The Diet Mentality and Weight Loss

For decades now, diets and weight loss have been marketed as a “healthy” way of life. Yet, they rely on key nutrient elimination, body chemistry manipulation, and caloric deficiencies. The traditional approach to weight loss is fascinating because the approach tends to involve some sort of physiological manipulation as if the body is some sort of adversary to battle.

Sure, with age comes a slower metabolism and a different hormonal panel that can affect the shape and appearance of our body. But is what we’re doing to ourselves helping in the long run? The answer is absolutely not. Study after study has shown that dietary and physiological manipulation has long-term negative effects on the body. In many cases, risk factors for disease are increased.

If we take a step back and think about every promise every diet has ever made, they all seem to cry out in battle against our natural body. But think about the unique and amazing being that you are! Your body is specifically designed for survival. We have reflexes that protect us. We have intelligence and intuitions that are geared toward safety and comfort. We generate habits, where we don’t have to think about every move, just so we can make the most out of this amazing life.

Why then? I ask why we take intentional steps to not only alter those protective and supportive pathways but also compromise them in such a way that we become subject to unrealistic expectations, fatigue, anxiety, and ultimately damaging results of dieting, all in the name of health.

If we approach our health with the understanding that the human body is an asset, and a natural protector geared to improve life- wouldn’t it make sense to feed it? To treat it as an ally? To take into consideration the natural messages it is sending you on your behalf?

Our bodies give us hunger and fullness cues, which are all too often dismissed in the name of business, weight loss, or even willpower. What if we started to simply listen? Eat when you’re hungry… stop when you’re full. I know that is easier said than done because it is often accompanied by a myriad of emotions, triggers, and societal expectations that are hard to reason through. But imagine a life, where you simply eat when you’re hungry, and stop when you’re full. No shame. No guilt. No getting out of control- you’ll eat again when you’re hungry. No fear. Just simple. If you think about it, it’s quite freeing, kind of peaceful.

I’ll be publishing a series of articles about what I call “Open Eating” over the next while. Open Eating is simply being open to the real, on-your-side, natural desire that you have with your body to collaboratively become healthy. As you begin to trust your body, you will begin to free yourself from the ties of those negative emotions that drive us crazy. You will begin to feel at peace with your food. And really, you’ll begin to enjoy food again. Stay tuned!