Huffpost’s awesome article on ditching the diet

Just wanted to share an article that really hit home for me, and that I hope strikes a chord with you too!

The point of this article is NOT to tell you that dieting doesn’t “work” (i.e. That it doesn’t help you lose weight). It does, at least in the short-term. What it does do however, is bring out the important idea that weight is not what matters for health, or for long-term happiness.

I am also not trying to refute that losing weight or changing one’s body can be a confidence-booster - it is true that social reinforcement (i.e. Nice comments from other people about our physical changes) can make us feel good. But consider the long-term costs of letting external forces dictate our internal functioning. The body doesn’t bow down to external cues, and even when it does for a short period of time, it never ends very well. Think about what happens when we need to pee but can’t find a toilet. Sure, we can hold it in, but eventually, we will need to pee. And what happens if we don’t? We end up with wet pants. 

The same goes for dieting. If we suppress our body’s natural hunger cues for long enough, eventually it will rebel, both physically and mentally. Faced with what feels like starvation, the body adjusts itself accordingly - it slows down the metabolism and down-regulates hormones that regulate appetite and satiety. Not to mention that you’ll also be cranky, tired and HANGRY (quite possibly the worst feeling in the world, in my opinion). 

Another thing that I love about this article is that it speaks to the multifaceted nature of the concept of health. It highlights that it is healthy behaviors, not weight loss or dieting, is what leads to improved health outcomes. These outcomes include physical, mental, emotional and social ones, and are applicable to bodies of ALL shapes and sizes. I cannot emphasize this enough: HEALTH IS NOT A SIZE. 

Finally, I’m a big fan of a point raised in this article - that chasing weight loss reinforces the societal notion that “thinner is better”. Even if it may be hard to integrate all the above information immediately, the idea of personally resisting the urge to diet or to change my body can be a way to actively REBEL against diet culture as a whole lit a flame in the advocate in me, and I hope it lights a fire in you too. 

What did you think about this article? Let me know!!! :)