Words can change your body, just like food! how are you eating intuitively ?

What is dieting and why do so many people do it?

What is Dieting?

Many people, specifically women, have been dieting for years and are constantly trying to achieve their “perfect” body by trying new diets. Statistically, diets do often times work by providing short-term weight-loss results, but research shows that over 95% of the weight is gained back within five years. In many cases, the original weight is gained back plus more! For many, this is a never-ending cycle that continues throughout a person’s life. We’re going to explore why this happens, but first I want to define what a diet is.

A diet is anything that tells you what to eat, what not to eat, how much to eat, or when to eat. Anytime you are trying to control your caloric intake, you’re dieting. Diets use external factors to tell you how you feel and when you’re hungry instead of listening to your internal cues. Examples of diets include Weight Watchers, Atkins, 21 Day Fix, The Slow Carb Diet, Carb Cycling, or even My Fitness Pal, etc. Sometimes other words that are used in lieu of the word “diet” are “eating plan”, “meal plan”, and sometimes even “clean eating”. While dieting often gives people short term results, there are also dangers associated with chronic dieting that need to be explored.

What are the dangers of chronic dieting?

• Dieting reduces the production of leptin (a hormone) which decreases metabolism and increases appetite

• Dieting increases risk of heart disease and diabetes due to increases in inflammation

• Dieting causes body shape to change, especially in abdominal area (precursor for heart disease)

• Dieting increases obsession with food and often triggers overeating & bingeing

• Dieting promotes guilt & shame and erodes confidence

• Dieting makes food the enemy and allows it to be in control

• Dieting relies on “will power” which is not sustainable

• Dieting diminishes trust in one’s self because the diet fails, you feel like you failed

• Dieting is linked to eating disorders like anorexia, Binge Eating Disorder (BED) or bulimia

I know this will be hard to believe, but chronic dieting actually makes you fat! #momonamission #taylordwellness #mindbodysoul #WUVIP