Diets Are A Bust!

Before we jump into our diet busting series (I hope you’re as excited as we are...we being myself and coop), let’s clarify what dieting actually is. The diet industry (READ: a 64 billion dollar industry) has gotten wise to diets being viewed less desirably than in past decades. In response, they have adopted other terms to entice consumers such as “healthy eating” and “lifestyle change”. Sound familiar?! They market to our vulnerabilities and offer a “solution”. We know however this solution is a guise. Let’s break this down shall we? It’s a diet if (*not an exhaustive list):

  • The focus is to control your body
  • The focus is to change/manipulate your body -it includes cutting out whole food groups
  • It includes limiting or restricting your intake
  • Certain foods are forbidden -you base your food choices and portions on external rules -you can “cheat” or “fail”
  • There is fear, judgement, and morality associated with eating/food choices/weight *Please share other examples you have in the comment section! 

If the success of a diet is weight loss then temporarily, yes, diets can be “successful”. However, the research indicates that among 95% of those who go on a diet will regain the weight within 3-5 years. Diets are the greatest predictor of weight gain. Understandably!!! After all, our bodies want to keep us alive and they perceive diets to be a famine state. The body therefore will likely seek to hold onto more weight as a means to survive in case a threat to survival (read: diet) occurs again. Our brilliant bodys are wired for survival. What about that other 5%? Well, they tend to demonstrate highly disordered behaviors with food/exercise. Professionally speaking, if 5% of clients found the work we did together beneficial....I most definitely need to consider a different line of work. Most importantly, the reason diets are harmful is that they put stress on the body/mind, they are NOT sustainable, and they make individuals feel like they failed. You know what failed? The diet. NOT you. 

Next week we’ll start our diet busting series, but until then, I hope you can see that DIETS ARE A BUST!

Janelle LenhoffComment