Dieting is Bad for You. But I Don't Diet Anymore - I know Better!
Don't be fooled - If you're
"only trying to eat healthier," ask yourself these questions:
- Does
this "new way of eating lifestyle" require that I change my
eating habits to omit or considerably limit one of the three major food
groups that all humans need to survive: carbohydrates, proteins, or fats?
- Does
this "fitness fat-burner menu" cause me to wait to eat for long
periods while hungry or to stop eating before my physical appetite is satisfied?
- Does
this "high nutrition program" require that I eat according to
externally dictated menus and schedules, which distract me from my inner
rhythms of hunger and satiation?
Food Group or Caloric Restriction = Thin = Better Health?
Thin, very temporarily yes. Better Health -No - Plus, studies show that the best way to gain weight AND to develop an eating problem is to restrict your diet (see below).
Major Cause of Obesity Epidemic: Weight-Loss Attempts
- Research
on 17,000 children showed that twins who embarked on one
intentional weight loss episode were two to three
times more likely to become
overweight compared to their non-dieting twin counterpart.
Furthermore, the risk of becoming overweight increased in a
dose-dependent manner, with each dieting episode. #1
- A
1999 report on 4,193 women and 3,536 men participating in the Finnish Twin
Cohort Study revealed that dieters were several times more likely than
non-dieters to experience major weight gain (more than 22 pounds) during a
follow-up lasting 15 years. (pp.31) #2
#1. Alison E. Field, S. Bryn Austin, C. Barr
Taylor, Susan Malspeis, Bernard Rosner (2003)
#2. Korkelia, M.,
A Rissanen, J Kaprio, TIA Sorensen, & M Koskenvuo (1999)
According to a 2007 Meta-Study (a study of 31 other studies, internationally)
- Diets
do lead to short-term weight loss, on average of 5%–10% of the person's
body weight
- These
losses are not maintained
- The
more time that elapses between the end of a diet and the follow-up, the
more weight is regained.
- Among
patients who were followed for two or more years, 83% gained back more
weight than they lost
- In
studies with the longest follow-up times (of four or five years
post-diet), the weight regain trajectories continued to increase
suggesting that if participants were followed for even longer, their
weight would continue to increase. #3
#3 Mann, T., Tomiyama, AJ, Westling,E, Lew, AM, Samuels, B. (2007)
Medicare’s Search for Effective Obesity Treatments in American Psychologist
Vol. 62, No. 3, 220–233
Fat Phobia
Kills
A study of 36,000
students in Minnesota found that negative body image is associated with a
higher suicide risk for girls #4
#4. American Association of University Women (1990). Shortchanging girls, shortchanging America: Full data report. Washington, DC: American Association of University Women.
Overweight girls are far more likely to engage in dangerous practices (fasting, smoking, vomiting, taking laxatives) to lose weight than normal weight girls #5
#5. Wertheim, E., Paxton, S., & Blaney, S. (2009)
The Mayo Clinic researchers note that many adolescents with eating disorders have had a history of being overweight or obese #6
#6. Sim, L.A., Lebow, J, & Billings, M, (2013)
A longitudinal study published in 1999 showed that girls who dieted severely were 18 times more likely to develop an eating disorder #7
#7.
Patton et al (1999)
Even here in Aotearoa New Zealand:
Studies indicate
that although 75% of 15 year old girls were ‘healthy weights’ 68% of them
wanted to weigh less #8
#8. Worsley, Worsley, McConnon & Silva (1990)
Of the girls that reported dieting, most had started prior to the age of 13 years. #9
#9. Fear, Bulik & Sullivan (1996)
We have known
since the 70's that dietary restriction sets a dangerous trend, And we now know
that this trend is far more "dangerous" than the "obesity
epidemic" that gets so much more press but that fails to mention that the
health risks of obesity are much more related to a lack of physical exercise
than to BMI. It is perfectly possible to be "fit and fat"" where it is less
possible to be "fit and dieting."
Why Do We Keep Trying to Lose Weight by Restricting Food Types or Intake?
In spite of all
this, our drive to diet and get thinner and thinner is getting worse not
better. And our children and teenagers continue to get the wrong messages
- Parental messages about body image and teasing by others (e.g. peers and/or family) have been highly correlated with body image dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms #10
#10. Thelen and Cormier, 1995
Because
Dieting is Addicting
Compulsions and
addictions are defined by one's inability to stop behaviour in spite of known
harmful consequences. Given all of the evidence above, why would anyone want to
deliberately deprive themselves of food anymore? We know it causes eating
disorders, suicidality, and ultimately either death or greater weight gain -
this evidence isn't even new. Yet we keep doing it - why?
Dieting, like
many addictions, creates false promises. Like gamblers who know full well that
the odds are against them, most dieters think they can buck the odds because
the false promise - thinness and an end to weight discrimination - is too
seductive to ignore or dismiss. The pain of continuing to suffer teasing,
discrimination, and judgments overshadows the likelihood of dieting failure. No
one wants to really believe they can't diet their way to thinness - it feels
too hopeless, too awful. And although exercise offers an escape from most of
the physical health risks of a high body weight, it can't promise a quick
perfect body. And we humans are famous for looking at the short term results
and ignoring the long term, if it doesn't suit us. A gambler makes one big win,
then continues to gamble until it's all gone and then some - this is the same
thinking as "diet think."
More Myths
BMI, or the Body Mass Index, was originally developed
as a statistical tool to study large populations over time. It is completely
irrelevant to individual weight and does not even distinguish between weight
caused by fat or muscle. Similar to that old fashioned standby, the
Metropolitan Life Height and Weight Charts, the original uses for which these
devices were developed has gotten completely distorted. Met Life was originally
an actuarial study - a statistical population study based on people who buy
life insurance. What happened to scientific measures - controlled, double-blind
studies that limit the variables they measure? When it comes to weight, our
scientific standards seem to take a back seat. This is because no one,
including doctors, is immune to cultural pressures, assumptions and
stereotypes. Although medical practitioners the world over are trained to used
the BMI now as they were the Met Life Charts in the past, they are rarely
taught that they are highly inaccurate in evaluating individual weight and
fitness.
One of the medical criteria of anorexia nervosa: body
weight 15 % below a weight that is considered "normal", is met by the
majority of models and beauty contestants.
So, What Size Should I Be?
Since there are no clear markers for healthy body
weight that are free from highly questionable social standards, I would
maintain that healthy body weight is highly individual and relative, given
the various causes of weight gain.
Perhaps it is best to consider the size a person
naturally returns to after a long period of both non-compulsive eating and
consistent exercise commensurate with the person' s physical health and
condition. We must learn to advocate for ourselves and our children to aspire
to a naturally determined size, even though that will often mean confronting
misinformed family, friends, and media advertising again and again.
If
you want to know if you are fit, ask yourself how you feel. Do you have energy
or do you drag through the day? Are you physically active at least a half
hour a day (this means pushing yourself to do something that causes you to pant
and sweat)? If not, consider increasing your level of physical activity in such
a way that it is woven into your day (e.g. walking or cycling instead of
driving).
The
benefits of regular physical activity have been demonstrated scientifically
again and again - as have the disadvantages of restrictive dieting. It makes
sense that we need to be active - we were hunter- gatherers for 100,000 years
and had to travel huge distances to follow the edible flora and fauna. We're
supposed to move around - and then we're supposed to eat!
Are you Overeating?
Do
you feel overstuffed a good deal of the time, or do you rarely let yourself
feel hungry? Do you eat to cope with issues that have nothing to do with hunger?
What is Non-Compulsive Eating?
Simply stated, non-compulsive eating means eating when
you are hungry and stopping when you are satisfied. This involves being able to
distinguish emotional hunger from physical hunger, and satiation from
over-fullness. This approach, combined with regular physical activity, over the
long term,will bring about a healthy ratio of fat to muscle, even if you don't
end up looking like a fashion model.
