Taking an anti-diet approach to your health, well-being and long-term weight management is truly the road less traveled! As summer approaches and thoughts turn to bathing suits and sun dresses there seems to be a spike in diet chatter. Many of my clients are almost feeling like social outcasts as they bravely take a stance against hopping on the latest diet bandwagon. To fortify you for the fight here are some sobering statistics regarding dieting:
- The commercial diets and diet products generate 50 billion dollars per year in profits, yet they have a 90 % failure rate!
- We are the fattest nation on earth, yet dieting is a national pastime.
- Nearly 35% of "normal" dieters move into dangerous, pathological dieting and 25 -30 % of these people develop diagnosable eating disorders.
- Nearly half of all chronic dieters will experience episodes of compulsive or binge eating.
- Research demonstrates that when you lose weight by rigid dietary restraint you will have a heightened emotional response to food. (Possibly leading to binge eating.)
- Low calorie diets kick the production of fat storing enzymes into high gear. You may actually become "fatter" as you lose weight. This can lead to medical problems such as insulin resistance and high cholesterol.
- Dieting can cause a decrease in basal metabolic rate which can make it much easier to regain lost weight.
- Dieting can disconnect you from your own internal cues regarding hunger, craving, satisfied and full.
- The act of dieting can have a negative impact on self-esteem and body image.
Join the non-diet revolution! Choose foods that boost your energy, satisfy your taste buds and fulfill your nutritional needs. Don't go for "perfect eating". There is no such animal. Proudly proclaim to your dieting friends and family members …"I don't do diets!"
Share your experiences encountered as you ditch dieting!
