Forget Fad Diets

Trying another diet? You're not alone. They're everywhere. Walk into any bookstore and you'll see a new diet book on the shelves. There's Carbohydrate Addicts, The Zone, Dr. Atkin's New Diet Revolution and many more.

Each new diet is greeted with a fanfare and wave of enthusiasm. Soon afterwards, they're condemned by health professionals because they're not safe or people "chuck 'em" because they're so boring. Diets cause deprivation, which causes bingeing, which leads to weight gain, which starts the yo-yo cycle all over again. Sigh…

A Reality Check
Americans have a dieting problem. Here are some statistics:

45 percent of American women and 25 percent of American men are on a diet
42 percent of 1st-3rd graders want to be thinner
81 percent of 10-year old girls are afraid of becoming fat.
Americans liposuctioned over 1,200 tons of fat from 1982 to1992
Over $40 billion is spent on dieting and weight loss products every year
95 percent of dieters will regain the lost weight within one to five years.

In spite of these statistics, we are becoming a fatter nation, which makes the lure of quick, easy weight loss schemes hard to resist. But there are good reasons why fad diets aren't healthy and don't work for the long haul.

The Skinny on Dieting
Here are just a few of the side effects that battle-weary dieters experience as a result of the "diet-pharmaceutical's" multi-million dollar industry.

For every diet, there is an equal and opposite binge. Dieting forever changes your natural relationship with food. It disconnects you from internal hunger cues. There's a 90 percent chance you'll gain the weight back. You have better odds at the racetracks. Diets lower metabolism and lean muscle mass making it harder to lose weight. If you're a chronic dieter, it may be impossible to reverse the damage. People who obsess, talk of nothing but calories waiting for the day they'll be thin are stuck. Their lives will always be on hold waiting for the magical day. Diets aren't sexy. Taken to the extreme, diets can cause eating disorders. Worse, weight cycling causes you to feel like a failure and damages your self-esteem.

If Diets Don't Work, What Does?
If you look closely, you'll see another kind of diet revolution afoot that goes beyond dieting. The old traditional diet model works on the premise that diets are necessary because there is something wrong with you and your body. If you lose weight, all will be fine. The new premise works on the philosophy that eating what you need and forsaking diets is a cutting edge philosophy and may be the next paradigm in this new century. In her book, Moving Away From Diets, Nancy King discusses the differences between the traditional weight control models and the no diet approach.

Here's a closer look at the old vs. the new:

I. The Old Paradigm:

"Overweight" can be measured on a chart.


The cause of "overweight" is either gluttony, laziness, or both.


The solution is to stop eating so much and exercise more.


We can all be slim if we try hard enough. It's just a matter of willpower.


To be healthy and happy, we all should strive for and achieve thinness.
II. The New Paradigm:

Each person needs to decide what is a comfortable and realistic weight for the individual self.


The cause of being above a healthy weight is complex and involves many factors in addition to food.


Health and vitality come in all different sizes and shapes.


We can lead happy, healthy productive lives without being the current culture's idea of an ideal, unrealistic shape.


The solution is multi-dimensional.
We aren't just a one-dimensional body walking around. Therefore, to have a healthy body whose size is right for you involves a multi-dimensional approach that addresses the following areas:

Physical: Feed the body healthfully through connected eating. Move the body pleasurably. Any meal plan or activity plan has to be conducive to your lifestyle.

Love Body and Self Unconditionally for Permanent Change: A three-fold process addressing the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects. Resources and support can include: a psychologist, physician or holistic practitioner, nutrition therapist, personal trainer, meditation, yoga or other alternative health support modality.

If you're interested in this approach and want more support, contact your local dietetic association for a professional who specializes in the non-dieting approach.

Having a healthy body size is more than just playing the "number game" on the scale. It's feeling good and having vitality and energy to engage in life. Diets will never promote this. It only takes working on one area to have a "ripple" effect that affects other areas of our lives in a positive way. This is how change begins!