The Dark Side of Dieting
In a world of full of dieting...
The Dark Side of Dieting
Chronic dieting is described as jumping on and off restrictive weight loss diets for 2 years or more, with an associated fixation with weight and size and little to no long term success. Sound familiar? Chronic dieting is extremely common in women, and pretty much normalised at this point. However, there are good reasons to avoid falling into the chronic dieting trap. Let us share four reasons with you.
Disordered Eating
Putting too much emphasis on body image, weight, and size can lead to irregular eating behaviors over time. This may fly under the radar for a long period of time. Maybe you feel like you just eat ‘clean’ and you are just really health conscious. However, this is a problem if you feel restricted, start to get anxious around food choice or start to become extremely food or body focused. This might look like worrying about your food choice, being very food focused or negatively self talking about your body or your food choices. If you feel overly controlled or sporadically out of control around food you may be experiencing disordered eating.
What to do if this affects you?
Get help from a Nutritionist or Dietician to work on your relationship with food.
Mood Disturbances
Chronic dieting has been linked to mood dysregulation. This could be due to an increased focus on size and weight, affecting body image and self esteem. This is often characterised by negative self talk, body or mirror checking for flaws, causing drops in mood. It could also be due to continually feeling like a failure at something that is perceived to be important i.e. weight loss, which can affect self worth. Conversely, not getting enough energy, carbohydrates, and micronutrients can also have a physiological effect that can lead to low mood and in some cases depression.
What to do if this affects you?
Talk to a therapist and focus on limiting behaviours that decrease mood and implementing behaviours that increase mood. Increasing food intake and stopping restriction.
Osteoporosis
Restricting overall energy and nutrient intake can affect long term bone health and increases the risk for osteoporosis. We reach our peak bone mass (the maximum amount of bone we can build) by around age 30, so dieters through their teens and twenties may be at an increased risk. After 30, chronic dieting can continue to cause issues if you do not reach energy, calcium and protein requirements to help reduce bone mineral losses. Chronic dieting can also affect our hormonal health which plays an important role in protecting our bones and reducing bone loss as we age.
What to do if this affects you?
Talk to your Doctor. Eat enough energy, protein, calcium and vitamin D to support requirements. Do resistance exercise to protect you from bone loss.
Appetite Dysregulation
Chronic dieting is associated with a decrease in appetite regulation. This is because weight loss or food restriction increases your desire to eat, however dieting also requires dieters to ignore hunger and stick to their diet. This may lead to not knowing when you are full, when you are hungry or conversely always feeling hungry. In turn, this can lead to quite chaotic eating, meaning that eating habits may look a bit all over the place. This can lead to weight gain, weight loss or disordered eating as a person continues to attempt to navigate the eating world without being able to rely on internal appetite cues.
What to do if this affects you?
Work with a Nutritionist or a Dietician. Increase food intake to meet energy requirements, stop dieting and form a regular eating pattern.
Let's Sum It Up
Chronic dieting is characterised by jumping on and off weight loss diets for over 2 years, with associated fixation on weight loss however with low levels of success. Chronic dieting is detrimental for long term health. It is associated with an increased risk of disordered eating, mood dysregulation, osteoporosis and appetite dysregulation. This may just be your sign to stop chronic dieting. Please seek help from professionals if required.
