IF DIETING WORKED, WE’D ALL BE CHEETAH THIN - Cathy A. Shea, M.S., NASM
It sounds simple- “achieving a healthy weight requires something other than dieting”. It requires thinking in a way that can change your body. It all starts in your brain. Americans obsess over dieting. Unfortunately, most of the weight that is lost will be regained-plus a few more. It is very difficult to help people understand what works. This is because “what works” has very little to do with food. Within our central nervous system lie parasympathetic and sympathetic divisions. To keep it simple, parasympathetic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system are analogous to the brake and accelerator on a car, with parasympathetic being the “brake” and sympathetic being the “accelerator”. The two are constantly opposing each other. This opposition is considered complementary not antagonistic. In everyday life, these two systems are toggling: when one is on the other is off. The sympathetic system activates mechanisms in your brain that will fend off starvation while the parasympathetic system will kick in when you feel relieved from deprivation. In repeat dieting, your brain is convinced that it is being deprived (sympathetic). This makes you feel very anxious and possibly obsessed with the thought of food. You begin the cycle of eating, starving, and then binging. Your body becomes efficient at gaining weight and floods the body with stress hormones that will perpetuate the craving for more calories. You are wondering how this can be prevented, right? You must interrupt this war between the “brake” and the “accelerator” and make it a “positive relationship”. This means no more dieting. You need to “freeze” if you feel you have overeaten and still want more. Take a break, walk away, or make someone take the food away. Now- set up a reward system. Try to plan a time, day, or week that you will reward yourself for skipping desert. The reward has to be non-food related. And mostly, renew your commitment to being healthy. When a person is relaxed they will eat less. Dieting does not work. You have to create a food lifestyle within your overall lifestyle.
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