It’s in the messages we get all around us, social media, the fitness industry, diet companies, family, friends, and even health professionals. The message is that being overweight is unhealthy and that we need to lose weight to improve our health. And the way they want us to do that is by restricting what we eat. They want us to eat less or avoid certain foods at all costs with the goal of becoming healthier. But, is restricting yourself truly in your best interest? Is it really going to lead to overall sustainable health?
Want to know? Keep reading and find out the truth about what restricting is really doing and what you can do to actually reach your health goals.
What Restricting Yourself is Doing to Your Health
Mental health
How do you feel when you think about eating less or avoiding certain “off-limit” foods? Are you encouraged? Do you think how great it’s going to feel to be able to eat less? I’m guessing not, otherwise you’d probably be doing this on a regular basis and not convincing yourself that you’re going to start again on Monday over and over again.
Planning to restrict your food intake is not something we look forward to, because it’s stressful and uncomfortable. Restricting our food leads us to obsess about food. Spending all of our time thinking about food doesn’t make it any easier to eat less either.
For some reason a lot of us believe that in order to become healthier we have to make sacrifices to get there. One of these sacrifices tends to be giving up certain foods we enjoy or not eating enough to sustain us comfortably. We think we just have to fight through and ignore the hunger, because that’s what will lead us to the body we want. However, when we think about food in this way it makes us feel like the only way to get the physical health we’re looking for is through punishing ourselves. Plus, ignoring our hunger signals makes us less trustful of our bodies signals when it’s trying to tell us what it needs.
Feeling like you must constantly punish yourself by eating less does not lead to mental well-being. Who’s going to be in a good mood while being punished? Nobody I know. Who can even sustain that behavior? Nobody! So, then we fail at what we thought was going to help us. We feel like failures. We wonder what’s wrong with us and our self-esteem takes a nose dive. This is not healthy!
Physical Health
Is calorie restriction healthy? Does it lead to sustained weight loss and/or improved physical health? We hear it all the time, energy in versus energy out. So, if we eat less at the same activity level, we’ll lose more weight, right? The answer is, not necessarily. Our bodies are actually a little more complex and complicated than that. Restricting yourself from eating causes your body to go into survival mode. If your body thinks you’re trying to starve it, it will start to make biological adjustments in order to counteract your actions. Your metabolism will slow, you’re energy level will go down, and your body will work harder to hang on to the fat stores it already has.
Putting our bodies under increased physical and mental stress leads to a higher risk for short and long term health issues. It’s no secret that chronic stress can lead to high blood pressure and heart disease. It can also lower immunity in general, leading to an increased likelihood of not being able to fight off all kinds of viruses and bacteria. Stress has also been shown to impact insulin resistance and therefore increase the risk of developing type II Diabetes.
Does it seem like restricting our eating is helping or hurting our physical health? I would say that chronically reducing our food intake is really just leading to an increased likelihood of chronic diseases and health issues.
Even if you argue that calorie restriction leads to weight loss, the truth is, that for most people that is only temporary. Once your body starts to make changes to counteract the restricted intake, you gain it all back or often even more. Experts think as many as 80 to 95% of dieters gain back the weight they’ve worked so hard to lose. And the yo-yo weight loss and gain causes more health issues than being overweight in the first place.
What To Do Instead, if Not Restricting Yourself
First off, I’d like to point out that being overweight isn’t the big health crisis that it’s made out to be. Diet culture has become so big because it’s so well promoted by companies that are making lots of money by selling this myth. They want you to believe that better health is all about losing weight, when really it’s just causing enough fear in us to hand over our money and make ourselves sicker. We then see ourselves as the failures when it doesn’t work for us and keep giving them our money when they come out with the next new plan or diet. In truth, they are failing us and reaping the financial benefit.
Living a healthy lifestyle isn’t about sacrificing and making yourself miserable. It’s about giving your body what it needs to thrive. It’s about living in a way that feels good to you and allows you to live fully in the body you have, no matter it’s size or shape. You will see a true improvement in your health when you start working with your body instead of against it.
So, allow yourself that piece of cake or cookie if you really want it. It will save you from bingeing later because you restricted yourself earlier. A treat here and there will not ruin your health. The key is to focus on eating a variety of nutrient rich foods that you enjoy and that make you feel good a majority of the time, instead of restricting and avoiding foods. Eating should be pleasurable and nourishing. There’s no moral attachment to what you eat. You are not a better or worse person based on what you eat.
You are worthy of good health and living a full life though, so feed yourself well!
I know for some people it can be difficult to let go of the diet/restrictive mentality and allow themselves to eat without rules. But, it really is the healthier way to go.
So, if you’d like to try it, but aren’t sure how to start, let’s chat! I’d be happy to offer you a free consult and get you on your way to food freedom. Click below to book your call
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