Why Diets Don't Work

 

• Diets are temporary – They have a beginning and an end. When diets end, which they always do, we usually gain the weight back and maybe more.

• Diets can interfere with normal eating – Using rules, and suppressing hunger, to determine what to eat and how much, can interfere with normal hunger cues and may lead to binge eating.

• Diets can consume our thoughts – Think about all we can accomplish with the time we spend thinking about food and weight.

• Diets don’t address eating behaviors – If there are reasons someone is eating when they are not hungry then a diet is just a band-aid solution. When the diet ends, those reasons are still there.

• Diets interfere with healthy lifestyles – Eating well, listening to hunger cues, and enjoying being active supports a healthy life. These behaviors can not be developed while on a diet.

• Diets can make a person tired and weak – Diets eliminate food groups or certain foods and can leave us deficient in energy and certain nutrients.

• Diets are restrictive – When you restrict intake you will ultimately binge at a later time. This leads to frustration and a sense of failure, which can damage self esteem.

• Diets try to moralize food – Diets say food is good or bad, legal or illegal, should or shouldn't haves. Foods are neutral substances that don't make a statement about our character or willpower if we choose to eat in them.

• Diets promote distrust – They promote distrust in ones body and sense of judgment, especially with a history of failure. Trust is placed on the diet rather than in ones self and physical cues.

• Diets don’t tell the whole truth – Diets are often not scientifically sound and tend to twist the truth about how they work; such as insulin and carbohydrates are bad.