The age old question- should I go on a diet?
This post has been a long time coming… it’s one of the nutrition topics I get asked the most about- should I go on a diet? Should I count calories, how many calories should I be eating, what one is best? What do you think of keto? What do you think of this detox tea or cleanse? If you have followed me here or on Instagram for a hot minute you know I don’t believe in dieting, so if you have ever asked me if you should go on a diet I will answer no.
What is a diet?
A diet can be described as the foods we habitually eat- for example I would say in general I eat a mostly plant based or Mediterranean style diet. Someone with certain religious beliefs might be following a diet, such as Kosher.
But diet can also be a dirty word. Going on a diet is defined as a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons. Obviously medically necessary diets or diets following personal beliefs is not what I’m talking about here- I am talking about dieting for weight loss. But going on a diet to lose weight can be detrimental and I will tell you why…
“Should I go on a diet?”
First of all diet’s don’t work! As a society we have been dieting for years and each year new trends to emerge and people follow it for a period and are always back to square one. Most people will absolutely lose weight on a diet because you are restricting calories in some form. Fewer than 5% of dieters will keep that weight off long term, often times gaining the weight they have lost.
Secondly diets are technically a form of starvation which is a poor outcome for your physical and mental health. Very few are sustainable long term so whenever a person stops following that diet they “fail” and will likely have feeling of guilt or shame. This creates a long and never ending cycle of trying diets for some people and mentally beating themselves up when they do not have “success.” Any time you restrict you will increase cravings, cause binge eating, and create an unhealthy obsession with food. Not to mention the physical harm associated with weight cycling such as increased hypertension, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia.
Lastly many people are dieting for the wrong reason. They believe losing that extra 10lbs will push them to an ideal weight and they will be “healthy.” There is not a prescribed perfect weight for any given person. Sure there is a unique healthy range for each person but if you have to restrict or over exercise to maintain this weight, it’s not a healthy weight for you. I could get into weight stimga but I will save that for another day but thinner does not equal better.
Ditch those diets!
The diet industry is a multi billion dollar industry and they are profitable from failure. If you tried it once and it was the perfect diet and you achieved and maintained the weight loss you desired the diet industry would not exist. More people are willing to try a dieting than meet with a dietitian and work on building a healthier relationship with food and their body. Just some food for thought the next time you are asking yourself “Should I go on a diet?”
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I would like to say no body should go on diet but yes can control your diet.And this is what mentioned in the article.
Article is way too Good.
Well,I must say nobody should have diet because it creates many problem.I personally wants to share my experience I used to start dieting and then I was constipated now.
So you should not be dieting but yes you can control your diet.