This article was provided by Dr. Christopher Carr DC, a chiropractor at Pittsburgh Chiropractic & Wellness in Canonsburg and McMurray, PA. If you'd like to learn more please visit https://www.pghcw.com/

Top 10 Reasons Your Diet Doesn't Work

When you hear the word “diet,” what pops into your head? Hungry miserableness? Rice cakes? Failure? Too much discipline? You get the sad picture. Instead of the dreaded D-word, I prefer the term “lifestyle change” or “cancer/diabetes/hypertension killer” Why? These options ditch the strict rules and emphasize picking healthy, whole, and natural options that leave you feeling energized and satisfied. Look, I get it. You may have the voice telling you I tried and I failed or it's too hard or eating healthy is expensive. After 15 years in health and wellness trust me I've heard it all! There are many reasons to get off the diet for good and here are my top 10:

1. Diets Simply Don't Work Long Term
The problem with most diets is that they’re too restrictive to realistically fit into most people’s lives. They tell you exactly what to eat, when, and how much. However, they don’t take into consideration your taste buds, lifestyle, your hormones such as leptin and cortisol, and not to mention that your family may not be on the same page as you. At the end of the day slow and steady wins the race with nutrition. Instead of changing twenty things at once, pick 3 and do it every day for a month!

2. Fads Diets Are Just Fads
Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers all multi-million-dollar companies with a ton of testimonial support. Fad diets work while you’re on them for a lot of people. The ones that promise rapid weight loss in a short period of time are both negligent and unhealthy. Those systems turn your body into a yo-yo! Lose 30 pounds in a month and once your off of it you gain 40 over the next year. Sound familiar to some of you? These diets are restrictive, often proven unscientific, and can be gimmicky. Most people can only stay with them for a few days to a month—which is about how long it takes for any weight they lose to come right back.

3. Diets Are Very Short Term
Once you give into your cravings (and you will because you are human) or go back to living a normal lifestyle, you are no better off than before you started dieting. The concept of “yo-yo dieting” means that when you restrict yourself so much on your diet, you’re setting yourself up for failure and end up binging on the cravings you’ve been missing, making you gain the weight you lost right back.

4. Diets Crush Your Energy Levels
If you've heard me speak, you've heard me say often that the first three letters of “diet” spell “die” because that’s exactly what happens to your energy levels! Drastically reducing your calorie intake and eliminating certain nutrients from your body can cause your mood to change- snapping at your kids, getting emotional for no reason, a migraine headache out of the blue are all signs of hormonal imbalance. Excessive dieting leaves you feeling tired, lethargic, and irritable. Your body needs fuel to function properly. By slowing down the rate at which your body burns calories, dieting can actually cause those hormones to plateau, where the scale won’t budge, even though you’re eating like a bird.

5. Diets Aren’t Always Healthy
Being overweight is enough of a health problem; don’t make matters worse by risking severe drops in blood pressure, spikes in blood sugar, or a variable resting heart rate as well as mineral deficiencies.

6. Diets Are Labor Intensive
Two things you MUST do- meal plan and meal prep. Non-Negotiable! The labor comes in the form of 1 day a week and cooking for 2 hours. There are 168 hours in a week. You can have the food delivered to you from the grocery store or use a meal service. You have the time to do this.

7. Diets Make You Feel Like Hopeless
Yes, delayed gratification is a must...that is if you are eating out all of the time or treating every meal like it is your last. It is all mindset! There is a saying I use this time of year...eat during the winter for the way you want your body to look in the summer. Drastic changes in eating habits lead to quitting. Don’t fall into this diet-shame cycle! Small, gradual, and realistic changes make it easier to succeed over the long haul.

8. Diets Are Expensive
Stats and facts- Organic clean eating is more expensive in comparison to eating fast food; Quality supplements are not cheap; snack such as walnuts and avocados are expensive if eaten regularly. All true. More stats- The cost of assisted living nationally averages $119 per day, $3,628 per month and $43,536 annually; prescription medications are skyrocketing out of control. Has your health insurance premium gone up or down? If you get sick you lose a ton of your hard-earned money. Some folks had a bad hand dealt to them in regard to their health...others are self-inflicted. How much money would you save by investing in yourself and staying out of the nursing home and off of future non-covered prescription medication?

9. Diets Make You Depressed
Eat to live; don’t live to eat! The quickest way to develop a craving is to tell yourself you can never have it again. I personally find that a small indulgence here and there eliminates my craving anxiety.

10. Diets Won’t Solve Your Problems
Making small lifestyle changes and behavior changes is what leads to real weight loss for the long-term. It takes time to put the weight on; it takes even more time to take the weight off. A quick fix will never change who you are deep down.
Are you ready to ditch your diet forever? I think you should!

To Your Health,

Dr. Christopher Carr