Hi everyone! I wanted to take a minute and share my thoughts about a widely known concept: dieting.
I believe it is important to fully understand what the concept "dieting" does to us when we are trying to live our best lives. I was teaching a class this morning, and a conversation about dieting came up. We were discussing why people seem to fail when it comes to following a diet, and how extreme some of them can be. If you are like me, I'm sure you have either been on a diet yourself, or know someone who has. How did that work out for you? Did you feel deprived? Did you get bored of what you were "allowed" to eat or have strong cravings for unhealthy food? Did you gain the weight back?
Chances are, you eventually ended up feeling bored, deprived, low on energy and maybe even gained the weight back. After experiencing these issues myself for years and years, I have been on a quest of bettering my health and self-care. I recently came across a quote by author/speaker, Geneen Roth. She says: "For every diet there is an equal and opposite binge." I have found from personal experience and from talking to others that this is so true. Every time we try to lose weight by depriving ourselves, we end becoming more focused on the foods we "shouldn't" have. They become more and more appealing because we don't allow ourselves to have them. Eventually, what will typically happen is we become bored, drained, or simply give in due to a "lack of willpower," and overeat on the foods we were trying to avoid in the first place. We view our "lack of willpower/discipline" as a bad thing, because we could not stick with a diet. Then, we get down on ourselves, feel a sense of hopelessness, or perhaps avoid thinking about it all together because we feel we failed. We avoid these feelings by using the foods we didn't allow ourselves to eat during the diet, as a way to cope the uncomfortable feelings of failure or not liking the way our body looks. And so the cycle begins. We think that the only way to become and stay thin is to restrict and deprive ourselves, and we don't have what it takes. But, eventually, along comes the latest diet trend, or a special event we want to look good for, and we are back on the bandwagon.
The number one thing I have learned in school at IIN, and from my own Health Coach, is that the only real way to lose weight and keep it off is to do it in a way that is gentle and manageable for you. Everyone has a different lifestyle. Everyone has a different body-type and different nutritional needs. What works for one person, can have the opposite effect for another. It is unrealistic to expect ourselves to follow someone else's dietary guidelines 365 days out of the year, regardless of how negatively we are being affected by it. It is important to figure out what YOUR body needs. What will give it lasting energy throughout the day, without the afternoon "crash?" What tastes good to you, but doesn't send your blood sugar through the roof? Do you need a bigger lunch and a lighter dinner, or vice versa? These needs could very from day to day, depending on what is going on in your life at the time. If you start paying attention to your eating patterns and how certain foods make you feel, you can start to figure out what kind of nutrition YOU need. This is the only way of eating healthily that will be sustainable for a lifetime, and also help you reach your goal. If you are unsure where to start, contact me, or another Health Coach if you prefer, and consider taking time for yourself to examine your eating patterns and habits, and really figure out what is best for you.
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