7 Reasons You Shouldn’t Diet in 2020

Happy New Year! January is National Dieting Month. No surprise there, right? Nearly 45 million Americans will go on a diet. Many of them will start on January 1st. Nearly 80% of those who try, will fail by the second week of February. That’s pretty sobering. But what if I told you that you’d be better off NOT resolving to diet in 2020? In fact, resolving to never diet again might be the best resolution you ever make.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.”

~ Albert Einstein

Reason #7: Diets don’t change your genetics

Let’s get brutally honest. You’re not giving up french fries, donuts, cheesecake, pizza, pasta, bread, and wine — everything that makes life worth living — for your your health. More than likely you are going on an extreme diet for aesthetic purposes – to make your body look different. But the idea we have about how we should look has been shaped by unrealistic images that we’ve been exposed to through TV, magazines, and now social media.

The average fashion model is a genetic anomaly at 5’ 10” and weighs about 120 lbs. The average American woman is 5’ 4” and weighs 140 lbs. No diet will ever change your bone structure, height, or the genetic factors controlling your weight. If you must use ultra-strict dieting to force your body down to a specific number or size, is that really safe, desirable, sustainable, or healthy?

Anti-Diet Wisdom: We should all strive to improve the health of our bodies so that we can live long, productive, and happy lives. But getting healthy doesn’t require ultra-strict adherence to a diet. And as I mention in this Anti-Diet post, going on crazy diets with consequent yo-yo weight fluctuations may be worse for your health than just staying at a heavier weight.

Get really honest with yourself about your body and what’s achievable through a healthy and realistic plan of diet and exercise. When you accept what nature gave you and release those unrealistic expectations, you can free yourself from ultra-restrictive diets and the feeling of failure that ultimately comes with them. This will allow you the emotional space to make better choices because you want to honor your body…not punish it.

REALITY CHECK: Only about 5% of women have the genetic makeup to achieve the kind of body pictured above.

Reason #6: Diets may actually encourage mindless overeating

Many diets encourage you to eat as many “free foods” as you like. Because you feel deprived and stressed over not being able to have what you really want, you may mindlessly eat these “free foods” regardless of how hungry or full you are. Usually the “free foods” are things like rice cakes, kale, and celery…but still, eating those things to stave off boredom or eating them just because you can, isn’t healthy behavior.

Anti-Diet Wisdom: If your diet doesn’t teach you how to eat, it’s worthless. That’s why I love the practices of mindful and intuitive eating! I learned that what you eat is important, but how you eat, and the way you feel about the food you are eating, are just as important!

If you are interested in an introductory course on mindful and intuitive eating, check out Food Freedom — the self-guided online course that will help you get more in tune with your body!

If you find yourself mindlessly munching on “air food” to stave off hunger and boredom…or just because you’re “allowed”…your diet is doing more harm than good.

Reason #5: Diets cause eating disorders and other unhealthy behaviors

Research shows that extreme diets are one of the fastest ways to develop an eating disorder and/or dysfunctional habits with food, body, and exercise. This is true for adults and children. So if you’ve been dieting and suddenly find yourself alone in a closet with a large pizza and two-dozen donuts, you’ve got a problem…one that is most likely caused by self-induced starvation or having too many “food rules”. If you find yourself exhibiting the following types of behavior, it may be time to re-evaluate the “health” of your diet:

You don’t allow yourself to eat if you haven’t exercised
You feel ashamed when you overeat or eat something that’s not on your diet plan
You feel compelled to exercise excessively
You obsess over your body
You avoid social situations involving food
You find yourself binge eating forbidden foods
You attempt to fast when you perceive that you’ve overeaten
You feel compelled to weigh yourself a lot, and the number almost always ruins your day
You obsess over food

Anti-Diet Wisdom: Self-awareness and compassion are critical. If your plan of eating/exercise makes you feel worse about yourself, or causes obsessive thoughts and behaviors, you may be on the verge of developing an eating disorder. I highly advise that you seek counseling if you feel trapped by dieting!

Feeling out of control around food is a terrible way to live!

Reason #4: Diets take away your autonomy to decide what’s best for your body

A diet tells you when, what, and how much to eat without regard for your individual likes, dislikes, sensitivities, and hunger/fullness cues. A diet basically tells you that you can’t be trusted around food — that if you allow yourself to eat what you want when you are hungry, you will turn into an uncontrollable animal who never stops eating.

While there may be some comfort in a regimented plan, the unfortunate result is that a diet causes you to ignore the body’s internal wisdom. Over time, the voice that tells you when you’re hungry or full fades away. And since every diet has a different strategy for what/when/how to eat, pretty soon you’re so confused that eating becomes a stressful event.

Anti-Diet Wisdom: Pay attention. Slow down. Eat when you are hungry. Stop when you are comfortably full. Pay attention to how foods make you feel. Trust yourself.

You can re-learn your internal wisdom! Try my introductory course on mindful and intuitive eating: Food Freedom — the self-guided online course that will help you get more in tune with your body!

Good nutrition and reaching a healthy weight is far less complicated than our current diet culture makes it seem. Learn to trust yourself instead of the diet dogma.

Reason #3: Extreme diets don’t promote true lifestyle change

Have you ever noticed that there’s a crazy number of recipes for things like “Paleo pancakes” and “Keto cupcakes”? I thought the whole point of going on these diets was to eat real and unprocessed foods. The whole point in doing any extreme “lifestyle” diet is to learn to give up cupcakes, pancakes, pizza, donuts, bread…and pretty much everything else that makes life worth living.

My point: if you go on a diet only to desperately try and find replacements for all the foods you really want to eat…are you truly making a lifestyle change? Or would it just be better to eat the real thing and move on so you can stop focusing so much on trying to replace what’s forbidden?

Anti-Diet Wisdom: I do believe that ancestral-type diets are likely best for us. This could include certain variations of Paleo, keto, Mediterranean, and the Carnivore diet. But if you try one of these diets and immediately find yourself looking for “Paleo fudge” recipes, you’re missing the point. Our ancestors didn’t eat “Paleo fudge” or any other kind of fudge for that matter. Nor did they eat “keto cupcakes” or Atkins bars. Depending on their location on the globe, our ancestors ate mostly plants in their raw form, and meat. Our current reality is that we are surrounded by food. Lots of it. All the time. Our biological wiring to eat when food is available is strong, so our environment tends to work against us.

An extremely restrictive diet isn’t necessary for health, and is usually counterproductive in the long term. Health (and a healthy weight) comes down to drinking more water, moving your body every day, getting enough sleep, eating more fruits and vegetables, and fewer processed foods. You can do that without creating ultra-strict rules that make you miserable.

Can I have your recipe for Paleo cream puffs?

Reason #2: Diets create a failure mindset

What happens when you fail at something over and over again? You give up, right? What’s worse is the guilt and shame you feel over having failed yet again can cause you to believe that there’s something wrong with you. Suddenly you lack willpower. You can’t trust yourself to make basic decisions about your body and health. You second-guess everything you do.

Strict diets are difficult to maintain and easy to fail at. And every time you slip or fail, you lose trust in yourself. Your confidence fades away. The ripple effect of failing at diet after diet can affect every aspect of your life, including your work and family.

Anti-Diet Wisdom: Mindset is critical for making lifestyle changes that stick. The most important mindset shift you can make when it comes to dieting: I didn’t fail the diet, the diet failed me. If you can’t stick to a diet, the problem is with the diet! It simply doesn’t work for your body or your life! This mindset will allow you to course-correct, try something different, and move forward with your health goals.

Failure is a part of success and simply means that something you tried didn’t work for you. This simple mindset shift can help you move forward.

Reason #1: Diets predict future weight gain

I frequently tell people that diets don’t work. Actually diets do work…as long as you can commit to stay on them forever and ever and ever and ever. But no one does. In fact, dieting is actually correlated with having a higher weight. What?!? As if a near-100% failure rate wasn’t bad enough!

A 2007 study showed that those who participated in formal weight loss programs were more likely to gain weight over a two-year period! Similar studies in children and teens have shown that kids who diet or restrict food wind up heavier as adults. Want to learn more about how diets make us fatter? Check out this post.

Anti-Diet Wisdom: You’re better off not dieting at all. Yes, you may achieve the body of your dreams for a short period of time, but is it worth it if you end up heavier than ever in the long run? Getting healthy and maintaining a normal weight isn’t hard or complicated. I always tell clients: if it feels like a constant struggle, it won’t last and it’s probably not realistic. Stop dieting, learn to accept your unique genetics, work on mindset, and get to know and trust your body!

If I told you that dieting would cause you to be heavier in the future, would you still do it?

Happy New Year! Don’t diet in 2020!

Happy New Year and I hope you’ve enjoyed this anti-diet wisdom, and that it has convinced you not to diet in 2020. Focus on health, self-awareness, and caring for your body and being. That will take you much farther than any diet!

Blog Author: Kelly Bailey, IIN certified holistic nutrition coach, and NPTI certified personal trainer

Learn more about the author here.

7 Reasons You Shouldn't Diet in 2020