Friday, May 6th, is International No Diet Day (INDD) - a day to recognize body acceptance and body shape diversity. INDD was founded by a woman named Mary Evans Young who, like many, was bullied in school for being overweight. Mary also taught management courses and during one interesting coffee break, the participants in her class were disputing amongst themselves whether or not to eat a cookie. She posed these questions to her group, 'What do you think would happen if you had just one? What if you spent as much time and energy on your career or family as you do on trying to diet?' Think about it! Not only do many of us think about how we shouldn't be eating certain foods, but we also focus largely on the numbers on the scale. It is an important factor, but so are body type (where we carry our weight, i.e. pear-shaped or apple-shaped) and body frame size. A healthy weight also takes into account our height, age, musculature and several other factors.
About one in every three women and one in every four men are dieting at any given time. Two thirds of dieters regain their weight within one year and almost all will regain it within five years. Instead of trying the latest diet, it might be easier to focus on old fashioned healthy eating. Either way, eating should be less focused on avoidance and more about being healthful while also enjoying our food.
Often, people will follow special diets for heart disease, allergies, celiac disease or diabetes. This is perfectly fine and typically quite beneficial if recommended by a registered dietitian.
The diet I am referring to is not the same but instead, periods of restriction and avoidance of large numbers of calories, food and food groups. If people were to follow this diet, not only would this yo-yo dieting be absolutely no fun, it could likely hinder our health and weight loss goals more than simply eating as usual. For these individuals, diets aren't always the way to go. You often hear someone say “I'll start my diet on Monday,” or “I'll ruin my diet if I eat that.” These attitudes are all too common and don't enforce positive eating behaviours.
Frequently, when people finish following a diet, they regain their original weight (and possibly more which they lost). The reason for this is simple: diets are often filled with restriction and frequently involve eating practices that are unable to be maintained for extended periods of time. I encourage clients to choose one to three eating habits to change, or acquire, to help meet their dietary goals. This works well when dumping a 'diet' and instead making it a priority to eat healthy. Why not try having at least half your grains each day as whole grain? Try and consume more fruits and vegetables instead of juices. Maybe you'd like to try a meatless meal once a week or instead of having full dessert portions, cut your portion by half. Not only are these manageable strategies that can be maintained, they are simple and really the basis behind many 'diets.'
There are so many small changes each person can make, and there is almost always at least one thing people can try to change easily. On Friday, make a promise to yourself to nix the diet and make a few personal goals to adopt healthy eating habits and lifestyle changes.
As seen in The Telegram May 2, 2011
