Why I Don't Believe in Diets

I really hate the word diet. As an online nutritionist, I find many people not using the word correctly. That's where the problem lies!

According to the dictionary diet means "the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats". That's how I use the word. For most people diet means restricting food, either by not eating enough and feeling hungry or trying to stop eating all their favourite foods.

How many times have you been on a diet in your life? How many times have you felt miserable because you were denying yourself? How many times have you felt even worse when you caved in an ate more than you should? How many times have you felt you can never loose the weight you want to?

We know diets don't work. It's estimated that 80 - 95% of dieters put the weight back on.

What we need isn't another diet, we need long term strategies to eat in a way that works for us as individuals and allows us to enjoy what we eat and keeps us healthy.

This last twelve months I've been doing a lot of research about weight loss and healthy eating as part of a nutrition course I've been taking. I've also being playing around with what works for me and experimenting with plant based diets, raw food, intermittent fasting and detox diets.

This is what I've found. Everyone is unique, that's what so great about us all. We have different lifestyles, likes, dislikes and personal beliefs.

The basics of a healthy diet are the same for us all, like drinking enough water, not having high sugar foods at every meal. BUT we can adjust lots of things to suit who we are.

AND changes we think are impossible are totally doable with the right plans, habit formation and support.

Personally, I now stick to plant based as much as possible. do 16:8 intermittent fasting a few times a week and now I'm back from holiday I'm going to try my first juice diet to drop the three pounds I put on. I'll let you know how I got on in my next blog post.

I get that it can be a nightmare for most people with all the conflicting advice out there. I get that it can feel impossible to make changes. I get that you probably feel that you've tried too many times and are still back at square one. What I'd like to say to you, is if I can do it, so can you. I'm not special in any way, I have a busy life, just like you, I have days when I get it wrong. I've found I needed two things to create a healthy eating pattern. First, I needed to be clear about what healthy eating means for me. Second, I needed to learn how to create the habits to start putting that plan in place (spoiler alert - this was way easier that I thought it would be!).

If you'd like me to help you create a healthy eating plan, rather than a restrictive diet, and show you the steps to make it happen, then book an online consultation. I'd love to see you get to your happy weight, enjoying what you eat and feeling in control of your "diet".