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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.
Article courtesy of Global-Fitness.com |
