One thing that society does not talk about, and it’s something that the diet industry keeps well under wraps are the negative impacts of dieting. If dieting gave you what the dieting industry says it will give you – weight loss – then we would all go on a diet once, lose weight and that would be that. However, for the majority of people who diet that is not quite the reality. In this article, I am going to uncover the negative impacts of diets all shown by science (but kept super quiet by the diet industry) so you can walk away feeling informed and empowered.
First of all, let’s discuss what diets really are. Diets are defined as any restrictions placed on what you eat often with the aim of achieving a desired outcome. So essentially, a diet is anything that tells what, when and/or how you eat. Some diets are easy to spot such as the Atkins diet (it tell’s you not to eat carbohydrates), the Special K diet (it tell’s you to replace two of your meals with Special K – anyone remember that?!), diet shakes such as SlimFast tell you to only drink milkshakes for a set period of time and the list goes on. Other diets can be more subtle than that such as in the case of diet groups like Weight Watcher’s or Slimming World. They don’t tell you what to eat per se. However they both have elaborate points systems which, beside the fact you feel like you’re back in math class, they dictate exactly what you eat and even your relationship with certain foods that are labelled ‘bad’ as in the case of Syns. They are telling you what and when you can eat – they are diets. An even more subtle form of dieting are single diet rules. These are rules we may have learned from misinformation on healthy eating, previous diets or it may be something a friend or family member has said. An example of this is the no eating after a certain time rule. Anything that tells you what, when and/or how to eat is a diet and is giving you diet rules.
Diets can be so sexy and seductive, hey look if you just restrict the hell out of food you too can look like this airbrushed, photoshopped ridiculously happy woman. The reality? Guilt, shame, booming compliments as your body becomes smaller decreases and deafening silences as your body shape gets bigger. That’s not to mention the impact that disordered eating and preoccupation with food and diets can have on your relationships – family, friends etc. It kind of reminds me of smoking. Remember the days where smoking was the thing. It was cool, it was sexy it was seductive. It also causes cancer. However, there was such an allure and it was everywhere – the pubs, on the plane and even in the hospital! Go way back and it was prescribed in healthcare as a stress release! People may have heard the negative impacts of smoking but it was loudly drowned out by the attractive marketing right down to the peer pressure from friends. Now compare that with dieting.
Read on to find out the top 3 negative impacts of diets and restriction that the weight loss industry does not want you to know about.
- Binge eating and eating disorders
Science has shown that the risk of binge eating and eating disorders actually increases following a diet. Ever heard of the deprivation mindset? Well, Deprivation mindset occurs whenever we make the intentional decision to restrict something. In the case of diets, the trigger for the deprivation mindset is the restriction of food in some way. It can set in before you even ever start the restriction. Do you ever wonder why you have the instant drive to have all your ‘forbidden foods’ in one go before you start the diet on Monday? Yeah, that’s thanks to the deprivation mindset. This encourages a binge-restrict cycle. This is a cycle which leaves you feeling out-of-control, shameful and exhausted. Sound familiar? Was it what was promised to you when you started the health kick?
2. Mental Health
While what you eat can boost your mental health, how you eat can contribute to poor mental health. How does it make you feel to stand on the scales in a group of strangers to get weighed? How do you feel when you are hungry after a day of ‘being good’ and come home and spot that packet of biscuits? Dieting is part of a vicious cycle. The more you diet, the more you obsess about food and your body which can impact on your mental health. Just a reminder here, science has shown that the most common outcome following a diet is weight gain. So in summary, you get lured into a diet with the before and after pictures, the promises of weight loss and happiness and what come out with is an increased risk of an eating disorder, poorer mental health. That doesn’t seem like value for money to me.
3. Diets prioritise weight loss over good health
The diet industry preys on our insecurities and tells us we can only be successful, attractive and happy at a certain weight. First of all – not true. Furthermore, severely restricting whole food groups and calorie intakes can have a very negative impact on your health in of itself. Take for example carbohydrates, many diets encourage you to restrict carbohydrate intakes, however, do they tell you how this can negatively impact on your body? Carbohydrates are the main source of fuel for your brain. No carbs = hanger, poor concentration and dipping energy levels. Carbohydrates are an important source of energy for your muscles and this is not just important for the bodybuilders out there. Nourishing your muscles well ensures you can do the things you enjoy whether that’s going for a walk, styling your hair (because your not going to tell me that doesn’t take a lot of arm work!) and doing day-to-day tasks too. Additionally, looking after your muscles and brain promotes healthy aging. All of these things are part of the basics to have a nourishing life. However, when we go on restrictive diets, we deprive our bodies of essential nutrition. Hmmm I’ll pass!
Want to break free from this cycle of dieting and restriction?
References
Elran-Barak R et al., Dietary Restriction Behaviors and Binge Eating in Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder: Trans-diagnostic Examination of the Restraint Model. Eating Behaviors. 2015;18:192-196.
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