Why Dieting Often Does More Harm Than Good

[Adina P]

Even if you lose weight and keep it off for SEVEN years, your brain is STILL going to be trying to make you regain it. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_why_dieting_doesn_t_usually_...

[Adina P]

Yes, lots of other places to get carbs: rice and rice products, potatoes in 101 ways, sweet potatoes, yams, winter squash, fruit, milk, yogurt, quinoa, oats, cornmeal (mmm polenta!), corn tortillas, beans and lentils, etc.  (Yes I know some of those are still grains, but not gluten containing ones.)  I would miss bread and although I've tried gluten-free breads in the past, it was years ago, they might have improved.  You could probably find all sorts of fun recipes on sites that promote the Paleo diet.  I'm not a fan, but new and fun food is new and fun!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Yea, I wouldn't be able to do it if I couldn't replace my bread, cereal and muffins. I think gluten free cooking has come a long way. I've been eating brown rice, and I found some great gluten free products. Glutino has a great gluten free muffin mix (although it is a bit sweet). A lot of gluten-free products have too much sugar in them so you have to be careful. Gluten free does not equal healthy if you are still buying processed foods.

Another thing is that I really enjoy Asian food like Thai, Vietnamese and Indian so that helps, I can eat rice noodles and rice without worry. I am going to miss naan bread though. I will have to find a good gluten free alternative. I have to say I am starting to  get out of the craving zone and I have more energy today then I've had all week.

The difficult part is learning what contains gluten and what doesn't. There are some surprising things that contain gluten - like some soups apparently. I have some learning to do so good thing I enjoy learning...

[Adina P]

Thanks to the fad gluten free thing, people who are sensitive or allergic have choices!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

yea, that is a good way to look at it. I do recognize that it is a fad and lots of people are trying gluten free in a search for answers and I'm probably one of them. But I have had tummy troubles for years and haven't been willing to get tested as I find the tests scary. I tried gluten-free about six years ago and couldn't keep it up as there were so few options and I was more miserable than ever. My doctor has been urging me to try it again to see what happens and this time around there are so many options. The positive benefit no matter what the outcome is that I am now on a health kick so perhaps even if I go back on gluten after a few weeks I will be a more concientous eater. I reckon my real problem is poor nutrition - not enough fresh raw vegetables and not enough nutrients. But gluten-free sort of forces you to eat healthier since not a lot of processed foods are gluten free. That's why Jillian Michaels recommends it in her program (not that I'm a fan or anything).

[Leslie and Halas]

I think it's baby steps, too.  When I first changed the way I eat, I wanted substitutes for all of my favorites.  As time has passed, my favorites have changed, and I don't feel like a need substitutes for some of those things now.  But it's a gradual process.

You're right about gluten-free not automatically being healthy.  Gluten-free cookies are still cookies.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

hhmm, not sure I'll ever stop wanting naan bread but we'll see. Good to know that your tastes change. I can't wait to stop craving carb-y things like bagels and muffins. When does that happen? ;o)

[Leslie and Halas]

It takes a few weeks.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I guess it depends on what you're calling a "diet". You've raised way too many points for me to address here, especially at this time of night, but I have worked with over 600 people in my time, the majority of whom had some desire to if not lose weight, at least reduce body fat, and while I myself may be an outlier, I have an awful lot of experience with the eating habits and mindsets/relationships with food of the average person who is trying to improve their body's appearance...because let's be honest here, whether it's really "health" that counts or not, most people who are trying to diet or lose weight are concerned with the way they body looks and not with health. That's a fact. 

I have known and worked with dozens of people who do sit down and eat a half gallon of ice cream, and for whom anything less feels restrictive to them, and requires "willpower". For them it IS either-or. And their overeating has very little to do with hunger, or with biological need. 

It requires changing your thinking about food. It is an answer, it is possible, and it does work. It also involves changing your thinking about deprivation. I used to give some terrific talks myself about these things...too bad there was no TED in those days. You guys would have loved me. I was a lot more engaging than this lady. 

My point about comparing smoking to eating was that nothing on earth requires more willpower than quitting smoking. Nothing. It is impossible to quit without it. And yet people do it every day. And trust me, to a person who is addicted to smoking, it is absolutely a biological need, or at least a physiological need, and a psychological drive, much more than a "craving". There is nothing, and I mean nothing harder than to quit smoking when you are addicted to it, which most people who smoke are or they wouldn't do something so harmful and so stupid. Much harder than any kind of diet, because even on the most restrictive diet, you can still eat something. There is something you can put in your mouth and taste and chew and swallow. When you can't smoke, you can't smoke. Period. There is nothing to substitute for it. Talk about a feeling of deprivation. And there are actual chemical changes in the brain from smoking cessation, which you do not have with dieting. 

And yet, people successfully quit smoking every day. So willpower DOES work. 

That's the analogy. 

As for weight, it's easy for a thin person to tell heavy people that weight shouldn't matter. Maybe it shouldn't, but it does, and I think there's something very smug about a size 4 telling a size 20  not to focus on their weight. I don't know what kind of clients you have, but mine wept, many of them. They were desperately unhappy. I understood that. I have horrible cystic acne, and it's affected every relationship I've ever had since I was 18 years old. Now, you can say that appearances don''t matter and it's what inside a person that counts, and beauty is only skin deep, etc ad nauseum, but the fact is that a clear complexion is more attractive than a face full of pus and lumps, and nobody is going to convince anyone otherwise. It is what it is. I understand being desperately unhappy about one's physical appearance, and I understand and sympathize with wanting to do something about it. Not just "being healthy", but looking better.

Everybody can't be a size 4, but nobody has to be a size 24, either. 

[Adina P]

I see your points.  Obviously appearance matters to the world, society, me.  It's where we get our first impression of someone and make judgments.  Some appearances that are attractive to me are not to others, and vice versa.  But just because it is second nature to judge, doesn't mean we should.  I read a blog (written by a fat acceptance activist) who basically said that she doesn't buy the idea that people 'just' want her to be healthy...that really most people think she is gross.  And I have thought about that some and wondered why someone with a missing leg isn't considered gross and someone with a disfigured face might be considered gross but most people would talk themselves out of that idea because it would be considered less 'right' to think so.  Yet it is a lot more politically correct to just maybe, kinda, sorta think fat people are gross. I think it is because of perceived choice.  The person with a missing leg didn't have a choice.  The person with a genetically disfigured face or a burn didn't have a choice.  Their appearance was an accident.  But ... oh those fatsos... if only they would stop being lazy and gluttonous, they'd look awesome too.  But no, I don't believe all fat people have a choice...not without sacrificing some very essential parts of living happily and caving to the whims of today's ideal body. 

And yes I can see how me, a thin person, can sound odd, even offensive, telling a larger person to accept their size and work on health.  But just because society hates fat, doesn't mean I don't think there should be a push against that hate and work to fight against body image messages that make even relatively non-fat people feel inadequate if their tummy isn't flat or they have a bulge here or there.  Frankly, regardless of the science of whether or not fat people can become thin...the 'should' is none of anyone else's business.  Fat people have always and will always exist and deserve to eat tasty food and find satisfaction and joy in eating and be treated with dignity.  They aren't different people at their core, they are merely large.  Nobody should have to change their body to satisfy society's current ideal about bodies. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The overweight people who have cried to me were not crying because society or other people were judging them, or hating them, or telling them they should lose weight. They were crying because they themselves hated the way they looked and felt. You may say that society made them feel that way, and maybe it did, but the bottom line is that they did feel that way. I didn't go up to strangers and tell them they need to lose some weight and I could help them. I occasionally had a client who was not thin and didn't care about becoming thin, but had some need to get stronger, like the mother of a 12 year old boy with Cerebral Palsy who was having trouble moving him and his wheelchair around. Do you think i told her she needed to lose some weight? 

But the ones who wept and wanted to lose weight, I didn't try to talk them out of it, either.

I have eyes, and a fairly good brain. I don't hate my complexion because society tells me I should. I can see how a smooth clear complexion looks to me, and I can see how another person with skin like mine looks to me, and there is no doubt in my mind which is more pleasant to look at. Everyone likes pretty things.  There are some things that are just not pretty to anyone except maybe perverts, lol. Most bodily wastes. A big pus filled abcess. And yes, masses of wrinkled, rippling, mottled, jiggling fat. It is what it is. You can't tell people what to like or what to consider attractive any more than you can tell fat people to lose weight.  

FYI, this is also not a "current" idea. Women were being laced into corsets to whittle their waists back in the 1800s, and concerned about their physical appearance way before that. A dislike for excessive amounts of flab hanging off the human body is pretty universal, and has been for a long time. There are even biological reasons for that. 

[Adina P]

The problem is that shame (from the outside) makes it worse. It makes the response to one's own body worse.  Especially for many who grew up overweight and were bullied or whose parents constantly put them down or criticized them for their weight.  Those same kids were likely restricted too.  There is some level of the 'vicious cycle'  and lots of complex reasons why people end up on the extremes of heavy.  I realize this is not a current idea, but just because people have been obsessed with their appearance doesn't make it a good thing.  I think the enhanced, media attention and constant "OMG the last thing we want to become is fatter!" extremism of this whole 'obesity epidemic' hysteria makes it worse for individuals.  Every single magazine out there has tips and ideas for weight loss...and the weight loss industry is a rich industry.  It both reflects and promotes/enhances what is on people's minds. All sorts of not-really-fat girls and women obsess about their bodies, restrict/diet and lose and regain weight and that focus makes their relationship with food usually worse, not better. I've read too much about eating disorders and disordered eating..I worry about our culture and where it's going with regard to 'stamping out obesity' because the message that trickles down to many, especially young girls, is DO WHATEVER IT TAKES to not get FAT.   Because by golly, fat is the worst thing you can be.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

On the point of body obsession we agree, and there is the whole other issue of the many women and girls who are at an appropriate weight/body composition but are unhappy with their shapes, i.e. pear shaped, which have nothing to do with food, eating, or weight loss, but rather are genetic & just about impossible to change through diet, exercise, or anything short of surgery. It's not only about thin. This is something I had the hardest time dealing with with my clients. It helped to show them photos of fitness competitors, and point out how large those women's thighs really were, lol. The difference was that the fitness models thighs were firm and "toned", not thinner. And firm and toned was something I could do something about.

I tell you, strength training is a beautiful thing. It empowers people in more ways than one.