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Discover Guilt-Free Eating: Stop Dieting
By Gillian Hood-Gabrielson
The following is an excerpt from Healthier Outcomes’ special report,
“6 Simple Steps to Guilt-Free Eating” available in its entirety at
www.healthieroutcomes.com:
Over my years of experience and training in fitness, weight loss, and
health, it is no surprise to me that diets have a depressing 5.2%
success rate. And I also know through personal and professional
experience that it is possible for people to eat their favorite foods
without feeling guilty or punishing themselves, and lose and then
maintain their weight.
The weight loss industry has led many to believe that they are failures
for not being able to lose weight and keep it off, but the fact is if
you were successful, the weight loss industry would have no way to
squeeze your hard-earned money out of you. Keep this in mind – there are
thousands of diets, with more appearing each day. Does it make sense
that as the diet and weight loss industry grows, so does the obesity in
this country?
The Challenge
The primary reason diets don’t work is what the American Dietetic
Association has labeled “Diet deprivation backlash” – this comes from
black and white or “good” vs. “bad” thinking surrounding food – we feel
shame when eating “bad” or “unhealthy”. When you go on a diet and
restrict certain foods, usually your favorite ones, you are much more
likely to crave these foods, maybe even dream about them. Does this
sound familiar?
Diet deprivation backlash simply means for every diet there is an equal
and opposite binge. Let’s say you are on a diet and you get a craving
for a cookie. Of course a cookie is forbidden, so you search for
something that is allowed on your diet. As you make your way through
carrots, rice cakes, pretzels, fruit, diet soda and sugarless gum, the
craving does not go away. By the end of the day you give up and eat a
cookie. But by this time, you are out of control and eat 6 cookies
instead! At this point, you have eaten around 1000 calories (including
the cookies) plus regular meals, when if you ate a cookie or two in the
first place you may have consumed 200 calories and been able to focus on
more important things. This scenario is played out in various ways by
everyone who goes on a diet.
The Solution
This backlash is human nature. You are told (even if by yourself) that
you can’t have a certain food. Therefore, it is all you can think about.
Researchers have studied this phenomenon with interesting results.
In a study of a group of eight-year-old children, researchers put the
group in a room with several bowls of candy and one bowl of carrots.
They told the kids they could eat as much as they desired from any of
the bowls, except the bowl of carrots. The amazing thing was that the
kids ate a greater percentage of the carrots than the candy, simply
because they were told NOT to eat them!
If you can refrain from labeling foods “good” or “bad”, you are on your
way to ending the destructive diet and binge cycle. With every diet you
go on, not only will you typically end up gaining more weight, but you
lower your metabolism. By ending the dieting, you can maintain your
weight and eventually lose it as your metabolism increases back to
normal and by following the other guidelines in this report.
This article has been
excerpted from the special report, “6 Simple Steps to Guilt-Free
Eating” available for download at
www.healthieroutcomes.com. Gillian Hood-Gabrielson, MS,
ACSM, is the president of Healthier Outcomes, a nationwide coaching
practice specializing in intuitive eating and fitness coaching. For more
information and to receive our special report, “6 Simple Steps to
Guilt-Free Eating” visit
www.HealthierOutcomes.com. Gillian can be reached at
gillian@HealthierOutcomes.com or 866-650-6464.
© Gillian Hood-Gabrielson, Healthier Outcomes
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