Everywhere we turn we’re bombarded with diets aren’t we? Paleo, low carb high fat, vegan, Cambridge diet, the list is endless but do diets work?
Most people over the age of 25 have tried at least one diet in their life. And if your main aim is the loss of body fat I’m guessing you’ve tried more than one. We’re drawn in by sensational claims of losing weight fast or banishing our ‘muffin top’ but have you ever stopped to think whether the diet you chose was actually right for you?
Let me tell you about my sister’s story. There is 13 months between us and up until puberty we ate a similar diet, did a similar amount of exercise, we were similar in size and a healthy weight. When she reached puberty my sister put on a large amount of weight quite quickly even though she ate sensibly and did a reasonable amount of exercise.
In the years that followed she tried countless diets. She stuck to these diets to the letter but it didn’t matter what she did, she lost very little weight. Determined to lose the weight she had gained she visited her GP several times and she was either told that she wasn’t sticking to her diet or that she just needed to eat less and move more. The bottom line was she was doing diet after diet but it wasn’t helping her lose weight no matter what she tried.
She was eventually diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome in her 30’s. As a result of this she is also insulin resistant, which means the higher carb, low fat diets that she was doing were never going to work. Once she received her diagnosis and knew the kind of diet she should be following she was able to lose weight effectively.
So do diets work? If you take my sister as an example diets don’t work. There is a chance that the diet you’re following has no scientific basis and no independent reviews, other than the people it has worked for. The term diet conjures up ideas of deprivation and restriction and neither is good for your health or your relationship with food.
My sister changed the way she eats and for this to be beneficial to her health it has to be a change for life. There isn’t one diet that works for every person but what will work for most people is to stop looking for a quick fix, nourish your body with natural unprocessed foods and refrain from dieting.
Your health is you wealth.
Leigh x
