Dieting shouldn't be depressing. Curbing your calorie count is essential for weight loss, but highly restrictive diets are rarely successful in the long run. The Mayo Clinic website points out that you can bounce from one gimmicky diet to another, only to regain what you've lost. If dieting is making you miserable, you're doing it all wrong. Talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian about how you can lose weight and enjoy your food at the same time.
Diet Dilemma
Restrictive diets have been around for centuries -- in the early 1000s, William the Conqueror went on a booze-only diet. Modern fad diets rely on a magic fat-burning food or a combination of foods that purport to make weight loss easier. There's one restrictive fad diet that consists of bananas and skim milk. Another has you eat nothing but cabbage soup, and still another consists of cayenne pepper-spiked lemonade. These diets all work the same way -- by severely reducing the number of calories you consume. They won't just make you cranky; some are dangerous to your health. If you lose more than 3 lbs. a week, you're at risk of developing gallstones. Restrictive diets that limit you to 800 or fewer calories a day make you vulnerable to serious heart problems and even death.
Boredom with what you're allowed to eat and the ensuing feelings of deprivation are enough to turn you off to the diet -- and when you do, you'll gain back all the weight you lost. New York Times Magazine writer Julian Dibbell concluded his own experiment with a highly restrictive diet with an early-morning visit to a fast-food joint for a large cheeseburger and a chocolate shake.
Calorie Restriction
In October 2006, Dibbell wrote about his experience on the Calorie Restriction Diet, as well as his interactions with members of the Calorie Restriction Society, a group of dieters who take dieting to extreme. The Calorie Restriction Diet holds that you should aspire to the same weight you were in your late teens or early 20s but not merely for purposes of weight loss. Proponents of the diet, thin people, are more likely to live longer and are less likely to develop heart disease, diabetes and cancer. After two months on the CR Diet -- also known as the Longevity Diet -- Dibbell arrived at the conclusion that feeling hungry all the time wasn't worth the results. "Starve yourself long enough and even a tofu-coffee-macadamia-nut-and-flaxseed smoothie becomes ambrosia," Dibbell wrote.
"Slate" magazine health writer Kate Taylor noted that because there's no evidence to support the CR Diet's longevity claim, "this makes it hard to distinguish between calorie restriction ... and anorexia on a purely physical level."
In reviewing the book "The Longevity Diet," American Dietetic Association dietitian Malena Perdomo pointed out that although the diet pushes nutritious foods while assiduously avoiding empty calories such as those you get from sugar, there's a thin line between such a restricted diet and an eating disorder like anorexia. The ADA notes that such a restrictive diet probably isn't feasible for most people -- and because there's no research to prove it makes people live longer, staying hungry all the time is a sacrifice you don't need to make.
Diet Insight
"Cut your calories" isn't what you want to hear if you enjoy your meals. But if you want to lose weight, consuming fewer calories than you can burn is your best bet. So is regular exercise. According to the American Council on Exercise, of the people who signed up for the National Weight Control Registry, a study sponsored by two physicians from Brown Medical School and the University of Colorado, 89 percent lost weight and kept it off through a combination of diet and exercise. Ten percent lost weight by trimming calories from their diet, and only 1 percent lost weight through exercise alone. The good news it that you don't need a restrictive diet to lose weight -- all you have to do is create a 500-calorie daily deficit to lose 1 lb. a week. Trim 250 calories from your diet and burn the other 250 calories by taking a walk or going for a swim or a bike ride. Health professionals recommend slow, steady weight loss at a rate of no more than 2 lbs. per week.
Happier Dieting
There's no magic food or group of foods that make you burn fat. If you're serious about slimming down, avoid diets that restrict the types of foods you can eat, as well as those that keep you on the brink of starvation. Your reduced-calorie diet should include a variety of foods -- vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean proteins, low-fat dairy foods, nuts and seeds. According to the Mayo Clinic website, you should even be able to eat your favorite dessert or other indulgence on occasion. Your diet should be one that you'd be happy to follow for the rest of your life, not just for a couple of weeks or a few months. If you're dieting and experience feelings of depression, isolation, shame and fear of eating, please talk to your doctor.
References
- American Dietetic Association; "The Longevity Diet"; Malena Perdomo; February 2006
- New York Times Magazine; The Fast Supper; J. Dibbell; October 2006
- "Time Magazine"; A Brief History of Fad Diets; Dan Fletcher; December 2009
- Weight-control Information Network: Weight Loss and Nutrition Myths
- MayoClinic.com; Weight Loss: Choosing a Diet That's Right for You; June 2010
- CalorieRestriction.Org: FAQs
