The word dieting can be distinguished from a permanent change of habit because the name implies a finite time element to the ordeal: "I'm going on a diet!" "Have you tried the 'X' diet?" and "Not today, I'm on a diet" are common expressions that highlight this fact. But whatever the level of commitment you have to losing weight and eating differently, several driving forces might be motivating you.
Dieting for Health
The desire to lose weight remains the most frequent reason people go on diets. In many cases, however, other issues are at work besides wanting to trim excess pounds. For example, the benefits of a vegan or vegetarian diet are well-established, and include less dietary fat, more dietary fiber and a lower risk of certain cancers. Some people discover they have a medical intolerance for certain foods, as with celiac sprue and gluten intolerance or lactose intolerance and a progressive inability to digest dairy products.
Dieting for Appearance
In many cultures, people go on diets even when they are not overweight because they believe they will look better if only they could be a little leaner. According to Inch-Aweigh.com, a website focused on weight and dieting, four out of five U.S. women are dissatisfied with their appearance, and over half are dieting at any given time, as are one in four men. More than one-third of dieters progress to pathological dieting. One-fourth of those will develop an eating disorder--one of a number of conditions that affect between 5 and 10 million women and at least 1 million men in the United States.
Dieting for Athletic Performance
Active people have different nutritional requirements than sedentary people. For instance, professional athletes and other competitive types are pay careful attention to what and when they eat because nourishment cycles are a major factor in how well people perform in their chosen athletic endeavors. Marathon runners, for example, are known to carbohydrate-load before their grueling 26.2-mile race. On the other hand, bodybuilders rely heavily on protein, the primary macronutrient involved in the creation of new muscle tissue.
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