Why Diets Suck

Ok, come clean. What wierdo, fad diets have you tried in the name of weight loss... The Pineapple Diet? The Bacon Diet? The Baby Food Diet? The Cigarette Diet? The Clay Diet (it’s a thing, Google it) The Air Diet? I’ve heard a lot, and I’ve tried a lot. And I’m here to tell you once and for all that diets. Don’t. Work. And here is why.

Maybe in the past you’ve summoned up the willpower to start a diet where you restrict your calories for a period of time. You are miserable throughout the day trying to deny primal signs of hunger as you munch on your carrot sticks.  But you do it and you notice the weight dropping off. Success! This lasts for a period of time and you feel pretty good. You keep the weight off as long as you are restricting your calories, but as you become a bit more lax and the novelty wears off, somehow that weight begins to slowly creep back up again. Does this sound familiar? It’s a cycle of weight loss and gain that we refer to as “yo-yo” dieting and it’s a trap SO many people fall into.

Research shows us that in up to 80% of cases where weight loss was initially successful when engaged in a calorie restricted diet, reduced weight is not maintained and is actually followed by recurrent weight gain [1]

Why does this happen? And what can we do to break the cycle?

Often times we end up blaming ourselves for not being able to stick to these rigid diets. We think we are weak or worthless, and we end up with a huge amount of guilt. But friends, I’m here to tell you that it’s not your fault. It’s not. Your. Fault. It’s the way we have been taught to view food, calories and dieting and it’s time to throw it all away for something better: food freedom.

When embarking on calorie counting diets we often times focus on the quantity rather than the quality of the food we put into our bodies. We expect ourselves to be mathematical geniuses to get the exact ratio for weight loss correct. Instead of focusing on the quantity (read: calories) in the food we consume we should aim to focus on the quality.  

Food is not just calories going in us, but rather it’s information. Food gets broken down and absorbed into our bloodstream and affects every cell in our body. By focusing on healthy, nutrient-dense foods we nourish our bodies and give them what they need to come back into balance. Foods like vegetables, fruits, protein, good fats, and whole grains are essential to every process in our body and to keep it functioning optimally for prevention of disease and maintenance of ideal body weight.

Recent research has shed new light onto the importance that the microbiome (bacteria living in our gut) plays in the role of weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight [2]. By balancing the good and bad bacteria in the gut we optimize the entire digestive process and our body is able to process and store food more effectively.  The first step in maximizing our gut health is to move away from processed foods and move towards real, whole foods. Get some food inspiration here >>

If you want to learn more about how to heal your gut and never, ever, ever diet again I’d love to start you on your journey away from stupid diets towards FOOD FREEDOM!

Click the button below to book a free 30-minute Discovery Session with me so you can do this once and for all.  I've got your back!

With Love, 

Christina Tidwell, MN, RN, CHC

[1] Anastasiou, C., Karfopoulou, E. & Yannakoulia, M. (2015). Weight regaining: from statistics and behaviors to physiology and metabolism.  Metabolism 64, 1395-1407.

[2] Thaiss, C et al. (2016). Persistent microbiome alterations modulate the rate of post-dieting weight regain. Nature 540, 544-551.