16 August 2010

Diet Atheist

Confession: I'm a diet atheist. I don't believe in them, or any one diet in paticular, anyway. Sure, some might work for some people for a little time, but for the most part, I don't feel diets are sustainable because they are based on restriction and most people, at least Americans, are not "into" that type of thing.

Another confession, I swiped the term diet atheist from Jennette Fulda. I just finished reading her amazingly funny and insightful book entitled Half-Assed. What a smart, witty lady she is. I wish she were my friend IRL! I love the way she thinks.

Among a myriad of other astute observations, Jenette writes that "if the diet industry knew how to successfully help people maintain long-term weight loss, it would have put itself out of business decades ago." Good point, Pasta Queen!

I refuse to diet. Instead, I will continue to adopt what we all know is a healthier lifestyle - eating less and moving more. I will continue to work towards not allowing my emotions to dictate when or what I eat. I will use my knowledge and body cues instead to make those decisions. I can do this. So can you.

7 comments:

  1. Lanie, this is a point that is being driven home to me more and more as I read these wonderful blogs. Many of us have tried every "plan" out there, yet we still continue to battle this monster. I so totally agree with you and Jenette: The weight-loss industry would go broke if it weren't for those of us who spend our money on their products. Learning how to eat regular food sensibly, and incorporating movement and exercise into our daily routine, is the key to healthy eating and weight loss. I have worked in health care for almost 35 years, and my cynical side says the same thing is true for some chronic illnesses. There just HAS to be a cure "out there"... but just look at the pharmaceuticals and entire specialties of medicine that would no longer be needed. Same with the weight-loss industry.

    I'm working really hard to practice what I preach. Right now I'm not using any kind of commercial plan. I do drink protein drinks for breakfast and lunch, but I happen to enjoy the taste, and not having to prepare those two meals. The rest of the day I'm on my own. Fortunately, the protein and fiber in the drinks helps me to stay full for 4-6 hours, so that's a definite plus. Well, I didn't mean for my comment to turn into an entire blog post. ha! Have a great Monday! CathyB

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  2. Yes totally! I have been watching carbs but I am going to change it up and watch calories too.

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  3. I'm a diet atheist as well! Dieting only works for so long, because practically every diet is not sustainable in terms of what they're asking you to eat, and moreover, in supplying enough calories to keep burning off the fat!

    Eating clean and healthy on a regular basis is the way to go! It makes so much more sense overall :D

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  4. Two n's in Jennette.

    Lovingly posted by her Aunt Annette

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  5. (Typo corrected) Thanks Annette!

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  6. Oh I wish I had seen this post before I put mine out there today! I talked about the word "diet." And I have never heard "diet athiest" before.

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  7. While you are right we can usually make healthier choices in what we eat and how much we move our bodies...and those things are very important to our health, our weight loss success starts with our mind, not our mouth. I successfully dropped 125lbs by focusing on my mindset for weight loss not counting calories. It is important that we "recovering dieters" learn to love ourselves and our bodies and really know that we deserve health. Dieting has trained us to accept deprivation and to beat ourselves up when we "fail"--which we are destined to because a diet is something we can only keep up short term.

    Best wishes on your journey to improved health and weight loss--and to the energetic, healthy, slender body you deserve!

    BTW, my book "Refuse to Diet: Weight Loss Success Starts with Your Mind...Not Your Mouth" offers some of the unique tools I used and developed to retrain my thinking from loathing myself to loving myself to health.

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