Do you suffer from 'Monday-itis'?
It's Monday morning, you take a look in the mirror and you feel fat and frumpy. You decide 'that's it, today I am going on a diet!' and you mentally make a note of all the foods you will stop eating from today; all the foods that you can't have, shouldn't have and won't have because this time you are really serious.
You start the day off with a healthy breakfast, you have your piece of fruit for morning tea and even make it to the salad bar for lunch; by which time you are obsessing about the chocolate bars sitting right next to the cash register (the chocolate bars that you CAN'T HAVE!). You take your salad back to your desk feeling deprived and unhappy that you are missing out on that chocolate bar, instead feeling like a rabbit nibbling on your salad.
At some stage between now and the next 48 hours you start to feel depressed and/or angry that you are missing out; you are getting snappy and grumpy - what do you do? You eat, of course you eat. But you don't just eat one biscuit, you eat the whole packet or you go and buy that chocolate bar and the cream bun which just happens to be strategically placed next to it...and then...you feel really guilty, bad, naughty – you feel like a loser with no willpower; you eat more, you binge and say “stuff it”, I'll start again on Monday.
The diet addiction
Does this sound like you or somebody you know? This is addictive behaviour and it is this diet addiction that I strongly believe is a huge contributor to the growing incidences of obesity in Australia.
People who don't get results from diets do not fail; it is usually the diets that fail to deliver results.
The majority of diets are based on some form of calorie restriction and deprivation (and in some cases even starvation!) and whilst all of these will initially induce weight loss, the weight you are losing is not all fat! What you will actually be losing is mostly water and muscle tissue. When you lose muscle tissue your metabolic rate slows down and you will end up with a slower fat burning engine; this means as soon as you stop your diet you will usually regain the weight you have just lost...plus interest! In other words, because you have a slower metabolism, you will put on more weight than you lost.
The science behind dieting is quite alarming! The enzymes that are responsible for lipogenesis (storing of fat in the fat cell) increase in concentration during dieting (particularly in women) as a protective response for the preservation of life. This means once you end your diet and go back to normal eating you have more enzymes capable of storing more fat into your fat cells – meaning you will get fatter.
A healthy eating plan
You will be far better off sticking to a healthy long term eating plan that concentrates on the things you can eat and allows all foods in moderation – life is too short not to enjoy your favourite gastro-orgasmic food.
You can obtain further information on healthy eating or request a copy of the monthly RESULTS newsletter, which is filled with great motivational tips, yummy recipes and lots of interesting articles, from whatwomenwant [at] optusnet [dot] com [dot] au.
