Coachamatic

Rejecting dieting is a growing trend these days, finally! You may have heard that diets don’t work, and several experts are making their voices heard that dieting is actually one of the best ways to gain weight! Hopefully you have jumped on the non-dieting bandwagon. But if you have, are you sure you have escaped the “diet mentality”?

There are subtle, inconspicuous things that many of us do that may not look like diet behavior, but they are. What I call “diets in disguise” are out there, waiting for you to take the bait. Just the intention to “eat healthy” can be considered a diet because there will inevitably be restrictions on certain foods that you don’t consider healthy. Here are some other diets in disguise to consider:

• Eating or not eating at specific times each day. Do you eat lunch because it’s “lunch time”, instead of because you are hungry? Do you stop eating after 7pm because you have heard it leads to weight gain? If you’re physically hungry at bed time, it’s okay to eat, your body needs the food!

• Eating every 3 hours whether you are hungry or not (as some diets suggest you do). If you aren’t hungry, don’t eat, your body doesn’t need it and it will just go to your fat stores.

• Not eating because of being “bad” earlier that day or the day before. This can also take the form of overexercising. Judging how you ate in terms of good or bad is part of the diet mentality and can often lead to guilt and shame, and self-punishment. This leads to negative feelings about exercise and anxiety about food.

• “Cutting back” on food at anytime, but especially for a special event or when you feel “fat”. Eating less calories than you need is always going to be a form of dieting, regardless of the reason. This can get you right back into the diet mentality and the yo-yo dieting cycle.

• Using coffee or diet soda to replace food when hungry. If you’re physically hungry, your body wants food. Coffee or diet soda may temporarily fill you up, but eventually you will feel hunger again, and by this time you may be ravenous. This is a dangerous place to be – it is very easy to overeat when you get overly hungry.

• Eating fat-free or low-calorie foods to avoid eating more calories. If you have a lower-calorie or lower-fat alternative to a particular food that you enjoy just as much as the regular version, then feel free to eat it. But if you are sacrificing taste for less calories, you are dieting and not allowing yourself to get full satisfaction from what you eat. Sounds like a diet to me!

Any of these behaviors take you away from listening to your body about when and what to eat, and back to external forces. It is a small step back to deprivation, backlash, and the endless destructive diet cycle so watch out for those diets in disguise!

Posted on Mar 23rd 07 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.