Many Americans view a healthy lifestyle as something
difficult to attain--and something that's not much fun. Traditional
diets have taught us that to lose weight, we must count calories,
keep track of everything we eat, and deprive ourselves by limiting
the amount--and kinds--of foods we eat. Diets tell us exactly
what and how much food to eat, regardless of our preferences and
individual relationships with hunger and satiety. Dieting can
help us lose weight (fat, muscle, and water) in the short term
but is so unnatural and so unrealistic that it can never become
a lifestyle that we can live with, let alone enjoy!
While very few diets teach healthy low-fat shopping,
cooking, and dining-out strategies, many offer unrealistic recommendations
and encourage health-threatening restrictions. Even more important,
diets don't teach us the safest, most effective ways to exercise;
they don't teach us how to deal with our cravings and our desires,
or how to attend to our feelings of hunger and fullness. Eventually,
we become tired of the complexity, the hunger, the lack of flavor,
the lack of flexibility, the lack of energy, and the feeling of
deprivation. We quit our diets and gain back the weight we've
lost; sometimes we gain even more!
Each time we go on another diet of deprivation,
the weight becomes more difficult to lose, and we become even
more frustrated and discouraged. Then we eat more and exercise
less, causing ourselves more frustration, discouragement, depression.
Soon we are in a vicious cycle. We begin to ask ourselves, "Why
bother?" We begin to blame ourselves for having no will power
when what we really need is clear, scientifically-based information
that will help us develop a healthier lifestyle we can live with
for the rest of our lives.
Deliberate restriction of food intake in order to
lose weight or to prevent weight gain, known as dieting, is the
path that millions of people all over the world are taking in
order to reach a desired body weight or appearance. Preoccupation
with body shape, size, and weight creates an unhealthy lifestyle
of emotional and physical deprivation. Diets take control away
from us.
Many of us who diet get caught in a "yo-yo" cycle that begins
with low self-acceptance and results in structured eating and
living because we lack trust in our body and are unwilling to
listen and adhere to our body's signals of hunger and fullness.
On diets, we distrust and ignore internal signs of appetite, hunger,
and our need to be physically and psychologically satisfied. Instead,
we depend on diet plans, measured portions, and a prescribed frequency
for eating.
As a result, many of us have lost the ability to
eat in response to our physical needs; we experience feelings
of deprivation, then binge, and finally terminate our "health"
program. This in turn leads to guilt, defeat, weight gain, low
self-esteem, and then we're back to the beginning of the yo-yo
diet cycle. Rather than making us feel better about ourselves,
diets set us up for failure and erode our self-esteem.
The attitudes and practices acquired through years
of dieting are likely to result in a body weight and size obsession,
low self-esteem, poor nutrition and excessive or inadequate exercise.
Weight loss from following a rigid diet is usually temporary.
Most diets are too drastic to maintain; they are unrealistic and
unpleasant; they are physically and emotionally stressful. And
most of us just resume our old eating and activity patterns. Diets
control us; we are not in control. People who try to live by diet
lists and rules learn little or nothing about proper nutrition
and how to enjoy their meals, physical activity, and a healthy
lifestyle. No one can realistically live in the diet mode for
the rest of their life, depriving themselves of the true pleasures
of healthy eating and activity.
We Don't Fail Diets; They Fail Us!
Decades of research have shown that diets, both
self-initiated and professionally-led, are ineffective at producing
long-term health and weight loss (or weight control). When your
diet fails to keep the weight off, you may say to yourself, "If
only I didn't love food so much . . . If I could just exercise
more often . . . If I just had more will power." The problem is
not personal weakness or lack of will power. Only 5 percent of
people who go on diets are successful. Please understand that
we are not failing diets; diets are failing us.
The reason 95 percent of all traditional diets fail
is simple. When you go on a low-calorie diet, your body thinks
you are starving; it actually becomes more efficient at storing
fat by slowing down your metabolism. When you stop this unrealistic
eating plan, your metabolism is still slow and inefficient that
you gain the weight back even faster, even though you may still
be eating less than you were before you went on the diet.
In addition, low-calorie diets cause you to lose
both muscle and fat in equal amounts. However, when you eventually
gain back the weight, it is all fat and not muscle, causing your
metabolism to slow down even more. Now you have extra weight,
a less healthy body composition, and a less attractive physique.
Diets require you to sacrifice by being hungry;
they don't allow you to enjoy the foods you love. This does not
teach you habits which you can maintain after the diet is over.
Most diet programs force you to lower your caloric intake to dangerously
low levels. The common theory is that if you eat fewer calories
than you burn, you will lose weight. But when you eat fewer calories
than your body needs to maintain its life-sustaining activities,
you're actually losing muscle in addition to fat. Your body breaks
down its own muscles to provide the needed energy for survival.
Traditional diets which use calorie restriction
to produce weight loss are no longer appropriate. Most weight-loss
programs measure success solely in terms of the number of pounds
lost per weight loss attempt. Diets don't take into account the
quality of the process used to achieve that weight loss or the
very small likelihood of sustained weight loss. For long-term
good health, you need to move away from low-calorie diets and
focus on enjoyable physical activity and good nutrition. Exercising
regularly and eating lean-supporting calories, protein and carbohydrates,
and reducing fat-supporting calories will not only help you look
and feel better, it will also significantly reduce your risk of
disease.
America spends billions of dollars on different
ways to fix people. If we focused more on prevention and on improving
our day-to-day behaviors, we could cut health care costs in half.
Contrary to popular belief, leading a healthy lifestyle doesn't
have to be difficult; it doesn't have to painful or time-consuming.
Making gradual, simple changes in your diet and physical activity
will make great improvements in your health and well-being, and
they can drastically reduce your risk of disease.
If your weight management program is to be a success, everything
you eat and every exercise you do must be a pleasurable experience.
If you're not enjoying yourself, it is unlikely that you'll continue
your program. It's that simple. These small, gradual changes are
not painful or overwhelming but rather the core of an exciting
lifestyle that you will look forward to.
Take the frustration, guilt, and deprivation out
of weight management, and allow yourself to adopt gradual, realistic
changes into your life that will make healthy eating and physical
activity a permanent pleasure. You will soon discover what your
body is capable of and begin to look, act, and feel your very
best. Good luck and enjoy all the wonderful benefits of a healthy,
active lifestyle.
