Dieting woman

One of the most ineffective and curious of all human experiences is the process of dieting. When else do people deprive and discipline themselves for days, weeks, and even months to achieve a certain goal, only to see that goal sabotaged the minute it is achieved? And as if this experience isn’t frustrating enough, many dieters put themselves through this process regularly, enthusiastically losing a few pounds for a short time, only to gain them back. These dieters are draining themselves mentally, spiritually, physically, and emotionally, always searching, spiritually, physically, and emotionally, always searching, yet never quite finding the permanent result they seek. And this frequent, unsuccessful quest creates the undue stress and emotional havoc that dieters know too well.

What exactly is a diet, anyway? People indulge themselves and indulge themselves until they can’t look at themselves in the mirror or until their clothes no longer fit. Then they grudgingly force themselves to “diet” to make up for these past indulgences. It’s like running out and locking your garage after someone has driven off in your car. It’s too late; the damage is done. The “remedy” for these indulgences is usually deprivation, and almost every one of the “diet cures” on the market today requires the dieter to take off pounds at any cost. Diet schemes are an extremely expensive way to lose weight. Many times their real cost is a person’s well-being.

Why don’t diets work? The answer actually is quite simple. What do you think about when you’re on a diet? Just as I did, you are usually thinking about what you’re going to eat when the ordeal is finally over. How can you possibly succeed on your diet when all you are thinking about is food? Depriving yourself is not the answer to healthy, permanent weight loss. It usually causes you to binge later on, which complicates the problem. Deprivation and binging become a vicious cycle, and that’s just one of the many problems with dieting.

Another is that diets are temporary; therefore, the results have to be temporary! Do you want to be permanently slim or temporarily slim? Temporary measures bring about temporary results. Have you ever heard anyone say, “I’ve been on every diet that’s ever come on the market, and nothing seems to work”? Why have they been on every diet? They’ve been on every diet without success because dieting is the wrong approach! Diets fail because of the regimentation involved. Very few of us can be regimented successfully for long when it comes to food. Yet many people, not having an alternative, continue to do what they have always done – diet – because they’ve never been presented with any viable alternative. They continue their search for that one panacea that will end – once and for all – their battle of the bulge.

When we go on a diet, our systems are thrown into turmoil while they try to adapt to a new regimen. They then must readapt to old patterns when the regimen ends. It’s like taking a metal rod and bending it over and over again. Eventually it will become weak and break. If you jerk your body back and forth over and over again by dieting, it will become weak and break down.

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