Coachamatic

Here’s the truth – you don’t fail at diets, they fail you. By restricting certain foods, diets are setting you up for “diet deprivation backlash”, a term from the book, “Intuitive Eating”, by Evelyn Tribole, M.S., R.D., and Elyse Resch, M.S., R.D. The way I describe this phenomenon is that it’s similar to Newton’s law of inertia – for every diet, there is an equal and opposite binge.

For about 95 percent of dieters, the end result of each attempt is weighing more than when they started the diet, and feeling shame, guilt, and wondering why they have no willpower. But willpower has nothing to do with it! Every time you diet, you create a “good” and “bad” food list. Typically your favorite foods end up on the bad list and your good list often includes food you may not even like. This black and white thinking sets you up for thinking about and craving your so-called “bad” foods. And the more you deprive yourself from eating that bad food, the stronger the craving gets. By the time you finally break down and eat it, chances are you will eat a lot more of it than if you had satisfied the craving earlier.

Research backs up this common scenario. For example, researchers studied people trying to gain weight without success. They had these people eating at bedtime, eating a high-fat diet, and other methods thought to put on weight, but none of the subjects gained weight. Then they put these people on a diet. The subjects wound up gaining five pounds after being on a diet because of the diet deprivation backlash. The diet backfired and they overate and gained weight.

One of my favorite studies involves children – parents take note of this! Researchers conducted a study of eight-year-old children. The children were put in a room with several bowls of candy and one bowl of baby carrots. The kids were told they could eat as much as they wanted of any of the bowls, except they could not eat from the bowl of carrots. You can guess what happened - the kids actually ate a greater percentage of carrots than candy just because it had become a forbidden food!

Try to reframe your thinking about good and bad food. Bad foods are foods you don’t like – and therefore you should never have to eat them! Good foods are the foods you enjoy and make you feel satisfied. When you eliminate black and white thinking, you have taken a large step towards overcoming emotional overeating and dieting, and becoming an intuitive eater.

Posted on Oct 18th 06 by Gillian Hood-Gabrielson.

Gillian Hood-Gabrielson is an intuitive eating and fitness coach specializing in overcoming overeating. She has been involved in the health and fitness industry for over 10 years, holds a Master's Degree in Exercise Physiology and is certified by ACSM and Wellcoaches. Having overcome emotional overeating after living with it for 25 years, Gillian has a great understanding of why so many people battle this disorder and has a passion for helping others overcome it so they can live their lives fully. http://www.healthieroutcomes.com

Other posts on Coachamatic by Gillian Hood-Gabrielson.