Ditching Dieting

Reba Sloan, MPH, LRD,FAED

Nutrition Therapist

“Dieting that causes excessive loss of weight is beset with difficulties”Hippocrates 400 B.C.

Why Do People Diet?

• To chase an artificial standard• Because everyone else is dieting• False promises are tempting• They believe weight loss is a cure for

poor self/body esteem• In pursuit of the “perfect diet”• To distract themselves from other

issues• It is an effort to improve themselves

Why don’t diets work?

• The body compensates for dietary restriction

• Restriction of certain foods can promote an obsession with eating those foods

• The mind perceives caloric restriction as a famine

• Each body has a weight or size that it fights to maintain …the set point theory of weight management

Why don’t diets work?

• Diets are finish line driven• They set up people with the “guilt

response”• Diets are not real life• Our relationship with food is complicated• We have taste buds! • They are based on faulty logic and

science• Diets can be dangerous

If not diets … then what?

• Learn about your own relationship to food

• Work on connecting with your hunger/satisfied signals

• Go for balance, moderation and variety• Get moving• Don’t use the bull dozer approach … try

the hammer and chisel!• NO GUILT … eating is not a moral or

legal issue!

If not diets … then what?

• Be reasonable with your goals • Accept weight/size standards that are

appropriate, reasonable and real for YOU• Focus on health and fitness …not thinness• Confront the issues that may be increasing

your desire to diet and weight obsess• Know nutrition truth from fiction

Where Do I Go From Here?

• Take an inventory of thought distortions that might be barriers to non-diet approach

• Love and appreciate the body you have• Determine your nutritional strengths and

weaknesses• Find an activity that you can commit to on

a nearly daily basis• Establish 2 or 3 challenging … yet

achievable goals (not weight related!)