New Year New Resolution

Bite This: According to a 2006 study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, most people who participate in weight-loss programs “regain about one-third of the weight lost during the next year and are typically back to baseline in three to five years.” It's a lifestyle change, not a new year's resolution. 


How about making 2012 your year to not diet? In the first 5 days of 2012, I think I have heard the term "diet" about 50 thousand times in about 3 million different ways and it is always followed by a moan, groan or rolling of the eyes. Let's think about this. Why are people so readily making resolutions to lose weight when in actuality they view it as a negative endeavor? Even the sheer mention of dieting makes one cringe.  In fact, recently a friend asked me, "Why is the word "diet" always viewed negatively?" Considering the first definition for the word “diet” this is a good question.

According to dictionary.com the first definition of diet is "food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition and its effects on health." Definition #2 is "a particular selection of food, especially as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease." Well now, that makes diets sound amazing! It gives me the mental image of the spinach eating fool, Popeye, and his bulging biceps.  But then we get down to definition #3, "such a selection or a limitation on the amount a person eats for reducing weight." Even the example sentence following definition #3 is a bummer, "No pie for me, I am on a diet." Well, no wonder this word is viewed negatively! No pie?! Limitations?!  

Saying no to something automatically illicits negative feelings. Take for example studies done by John Cacioppo, Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He demonstrated that the brain reacts more strongly to negative stimuli as a way of protecting the body from harm. Pie = harm. Therefore, instead of changing our "diets" we need to change our minds. Create a negative feeling into a positive one. "No pie for me, I am 'improving my physical condition and preventing a disease’!" By turning negatives into positives, one is more likely to eat with deliberation. And that there, my friend, is the "no diet." 

Sound bite: State one positive about how losing weight will help your body function. “Ten pounds less and my heart will be one efficient blood pumping machine! It’ll take less time for blood to reach its destination!”