Diets don’t Work! In April of 2007, a composite study done at UCLA, demonstrated that for up to 98% of all people, diets don’t work. The underlying reason why most people regain their weight after losing on a diet is because diets don’t teach you how to address the emotions that push you to eat when you’re not hungry. It all comes down to two things, making peace with food and stress management.
If you’re a woman who’s been struggling with your weight, you probably think of dieting or depriving yourself of the foods you love is the only solution by which you can get thinner. I’m here to tell you that’s not true. There is a natural non diet alternative that does not involve pills, powders, gadgets or gizmos and best of all, you get to eat anything you want. It’s called Intuitive Eating and it’s based on learning how to eat in response to your body’s hunger. Unlike dieting, there are no foods that are forbidden or inappropriate. Nothing is off limits.
If you’re willing to give up the quick fix mentality and the empty promises that comes with dieting, and take time learning to really make peace with all foods and love your body, then you truly can lose weight without dieting by learning how to become an intuitive eater.
As a professional coach, it’s my job to lead people to find the answers that are right for them. In light of that, I’d like to share with you a quick summary of nine reasons why diets don’t work, then over the next several days, I’ll break down each item and explain it more thoroughly in a separate post.
The following are nine reasons why diets don’t work for most people:
Reason #1 – Eating to self comfort has become a habit – When you find yourself reaching for food when you’re not hungry, it’s not evidence of being weak or undisciplined. It’s simply a coping mechanism that you’ve learned to relieve your stress.
Reason #2 – Diets focus on food – not feelings – Dieting has directed you to focus solely on the foods you’ve been eating. The problem is not what you’ve been eating, but what’s been eating you!
Reason 3# – Dieting inhibits your ability to tune into hunger – You’ve been taught to ignore or fear your hunger and fill up on foods that block your awareness of being hungry. If you can’t recognize your hunger, you’ll never want to stop eating.
Reason #4. Diets keep you focused on what you can’t have, do or be – Dieting perpetuates a scarcity or deprivation mentality, leading you into a never-ending cycle of fear, guilt, deprivation and negative self talk that keeps you in patterns of overeating.
Reason #5. Dieting reinforces the message that you are not in control – By telling you what to eat, when and how much, you are led to believe that you have no self control, discipline or ability to succeed without the rules and regimentation of the diet.
Reason #6. Diets encourage black and white thinking – You’ve been led by dieting to think of foods as good or bad. This leads you to fall into disempowering patterns of becoming very self critical and judgmental of your actions and food choices.
Reason #7. Diets promote non fat gluttony – Most diets encourage the consumption of fat free, sugar free and chemically produced foods, in lieu of eating the real food. Since these foods are lower in fat and calories, most people eat much more of them in an attempt to satisfy their desire to eat the real thing.
Reason #8 – Diets imply that you must rely on an external authority – Stripping you of your power to choose what you want to eat, diets keep you paying homage to a loveless scale, stuck in a box, following a cookie cutter plan and seeking answers outside of yourself.
Reason #9. Diets Lead You to Resent Your Body – Diets keep you focused on the problem, putting emphasis on being ‘disciplined’, avoiding foods you want, feeling deprived, guilty, pushing you to do and eat things you don’t want. That pressure makes you feel miserable and it leads you to hate your body.
Those are the nine reasons why dieting doesn’t work. Here’s the skinny. By keeping you focused on food, measuring, weighing, points and calories, you are distracted from really looking at your life and dealing with the stress that pushes you to eat when you’re not hungry. If you’re a woman who would like to learn how to deal with your stress and lose weight without dieting, then visit my website for more information.
Diets don’t Work! In April of 2007, a composite study done at UCLA, demonstrated that for up to 98% of all people, diets don’t work. The underlying reason why most people regain their weight after losing on a diet is because diets don’t teach you how to address the emotions that push you to eat when you’re not hungry. It all comes down to two things, making peace with food and stress management. This post summarizes nine reasons why diets don’t work.
diets, UCLA, study, regain weight, emotional eating, emotions, eat, hungry, food, stress management, thinner, dieting, Intuitive Eating, feelings, negative self talk, overeating, self control, diet, black and white thinking, non fat gluttony,