Let’s talk about a common behavior that we adopt, especially women, which is dieting, with the aim of losing weight. It is true that the word diet in nutrition means food that is eaten 24 hours a day, but for the purpose of this podcast we use the word diet to mean the intentional restriction of food in order to reduce body size, or lose weight. lose weight
Diets are far from thought to be harmful to those who carry them. Today, the largest consumers of diets are women; 80% of women have followed a diet (keto, paleo, low-fat, etc.) with the goal of losing weight at least once in their lives. Maybe it’s done with the best of intentions under the banner of health, but it actually hits one of the big motivational beauty standards, where smaller, thinner bodies are flattered.
But on the contrary, when someone gains weight, it is common for them to be noted with a comment in a tone of rejection: Oh, how I see you are more full. Most women who are on a diet do so because of the ingrained belief that a thin body is better, a healthy body, an attractive body, and a more respectable body.
As a health professional, I would like to share with you some of the harmful consequences that restrictive diets have on the health of individuals who follow them. Eating habits are not without harm, recent studies show that they lead to greater body dissatisfaction, lower self-esteem, changes in metabolism, osteoporosis, changes in hunger and satiety signals, risky eating habits, and frequent cycles of ups and downs. loss
One of the most common side effects that have been seen in people who follow diets is an increase in appetite, when the hormones that control hunger in our body, such as leptin and ghrelin, are altered after following low carb diets. . This is associated with a higher intake of food after a fractional diet compared to the amount of food eaten before starting the diet.
In addition, there is an alteration in the reward, which, as a result, reduces the pleasure in eating. This encourages each individual to continue eating more food to satisfy the reward environment, even if they are no longer hungry. This is clear on the days when you decide not to diet and eat what “feels better”. It has been observed that the research is mainly on foods with intense flavors, such as mixtures of carbohydrates with sugar or salt, for example, desserts, yogurt, fried foods, etc.
Another problem with dieting is the cycle of losing and gaining weight, better known as the rebound effect. To date, scientific evidence shows that after one year of dieting and losing weight, people regain 60% of the weight lost. 66% of people who regain weight have lost more weight than two years after following the diet. This means that gradually more is added to have the opposite effect of what was initially sought. For example, a woman who started her first diet weighing 70 kg and manages to lose 5 kg, the variables tell us that in 2 years it is very likely that she will weigh about 72 kg. This makes a lot of frustration, but the high demand to lose weight, which motivated her to start a diet again aiming to lose weight.
Weight gain as a side effect of diets generates greater body dissatisfaction, increases blood pressure, is linked to chronic inflammation and osteological fractures. Are you healthy?
The science of food is good for the benefit of the people. Most diets with a restrictive goal of losing weight not only can’t hurt either. What if you add food to the food and add hunger to satiety? The vision of nutrition should have an addition, not a subtraction.
If you feel that you do not know how to get out of the diet cycle and need professional help, do not hesitate to approach a nutritionist who is focused on a non-weight-bearing approach and with a holistic health perspective. This way you can improve your relationship with your body and improve your nutritional status which makes you feel good.
