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Dieting is risky behavior. For many, it is the spark that ignites disordered eating patterns and pervasive body shame. Whether you struggle with yo-yo dieting, binge-eating, bulimia, anorexia, or another disordered eating pattern, the diet mentality and lifestyle are often a root cause of the problem. There's a better way to get healthy. Read on to learn about the non-dieting path to health, stress-free and joyful eating, and body confidence.
What's the problem with dieting?
A Non-Dieting Health, we see disordered eating and body image struggles as all-too-common responses to living in our tricky food and diet culture. On the one hand, our food industry provides an abundance of highly rewarding food and encourages us to indulge. On the other hand, the diet, food, fashion, fitness, and "health" industries perpetuate moral judgments about eating those foods and idealize rigid control of the body. It's easy to internalize this cultural conflict. And when we do, it shapes how we feel and think about food and our bodies and manifests in eating behavior. We find ourselves longing to enjoy our cultural foods or feeling dependent on them, while the diet police in our head judge our appetite and appearance as criminal. We might work hard to eat healthily but are derailed by triggers all around. And in a world of impossible beauty standards and get-thin-quick scams, we are likely to feel a pervasive sense of failure and shame about our bodies, no matter how hard we hustle for perfection. In Alison's book, Non-Dieting: How to Love Your Body and Be Healthy in Diet Culture, she explains that the diet mentality and lifestyle -- hating your body and hustling to fix it by restricting nutrition and exercising, isn't healthy at all. It's a source of chronic stress that can, paradoxically, trap you in the eating, weight, and body image struggles you were trying to avoid. The stressful dieting lifestyle can trigger a cascade of physiological adaptions that make you hungrier, heavier, and sick. It can increase your desire for highly rewarding and calorically dense foods, reduce your ability to regulate your eating behavior, and slow metabolic activity. Additionally, body image struggles increase the likelihood of engaging in food restricting and exercise strategies that result in malnourishment. This threat of starvation triggers survival responses in the deep brain that intensify the drive to eat. When stress about your appearance and restrictive eating activate these mechanisms in a food-abundant environment, it is a setup for disordered eating. Research backs up the paradox that many dieters have experienced -- food restriction and the diet mentality are ineffective at improving health or achieving sustainable weight loss. They make us heavier, hungrier, and sick over time. While many people lose weight by restricting food and exercising in the short term, in the long term, the brain launches a defense to restore the weight lost, often plus a little extra as an insurance policy against future self-imposed famines. Indeed, research shows that restrictive dieting is a predictor of future weight gain (1)(2). And, yo-yo dieting cycles are associated with higher body fat percentage, increased belly fat, and a loss of muscle mass (3)(4). Dieting can cause health problems too. Yo-yo dieting can contribute to metabolic dysfunction, liver damage (5), fatty liver (6)(7), and type 2 diabetes (8). At Cambridge University, a study found that the more yo-yo dieting cycles a person experiences, the lower they will score on the American Health Association (AHA) measure called Life's Simple 7 (9). These measures are associated with heart health, including eating better, getting active, losing weight, quitting smoking, reducing blood sugar, managing blood sugar, and controlling cholesterol. Not only does dieting behavior predict weight gain and health problems, but it also increases your risk of developing disordered eating patterns. The National Eating Disorders Association reports that 35% of "normal dieters" progress to pathological dieting and that 20-25% of those individuals develop eating disorders (10). Another study shows that dieters are 2–3 times more likely than non-dieters to develop binge-eating patterns. Additionally, if a dieter has depression symptoms and self-esteem problems (common experiences when you're under pressure to be thinner), the likelihood of binge-eating onset increases further (11). That dieting causes weight gain, disordered eating patterns, and health problems is only the beginning of this frustrating story. Research shows that dieting has negative psychological consequences as well. Yo-yo dieters report less satisfaction with their lives and health and a sense of failure and loss of control (12). Many people fall into the diet trap in the first place because they have a negative or distorted body image. Mentalhealth.org reports that 1 in 5 adults feels "disgusting" about their bodies. And research has shown that around 50% of 13-year-old American girls reported being unhappy with their bodies. This number grew to nearly 80% by the time girls reached 17 years of age. In fact, nearly 80% of young teenage girls report fears of becoming fat (13). A person who feels stressed and ashamed of their body is more likely to engage in the extreme and restrictive dieting behaviors that paradoxically intensify the eating, weight, and body image struggles they were trying to avoid. Lots of people blame themselves for eating and weight struggles. But they might be surprised to learn that the shame-based and restrictive mindset falsely promoted as health by the diet industry is a big part of the problem. Disordered eating patterns are not character flaws or a lack of willpower. They are often, quite simply, the result of being conditioned to idealize rare body types and encouraged to restrict nutrition to try to achieve it. Dieting is risky behavior. There's a better way to get healthy. What's an alternative to dieting?
If you are in a disordered, shame-based relationship with food and your body, another diet and exercise plan is unlikely to fix it. Returning to the diet mentality is what keeps you stuck in the destructive pattern. Instead, you might benefit from a non-dieting approach to health that builds your confidence, fosters effective eating regulation abilities, and provides resilience to what triggers bad body feelings and disordered eating behaviors. At Non-Dieting Health, we offer psychotherapy, neurofeedback brainwave training, and group healing circles for people who are tired of living at odds with their body and in a chaotic relationship with food. These therapies help you shift out the diet mentality and into physical and emotional self-care that normalizes eating patterns and fosters a positive body concept. Psychotherapy Your eating patterns and how you feel about your body are psychological imprints wired early in life. Psychotherapy sessions promote mindset change. They assist you in restructuring beliefs, thought, and behavior patterns that kept you stuck so that you can reclaim a positive body concept, normal eating patterns, and a healthy weight. Your therapist will invite you into a body-attuned relationship with eating where you can enjoy your cultural foods in ways that honor your body and nutritional needs and provide more joy and satisfaction. You will learn to befriend your body as you connect to the amazing experience of embodiment, cultivate trust in your appetite and weight regulating system, and appreciate who you are. In your sessions, you will learn a non-diet, body-attuned eating approach. While dieting has many adverse health consequences, mindful eating has many health benefits. It increases enjoyment and satiation, reduces emotional and binge eating patterns, and helps you regain trust in your innate ability to regulate your eating and maintain a healthy weight. Neurofeedback Brainwave Training Neurofeedback Brainwave Training is a therapeutic technology that settles and stabilizes your nervous system fostering the internal conditions for healthy eating patterns and a positive body concept to develop. Chronic stress associated with the weight-watching lifestyle and other past or present stressors contributes to a loss of control with eating. It can make you hungrier, increase dependence on highly rewarding food for soothing, and slow metabolic activity. It also impedes higher brain functions responsible for moderating emotion and thinking states and eating behavior. Neurofeedback settles and stabilizes the overactive nervous system that is common in people who struggle with disordered eating and body image. It quiets obsessive and self-critical thought patterns, setting the stage for a positive self-concept to develop. And it supports you to navigate a tricky food and diet culture without spiraling into shame feelings or engaging in unwanted eating behaviors. It fosters a sense of embodiment that enables you to access hunger and fullness signals and the wisdom of your appetite to guide self-nourishment. Learn more about neurofeedback and how it, along with psychotherapy, can assist your recovery. Online Healing Circles Our online healing circles offer therapeutic experiences of belonging, being seen, and supported. Relational hurts are often contributing factors to disordered eating and body image struggles. Being teased, bullied, alienated, struggling to fit in, or having your value associated with appearance are interpersonal stressors that drive many people into the diet mentality. Those who are mistreated often blame themselves. And they might try to boost their sense of belonging by focusing on their appearance as they become more isolated. Our caring group environments offer healing from relational pain. Participants are supported to develop new relationships based on authenticity, trust, and connection. Healthier relating and social support builds confidence, a sense of inner security, and the bravery to be yourself. If your relationship with food and your body has become a source of pain, it might be time to consider the non-dieting road to health. Contact us to learn more about shifting out of the diet mentality and into a self-caring stance that can normalize eating patterns and improve confidence and health. |
“In response to her announcement that she is starting a new diet, her therapist said, ‘Oh dear, how much weight do you plan to gain?’” - Unknown 
You didn't kick a puppy. You ate food." 
Recent Blog Post: Should diets come with warning labels? By: Alison Ross, LMFT
Restricting eating, often known as dieting, is about as good for your health as smoking cigarettes and drunk driving. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What will my therapy program entail?
A typical treatment plan involves one hour of health-focused psychotherapy and one hour of neurofeedback brainwave training per week. Clients are encouraged to attend a weekly, online group to receive social support. Each case is different, but most clients need at least twenty weeks of therapy. After your initial assessment, your therapist will recommend a treatment plan to accomplish your goals.
Can I lose weight when I give up dieting?
Many people ask if they can lose weight on the non-dieting path. The answer is, sometimes. Yo-yo dieting cycles and the stressful weight-watching lifestyle are shown to increase weight. If these disordered eating patterns and lifestyle increased your weight, you might release weight when you settle into a healthier relationship with food and your body. If your weight is too low and sustaining it kept you in disordered eating patterns, you might gain the weight you need to be nourished, healthy, and at peace. Whether or not you lose weight, non-dieters benefit from significant improvements to their health and body image as they develop a joyful and nourishing relationship with food, their bodies, others, and themselves.
A typical treatment plan involves one hour of health-focused psychotherapy and one hour of neurofeedback brainwave training per week. Clients are encouraged to attend a weekly, online group to receive social support. Each case is different, but most clients need at least twenty weeks of therapy. After your initial assessment, your therapist will recommend a treatment plan to accomplish your goals.
Can I lose weight when I give up dieting?
Many people ask if they can lose weight on the non-dieting path. The answer is, sometimes. Yo-yo dieting cycles and the stressful weight-watching lifestyle are shown to increase weight. If these disordered eating patterns and lifestyle increased your weight, you might release weight when you settle into a healthier relationship with food and your body. If your weight is too low and sustaining it kept you in disordered eating patterns, you might gain the weight you need to be nourished, healthy, and at peace. Whether or not you lose weight, non-dieters benefit from significant improvements to their health and body image as they develop a joyful and nourishing relationship with food, their bodies, others, and themselves.
Citations
[1] Dulloo AG, Jacquet J, Montani JP, Schutz Y. How dieting makes the lean fatter: from a perspective of body composition autoregulation through adipostats and proteinstats awaiting discovery. Obes Rev. 2015;16 Suppl 1:25–35. doi:10.1111/obr.12253
(2) Dulloo, A. G., Montani, J. P. (2015). Pathways from dieting to weight regain, to obesity and to the metabolic syndrome: an overview. Obesity reviews: an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 16 Suppl 1, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12250
[3] Bosy-Westphal A, Kahlhöfer J, Lagerpusch M, Skurk T, Müller MJ. Deep body composition phenotyping during weight cycling: relevance to metabolic efficiency and metabolic risk. Obes Rev. 2015;16 Suppl 1:36–44. doi:10.1111/obr.12254
(4) Mackie, G. M., Samocha-Bonet, D., & Tam, C. S. (2017). Does weight cycling promote obesity and metabolic risk factors?. Obesity research & clinical practice, 11(2), 131–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2016.10.284
(5) Jandacek, R. J., Anderson, N., Liu, M., Zheng, S., Yang, Q., Tso, P. (2005). Effects of yo-yo diet, caloric restriction, and olestra on tissue distribution of hexachlorobenzene. American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology, 288(2), G292–G299. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpgi.00285.2004
(6) Jandacek, R. J., Anderson, N., Liu, M., Zheng, S., Yang, Q., Tso, P. (2005). Effects of yo-yo diet, caloric restriction, and olestra on tissue distribution of hexachlorobenzene. American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology, 288(2), G292–G299. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpgi.00285.2004
(7) Barbosa-da-Silva, S., da Silva, N. C., Aguila, M. B., Mandarim-de-Lacerda, C. A. (2014). Liver damage is not reversed during the lean period in diet-induced weight cycling in mice. Hepatology research : the official journal of the Japan Society of Hepatology, 44(4), 450–459. https://doi.org/10.1111/hepr.12138
(8) Levin, B. E. (1994). Diet cycling and age alter weight gain and insulin levels in rats. The American journal of physiology, 267(2 Pt 2), R527–R535. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.1994.267.2.R527
(9) Byun, S. S., Bello, N. A., Liao, M., Makarem, N., & Aggarwal, B. (2019). Associations of weight cycling with cardiovascular health using American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 in a diverse sample of women. Preventive medicine reports, 16, 100991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2019.10099
(10) Shisslak, C.M., Crago, M., & Estes, L.S. (1995). The spectrum of eating disturbances. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 18 (3), 209-219.
(11) Goldschmidt, A. B., Wall, M., Loth, K. A., Le Grange, D., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2012). Which dieters are at risk for the onset of binge eating? A prospective study of adolescents and young adults. The Journal of adolescent health: official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 51(1), 86–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.11.001
(12) Brownell, K. D., & Rodin, J. (1994). Medical, metabolic, and psychological effects of weight cycling. Archives of internal medicine, 154(12), 1325–1330.
(13) Kearney‐Cooke, A., & Tieger, D. (2015). Body image disturbance and the development of eating disorders. In L. Smolak & M. D. Levine (Eds.), The Wiley Handbook of Eating Disorders (pp. 283-296). West Sussex, UK: Wiley
[1] Dulloo AG, Jacquet J, Montani JP, Schutz Y. How dieting makes the lean fatter: from a perspective of body composition autoregulation through adipostats and proteinstats awaiting discovery. Obes Rev. 2015;16 Suppl 1:25–35. doi:10.1111/obr.12253
(2) Dulloo, A. G., Montani, J. P. (2015). Pathways from dieting to weight regain, to obesity and to the metabolic syndrome: an overview. Obesity reviews: an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 16 Suppl 1, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12250
[3] Bosy-Westphal A, Kahlhöfer J, Lagerpusch M, Skurk T, Müller MJ. Deep body composition phenotyping during weight cycling: relevance to metabolic efficiency and metabolic risk. Obes Rev. 2015;16 Suppl 1:36–44. doi:10.1111/obr.12254
(4) Mackie, G. M., Samocha-Bonet, D., & Tam, C. S. (2017). Does weight cycling promote obesity and metabolic risk factors?. Obesity research & clinical practice, 11(2), 131–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2016.10.284
(5) Jandacek, R. J., Anderson, N., Liu, M., Zheng, S., Yang, Q., Tso, P. (2005). Effects of yo-yo diet, caloric restriction, and olestra on tissue distribution of hexachlorobenzene. American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology, 288(2), G292–G299. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpgi.00285.2004
(6) Jandacek, R. J., Anderson, N., Liu, M., Zheng, S., Yang, Q., Tso, P. (2005). Effects of yo-yo diet, caloric restriction, and olestra on tissue distribution of hexachlorobenzene. American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology, 288(2), G292–G299. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpgi.00285.2004
(7) Barbosa-da-Silva, S., da Silva, N. C., Aguila, M. B., Mandarim-de-Lacerda, C. A. (2014). Liver damage is not reversed during the lean period in diet-induced weight cycling in mice. Hepatology research : the official journal of the Japan Society of Hepatology, 44(4), 450–459. https://doi.org/10.1111/hepr.12138
(8) Levin, B. E. (1994). Diet cycling and age alter weight gain and insulin levels in rats. The American journal of physiology, 267(2 Pt 2), R527–R535. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.1994.267.2.R527
(9) Byun, S. S., Bello, N. A., Liao, M., Makarem, N., & Aggarwal, B. (2019). Associations of weight cycling with cardiovascular health using American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 in a diverse sample of women. Preventive medicine reports, 16, 100991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2019.10099
(10) Shisslak, C.M., Crago, M., & Estes, L.S. (1995). The spectrum of eating disturbances. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 18 (3), 209-219.
(11) Goldschmidt, A. B., Wall, M., Loth, K. A., Le Grange, D., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2012). Which dieters are at risk for the onset of binge eating? A prospective study of adolescents and young adults. The Journal of adolescent health: official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 51(1), 86–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.11.001
(12) Brownell, K. D., & Rodin, J. (1994). Medical, metabolic, and psychological effects of weight cycling. Archives of internal medicine, 154(12), 1325–1330.
(13) Kearney‐Cooke, A., & Tieger, D. (2015). Body image disturbance and the development of eating disorders. In L. Smolak & M. D. Levine (Eds.), The Wiley Handbook of Eating Disorders (pp. 283-296). West Sussex, UK: Wiley
