American’s love dieting. The perceived need for thinness drives men, women, and children to tweak their eating habits every day. People try cutting calories, eliminating carbohydrates, and loading up on protein to slim down and tone up.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association - http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/ - twenty-five percent of American men and forty-five percent of American women are on a diet at any given time. Ninety-five percent of this population will regain the lost weight within five years. Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors (skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting and taking laxatives). It’s horrifying. Why the tragedy, you might ask? The answer is simple. Diets are not sustainable. They harm the body to a great extent. Overly cutting calories starves the body and prepares it for famine. Eliminating carbs, the body’s primary fuel source, forces it to break down existing body tissue to make glucose fuel. Once the body uses it’s needed amount of protein, it must break down the extras for elimination. These are all exhausting, stressful processes that leave dieters tired, hungry, and grumpy.
A more realistic path to achieve health is the non-diet approach. Eat when hungry and stop when full. Choose a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Eat that cookie if it will satisfy your craving. Exercise because it makes you feel good. Aim for total health and well-being. The body will adjust to it’s natural healthy weight if treated well and fed as needed. There are no “good” or “bad” foods - every item is acceptable and the body will express how much and how often it should be fed. And when the body is restless and desires physical movement, exercise. It really is that simple.
Counting calories and fad diets are overrated. Health is not about size; it’s about being the best body you can be. That largely means learning to understand and trust your body. This will increase self-esteem, personal power, and happiness. That’s the basic point of dieting really, isn’t it? Happiness. Confidence. Understand your body, treat it well, and it will be happy! :)
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