Fad Diets: The Hidden Agenda to Keep You Fat

Let's be honest, unless you’re a celebrity, a teen, or live in a sunny climate, it usually takes a situation or event to jar us into wanting to "do something about our weight". We stand in the mirror, pinching every "love handle," examining every stretch mark and quietly begin our journey into a negative body image to convince ourselves to get off the couch and get active. So, in a panic to dress to impress for the quickly approaching occasion, we seek the assistance of the latest fad diet. Often a quick 5 to 10 pounds will come off, and then your old eating habits return. Or if you manage stick with it to attain your weight goal, you may still find yourself back at the same weight or higher in a few months. But isn’t the point of dieting to establish a permanent healthy relationship with food? If so, why don’t diets work?

Diets are unpopular. Most diets involve a significant, immediate change in a person's normal eating habits. But habits die hard; we cling to them because they fit in with our lifestyle and the people around us. Not to mention changing something that is second nature to us is very stressful, especially if that change is at odds with the habits of those in our social and family network. And in a society centered on Facebook, Twitter and instant gratification, eating healthy for prolonged success is definitely not the “it” thing to do. So we consult our friends, Bing and the Kardashians for help on how to achieve fast weight loss. Meanwhile, by the time we finally decide on the most popular diet and begin our new regiment, it’s already been “proven” not to work or deemed “to hard to do” by the general public. So not willing to sacrifice our social standing, we give up and return to what’s “popular” in our social circles. This Yo-Yo dieting cycle has unfortunately been present in our society since the early 80’s. So, it would seem the Diet & Fitness Industry would have figured this out by now and tried to ratify the problem. But then again, with the typical American’s desire to be a part of the “it” crowd, why not capitalize on our decision to sacrifice healthy living for an active social calendar.

Diets are depressing. The very word "diet" is depressing to many of us. We immediately think of starving ourselves and giving up foods that are comforting and enjoyable. We picture sitting at party alone, sadly staring at a plate of dry rice cakes and celery, while others are frantically enjoying the food and festivities. This causes us to postpone starting our diet until our busy lives permit successful weight loss. But if we are able to muster enough willpower to start our diet, we often feel encouraged to stop socializing with friends and family to avoid overeating at social events. We begin to feel deprived, alienated and alone. Now, feeling even more unmotivated to obtain a healthy lifestyle, what do we do? Do we continue on our quest to transform into the beautiful swan at the expense of losing who we are or do we eat, drink, be merry and sacrifice the body we’ve always fantasized about? Diets fail because they often neglect to address the emotional aspect of overeating. But why, with all research conducted every year, are we, the public supposed to believe that while the Diet & Fitness industry has been able to identify that over 66% of Americans are overweight, no one can tell us why? Or is the Diet Industry purposely withholding a solution to emotional eating to reserve the right to profit from our self-destructive behavior? No one really knows the answer to that question. However, one has to assume that there is an answer to emotional eating and fad dieting.

Let’s face it, if we’re really going to permanently change our lives, we must first change our mindset. I urge you to forgo the “get into shape ASAP” mindset, and instead embrace the idea of becoming a fat burning furnace for life. For long-term weight loss, many things - not just your habits and level of willpower - will have to change. No more making false promises to ourselves, such as 'when I'm thin I'll never overeat again’ or that ‘I can follow this low carb, low calorie, low sugar diet for the rest of my life, easily.’ The Diet and Fitness Industry seems to constantly lie to us, but we don’t have to lie to ourselves. Isn’t it time to stop this vicious dieting cycle? I’d say so. But know this, if you’re really going to be successful this time, you must find out and accept the reason you started overeating to begin with. I encourage you to find a weight loss program that helps you get into great shape mentally as well as physically. Just think how amazing you’d feel if you could get in shape, look AND feel great!