Diets Don't Work!

Diets Don't Work!

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.

To Your Good Health

Jorma Persson

P.S. Check out this plan Every Other Day Diet