Non-Diet isn’t Anti-Health

19 Oct

We commonly associate diets as a tool to be used in the pursuit of health. This feeds into the myth that a ‘Non-Diet’ approach is seen as not being invested in your health.

Myth buster: Diets don’t work and can be more harmful for your health.

“There is not a single long-term study that shows that weight-loss dieting is sustainable. Study after study, shows that dieting and food restriction for the purpose of weight loss leads to more weight gain. Yes, weight gain (Rothblum 2018). Worse–the focus and preoccupation on weight leads to body dissatisfaction and weight stigma, which negatively impacts health (O’Hara & Taylor 2018), (Tribole, 2021).

For many years, I used dieting and an obsession with food and exercise as a tool to pursue ‘health’. During this time, I wasn’t really healthy at all. I practiced many unhealthy behaviours like skipping meals, exercising when I was exhausted/injured, feeling shame and guilt around eating certain foods, and missing out on the joy that comes from being present and enjoying a meal with friends and family. I focused on low calorie foods, missing out on nutrient dense foods. I was tired, my hair with thin and my mental and social health were suffering. Maybe you can relate to the feeling of poor wellbeing when you’ve been on a diet?

What is not healthy about diets:

-Sacrificing your mental wellbeing

-Undereating

-Overexercising

-Missing social occasions

-Skipping meals

-Mental consumption/obsession with food

-Guilt and shame around food and exercise

So, if diets don’t actually work-what do we focus on in the pursuit of health? What studies tell us is that; “Healthy behaviours are more important than weight” (Matheson et al 2012).

Here are a few “key health behaviours” to focus on, rather than weight loss:

-Regular physical activity

-Varied (high quality) diet

-Social support

-Being a member of a hobby or community group

-Enough sleep (5-8hrs/night)

(Talbot, Verstappen 2023)

I hope you enjoy the process of ‘rejecting the diet mentality!’.

Be kind to yourself,

Morgan x