Have you even been on a diet? It is very likely that your answer to this question will be YES! And, you are not alone!
If you did answer yes, did you experience long-term success from the diet? I would be willing to guess that your answer to this question is no. Research shows that approximately 95% of diets fail long-term. WHAT?! That means that 5% of people will actually experience long-term success from a diet.
Quick-fix diets are marketed to us all the time! This makes it very difficult to overcome diet mentality! For many of us, diet mentality has brainwashed us into thinking that having strict food rules is the only way to lose weight and feel better.
As a registered dietitian (and recovered dieting addict), one of my goals is to help you find confidence in fueling your body without restriction and stressful food rules! In order to do this, we need to agree to ditch diets forever and start to learn about our bodies and how they work!
What Diets Do To Our Bodies
Before we talk about diets—I want to remind you that I am talking about diets that are over-restrictive and are a personal choice. I am not talking about any diets that are ordered for medical reasons such as the consistent carb diet for diabetes, gluten free diet for celiac and/or restricted diets for heart disease, etc.
Most diets involve restriction in some way. Some restrict calories, some restrict carbohydrates, and some restrict all of the above. When we overly restrict our bodies from nutrients that it needs to survive and thrive, it can negatively impact our health and our metabolism. You may experience weight loss at first but then start to gain it back or feel overly restricted and start eating the foods that you were restricting.
How To Shift Our Diet Mindset
Okay, so all of that to say that restrictive diets are not the best choice for our long-term health! But, when you have spent years dieting, it’s not easy to shift your mindset! Here are a few tips!
- Start to understand how your body works! In order to do this, you may need to talk to your registered dietitian or medical provider. I would be happy to help you with this step!
- Focus on long-term health rather than quick fixes. This means that instead of focusing on losing weight for an upcoming event, focus on preventing chronic disease and having energy to enjoy life.
- Avoid diets and diet culture! If someone is marketing a quick fix solution, it is likely too good to be true and will not be an effective way for you to improve your health!
- Remember that diets are not individualized. It would be much more beneficial to work with a healthcare professional to determine how to best fuel your body!
Are you Ready to Ditch Diets?!
Let’s all agree to ditch diets and live our life by our own rules rather than a bunch of restrictive food rules! If you need help with ditching diets, reach out to me and let’s chat!
