Pros and Cons of Dieting
Defining dieting…
Ah, dieting. To clarify right off the bat that when I say dieting I mean fad diets and trends as a whole.
First I want to say that in the non-diet/anti-diet/screw-diet-culture space I know there can be just as many extremes as the weight loss/dieting side. A lot of what I have been thinking about is bringing the grey into this. That there are not opposing sides, but different approaches. Personally, recovering from my eating disorder saved my life in a multitude of ways and so I am strongly in the camp of f*ck diet culture. At the same time, I try to hold lots of space for those that aren’t as strongly in that camp. My mission is to help repair people’s relationships to their bodies and the foods they eat. I want to help people to see what is going on biologically when it comes to binging, weight gain and other situations that chronic dieting and having and eating disorder can lead you to. So I want to talk today on the pros and cons of dieting from my perspective.
(Side note: I am obviously going to be biased which I feel like was the point of what I was writing above. But in that bias, I want to be realistic and open-minded where I want to approach it from a less harsh place than the messaging can sometimes come across. Because first and foremost I want to say that I employ the non-diet approach because I am against diet culture but I am NOT against those who diet. If I was against dieters, I would be actively shutting out the very people that I want to be available to if they want to try something new.)
Pros and Cons of Dieting
Dieting Pro: You feel a sense of connectedness. This could be with fellow people that are also on the same diet, or with just people in general. Since dieting and weight loss are so common if you throw out the phrase “I’m trying to be good, I just started a diet.” you will likely be overwhelmed with camaraderie by people who are also trying to diet. Words of encouragement and empathy are common. Also the pursuit of weight loss is seen as the “healthiest” thing you can do for yourself, so if you say you are trying to lose weight, you will likely be met with praise. (I just want it noted that I do not agree that weight loss is the golden goose of health.)
Dieting Con: You think that if it doesn’t “work” for you, that you are broken. There is no proven effective method for weight loss in the long term. This is because our bodies are still primal, weight loss could mean death. Also, our bodies don’t keep up on the latest beauty standards so it is not going to be on board with altering the shape of your body in ways that are unnatural to you just because you want it to. It’s trying to protect you from dying. You are not broken, dieting is just not natural.
Dieting Pro: You pay more attention to food. As a dietitian I’m going to think this is cool. Being interested in what we are eating, what foods we are purchasing, holding companies accountable for their ingredients, preparing meals for ourselves and others can all be positive things.
Dieting Con: To follow up to the point above, the problem is it can go too far very quickly. There is a point with food where I think too much knowledge hiders us rather than helps us. I see it all the time where people cross the line into being so stressed about eating the “right” thing that I have to stop them and say “when did stressing about food become okay when we know that stress in general does not do ourselves any good?” Marketing is always going to want to give you a solution to a problem. In my opinion, diet culture created the problem where they made us think we don’t know what to eat. So then they can come in with names like “perfect bar”, “smart pop”, “enlightened ice cream” and create commercials where perfect looking individuals are eating their products and you think “oh, if I eat that, I will be perfect too!”
Dieting Pro: Sometimes the starting intentions are good. You want to be healthier. You want to be able to run around with your dog. You want to set a good example for your kids of a balanced diet. You want to do right by yourself and your body.
Dieting Con: Dieting further disconnects us from listening to our body’s internal cues and needs rather than brings us closer. Even the diets that try to use their marketing to say otherwise (cough Whole30 cough), I often see having the opposite effect because at the end of the day, if you are restricting, it will lead to adverse effects. Sometimes the health goals that we start off with become less and less about true health and what that means to us as individuals.
Dieting Pro: The answer is simple, and it is weight loss. Go to the doctor for knee pain - weight loss. Tired? Weight loss. Sad? Weight loss. Lonely? Weight loss. Poor body image? Weight loss. Inflammation? Weight loss. Asthma? Weight loss. The answer is simple so it feels like you *know* exactly what you need to do to have your wildest dreams come true. In a life full of uncertainty, this level of “knowing” is very intoxicating.
Dieting Con: Again, to address the pro above - unfortunately this idea that weight loss can be the answer to everything is too, a lie. Happiness, health, overall well-being, positive body image, confidence - these are actually all very complicated that will not be something you will ever “arrive” at. They will be daily practices that will not have simple solutions. I want to recognize that thin-privilege is very real and I am not trying to say that it isn’t. But the answer is so much more complicated than ‘anyone that does not have that privilege should lose weight and all will be okay’. Think of all the other ways that one might have privilege and think what the “simple” solutions others would have to do in order to have those privileges. That’s the point, that’s why is is called a privilege. Thin-privilege should be thought of in the same way because we have a generic blue print of what size our body is going to naturally be. Sure we can go to extremeness to alter it, but if weight loss is one of those extremes, it might not actually be possible because of the ways our bodies are designed. So holding space to accept all body shapes and sizes allows people to exist just as they are, without having to kill themselves over pursuing weight loss.
Katy Gaston Nutrition
Katy is a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of Katy Gaston Nutrition based in San Francisco, CA. Katy is passionate about her work in eating disorders and disordered eating (AKA dieting) and wants to help people heal their relationship with food and body. If you would like to work with Katy in counseling sessions, she is available virtually via her services page below. If you are unable to be a client at this time but would like learn more, click here for a free introduction into intuitive eating workbook!