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sarahmichiganI have thought about printing up stickers that say:
Diets are doctor-approved eating disorders.
Stop obsessing about food and boycott the multi-billion dollar diet industry.
Get plenty of exercise.
Learn to love your body.
Health is more than a number on a scale.
Then, any time I saw flyers for dangerous fad diets or propaganda about how fat Americans are and how they’re going to die young, I'd pepper them with these stickers.
Not only do I think that diets are useless, I think they are counter-productive. There is good evidence that chronic dieting makes you less healthy and actually often makes you fatter.
I realize that the following may annoy or anger people on my friends list who are currently dieting or who still believe in the diet mentality. I'm not trying to piss you off or sabotage your efforts to get healthy. I just want to put down in writing how my thoughts have evolved over time.
First, to avoid any confusion, I am not saying any of the following things:
1. People who are fat should sit around loving their bodies and do nothing to improve their health.
2. Body fat has no relationship to health.
3. Weight loss is, in and of itself, bad.
4. Diets didn't work for me, so they're bad and wrong and you're bad and wrong for trying them.
5. Making any dietary changes at all (adding fruits and veggies, eating whole-grains to get more fiber, drinking lots of water) is bad or useless.
OK, so on to what I DO think.
1. Calorie reduction and/or weight-loss diets don't work. There is ample evidence of this. I've NEVER known anyone who went on a diet, lost a significant amount of weight, and kept it off for more than a year. Most people I know go on diet after diet and are chronically weight cycling up a few pounds and down a few pounds. Statistics show that about 90 to 95 percent of dieters gain all the weight back, and the majority of those people add on some additional pounds. Furthermore, studies have shown that the earlier girls start to diet, the MORE obese they tend to end up as adults.
2. Strict diets CAUSE compulsive eating behavior. I know that when I was dieting from ages 9 through about 27, all I could think about was food. What could I eat that fit the plan? How many servings were in that package of crackers I was looking at? I was a bad person for eating, and I was good and virtuous when I didn't eat, even if my stomach was rumbling. Think about the things most diet programs tell you to do: measure portions fanatically, weigh yourself regularly, down to the fraction of the pound, restrict fat (or carbs, or whatever the current fad is) at all costs. These are exactly the sorts of things my friends who are thin/average and who have eating disorders do. This is what I mean about diets being "doctor-approved eating disorders." If a doctor recommended the techniques included in most diet plans to a thin person, he or she would be accused of encouraging an eating disorder. It's no different to suggest these destructive, compulsive eating patterns to a fat person.
People who have been on diets for years and years develop extremely unhealthy relationships to food. They rationalize eating crap and beat themselves up for it afterward. All dieting ever did was make me fatter and crazier. There are studies to support the fact that people who diet chronically have lower quality of mental health than non-dieters.
If you've ever known a skinny person who "can eat whatever s/he wants," it's probably because they DO eat whatever they want. When we deny our bodies' natural "full" and "hungry" signals and learn to eat at prescribed mealtimes or because everyone else is eating, or because we're at a party, we are disrespecting our bodies and teaching ourselves not to listen to our own bodies' wisdom.
I realized several years ago that I was not eating out of hunger most of the time. I ate for psychological reasons. I ate because it was a holiday and you're "supposed" to stuff yourself silly. I ate because it was "all you can eat" and I wanted to get my money's worth. I ate because I was depressed, stressed, or bored. NONE of those is a good reason to eat.
Since I've been trying to trust my body, I eat when I'm hungry and I stop when I'm full. The last three years, with this approach, are the only times in my entire life when I maintained a steady weight. In fact, over the last 14-15 months, my weight slowly declined by 10 pounds. It's not a lot, but it just shows that if you trust your body, you will NOT go hog wild and balloon up by 100 pounds. Many people who are chronic dieters and who have picked up compulsive eating habits DO gain some weight when they try demand feeding. This is because they have felt deprived for years and years, and their bodies are making up for lost time. But after a week or a month of stuffing yourself silly with formerly "forbidden" foods, almost everyone will return to more normal eating habits. I know if I eat a lot of sugary, starchy foods over the course of the day, I literally crave things like salad and steamed vegetables.
For more on the demand-feeding method of addressing compulsive eating habits, visit: http://www.overcomingovereating.com.
Next, more on food, more on body image, more on exercise.
Diets are doctor-approved eating disorders.
Stop obsessing about food and boycott the multi-billion dollar diet industry.
Get plenty of exercise.
Learn to love your body.
Health is more than a number on a scale.
Then, any time I saw flyers for dangerous fad diets or propaganda about how fat Americans are and how they’re going to die young, I'd pepper them with these stickers.
Not only do I think that diets are useless, I think they are counter-productive. There is good evidence that chronic dieting makes you less healthy and actually often makes you fatter.
I realize that the following may annoy or anger people on my friends list who are currently dieting or who still believe in the diet mentality. I'm not trying to piss you off or sabotage your efforts to get healthy. I just want to put down in writing how my thoughts have evolved over time.
First, to avoid any confusion, I am not saying any of the following things:
1. People who are fat should sit around loving their bodies and do nothing to improve their health.
2. Body fat has no relationship to health.
3. Weight loss is, in and of itself, bad.
4. Diets didn't work for me, so they're bad and wrong and you're bad and wrong for trying them.
5. Making any dietary changes at all (adding fruits and veggies, eating whole-grains to get more fiber, drinking lots of water) is bad or useless.
OK, so on to what I DO think.
1. Calorie reduction and/or weight-loss diets don't work. There is ample evidence of this. I've NEVER known anyone who went on a diet, lost a significant amount of weight, and kept it off for more than a year. Most people I know go on diet after diet and are chronically weight cycling up a few pounds and down a few pounds. Statistics show that about 90 to 95 percent of dieters gain all the weight back, and the majority of those people add on some additional pounds. Furthermore, studies have shown that the earlier girls start to diet, the MORE obese they tend to end up as adults.
2. Strict diets CAUSE compulsive eating behavior. I know that when I was dieting from ages 9 through about 27, all I could think about was food. What could I eat that fit the plan? How many servings were in that package of crackers I was looking at? I was a bad person for eating, and I was good and virtuous when I didn't eat, even if my stomach was rumbling. Think about the things most diet programs tell you to do: measure portions fanatically, weigh yourself regularly, down to the fraction of the pound, restrict fat (or carbs, or whatever the current fad is) at all costs. These are exactly the sorts of things my friends who are thin/average and who have eating disorders do. This is what I mean about diets being "doctor-approved eating disorders." If a doctor recommended the techniques included in most diet plans to a thin person, he or she would be accused of encouraging an eating disorder. It's no different to suggest these destructive, compulsive eating patterns to a fat person.
People who have been on diets for years and years develop extremely unhealthy relationships to food. They rationalize eating crap and beat themselves up for it afterward. All dieting ever did was make me fatter and crazier. There are studies to support the fact that people who diet chronically have lower quality of mental health than non-dieters.
If you've ever known a skinny person who "can eat whatever s/he wants," it's probably because they DO eat whatever they want. When we deny our bodies' natural "full" and "hungry" signals and learn to eat at prescribed mealtimes or because everyone else is eating, or because we're at a party, we are disrespecting our bodies and teaching ourselves not to listen to our own bodies' wisdom.
I realized several years ago that I was not eating out of hunger most of the time. I ate for psychological reasons. I ate because it was a holiday and you're "supposed" to stuff yourself silly. I ate because it was "all you can eat" and I wanted to get my money's worth. I ate because I was depressed, stressed, or bored. NONE of those is a good reason to eat.
Since I've been trying to trust my body, I eat when I'm hungry and I stop when I'm full. The last three years, with this approach, are the only times in my entire life when I maintained a steady weight. In fact, over the last 14-15 months, my weight slowly declined by 10 pounds. It's not a lot, but it just shows that if you trust your body, you will NOT go hog wild and balloon up by 100 pounds. Many people who are chronic dieters and who have picked up compulsive eating habits DO gain some weight when they try demand feeding. This is because they have felt deprived for years and years, and their bodies are making up for lost time. But after a week or a month of stuffing yourself silly with formerly "forbidden" foods, almost everyone will return to more normal eating habits. I know if I eat a lot of sugary, starchy foods over the course of the day, I literally crave things like salad and steamed vegetables.
For more on the demand-feeding method of addressing compulsive eating habits, visit: http://www.overcomingovereating.com.
Next, more on food, more on body image, more on exercise.
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no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 11:47 am (UTC)A lot of the time, I think I eat because I want to be doing something with my mouth. I'd probably lose weight if I could just stop and go down on someone two or three times a day, but that sort of thing tends to be discouraged at work.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 11:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 11:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 12:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-19 07:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 12:16 pm (UTC)For me, dieting isn't going to be a matter of "let me just get this weight off and then I can eat whatever I want again" but rather about *developing* a healthy relationship with food and with myself, instead of eating complete junk when I'm not even hungry and then blaming myself for doing it. There is still a place for junk food in my life - but it's a smaller place, and veggies have a much larger place now than they used to. My food choices are more conscious, so that even when I make "bad" choices I don't feel guilty - I weighed my options and made a true choice.
The above isn't meant to change your opinion of diets. Honestly, I think it's to justify my choice to be dieting, since (as I said) I do agree with much of what you wrote. :-)
no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 12:27 pm (UTC)I do NOT think that making dietary changes is a bad idea. I try to improve my diet in terms of getting enough fiber and water, getting my servings of fruit and veggies, etc. I like seeing the newest food science about what the best mix of fat/carbs/protein is, what foods are good for your heart, etc. I just think you need to take it all with a grain of salt and not beat yourself up if you don't live up to your high-minded ideals.
Feeling guilty just makes you want to eat more crappy stuff, anyway!
no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 12:35 pm (UTC)Feeling guilty just makes you want to eat more crappy stuff, anyway!
Agreed! I do tend to comfort-eat. That's something I may work on later - for now I'm just working on getting my veggies and on not eating out of boredom.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 01:43 pm (UTC)Does that mean I think calorie-counting diets are a magic wand? No. Any reasonable diet and exercise plan can work for most people ... if they are truly willing to deal with the issues that have gotten them where they don't want to be. My weight gain came while I was first struggling with my anxiety issues. The weight loss came after I started to fix them.
And I didn't do it because of a number on a scale. I did it because my knees hurt and because I couldn't walk up the stairs at a stadium without feeling like I was going to die.
This spring and summer, I intend to take the next step in the process. Not because I want to weigh 175 pounds instead of 200, but because I want to be in good enough shape to play in a 35-and-over soccer league this fall. One of the ways I'll do it is by counting calories, but I'll also be keeping track of what I'm eating, and trying to improve it. The other way is exercise - walking, disc golfing, doing photography excursions, sex, whatever.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 02:16 pm (UTC)I suspect that the exercise and dealing with your anxiety have a lot more to do with your weight maintenance than with the calorie-counting, but I support your methods, whatever they are, if they're working for you and if you feel better. :)
no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 02:43 pm (UTC)Nope.
I suspect that the exercise and dealing with your anxiety have a lot more to do with your weight maintenance than with the calorie-counting...
I suspect you are right, which is why I stressed that it was a combination of the two.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 02:22 pm (UTC)I'm not saying this to dissuade you from losing weight, only saying that getting fitter doesn't require massive weight loss.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 02:44 pm (UTC)I don't either. I want to lose weight strictly for the effect it has on my (fucked-up) knees.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-19 07:12 am (UTC)but, I am eating healthier on Weight watchers than I was off of any plan. Yes, it is weight loss focused, but even if someone told me I would be this weight forever, I would still eat on the "core" plan because I feel healthier.
I agree with most of what was said in the rant. Starving your body is not good. Being more active, reguardless of weight, is always good. Weight watchers focuses on food more than excersize, which is a fault.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-19 11:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-19 06:30 pm (UTC)But, my mom did a comparason to the exchanges and the core program, its pretty similiar, except now they dont tell you exactly what to eat, but give you "healthy guidelines" to follow.