Answer to weight loss is to change relationship with food - Health
Question: I’ve been on lots of diets but I always gain the weight back. Lately I’ve been seeing the term “non-diet approach,” but New Year ads for diets I’ve tried say they’re not diets. I’m confused; what’s the difference?
Answer: According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, the first definition of the word “diet” is “food and drink regularly provided or consumed.”
Diet also commonly refers to “a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one’s weight.”
In other words, a diet limits intake by controlling portions, calories, exchanges or points. Some require you to eat pre-packaged food or meal replacements, or avoid certain food groups like fat or carbs. Many have additional rules about when you should eat (for example, every three hours or never after 7 p.m.).
With obesity increasing despite all the diets available, many experts agree that diets don’t work for long-term weight loss. From a physical perspective, your body has primitive survival mechanisms to adapt to being underfueled. In addition, you’ll lose muscle when you diet - but gain back fat. This results in a lower metabolism and a higher body-fat percentage than before the diet.
Socially, most people cannot realistically weigh, measure, count or record everything they eat forever. Psychologically, when food is restricted, you begin to feel deprived, causing powerful cravings. When you give in, you feel guilty, resulting in a chaotic eating pattern I call the eat-repent-repeat cycle.
A non-diet approach doesn’t require restrictive methods. Instead, you focus on relearning your instinctive ability to manage your weight effortlessly, like a baby. Babies eat when they’re hungry, stop when they’re satisfied and don’t think about food in between. You were born that way but learned to clean your plate, and soothe, entertain or distract yourself with food. Because diets typically focus on what and how much you eat - rather than why - you don’t learn to recognize and deal with your triggers effectively. (Sound familiar?)
Bottom line: If you can’t imagine following a diet for the rest of your life, don’t bother doing it at all. The lasting solution is to change your relationship with food.
source: azcentral.com