Confessions of a Diet Addict

 

Getting hooked on Dieting

Hi, I am Mistie and I am addicted to dieting.   Over the past 30 years, I truly believe I had tried just about every fab diet out there. Some I may have stuck with for a few weeks but others lasted only a few hours.  One of the first ones I remember trying was the Mayo Clinic Diet.  This was a diet supposedly designed for you to lose 50- 55 lbs in just 10 weeks. I felt special like I was a part of a secret society that knew something only a few other people knew. This secret diet was being passed around by email from person to person and everyone swore it worked.  It was a very specific diet that included low carbs, high fat, and eating grapefruit with every meal.  Later we all found out this was not a diet designed by doctors but a fad diet and at the tender age of 22 and weighing in at a whopping 115 lbs - I was hooked.  

After my Mayo Clinic Diet experience,  you would think I would have consulted my actual doctor and just eaten healthier but no.  Instead, my introduction to fad diets led me to years of switching between diet shakes, cabbage soup,  tons of Slimfast, diet teas, diet pills, and even several bouts of dieting involving the Hollowood 48-Miracle Diet Plan.  My addiction went even beyond what I took.    I even remember one time I paid quite a bit of money to be covered in some miracle cream, wrapped up like a mummy,  and put in a room to do  Calisthenics for 60 min.  It was advertised as being the newest non-surgical body tuck.  I even took my mom along for that journey which promised the immediate loss of inches and then a consistent loss of weight for the next 2 weeks.    Just like with Mayo Clinic Diet and just about every one of the quick-fix diets I tried, this expensive treatment did not work.  I lost water weight on some but nothing sustainable.  

The diet industry is a huge moneymaker and the marketing of all the huge claims is what sells.   With each headline posed to outdo the previous you see things like "lose 12 pounds in 10 days" "lose 14 pounds in 12 Days" or even "Lose 30 pounds in 30 Days".  The claims made on these magazines go into the same pile as the ones that tell us a story about "A 72-year-old grandmother gives birth Sextriplets" or "Brad and Jennifer are secretly dating and back together".  The editors post these stories to sell magazines.  They do not care if the diets really work or are even healthy for you.  It's the big moneymaker for them.  But let's get serious would you invest a few hundred dollars on a plan that says you can lose up to 2 lbs a month or 20lbs a year or one that says this diet will only work on maybe 2% of the population.  

Unfortunately, these headlines and false claims on these diets can lead to someone feeling like something is wrong with them.  Everyone else can lose the weight and keep it off following this plan but what am I doing wrong? What is wrong with me? When we hear claims like these and they do not work on us we are left with is a step closer to an unhealthy body, plate, mind, and wallet.  And we are left to search for the next fad diet to try.  We swear we will stick to it and lose the weight this time.  

How does our body react to food? 

What I had to accept is that diets and the way our body reacts to foods are not really one size fits all. Just like we all gained weight in different ways and over different periods of time, we need to figure out the way our body needs to lose.  What is best for us.  Two people can eat the exact same foods, do the same exercises, follow the same format and not lose the same weight or inches.  We are all different and what our body needs to get healthy is not the exact same.  We need to be aware of our bodies and figure out how our body responds to food.    

Food can affect more than just your gut.  Food can affect your mood, your aches and pains, your breathing, and the medicine from these issues from food can even your wallet. For some of us, milk, eggs, bread, fruit, or even nuts can be our enemy. Unknown food allergies can cause us to be hyper, make us feel ill, or even drain our energy.   One example of a condition that is directly tied to what we eat is Gout. Gout is a fairly common condition caused directly by how your body processes certain foods.  Food can affect your skin, even so much more than hives, in some people eating too much, protein can cause a very painful rash.  We have all heard that Chocolate can improve the mood in some people but they have also found dark chocolate is believed to help your brain react faster with cognitive activities.  But chocolate does not affect us all the same.   One of my daughters craves chocolate during certain times in the month and it helps her but another one of my daughters cannot eat chocolate at that time of the month or she suffers from a severe migraine.    Food can also affect your blood sugar, plaque, and even your lungs. This is why checking with your doctor to determine what diet works best for you is the first step you should be taking.  There are tests the doctor can run to figure out your individual issues with food.  

Staying Clean and Eating Clean 

I have spent my whole adult life searching for some magic instant way to reach my goal weight.  Even though I know it does not work, I cannot check out of a grocery store without at least looking at the next best way to lose weight.  But I have started listing to my body, talking to my doctor, and taking a more educated approach to my weight loss,  I also have stopped treating these changes as a way to lose weight but as a lifestyle change on my journey to healthy living.