Let’s talk about diets
I hate hearing about diets. If you personally have been on a few throughout your life, you know what I mean.
The idea that you limit the kind of food you eat, starve yourself and have a bad time, just to see a number on a scale seems ridiculous to me. Not to mention that they are not usually useful, since they are very difficult to carry and as soon as you stop them you regain the weight you had lost or more.
If you have ever been on a diet or know someone who has, I don't think I'm teaching you anything.
Diets are based around a physical image and a canon created by society. In no way does physique or weight truly reflect a person's health.
It is unfortunate that everything is based on a number. A supposed ideal weight that is often unrealistic.
You should not let the weight on a scale define how you feel about yourself, your confidence or how your day is going to be based on whether it goes up or down.
I find it terrible to see people counting every calorie and restricting what they eat. Life is not just about food or weight.
The problem is that it ends up being an obsession.
When you're on a diet all you think about during the day is if you're hungry, when you're going to eat, how bad you feel about eating something you shouldn't have or not seeing any or a significant change - certainly not on the long-term. Your day is driven by your diet.
There is no logic in making a change in your diet in order to get instant results. But if it has never been in your habits to eat this way, there is no point in doing it for a few weeks or months. As soon as you go back to eating the way you used to, your body will put the weight back. And this is not sustainable over time.
Many people ignore that our metabolism actually slows down when we diet. This is because your body doesn't get what it needs and it puts itself in starvation mode. As a result, it stores as much as it can and stores it as fat to keep running.
Did you know that dieting also causes your body to produce hormones that make it hard to feel full and make you hungrier?
It is important to listen to your body, to know what it needs.
But with dieting it becomes difficult to focus on what your body is telling you.
Also keep in mind that dieting is not going to change bad eating habits. For example, binge eating. You need to stop and think about what makes you eat this way. It could be boredom, stress, sadness or some other emotion. Identifying your eating habits is the first step. The second is to feel, focusing on the pleasure of food, satiety or hunger.
Dieting can also generate long-term health problems. Because of the obsession they can lead you to, they can cause eating disorders that are very dangerous to your health.
If it's about loving your body and feeling good, it's not ideal to punish yourself for eating sweets or not reaching your goal.
If you really want to be in good health and feel good about yourself, why not stop dieting and start listening to your body and make lasting, healthy changes?
The only diet I’m fine with is the healthy diet.
It’s basically giving your body healthy nutrients from real food. Being aware of what you eat and when you eat, by listening to your body is all you need to feel good in your own skin.
