Are you a serial yo-yo dieter? Are you riding the weightloss / weight gain rollercoaster? Or perhaps it is your moods that fly high and then plummet downwards. Have you ever wondered why?
If we ask a different question, you might find the answer: Is your diet focussed on depriving or thriving?
I used to be a depriver; with every new piece of information or dietary theory I read about from Paleo, to vegan to Atkins, I would add in a new food group or product to deprive myself of. When it came to a food choice, I would keep asking myself ‘can I have that’? And I would scroll through the list of ‘no go’s’ in my head and I would answer ‘no, I can’t have that – it has gluten / sugar / fat / carbohydrate / animal product / wheat / diary / soy / egg / red meat…..’ The list was endless and it was exhausting.
I was also a foodie. I loved food! but began to fear meal times or skip them altogether. I would dread being asked out for dinner because I would have to eat or find something that wasn’t on my ‘list’.
And then the cravings! The more I wasn’t allowed something, the more I deprived myself of chocolate, coffee, burgers… I would lie awake craving it or sometimes say ‘F*ck it’ and then binge eat.
The guilt. The moodswings. The belly fat. The break outs. Up and down and in and out. I was a mess. And then a new diet or a new theory would present itself, and I would try that and off I went again on that merry go round…. for 20 years.
It was a huge relief, when training to become a Health Coach, I was educated on the majority of the top dietary theories and best selling diet books. Both how they worked and the less publicised side effects along with the science of what was happening to my body. Little did I know by depriving myself of so many food groups, macro and micronutrients, I was depriving myself of vital fuel; my malnourishment explained my exhaustion and my deprivation explained the stress on my body and it’s reaction to holding on and storing fat!
I have said before in previous blogs, weightloss is all in the mind. And I believe that ‘dieting’ really doesn’t help your mindset or your weight goals, particularly those that focus on cutting out foods or food groups.
The nutritional diet I now follow and support my clients to follow is one that focuses on foods that fuel your body for energy and long life. Eating more greens, more plants, more whole foods – proteins and grains, more good fats and more water.
So another question for you – Can you see how one diet is about lack and avoidance and one is about abundance and engagement? One positive, one negative. Could you now see how diets focussed on deprivation are so hard to sustain? And why we say ‘blow it’ – I am going to have that! And we ‘fall off the wagon’…
Why not stay positive, stay on the wagon and focus on all that’s good….. Rather than avoiding foods or in some cases, food altogether, remind yourself that you do need to eat to survive and that you actually do need rather a lot to do that. Turn your attention to what is good for you and what will give you energy. Turn your attention to eating and thriving, not dieting and depriving.
If you are still stuck, yo-yo-ing or falling off the wagon – why not ask me for a copies of a healthy food guide and meal planner including recipes. Or ask me about my ‘Drop in Health Reviews’ and let’s get you started on eating well and thriving, rather than living a life of deprivation, blood sugar crashes and disappointment.
Contact me here: Contact Ali now!
