Diets Don't Work

I know, I know, you were on a diet once and lost all this weight. But I ask, how long before you gained back the weight? I also want you to think about how you felt while you were dieting. How much time did you spend trying to plot out what to eat, or what not to eat for that matter? How many times did you start a diet, only to have an event come up in which you felt deprived and stressed when you attended?

I attended a presentation one day by a Bariatric Surgeon for potential patients. While his presentation was full of amazing scientific information boasting the greatness of the surgery, the presenter stated over and over “Diets do not work for our clients”. Well duh!, diets do not work for most people. (FYI I DO believe in Gastric Bypass surgery for the appropriate candidates)

Diets are designed to be restrictive, short-term weight loss “fix”. Think about the cabbage diet, the soup diet, or even the Adkins diet. Think about how specific these diets are. Do you think that you could sustain them for a long period of time without inducing health complications? Moving forward, once you are off that diet, what are your eating habits like? Do you resort back to your previous pattern? If so, then how do you expect the weight to stay off?

Back to my introduction statement, Diets do not work. Small, realistic, healthy changes in your diet and lifestyle are what DO work. When I use the word diet, I am not talking about the restriction, rather the quality of food that you take in. My first step in living a healthy life very simple in theory: Eat as clean as possible.

What do I mean clean? There are many different perspectives, and you need to decide what it means to you. For me it means to limit the amount of sugar I consume. When I do eat sugar, I try to avoid white sugar. It also means limiting the amount of ingredients that I cannot pronounce. If I am not sure what it is, I am pretty sure that it is produced in a lab, therefore not real food. Check back soon to learn more about Clean Eating!