Just say no to diets: ten healthy strategies for better eating - Aerobics and Fitness Association of America's Decade of Fitness 10-year Celebration

Ten healthy strategies for better eating.

Despite increased dollars being spent on weight loss programs, current methods are not producing lasting results. The question we're left with is: Are we doing more harm than good when we demand people try every weight loss program until they find the one that works for them? Whether a person wants to lose weight for cosmetic or health reasons, the truth remains--we don't have a stock formula that works for every person. Out of this concern, a whole new approach to weight management is emerging. Here are 10 strategies to retrain your thinking.

1. Stop dieting.

Low-calorie diets slow your metabolism. Packaged meal diets prevent you from eating out, eating with your family and eating spontaneously. Weighing and measuring diets are tedious. Powdered diets send you into a state of shock when you re-enter the world of real food. All of these diets make you think about food more than you need to. Furthermore, they don't work for long-term results.

2. Develop a non-adversarial relationship with food.

Fixating on weight creates anxiety and tension around food. Let the process of changing your eating behavior be your goal rather than weight loss. By moving away from a food-centered existence, you'll be better able to turn your attention to other parts of your life for continued growth and fulfillment.

3. Stop counting calories.

Eating frequent low-fat snacks and meals seems to be the healthiest approach to maintaining feelings of satiety, reduced blood cholesterol and balancing your energy level.

4. Classify all foods as equal in value.

There are no good foods or bad foods. Some foods taste sweeter, creamier, crunchier, saltier, etc. Some foods are higher in fat, while others are healthier choices. You are not a good person or bad person for choosing a particular food. And if you have a normal appetite, you'll probably have cravings for all of these foods at some point.

5. Satisfy your hunger.

Depriving yourself of your favorite foods will only make you miss them more. Eventually, when the craving gets strong enough, you will give in to it. The way to balance these cravings is to give yourself permission to eat whatever you want, then decide whether it's what you want to eat.

6. Don't over-discipline yourself with "shoulds" and "musts."

The knowledge that a low-fat, low-sugar, low-salt and high-fiber diet contributes to a healthy body may not be enough to change your eating habits. But once you learn more about healthy eating and complete the process of dumping diets, you're likely to celebrate your new freedom by selecting all the right foods.

7. Throw away the scale.

Focus on internal rather than external tools for changing the way you eat. Let your body give you regular reports on your progress. Recognize you have a right to be hungry. Respond to this message by eating when you are hungry, quitting when you are full and only eating foods you want to eat. And try to follow this plan as often as you can, knowing you won't always choose to.

8. Shift your attention from food to exercise.

Movement helps break through the invisible wall that separates mind and body. But don't fall into the trap of approaching exercise with the usual diet mentality and accompanying guilt and rigid rules. Use exercise as a tool to befriend your body. Let muscle strengthening, in a symbolic sense, become a route to empowerment.

9. Accept your body.

Size acceptance is the first step to gaining control of your life. This is often difficult to achieve because you have to struggle against the societal message you are only acceptable if you are thin. Interestingly, most women who are thin don't accept their bodies either. To counter that message, live your life as if you are okay the way you are. This "living in the present" allows you to take actions you would normally put off until you have attained the "perfect" body.

10. Initiate the process of change.

Diets have sold us such a bill of goods over the years we don't trust we can change the way we eat by ourselves. Don't make this process more difficult than it needs to be. By making simple changes in the way you eat, cook, grocery shop and exercise, your body will respond by becoming healthier, stronger and leaner.

COPYRIGHT 1992 Aerobics and Fitness Association of America
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