable.
I get it. It’s hard to imagine listening and trusting your body more when you’re so invested in the idea of changing it asap. While more people these days seem to agree with the idea that “diets don’t work,” the seductive magical thinking of “just this one last diet” is…huge. Plus, wouldn’t it be amazing if all those dieting claims were true?
But of course they’re not. Most companies don’t want you to know there’s overwhelming research that dieting causes harm physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
You might be tempted to hop back on the dreadful diet rollercoaster thinking the worst that can happen is that you don’t lose as much weight as you hope. But let’s take a moment to consider some of the known unwanted side effects, including:
Physical
- Decreased metabolism (how your body adapts to restrictive eating)
- Increased bingeing, especially on “forbidden foods,” which are now more rewarding to the brain
- Increased risk of disordered eating
- Low energy
- Decreased ability to identify subtle hunger or comfortable fullness
- Sleep problems
- Increased weight gain. Dieting is a consistent predictor of weight gain. Up to two-thirds of people who start a diet will eventually weigh more than when they started. Dieting is the one known way to increase your body’s setpoint (the weight range your body feels best at and naturally wants to be). Also, there’s not one single study showing that any diet leads to sustainable weight loss.
Mental & Emotional
- Irritability
- Anxiety
- Low mood and depression
- Increased food fears
- Decreased focus and concentration
- Feelings of deprivation
- Increased stress in social situations
- Less presence with others and life in general
- Increased hopelessness
- Increased guilt and shame
- Decreased body trust, leading to decreased overall self-trust
- And more…
We’re at an annoying time of year media-wise with all the diet ads (et tu, Oprah?) It’s tempting to buy into the promises that you’re just a 30-day challenge away from food and body confidence. But if you take a moment to look at the evidence and your years of experience, what do you already know? If you find yourself fantasizing about that one diet that “worked,” what happened after it stopped “working?”
Einstein famously said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
Any time we do something counterculture—like intuitive eating—we need support. Community. People who get it and can compassionately remind you of what’s true. That’s why I’m excited to share these upcoming resources with you:
- Be Nourished’s No More Weighting: An Exploration of Body Trust™ Wellness 6-week e-course beginning 2/8.
- Sibel Golden, PhD’s Real Food + Real Beauty Revolution – a 6-week self-paced course starting 1/11!
- Marcie Leek’s gentle Befriending Your Body Yoga series for plus-size women in Wedgwood (check out her other series too, including Stress Rx Yoga and Moving Through Grief)
- Rachel Cole’s Feast – a 3-month journey to becoming a Well-fed woman beginning 2/1. Application deadline is 1/15. (And here’s A Useful and Incomplete List of Bright Lights recently compiled by Rachel to help you change the media you consume. I’m honored to have Mindful Nutrition in this company.)
Let’s not allow 2016 to feel like you’re living the movie Groundhog’s Day with another diet/cleanse/detox/challenge/program that further disconnects you from your body and mind. May 2016 bring you more of whatever it is you’re truly longing for—peace, comfort, belonging, connection, love.
Can’t express how much I agree with you here – dieting just tells your body it has to store more energy to prevent starvation. Can’t just tell the body what the mind thinks it should know. Keep preachin’ it!
Thanks Kendra! You too!
I really enjoyed reading your post. I think the start to a new year and the first few months following is always a struggle for individuals because everyone is concerned with their weight gains over the holidays and it is a time that many people start trying all of those fad diets that are being advertised on television and as you mentioned, most companies don’t want you to know there’s overwhelming research that dieting causes harm physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The concept of mindful and intuitive eating is a great way to help individuals get comfortable with themselves. Once they can get to this point they have better opportunity to make the changes to their body that they wish without using the dieting programs and techniques. We’ve all said it, “i’m just going to use this diet one last time to jumpstart my weight loss journey,” myself included; however, you make a great point, if you take a moment to look at the evidence and your years of experience, what do you already know? If you find yourself fantasizing about that one diet that “worked,” what happened after it stopped “working?”
As a dietetic intern aspiring to be a registered dietitian I enjoyed your post and appreciate the resources you provided.
As stated in your post, most people feel very inclined to try every fad diet that can help them shed a few pounds, especially after holidays. Many people, including myself are inclined to try new diets without thinking about the way we see food first. But even though most things mentioned as negative effects of dieting are true, some people are very successful integrating dieting in their lifestyles. Our own attitude about food and dieting makes our life complicated, we need to label things with names. Diets like Mediterranean, Atkins, Paleo and even the biggest losers flood the media and condition us to dieting. I consider Mindful Eating is on its own a no dieting-diet approach, I am very tempted to try this concept but I can help to think that is still a different diet, which was too labeled with a name. Why do not just work on learning about food ourselves. I see most of the programs about mindful eating have a cost associated with them. How long would it take to lose interest on the program if you have to pay for it? People who can afford the cost would be the ones trying them. The fact that it has a price, leads me to think that even though some of the programs are low cost, there would still be those ones who cannot afford them, making the benefit not available for everyone. Even with all this in mind, I can see that has many pros, and could be a great way for some of us to start seeing the way we eat, from a different perspective.
Well said. Thanks for sharing this.