It seems like there is always a new diet promising “fast weight loss”. These diets are all around us as we live in a diet culture which idolizes thinness with restrictive eating and rules around eating used to obtain this “healthy body”. I want to start out by having you think for a moment how many people you know who have started one of these diets for “fast weight loss”? How many people do you know who are still on these diets after a few months? Do they truly enjoy what they are eating? Many of these diets are restrictive and difficult to stick to for long periods of time. This is just one reason why I do not encourage restrictive diets. People jump into these diets for weight loss to then realize that the ONLY caveat is that you have to throw away almost all the food you love. Dieting labels food as “good” or “bad” and those dieting are instructed to avoid eating these “bad” foods. This creates a poor relationship with food and oftentimes someone may get caught up in “yo-yo dieting”. They start a diet, lose weight, then go back to their eating habits before the diet, gain the weight back, start the diet again…and the cycle continues. You may even hear people say…”I’m on a 30 day diet to get me back on track and lose x pounds”. Eating can be much more exciting than one 30 day diet after another. For this reason, I wanted to talk about a few lifestyle changes that you can start making today while ditching the short term diet.
The best diet is no diet
Let’s get started by dropping that diet you have been doing (or are thinking about doing) and focus on a lifestyle approach. Let me say it again for the people in the back, drop the short-term restrictive diet plan. I truly believe that all food can fit in your lifestyle. Of course, some foods are more nutrient dense than other foods, but all foods can fit. Food is meant to be enjoyed, not restricted. So why not improve your eating habits while still eating the foods you love?
I will provide you with tips to start making small changes to your lifestyle that you know you can maintain long-term while still eating food you love. Below is a list of tools you can start to incorporate into your lifestyle. I want to remind you …you aren’t dieting…you’re making small changes to improve your lifestyle while maintaining a healthy relationship with food. So, let’s shift the mindset away from “dieting”.
Tips and Tricks
- Eating a balanced variety– Balance balance balance. Aim to consume balanced meals that contain a variety of foods. “Eating balanced” means consuming all food groups and a variety of each food group including many different colors of fruits and vegetables. Eating balanced also includes eating nutrient dense carbohydrates which fad diets often tell us to avoid. Keep a balanced intake throughout the day when you consider your snacks too. This means including those fruits, vegetables, proteins and fats into your snacks throughout the day Eating balanced allows you to eat a variety of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants throughout the day.
- Mindfulness- Another great tool to have in your toolbox is mindfulness. Mindfulness helps you be more in tune with your body and the hunger or satisfaction cues you may be getting. When you mindfully eat, this practice reminds you to slowly eat your food in an environment where you can truly savor and enjoy eating. Mindfully eating is the practice of observing all aspects of the food that you are eating. The texture, smell, flavor, the way it makes you feel. This allows you to fully enjoy the food while you eat it. Mindfully eating is especially important when you are enjoying your favorite treat/snack. While you are mindfully eating you can be more aware of satisfaction cues that your body is trying to send to you. Being in a quiet place allows you to avoid distracted and mindless eating which can often lead to eating through your fullness cues and overeating. When you mindfully eat you may sense your fullness cues before your plate is empty, that is ok, save your leftovers for another time!
- Eat slowly- Eating mindfully goes hand in hand with eating slowly. Eating slowly allows you to be more in tune with your body. You not only have time to mindfully eat, but feel your fullness cues. Eating quickly can lead to you missing your fullness cues and leaving the table feeling stuffed. Embrace slow eating, it allows you to spend more time with loved ones while you talk and eat. Don’t let dinner time be a rushed occasion. Enjoy the time with family and the delicious food in front of you. For most families, dinner is the only meal eaten together as a family, so enjoy it.
- Eat in a quiet designated eating place– As discussed in the mindful eating section, eating in a quiet designated eating area can be very helpful. When you are sitting at a table you are eating more mindfully and slowly rather than eating in front of the TV. You may have experienced this before when you decide to eat a snack while you watch an episode of your favorite show and then you realize that you accidentally ate the entire bag of chips! Ooops! If you are watching TV while snacking, I recommend serving yourself a serving of your favorite snack to help prevent mindless eating.
- Snack throughout the day- I recommend nutritious snacking throughout the day as you feel hungry. Enjoying a snack when you feel hungry is another important part of acknowledging your bodies hunger and fullness signals. This keeps your body nourished and prevents you from becoming overly hungry before the next meal. Create snacks that are balanced with a variety of different foods including colorful fruit and vegetables, protein and fat sources. A few examples of snacks include any fresh fruit or vegetables, a small apple with peanut butter, whole wheat crackers with cheese, nuts/trail mix, carrots with hummus, popcorn, yogurt with fruit, or cottage cheese with pears.
- Maintain a healthy relationship with food– I would not be doing my job if I didn’t talk about the most important part of eating, maintaining a healthy relationship with food. What does this mean?
- Avoid labeling foods as “good” or “bad”
- Avoid obsessing over “healthy” eating
- Avoid restrictive eating or binge eating –
- Eating all food groups
- Maintain flexibility in your eating – Every day will be different. Some days you might have a birthday party to attend or you might go out to eat at your favorite restaurant. These aren’t “cheat days”, they are days to enjoy! You don’t need to feel guilty about these events, you are spending time with people you love, enjoying food you love. Or maybe you have a day when you didn’t eat balanced or you didn’t mindfully eat, identify where you struggled and work on it the next day. Every day won’t be perfect and that’s ok!
For more information about maintaining a healthy relationship with food visit National Eating Disorders website.
You don’t need a diet to tell you what you can and cannot eat. You know yourself better than anyone else; what you crave, what food or beverage you couldn’t live without and where you may be struggling. Do what you need to do to be successful with these tools while eating what you love. You don’t need a strict diet or weight loss program telling you what to do, drop the diet and become more in tune with your body as you put these tools to practice.