new year's resolution diet

Planning to start that New Year's Resolution Diet?

A fresh, new year always seems like the perfect time to refocus on those goals and begin taking actions for positive change. Although there is nothing wrong with making plans to become healthier, this may not be the best time to be on a diet. In fact, there may never be a good time to be on a diet. This doesn't mean we shouldn't make improvements to our eating habits, but lets look a little closer at the issue of dieting. Maybe you'll change your thinking.

Dieting Dangers

Number 1, the first three letters of diet spell die. Instantly you have a negative connotation. Number 2, the brain likes novelty, but only for a few weeks. So you come across the latest diet and decide to give it a try, but two or three weeks later the novelty has worn off. Number 3, most diet programs make gross assumptions that the body is infinitely malleable without factoring in genetic issues. As well, they assume that amazing rewards await the ideal.

Many programs suggest that success, happiness and even fame and fortune will come to you if you follow their program. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Finally, diets are unbelievably insulting to human nature. Who can possibly limit themselves to a narrow selection of food or eat only pre-packaged food for the rest of their lives? This isn't even respectful of your body's fundamental need for a variety of different foods. Who wants to be weighing and measuring food on an ongoing basis? Who really wants to devote so much time and money to following a diet anyway?

I'm not suggesting you just live it up and eat and drink whatever you want, but you must always remember, you are the boss of your own body. You can choose to make good choices or less healthy choices. 

There are also more technical reasons for why diets don't work. Restricting calories, fasting and skipping meals and snacks can lower metabolism, causing the body to burn fat less efficiently. Instead, the body becomes highly effective at storing fat. If you are undernourished with too few calories, your brain will be starving and you will get messages to raid the fridge or eat big portions of sweet or salty food. Even though it may seem like you are losing weight by starving, you are most likely getting dehydrated and simply losing water weight. Many of the low-carbohydrate/high-protein approaches produce this effect. Weight is lost as water in the beginning. Over time, energy goes down and percent fat and blood cholesterol levels may go up from the high amount of protein and fat in these programs.

The Bottom Line
When you cut out whole food groups without taking the necessary steps to recover the nutrients elsewhere, you can risk deficiencies that can leave you feeling tired, hungry and even depressed. When you follow a program that is too structured, you lose sight of the fact that you are the boss of your own body. This can have a negative effect on your sense of self-worth. And this is the one aspect of your health you can't afford to mess with. There are so many other things that can go wrong and eat away at your self-worth. Why impose destructive behaviors or thoughts on yourself?