No carbs, only fruits, only vegetables, only soups, only cabbage – there are countless variations of diets. Some are simple, being partially based on principles of healthy nutrition, while others are neither healthy nor really beneficial. Diets are, for the most part, useless. They stipulate what we should and shouldn’t eat, based on the tenet that it’s worked for “someone else”. The list of disadvantages which come with these diets is as long as the list of such diets themselves. Here we’ve put together five of the most important reasons to show you why you shouldn’t put yourself on a diet.
You’ve been sticking to your diet, faithfully not eating carbs or only eating fruit at the moment? Though you’re certainly looking forward to the day when you can go back to your normal eating habits and favorite meals, you’re probably unaware of the burden that day will put on your body. All of the healthy pasta, the vegan curries or those numerous quinoa and chia seed salads and puddings will land on your hips faster than ever before - that’s the yo-yo effect in action. Our bodies adjust too quickly to the new eating habits, so that returning to our normal eating routine becomes quite a challenge for the body, often leading to disappointing results. Then you find yourself back at square one, and then the game starts all over again.
Who really wants to go out to eat with a dieting friend who’s currently ‘only eating soups’? Quite honestly, no one. Dieting brings you loneliness. The constant focusing on nutrition and watching over your daily calorie allotment like a hawk causes your social life to suffer. Someone who is strictly dieting will pass on that evening out with friends for a glass of wine or not show up at the regular get-together at that Italian restaurant around the corner. Then, at some point, the invitations to join others for a meal or a drink will stop coming.
Tiredness, difficulty concentrating, feeling sluggish. If you deprive your body of something, you’ll pay the price for that with symptoms of deficiency. So if you suddenly put yourself on a strict diet, expect to endure feeling tired and sluggish. Your body is being abruptly deprived of nutrition, which it had been converting into energy and using for metabolic processes. A dieter on a strict regimen will have to adjust to mastering their tasks in work and daily life on a lower gear.
‘I’m gonna treat myself to that right now!’ These are words which we’ve all heard and said ourselves. To pat ourselves on the back for a successful week of dieting, we give ourselves a day of diet amnesty – a day to have some ice cream, eat a bowl of pasta, and enjoy that white bread roll. It’s admittedly not the most practical idea while on a diet, yet it’s a completely natural phase of dieting. After enduring a period of abstinence from consuming items which have metabolically provided it long-term benefits, the body will forcefully demand to have these items again, via hunger pangs and powerful cravings.
Besides hunger pangs and the nutritional deficiencies which lead to tiredness and lethargy, dieters also feel a strong need to ‘have something else’ while dieting. If a dieter decides to eliminate all carbohydrates, they may develop a desire for something which hadn’t interested them much before. Some dieters may start smoking or chewing more gum, or try to find other alternatives to replace the things which they used to enjoy. Regardless of what we consume, an unusually high consumption of most things is not healthy, and won’t help to hone down those love handles. We hope these points have helped to demonstrate why dieting in general is never really healthy for our bodies. Much more beneficial is a healthy mix of a balanced diet and physical activity. Every person is unique, so by listening to your own body you’ll discover both what you should avoid and what will have you feeling your best. By taking this approach you can provide your body with optimal nutrition and exercise. The best part is that you’ll find out where you need to make adjustments without having to subject yourself to an extreme diet.