Don't starve, eat!

Don't starve, eat!

A restrictive diet can have some very damaging emotional and physical consequences that can affect you not only now, but long into the future. Emotions aside, the physical effects of dieting can be far-reaching. For one thing, most of the massive weight loss is usually gained back from the lifestyle being unsustainable! Our physiology is not designed to restrict food. We need a healthy lifestyle that is sustainable!

Fad diets usually end with regaining all the weight lost. A study in the early 1990s included a group of obese women who had lost an average of more than 20 pounds. These women were not properly trained in sustainable, healthy diets, resulting in all the weight lost within four years being regained. Fad diets and restrictive diets are not a long-term solution for weight loss. While in the long run you may lose some weight in the short term, you will most likely gain the weight back and gain more by “falling off the diet wagon” and binging!

Likewise, your physiology usually kicks in; Cortisol is released and leads to fat absorption. The stress hormone cortisol is released when our body is under stress, such as metabolic stress that coincides with dieting. Who cares? Well, the release of cortisol during periods of long-term metabolic stress (long-term food restriction; diet) may induce fat storage as protection against future periods of metabolic stress. And as luck would have it, most of these fat receptors are located around the belly!

While a restrictive diet is not recommended for the majority of healthy individuals, it may be appropriate for those who are severely overweight or at risk for certain diseases. Other than this risk group, normal healthy individuals will find no benefits from strict food restriction! At some point, most of us have tried a fad to get quick weight loss results. Does it ever work? It can in the short term, but very rarely in the long term.

Everyone has done it and it usually leaves us empty or even emotionally drained. We need healthy eating habits not only for psychological reasons, but also to lead a healthy life. To counteract this, we need healthy and sustainable lifestyle changes! A sustainable lifestyle doesn't have to be very hard, it can be comfortable and include some of the things you love! One way to start is by eating a hearty, nutritious breakfast every morning! This can satisfy your appetite throughout the morning and set you up for a productive day.

Diets are not the way to achieve sustainable weight loss goals. Every person needs a personalized plan that fits their time and money budget. If it doesn't fit your lifestyle, how can it help your waistline? If you take anything away from this article is that food restrictions are not the path to a healthier or even happier person, it paves the way for terrible eating habits that can affect your physiology. Start eating healthy today, you deserve it!

Inspired by J.R. Anderson