Dieting has become the new and trendy recommendation for weight loss and overall health balance. However, dieting the wrong way can harm your health. Research shows that it can actually have a direct negative impact on your mental health. While choosing to go on a diet can actually help you achieve your primary objective, It can actually complicate your health with secondary effects that might be aversive to you.
What is the definition of dieting?
Dieting is referred to as the deliberate and conscious rationing of food consumption in a bid to lose, increase, or maintain weight and manage a health condition. Most dieting involves a reduction in the consumption of foods with carbs, and calories and a total exclusion of some foods. Professional athletes regulate their diet by consuming more weight-gain foods in a bid to build up their muscle mass and energize them for their sport.
Also, actors and models might choose to adjust their diet to enable them to become fit for a particular role they need to play. Also, underweight individuals or patients with Anorexia Nervosa are placed on weight-gain diets that boost their hunger levels and increase their body mass. Dieting is also recommended by medical and mental health professionals as a solution to eating disorders obesity, and health conditions like diabetes.
Four Examples Of Dieting The Wrong Way
Dieting can give you amazing results. However, when done the wrong way, it can introduce adverse effects.
- Dieting without changing your lifestyle: When you are dieting the wrong way, there is a high possibility that you only stopped eating certain foods but your entire lifestyle still remains the same. Failure to get enough sleep and engage in physical exercise can counter the results of your dieting.
- Dieting once in a while: The practice of dieting requires consistency to be effective. If you turn your diet plan on and off, you can be sure you are dieting the wrong way and you’ll have zero results.
- Changing your whole diet all at once: This refers to a drastic change in your entire diet/meal plan. This radical change can foster faster results but it would also have a direct effect on your mental health which could be negative. It is usually advisable to change your diet slowly so your body and mind can adjust smoothly. But a drastic change will make you unhappy and lead to taking periodic diet breaks, which counters the whole process.
- Dieting alone: Going on a dieting journey alone is not just an example of dieting the wrong way, but an easy example of how to become frustrated and inconsistent in your journey. When going on a diet, it is important to have the support of family and close friends. Most advisable, join a diet club where you will see other people, hear stories, and connect with like people who would encourage you and keep you accountable on your journey.
Dieting The Wrong Way Will Waste Your Time
Abstaining from foods that you love to improve your health and getting no results should be in the Guinness Book of Records as an example of pain. Most foods aren’t necessarily bad but they just need to be eaten properly and in the right proportion, alongside a balance to healthy living. Focusing on food abstinence and calorie wars only would give you minimal results.
The National Institutes of Health confirms this by a report where they revealed that the dieting program of low-calorie intake has a long-term (5 years +) failure rate of 90-95%. There is research that suggests that when a person loses weight in a short duration, it might be harder for them to maintain the weight loss and stay in the same shape. Another research posits that cutting off too many calories can hinder weight loss.
So, what then?
What is the point of embarking on a self-deprivation exercise that is likely to get you nowhere? You’ve answered that.
Here are simple things you can do to improve your health through dieting:
- Increase daily physical activity
- Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night.
- Explore nutrient-filled healthy food options that suit your objectives. A good suggestion is Greek Yogurt. You can make an endless combo of healthy food with this one.
Zayith yogurt is the sweetest way to eat healthy, with each serving of 100g rich with 30g of protein and calcium. It is thick and super versatile to be used in developing several meal ideas.
Just as some psychologists and other medical professionals have confirmed, most programs, diet plans, and pills sold by health coaches for weight loss are all shams and hardly ever result in success. You don’t need to experience this frustration by dieting the wrong way. To improve your overall health, improve your lifestyle and eat healthy nutritious food like our Zayith Greek Yogurt. It is also healthy for babies.
