Lies You’ve Been Told About Dieting

Throughout the years so many things have been said about losing weight that we tend to accept them as facts. It’s time to sort out the truth from the lies about dieting.

Lie #1: Just don’t eat the forbidden food

If you can only stay away from (gluten, fat, carbs, fruit, whatever), THEN you can finally lose weight easily and painlessly. Each one of us possesses an epic craving that we must resist in order to stay on the One True Path.

This, I say, is nonsense. Completely eliminating a single “forbidden” food:

1. Isn’t the answer to losing weight
2. Isn’t a realistic long-term solution

It’s better to approach temptations by asking yourself if it’s worth the calories. And if it is, figure out a way to work it into your sensible eating plan. Just two bites are probably enough so that you won’t feel deprived.

Lie #2: Losing weight means suffering

We’re told that losing weight involves enduring the unbearable. If you’re not suffering enough, you’re not doing it right. But human instinct has always been geared toward making life easier – hence technology and convenience foods.

To believe that eating “healthy equals suffering and denial” is a sure way to fail. Change your point of view! Healthy food is your friend, and there is a way to work in some of your favorite junk food if you do it right.

Sensible eating should be the norm, not torture.

Lie #3: Treat food only as energy

Nutrition science can over-complicate something as simple as vegetables. Some systems have reduced food to so many numbers – counting calories, grams, and weighing food. It doesn’t matter if the latest superfood tastes horrible – it has the twice the fiber of prunes, seven times the carotene of a sweet potato, six times the protein of tofu and half the calories of spinach so you have to eat it or you will surely perish.

Figures can be helpful in designing a sensible nutrition plan, but numbers are certainly not the only thing to consider. Food, along with the pleasure and comfort it provides, cannot be reduced to simply being an energy source. Ignoring the pleasure of food will set you up for more cravings and “off” days, which will only put your whole dieting scheme out of track. Concentrate on the big picture of healthy eating without obsessing over the hair-splitting details. Enjoy your food, and enjoy nourishing your body.

Lie #4: Just work out more

There is no denying the benefits of exercise. Exercise tones muscles, elevates your mood, helps regulate sleep, boosts immunity, and boosts your metabolism to help you lose weight. But exercise is responsible for only about 20 percent of weight loss. The rest of your weight loss success is dependent on your diet. It is misleading to think that we can eat anything as long as we burn a lot of calories with exercise. You can’t out-exercise a bad diet!

Lie #5: There’s a magic pill for weight loss

A lot of supplements have come out that will supposedly make you burn fat faster and lose weight. The truth is that there are two things that can boost your metabolism:

1. Stimulants (I do not recommend these due to potential heart hazards)
2. Strength training with weights

Hoping to lose weight by taking a pill will detract you from the more effective and permanent benefits of following a realistic strategy of proper food choices and exercise.

Lie #6: You fail because you don’t have enough willpower

People will attribute your failure to lose weight to your lack of willpower. Maybe you weren’t able to resist temptation, or you didn’t want it badly enough. Today’s circumstances – convenience and fast food, the sedentary lifestyle- actually set as up for weight gain. More than just willpower, we need a change in mindset. My sugar addiction course, Sugar Free Me, explains why willpower doesn’t work – and more importantly, what DOES work!

If you’d like some personal help with nutrition and healthier lifestyle habits, contact Dan to schedule a time to talk about what kind of help would work best for you. Dan can work with clients by phone and online!