New Year, “New You” Series: An Alternative to Diets
As the New Year rolls in, it brings familiar phrases and trends, notably around resolutions and new health routines. Maybe we’ve been down this path before - the path of dieting, the pursuit of thinness, and an urgency for change. Maybe it hasn’t “stuck” or worked out like we had hoped. Maybe we will take another try at it and be “better” than we were the first time (or second or third). Despite our best intentions, these efforts often fail to stick. However, this experience raises a question: What if the traditional methods of dieting are the real culprits of our struggles rather than a supposed lack of “willpower” or “self-control?” Could it be that these approaches are misaligned with our body's actual needs? In this series, we explore tapping into our body’s wisdom for a true “New Year, New You” experience.
Exploring a New Philosophy
This New Year, we invite you to join us in a new philosophy - one that prioritizes flexibility and support over strictness and control. Let’s consider the following: How has the long-held diet mentality really been serving you? Are you prepared to discover what genuinely feels right for you physically, mentally, and emotionally? Are you hoping to truly find a “New You” in this New Year? If so, read on.
Non-Diet Approach: A Sustainable Path
The Reality of Dieting: Statistics show that 95% of diets result in weight regain, oftentimes leaving individuals at a higher weight than before. This fact highlights a critical flaw: diets fail way more often than they succeed. Nutrition is very individualized, and a generic approach rarely delivers lasting results. More concerning is the cycle of weight fluctuation associated with dieting (read more on weight cycling), which poses significant health risks.
Benefits of Intuitive Eating: Research supports that a non-diet approach, such as Intuitive Eating (read more on intuitive eating), greatly benefits the health and well-being of the individuals who practice it. Intuitive Eating is linked to improved cholesterol levels, reduced overall stress, improved metabolism, reduced rates of disordered eating, improved body image and self-esteem, and higher levels of overall contentment, satisfaction, and emotional functioning.
Intuitive Eating encourages us to shed the unhelpful patterns ingrained by diet culture. It guides us to release the “all-or-nothing” perspective and reject the idea that certain foods are “good” and others are “bad.” These may be mentalities that we have held for years and years, so the idea of introducing something different may feel scary and overwhelming. But consider this: these were all ideas that were learned. Somewhere along the way, from birth to now, we absorbed these thoughts, ideas, and teachings around food and dieting. For everything we learn, we can surely unlearn.
“Intelligence is what we learn. Wisdom is what we unlearn.”
― J.R. Rim
The process of unlearning paves the way for us to embrace wisdom — the wisdom that comes from the harmony of body and mind working collaboratively. Healing our relationship with food can profoundly impact our well-being, our life experience, and our relationships — with others and with ourselves.
How to Begin Healing Your Relationship with Food
Building Trust with Your Body: The cornerstone of a non-diet approach is to trust your body again. Often, external sources dictate our eating habits - what, when, and how much to eat. This reliance on external 'brain knowledge' rather than internal 'body knowledge' can lead to a disconnection from our own bodies. To restore this connection, we must recognize our body as a crucial compass and intuitive guide. When we can work with our body instead of against it, we truly find a deep-seated trust in ourselves. It’s also important to note that the points to follow this paragraph may feel more challenging if we aren’t attempting to rebuild this trust, as they require a sense of confidence in our body’s abilities.
Tuning into Your Body Cues: As previously noted, your body now serves as the guide for the “what, when, and how” of eating, roles traditionally influenced by external sources. Exploring hunger cues, fullness cues, and cravings (for taste, textures, or temperatures) becomes essential data to collect. Actively honoring your body’s requests will provide you with so much more satisfaction and contentment with food, and it is necessary to feel peace with food. This shift may feel daunting at first, which brings us to our next couple of points.
Releasing Food-Related Morality: Adopting a “good vs. bad” narrative in our food choices saturates them with moral value, often leading to guilt or shame. We mistakenly equate our food choices with our worth as humans. Letting go of this mindset and adopting more neutrality around food can establish significantly more peace and permission. Think of it this way: if food choices could be categorized that simply, I wonder how dietitians would find work…
Practicing Unconditional Permission: This concept revolves around removing restrictions on foods that might’ve been “off limits” or “conditional.” Imposing rules or restrictions around food often triggers negative behaviors and patterns. One of these patterns is what we often refer to as the “restrict-binge cycle.” In this cycle, restriction of certain foods or overall intake leads to heightened cravings due to the deprivation. These cravings intensify until we eventually succumb and have the restricted item. But because we experienced prolonged deprivation, it’s our body’s natural response to want more (Ahem, a response that resulted from thousands and thousands of years of evolution… I’m not confident any amount of willpower will beat that). This often brings about “overeating” or “bingeing”, followed by feelings of guilt and shame. This can lead to a sense of loss of control, which then cycles back to further restriction to fix the problem. But folks, the restriction is the problem. When we create permission with all foods (yes, even those we feel out of control with), we allow our body to naturally determine its desires and appropriate quantities, leading to a more balanced and satisfying food experience.
Finding the Satisfaction Factor: Identifying the Satisfaction Factor is equally as crucial in the non-diet approach as recognizing the nutritional aspect of food. The key here is that we aim to select foods that nourish not just our bodies but also our emotional and mental well-being. Experiencing food satisfaction often leads to a more profound sense of contentment and fullness, lasting longer than if satisfaction were absent. We often overlook this aspect in food, largely because we aren’t taught to (thanks, diet culture), but it can prevent the trips wandering back to the kitchen searching for something more of what our meal lacked.
As we welcome another year, we invite you to reflect on past approaches to health and well-being and consider what it might be like to change up the patterns. What has your body taught you about dieting and restrictive approaches? What would it be like to invite your body to the conversation of its well-being? Your new year can indeed be about a "New You" — one that's in harmony with your body, mind, and soul.
At CV Wellbeing, we are committed to guiding you through your Intuitive Eating journey. We offer resources, support, and expertise to help you find balance, peace, and satisfaction in your eating habits and overall well-being. Take the first step today by requesting an appointment – your journey to a life spent living, not restricting, awaits.