Top Reasons Why We Need to Quit Dieting
Top Reasons Why We Need to Quit Diets
Diets make you feel guilty for eating foods you actually enjoy eating. Diets make you think that foods that taste GOOD are BAD for you. That's messed up! I think food should taste good! When we enjoy the food we're eating, we tend to be satisfied (or feel fuller) sooner. Ever eat a bowl of broccoli and still be hungry? I have. I'll take my broccoli with some banza pasta! yum
Diets force you to NOT listen to your body. You start making decisions on what the diet tells you to do. For example, WW will tell you how many points you "need" based on a calculation then when 8pm rolls around and you're starving you feel like you can't eat anything because you'll go over your points! That's not ok. Only YOU know how much food YOU need. Not a calculation!
Diets contribute to the rise of disordered eating and eating disorders. I bet most people have or have had disordered eating. Disordered eating is easily disgusted as "healthy" eating. For example, cutting out an entire food group such as carbs under the thought that "carbs are bad". First of all the idea that carbs are "bad" is 100% FALSE and is a disordered eating belief. ALL food groups provide essential nutrition and contribute to your overall health and wellbeing.
Diets make us FEAR certain foods. We start to categorize foods as "good" or "bad". NEWSFLASH: Food is neither good or bad. It's just food. It's neutral. Want to know what is good? Being kind to people. Want to know what's bad? Being mean to people. Eating a cookie doesn't make you "bad". Just like eating a salad doesn't make you "good."
Diets create feelings of shame and guilt. Life is too short to feel guilty about enjoying food. Life is also too short to feel shame around eating. What happens when you feel guilt or shame around what you ate? I bet it doesn't motivate you to eat "better", does it? Shaming yourself IS NOT a motivator for change. Compassion, grace and understanding ARE motivators for change. Just look at how teachers get kids to engage in the classroom. They are not shaming them. They are encouraging them with compassion and kindness. We need to do the same for ourselves.
Anyways, that's enough ranting about diets:) You all know by now how I feel about food rules and diets! I'm on a mission to save as many women from years of dieting and food guilt so they don't miss out on making memories with friends and family because they're too worried about the calories. We can be both healthy and not hungry at the same time:)
