I am here to blow the lid off diets… again.
Spoiler alert: you’re about to find out that the latest dieting trend has been secretly undermining you this whole time.
Savvy Psychologist is hosted by Dr. Monica Johnson. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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It’s summertime,and you’ve been scouring Instagram for your #bodygoals because you’re convinced that your body is #unacceptable. As the temperature rises, so does your anxiety. As the threat of bikinis and booty shorts looms, you turn to your trusty dieting trend as an escape. Spoiler alert, you’re about to find out that your buddy—the diet—has been secretly undermining you the whole time.
Welcome back to Savvy Psychologist. I'm your host Dr. Monica Johnson. Every week on this show, I'll help you face life's challenges with evidence-based approaches, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment. This is episode 400! Thank you to all of our listeners, whether this is your very first or your 400th time tuning in.
Full disclosure here: I am a psychologist that follows a Health At Every Size approach with my patients. I do not assume health or lack thereof based on the size of a person’s body. I am of the firm belief that there are many types and sizes of bodies that are healthy. A common misconception about Health At Every Size practitioners is that we are against weight loss and that is wholly untrue. Many of my patients engage in weight loss without engaging in diet culture and many more grow to accept and love their bodies without the need to change a number on the scale.
I am here to blow the lid off diets… again. This is all information that is out in the world, but no one listens. I am prepared to be ignored as well. Here goes: diets don’t work. In 2007, there was a review of the long-term outcomes of calorie-restricting diets to assess whether dieting is an effective treatment for obesity. These studies show that one-third to two-thirds of dieters regain more weight than they lost on their diets. The findings of the review led the authors to summarize that there is little support that dieting leads to long-term weight loss or health benefits.
Diet culture as we know it pushes particular images of beauty and leads us through a myriad of fad diets that few people have the capacity to follow long term. Moreover, intense restriction often leads us through a binge-dieting cycle as it encourages us to have an unhealthy relationship with food which I will review in this episode.
The first part of the diet/binge cycle is the process of restriction. Diet culture tends to encourage us to follow external rules about food and often these rules are extremely rigid—for example, a diet that says you can’t eat anything after 6 p.m., and if you absolutely must eat something, it can only be a slice of toast with a glass of water. Other forms of restriction could be intense calorie counting, removing certain foods from your acceptable list without a medical reason for doing so, and frequent detoxing. This can lead us to feel like food is in control of our lives instead of fuel for our body and, in many ways, a pleasure.
The second part of the diet binge cycle is typically feeling deprived. Do you know how it feels to be hungry for days on end? Or to have intense cravings for foods that you “can’t have?” When you are deprived, you tend to start obsessing about food. I have so many patients come to me and say things like “I can’t wait until my cheat day” or “I am going to eat an entire cake on day 31 of this Whole 30.” For some, these deprivation states are counterproductive to weight loss, as the overeating phase can negate any weight loss. Additionally, deprivation is often confused with discipline, when really it’s teaching you to punish yourself.
Restriction and deprivation are one extreme on the swing of a pendulum. After deprivation typically comes a form of overeating or bingeing. All those off-limits foods are now on your mouth’s most wanted list, and you are likely eating these foods in larger quantities or more often than you may have prior to deprivation.
I heard a speaker at a training once say that “you can tell you’re on a diet if you can fail.” How many diets have you “failed”? I’ve failed every diet I’ve ever been on and this is coming from a woman who has lost over 200 pounds!
Failure elicits all kinds of feelings in us, but a big one is shame. When talking about the food you ate, have you ever made a statement like “I’ve been bad today”? Do you routinely put foods on good and bad lists like you’re Santa Claus? Do you feel like if your body could simply be smaller, all your problems would evaporate?
There are a myriad of ways that shame can represent itself. What your friend the diet doesn’t tell you is that shame leads you right back to restriction and deprivation. Which makes sense, right? Because what does a bad person deserve? Punishment.
You are in an unhealthy relationship with your friend and it’s time to break up! The great news is there are some practical ways you can start this Dear John letter.
The first tip that I will give is to pursue health over weight loss. Earlier I stated that I have some patients who lose weight and others who have come to accept their bodies as they are with no loss involved. This first tip relates to both groups. It’s not about whether you lose weight or not, but how you go about it. When the sole focus is weight loss, then your value is determined by the number on the scale. When you focus on health, you can focus on implementing positive behavioral changes. This can be introducing more veggies and fruits, swapping out your soda for sparkling water, or going on more walks. All of these behaviors can lead to weight loss or not and don’t need to involve a process of restriction.
Remove the idea of good foods and bad foods and the idea that your value is based on what you eat or the size of your body. All foods serve a purpose. It’s true that some foods are more nutrient dense than others, yes, but that’s not a good or bad thing. If I am focused on health then I am also intentional about getting my nutritional needs met while satisfying the pleasure that food can provide. This means I can eat a salad for lunch and have a serving of ice cream at night and I haven’t ruined anything!
Ensure that you find a wide variety of foods that satisfy your flavor palette and your nutritional requirements. For instance, I have a huge sweet tooth, and if I solely equate that with cookies it might be problematic for me. Instead, I know that green grapes, watermelon, and gala apples can also satisfy my sweet cravings and it’s important to add them into the rotation as well.
Diet culture can make you feel like hunger is a weakness when actually it is a way of your body communicating a need. We may have to relearn this language of our body, so it’s important to have patience. One step may be understanding your cues for physical hunger which can include: growling in the stomach, thinking about food, low energy, difficulty concentrating, headaches, and a cranky mood.
Honoring your hunger is also about satisfying your cravings—within reason. There are times when patients tell me they are eating plenty of food, but they aren’t satiated. That is typically because they are restricting certain experiences. Remember my sweet tooth from earlier—there were times when only junk food could satisfy it! However, I went through the process of relearning and introducing new foods into my life.
When honoring your hunger, you have to increase mindfulness around it. You may want to ask yourself questions about your hunger. For instance, am I craving something hot or cold? Crunchy or soft? Dairy? For instance, if I want something cold and sweet that could be green grapes that I’ve chilled in the fridge or a bowl of gelato. As I’ve practiced being more mindful about food, I can tell the difference between the two. When a bowl of grapes will suffice, I eat those, and when all I want is my favorite brand of gelato, I eat that.
In going on this journey, you can begin to develop a middle ground and stop the pendulum from swinging back and forth.
What is a new food that you want to introduce into your life? Let me know on Instagram @kindmindpsych. You can also reach out to me via my email at psychologist@quickanddirtytips.com, or leave a voicemail at (929) 256-2191.