The Real Impact of Dieting (Part 3)

This week in The Nourished Mama we're chatting about the impact of dieting and how it can interfere in our lives in surprising ways. I've already written about the physical and social implications of dieting, so today I wanted to chat about how dieting and setting a lot of rules around food can significantly change your behaviour around food. I often describe this to my clients as periods of time when we try to outthink our biology. During these periods we engage in a lot of rule-setting or compensatory behaviours around eating that often end up backfiring in a big way.

Consider whether or not you:

• Set rules around certain foods then end up eating more if those rules get broken
• Skip meals or eat less to compensate for a bigger meal even if you’re feeling hungry
• Only exercise because it burns calories or to punish yourself for “overeating” rather than moving because you actually enjoy it
• Feel a compulsive need to eat foods or engage in binge eating because food is there even if you’re not actually hungry
• Ignore food rules while on vacation or on certain “cheat” days and end up eating beyond fullness because you’re not sure when you’ll get the chance to eat those foods again
• Eat more food when you're stressed
• Talk a lot about food, dieting, and/or body size

When we set a lot of rules around food and exercise this often results in a lot of pushback. You see this a lot when people “fall off the diet wagon” and think to themselves, well I’ve already eaten something bad today, so today is a bad day, and I may as well keep eating. When we set rules around eating, it's very normal to engage in rebellious or what I like to call "screw this" eating. During these periods we often eat more than what we would normally simply so we can make it worth our while. This all or nothing thinking regularly leads to feelings of guilt and shame around food, followed by compensatory restriction and a vow to do better next time. Here's the thing though, you can't outthink your biology. Every time you set food rules for yourself, your body will want to rebel, and you will forever be stuck in the dieting loop.

How can Intuitive Eating help? When you leave those diet rules behind, there are no longer any good or bad eating days. You don’t have that same emotional charge around eating or that same "screw this" mentality when you eat something that you’ve deemed "unhealthy" or "bad". Every time you eat is seen as a new opportunity to learn rather than an opportunity to criticize, which means that you can leave the guilt and shame behind. Not only that, but if you currently spend a lot of your day thinking about food, Intuitive Eating can help free up some brain space for other, more enjoyable, activities.

Want to see what Intuitive Eating could look like for you? Book a FREE call with me to find out.

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