Are All Meals
"UNFRUITFUL"?
Seek the brief answer? Well, it's interestingly,
YES. Now, you might be thinking, "I have to stick
on a program on having MEALS just to keep control of
myself." Dieting
always involves a diet algorithm which may affect your
mentality which may drive failure, encourage you to
ignore hunger and satiety signals, and sometimes promotes
a negative relationship with food, because you have
to QUIT forbidden foods and eat foods you don't really
like. This inevitably results in bingeing. So, though
this idea may sound radical, we firmly believe there
is no healthy
diet.
By "diet,"
we mean the deliberate ploy to restrict the amount or
kind of foods you're allowed to eat for the mission
of losing weight. Though we certainly do endorse consuming
a wide variety of healthful foods and thinking twice
before eating a lot of foods that are high in calories
but low in nutrition,
we don't recommend following any kind of plan that tells
you what, how much, and how often you should eat, without
regard for your body's hunger and satiety signals.
The Psychological and Mental Effects of Dieting
Even if you weren't particularly concerned about food
prior to dieting, all of a sudden you become obsessed
with it. You'll find yourself preoccupied with the thoughts
about what you'll be having for your next meal; whether
you can have some chips, what others are eating, or
even what you'll allow yourself to eat tomorrow.
The mind and the body are inextricably linked, and
never are this more apparent than when you go on dieting.
Geared to survive during feast or famine, both body
and mind switch into survival mode when the food supply
is diminished. While the body turns down the metabolism
and becomes a slow burner in an attempt to hang on to
every single calorie, the mind gears itself to one purpose:
getting food. Result? You find yourself among recipes,
planning menus, cooking elaborate meals, or even dreaming
about food at night. The message is clear: Your body
wants food, and your mind does it, too.
After a few days of extreme restriction, you'll probably
become more dejected and apprehensive, because you are
depriving yourself of things that are very pleasurable
for you that aren't replaceable -- leaving a void. You
may suddenly start to feel depressed,
anxious,
and isolated. As a result, you can end up eating more
food in one sitting than you ever did when you weren't
dieting.
So the same amount of food that would have satisfied
them during times of plenty left them feeling hungry
after a period of semi-starvation.
The same thing happens to you when you restrict food.
Suddenly, you develop the urge and the capacity to binge,
and you no longer feel satisfied after eating what you
used to consider a normal meal. In short, restrictive
dieting can trigger binges and leave you hungry even
after you've eaten normal amounts of food.
We see these same patterns in dieters: the preoccupation
with food;
the anxiety, depression, and irritability; the tendency
to go off the diet and eat more than one would have
in the pre-diet days; and a propensity toward bingeing
even after the diet has ended.
About the Author
Chris Read, An associated editor to Hateweight.com.
|
