Dieting Boomerang, Stop This Destructive Cycle

Obesity Rates 1990-2010

By Joy Dalton

We live in a wonderful age of enlightenment and advanced medicines, so we should be some of the most fit, most well human beings. But you will most often find that the opposite is true. What happened to us? The obesity rate in the United States, and worldwide, is the highest it has ever been.




You pick up magazines, or watch television, and you are bombarded with health and fitness information, advertisements, and articles, about the latest diet trends from the latest diet guru, diet plans, and information on the best possible ways to lose weight. When you lose weight, all you do is find it again, and you end up with this boomerang cycle that never ends. We have all tried these diets, and they simply did not work. What does dieting mean to you? When you think of the work diet, does it make you want to cringe? After all, it does have the word “die” in it. Or do you think about counting calories, or weighing in?

Research has shown that gradual change seems to work better when it comes to meeting your long-term goal. To me, dieting means a temporary way of doing things, versus making a lifestyle change. The word diet makes me think of limiting what I enjoy eating, or what I eat. Some people relate the word “diet” with failure almost immediately. Dieting is also a way of restricting what you consume in some way, and some things your body needs to function properly. Limiting will sometimes make your body want to rebel. If I say I cannot have this, or I cannot have that, it makes me unhappy, and I start to dread eating. If you start to think of reducing weight as a lifestyle change, it can be the key to success for your weight loss goals. Too, if you are not careful, eating can turn into an addiction, and for those addicted to food and eating, it is not as simple as giving it up altogether, like it is to give up cigarettes, because you will not survive if you do not eat.

Food will need to be viewed more positively for someone looking to get around this difficulty, in order to change their lifestyle. This is usually why, when we diet, it most likely will fail. Many diets do not take the time to work on our way of viewing food, and most only focuses on what foods are good for us, and which ones are bad for us. This is not enough to convince us to lose weight, or even keep it off. Dieting gets you off on the wrong foot by making you feel starved, or punished, and this is not the way to go about starting something that is supposed to give you a positive change. To add insult to injury, when you stray from your chosen diet, you tend to punish yourself, and you in turn feel guilty.

A good thing for us to do would be stop counting calories, and start eating healthier foods which will improve our overall health. A lifestyle change is needed to get you on the right track to weight loss success. It is also the best way to avoid feeling guilty with each and every step of your healthy diet. Another good thing to do is plan weight loss goals, you must, however, remember to make these goals realistic, but a challenge at the same time. A Healthy lifestyle means eating healthy, and a regular exercise routine, with both you will notice an improvement in the way you feel in a matter of weeks. You will enjoy more energy and a zest for life! Changes such as eating wheat or whole grain pasta can have a positive impact on the way you eat. Another idea would be to set a goal of eating five servings of vegetables per day. These changes are small, but can have a huge impact on your life. The results of these changes will not happen overnight, they are gradual, but you will reap great rewards from them. Making a healthy lifestyle change will work better than most of those pesky diets out there.

By changing the way you eat, you will change your attitude towards food in general, and you will start to see that weight changes are indeed possible. When you drop some weight, you will find that it becomes easier to include exercise in your daily routine, and you will have the extra energy to do it. Depending upon the amount of weight you wish to lose, the time it takes you to drop this weight can vary, and in some cases, it can take years. As long as you are continuously chipping away at your goals, you will be making a positive change towards your long term health. When you think of lifestyle changes, it makes you think positive thoughts. From quitting smoking, to spending more time at home, changes in your lifestyles are usually for the
better. When you think of changing the way you eat, the way you feel about yourself, and the way you look at your life, dieting really does not seem to fit long term.

You diet, meaning what you eat every day includes everything you consume, and it is consistent. When you speak of dieting, any changes made seem to be temporary. As in, if you stop dieting, you go back to consuming what you did before you started the diet. I believe that is why most diets fail; people tend to change what they eat, and even how they live for a brief period. Then when they get their desired results, they go back to living the way they did before. When you make a lifestyle change, you are going for something more permanent. They type of change affects the way you live your life, for the rest of your life. If you change the way you eat for the long haul, thinking of it as a lifestyle change instead of a diet, you will have a system that will change your life for the better.

A change, such as eating dinner before nightfall versus eating after dark, can make an impact on the way you live. Drinking a glass of water instead of drinking soda can be a lifestyle change that makes long-term impact. Committing to take a walk after dinner before leisure activities can also make a positive impact on your life. So try to make a lifestyle change instead of starting another diet, or the newest diet trend. Making a lifestyle change relating to the way you eat, act, and feel can make a positive impact on your life. The goal is to remain healthy your entire life. Set a long-term goal to be healthy and active for the rest of your life, , instead of for just a portion of it. When you set a long-term goal to be healthy, you will see just how it can impact your life. I would wager that it is a change you can depend on.



References

Evens, J. (1992) Change lifestyle, instead of diet. Milwaukee Sentinel, Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/333335279?accountid=39364

Barczak, C. (1988) With today’s fast lifestyle, “tip-sheet” eating can work better than plain, old dieting controlled grazing, Toronto Star, Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/435715880?accountid=39364

Pabst, G. (1994) Halting the diet cycle. Milwaukee Journal. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/333668137?accountid=39364