Many Americans view a healthy lifestyle as something
difficult to attain--and something that's not much fun.
Traditional diets have taught us that to lose weight, we
must count calories, keep track of everything we eat, and
deprive ourselves by limiting the amount--and kinds--of
foods we eat. Diets tell us exactly what and how much food
to eat, regardless of our preferences and individual
relationships with hunger and satiety. Dieting can help us
lose weight (fat, muscle, and water) in the short term but
is so unnatural and so unrealistic that it can never become
a lifestyle that we can live with, let alone enjoy!
While very few diets teach healthy low-fat shopping,
cooking, and dining-out strategies, many offer unrealistic
recommendations and encourage health-threatening
restrictions. Even more important, diets don't teach us the
safest, most effective ways to exercise; they don't teach
us how to deal with our cravings and our desires, or how to
attend to our feelings of hunger and fullness. Eventually,
we become tired of the complexity, the hunger, the lack of
flavor, the lack of flexibility, the lack of energy, and
the feeling of deprivation. We quit our diets and gain back
the weight we've lost; sometimes we gain even more!
Each time we go on another diet of deprivation, the weight
becomes more difficult to lose, and we become even more
frustrated and discouraged. Then we eat more and exercise
less, causing ourselves more frustration, discouragement,
depression. Soon we are in a vicious cycle. We begin to ask
ourselves, "Why bother?" We begin to blame ourselves for
having no will power when what we really need is clear,
scientifically-based information that will help us develop
a healthier lifestyle we can live with for the rest of our
lives.
Deliberate restriction of food intake in order to lose
weight or to prevent weight gain, known as dieting, is the
path that millions of people all over the world are taking
in order to reach a desired body weight or appearance.
Preoccupation with body shape, size, and weight creates an
unhealthy lifestyle of emotional and physical deprivation.
Diets take control away from us.
Many of us who diet get caught in a "yo-yo" cycle that
begins with low self-acceptance and results in structured
eating and living because we lack trust in our body and are
unwilling to listen and adhere to our body's signals of
hunger and fullness. On diets, we distrust and ignore
internal signs of appetite, hunger, and our need to be
physically and psychologically satisfied. Instead, we
depend on diet plans, measured portions, and a prescribed
frequency for eating.
As a result, many of us have lost the ability to eat in
response to our physical needs; we experience feelings of
deprivation, then binge, and finally terminate our "health"
program. This in turn leads to guilt, defeat, weight gain,
low self-esteem, and then we're back to the beginning of
the yo-yo diet cycle. Rather than making us feel better
about ourselves, diets set us up for failure and erode our
self-esteem.
The attitudes and practices acquired through years of
dieting are likely to result in a body weight and size
obsession, low self-esteem, poor nutrition and excessive or
inadequate exercise. Weight loss from following a rigid
diet is usually temporary. Most diets are too drastic to
maintain; they are unrealistic and unpleasant; they are
physically and emotionally stressful. And most of us just
resume our old eating and activity patterns. Diets control
us; we are not in control. People who try to live by diet
lists and rules learn little or nothing about proper
nutrition and how to enjoy their meals, physical activity,
and a healthy lifestyle. No one can realistically live in
the diet mode for the rest of their life, depriving
themselves of the true pleasures of healthy eating and
activity.
We Don't Fail Diets; They Fail Us!
Decades of research have shown that diets, both
self-initiated and professionally-led, are ineffective at
producing long-term health and weight loss (or weight
control). When your diet fails to keep the weight off, you
may say to yourself, "If only I didn't love food so much .
. . If I could just exercise more often . . . If I just had
more will power." The problem is not personal weakness or
lack of will power. Only 5 percent of people who go on
diets are successful. Please understand that we are not
failing diets; diets are failing us.
The reason 95 percent of all traditional diets fail is
simple. When you go on a low-calorie diet, your body thinks
you are starving; it actually becomes more efficient at
storing fat by slowing down your metabolism. When you stop
this unrealistic eating plan, your metabolism is still slow
and inefficient that you gain the weight back even faster,
even though you may still be eating less than you were
before you went on the diet.
In addition, low-calorie diets cause you to lose both
muscle and fat in equal amounts. However, when you
eventually gain back the weight, it is all fat and not
muscle, causing your metabolism to slow down even more. Now
you have extra weight, a less healthy body composition, and
a less attractive physique.
Diets require you to sacrifice by being hungry; they don't
allow you to enjoy the foods you love. This does not teach
you habits which you can maintain after the diet is over.
Most diet programs force you to lower your caloric intake
to dangerously low levels. The common theory is that if you
eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. But
when you eat fewer calories than your body needs to
maintain its life-sustaining activities, you're actually
losing muscle in addition to fat. Your body breaks down its
own muscles to provide the needed energy for survival.
Traditional diets which use calorie restriction to produce
weight loss are no longer appropriate. Most weight-loss
programs measure success solely in terms of the number of
pounds lost per weight loss attempt. Diets don't take into
account the quality of the process used to achieve that
weight loss or the very small likelihood of sustained
weight loss. For long-term good health, you need to move
away from low-calorie diets and focus on enjoyable physical
activity and good nutrition. Exercising regularly and
eating lean-supporting calories, protein and carbohydrates,
and reducing fat-supporting calories will not only help you
look and feel better, it will also significantly reduce
your risk of disease.
America spends billions of dollars on different ways to fix
people. If we focused more on prevention and on improving
our day-to-day behaviors, we could cut health care costs in
half. Contrary to popular belief, leading a healthy
lifestyle doesn't have to be difficult; it doesn't have to
painful or time-consuming. Making gradual, simple changes
in your diet and physical activity will make great
improvements in your health and well-being, and they can
drastically reduce your risk of disease.
If your weight management program is to be a success,
everything you eat and every exercise you do must be a
pleasurable experience. If you're not enjoying yourself, it
is unlikely that you'll continue your program. It's that
simple. These small, gradual changes are not painful or
overwhelming but rather the core of an exciting lifestyle
that you will look forward to.
Take the frustration, guilt, and deprivation out of weight
management, and allow yourself to adopt gradual, realistic
changes into your life that will make healthy eating and
physical activity a permanent pleasure. You will soon
discover what your body is capable of and begin to look,
act, and feel your very best. Good luck and enjoy all the
wonderful benefits of a healthy, active lifestyle.
----------------------------------------------------
WorldClassNutrition is a leader in discount nutrition
supplements with the largest selection of diet pills,
creatine products, protein powders, and bodybuilding
supplements. Find more information on the products you are
searching for at http://www.worldclassnutrition.com . Want
more expert advice visit
http://www.mynutritionworld.com/index.php .
No comments:
Post a Comment