You’ve probably heard somewhere that diets don’t work, yet diets are still wildly popular. Is it the draw of a quick fix that does it, or is it something deeper that keeps people coming back for more failed lose-weight-quick-schemes?
Diets really don’t work: here’s why!
You Can’t Break-Up With Food
What’s your relationship with food? Do you eat more or less when you’re sad? Do you go all day without eating and then seek comfort food at night? Beat yourself up when you’ve eaten something high in fat and calories? Did your Mom tell you that ice-cream is bad for you?
We all have a relationship with food, but guess what: we can’t break-up with food! No matter how bad the relationship, food is required to survive. Trying to unravel all the psychological associations we have with food would be like trying to label grains of sand. In other words, get a basic understanding of it, and then move on with life.
Going on a diet implies that you’re breaking up with a part of food like you could just date the arms and legs of a guy instead of dealing with the whole package. Right! It doesn’t work with food either, no matter how appealing it might sound.
The guy will still have a member, feet, and so on. Just like there will always be ice-cream, Holiday feasts and parties, and you know, chocolate! To go on a diet that restricts foods that you will inevitably come into contact with, knowing that you’re not willing to go cold turkey for the rest of your life, is a recipe (pun intended) for disaster, where guilt, blame, and shame are just a few of the ingredients!
Sometimes you just have to simplify the relationships in your life, including your relationship with food. Bottom line:
- Eat healthy when you can: don’t wait!
- Don’t beat yourself up when you don’t eat healthily.
You’re Married to Your Diet for Life
You already have a diet, and your diet will be your diet for the rest of your life, no matter how much it changes. It’s not something separate that you go on, and your life doesn’t have to be in perfect working order to choose a healthy lifestyle and diet that promotes weight loss, real weight loss, also known as slow weight loss over time that actually works a million times better than any fad.
Your relationship with food will change over time. You may get stressed and eat unhealthily. Maybe you’ll go on vacation for two weeks and eat homemade fudge, funnel cakes, and seafood buffets. Then, you might cleanse with a Spirulina smoothie every morning for two weeks when you get back.
Life changes and circumstances will continue to occur, but the more you commit to a healthy lifestyle, the more it will stick, no matter what happens.
Bottom line: realistic, long-term lifestyle goals are the single most important thing when it comes to eating well, losing weight, and being healthy.
You Can Break-Up with Diet Media
Will losing weight really give you the life you’ve always dreamed of and improve your self-esteem, your relationships, and even your net worth? No. That sort of thinking tells us that our self-esteem depends on food choices and waist sizes.
Being happy, healthy, and well is connected to eating healthy, but it’s just one aspect of being healthy. You can’t separate it from exercise, getting enough sleep, or having healthy relationships, creative outlets, and adventure time!
In order to break-up with diet media, you have to understand what being healthy looks and feels like to you, from the inside out!
