June 7, 2018

Ditch the Diet

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.” –Michael Pollan

We’ve all heard the statistics: less than 5% of dieters are successful at losing weight and keeping it off. Now, unless we assume that 95% of the population are lazy, unmotivated underachievers, these numbers just don’t add up. So are you failing the diet? Or is the diet failing you?

Officially, the word “diet” has two definitions:

1) The kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.

2) A special course of food to which a person restricts themselves, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.

For the purposes of this blog, I’ll be talking about Definition #2. By this definition, diets are inherently provisional (“a special course of food”) and restrictive. Immediately, we have several problems. I’d like to discuss them with you from 3 perspectives:

Commercially, diets are not designed to be sustainable. If they were, we would not have a multi-billion-dollar weight-loss industry. From the Grapefruit Diet in the 1930’s, to the Cabbage Soup Diet in the 50’s, to Atkins in the 90’s, it seems like with each decade, a new fad diet is introduced to the market.

You would think that, if any of these diets were effective in the long term, we would have fewer North Americans trying to lose weight today. In fact, we have far more: over 45 million people on any given day in the U.S. alone.

From a business perspective, marketing a diet plan guaranteed to generate lasting results would not be a very smart move. A far more profitable solution would be to create a diet that gives consumers the results they want quickly, and then keeps them coming back for more. How do they do this? By selling a design that works directly against our psychology and physiology.

Physiologically, diets inhibit our weight-loss efforts. It’s only since the Industrial Revolution (a miniscule fragment of human history) that we’ve experienced a consistent surplus of food. Prior to that, human beings evolved to be able to withstand long periods of famine, punctuated by fortunate times of feasting that were few and far between. As a result, we’ve developed survival mechanisms which kept us from going extinct many thousands of generations ago.

When we restrict our energy (calorie) intake to less than our resting metabolic rate (that is, the minimum number of calories each individual needs to maintain basic bodily functions), our bodies respond by conserving as much energy as possible. This is also known as a “famine state” or “starvation mode”. Our metabolism slows down, and our body holds onto as much fat as it possibly can. This is not a bad thing. On the contrary, it’s what makes it possible for humans to go several days without eating and stay alive.

While this feat is nothing short of miraculous, it is also incredibly stressful for our bodies. When we take in less energy than we need, our adrenal glands start pumping out cortisol, a stress hormone that triggers an overproduction of insulin. This not only promotes fat storage; it also causes blood sugar levels to drop, often resulting in cravings for fatty or sugary foods.

Refined carbohydrates and calorie-dense foods are the body’s most efficient energy sources. Brain signals triggering cravings for these foods are just another of the body’s ingenious survival mechanisms. The longer you restrict, the more intense these cravings become. Think of dieting like holding your breath; you can only do it for so long before instinct overrides willpower, and you gulp desperately for air (or find yourself in the midst of a major junk food bender, as the case may be).

It’s important to be kind to yourself when this happens. It’s not your fault. You’re not a failure, or weak-willed. You are simply honouring your extraordinary, resilient biology, a biology most diets have no respect for.

Whether you fall off the wagon or by some miracle manage to reach your “goal weight”, the second you return to your normal, pre-diet eating pattern, the weight comes back on, often more than you were carrying before. This is because your metabolism has slowed down. Your body has adapted to run on fewer calories than it did before, and any excess is quickly stored as fat reserves for the next famine. Isn’t that magnificently annoying?

Psychologically, diets are a Band-Aid, not a cure. Most diets focus exclusively on the physical, while most weight issues are predominantly emotional. Changing the way we eat without addressing our deep-seated beliefs, patterns and behaviours around food is like trimming weeds rather than pulling them out at the roots. It’s no way to create lasting change.

Any diet extreme enough to produce instant results won’t be doable forever. Let’s be real – diets make life miserable. No popcorn at the movies or ice cream with the kids… Who wants to bring their own Tupperware meal to Thanksgiving dinner?

This restrictive, tough-it-out mindset strips the health journey of all its potential joy and pleasure. It fosters an unhealthy, fearful, and tension-filled relationship with food which often backfires in counterproductive ways. You weren’t built to live in a constant state of deprivation, and doing so will certainly not result in a productive and fulfilled life.

Diet’s Don’t Work… So WTF do I do?!?!

The answer is actually laughably simple: You change your definition of “diet” from #2 to #1.

Your “diet” should be a life-long way of eating, not a short-term solution. If your current way of eating is not something you can envision as a permanent habit, you are wasting your time.

Simply put, eating in a nourishing way – that is, satisfying your body, mind and soul – makes life (and weight loss) easier. It results in improved mood, elevated energy, fewer cravings, and as such, greater incentive to keep doing what you’re doing.

Find (or create) healthy versions of the foods you love. Some of my favourites include kombucha in place of a happy-hour cocktail, banana “nice cream”, and raw, organic dark chocolate. I’m including a recipe for Chocolate-Avocado Chia Pudding below.

To prevent your body from going into starvation-mode, never consume fewer calories than your BMR. Basal Metabolic Rate varies depending on your gender, height, age, weight, etc. There are many online sources that will help you calculate your individual BMR (My Fitness Pal has a good one).

A good general rule is to never consume less than 1200 calories a day if you are female, and no less than 1600 if you are male.

Avoid any diet with a prescribed calorie intake that is less than the above recommendations, as well as diets which eliminate entire macronutrient groups (*cough* Keto *cough*), as these diets are guaranteed to be unsustainable.

Last but not least, it’s crucial that you learn to love your body. I know, I know. But just hear me out: If you’re operating from a place of hate, you’ve already lost. Recognize your body for the protective, resourceful, hard-working and generous gift that it is. When you work with your body as opposed to against it, it will be far more inclined to give you the results you want.

You may not get the quick fix promised by the latest fad diet, but the results you do get will last a lifetime. The key is to be kind to yourself, and to be patient. When we meet ourselves where we are, and learn to respect our bodies enough to give them precisely what they need, the changes we so desperately want will manifest. That is my heartfelt promise to you.

Chocolate-Avocado Chia Pudding

Chocolate for breakfast? Yes, please!

I’m definitely a dessert-for-breakfast kind of person (or a dessert-anytime kind of person). The good news is that studies show that not only does chocolate first thing in the morning contribute to weight loss success, it has also been associated with increased cognitive performance.

It’s crucial to start your day off with some healthy fats, which help us utilize fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K. Healthy fats also help regulate hormones, which are vital for just about every system in our bodies, particularly energy production. They slow down nutrient absorption, so we feel satisfied throughout the day and can avoid that mid-morning crash or 3PM trip to the vending machine.

This is what I call a “magic” recipe – like that magic shirt that makes you look skinny even when you don’t feel skinny. It would also be a great alternative to replace that nightly bowl of ice cream!