Diet vs Dieting: Should you follow one over the other?

What does diet mean? 

We never talked so much about diet as in recent times. Every day a new super efficient diet pops up on my social media feeds, all of them promising quick results in a short period. All of them say that if you restrict  yourself and follow their recommendations you will shed extra pounds within no time. If these diets are so efficient, why most of us can’t succeed on a diet? To answer this question we need to understand the differences between following a diet and dieting. One aim for long-term results and the other promises short-term achievements. This article will help you navigate between the two of them and understand the differences each one has on your health.

So let’s talk about the terms. 

Diet is the way a group of people normally eat. It is similar to something you follow without even knowing because it is part of your routine. For example, people on the Mediterranean diet are not dieting, because they eat that way regularly. Following that diet isn’t something they do for a short time to lose a few pounds. Most people on that diet were raised eating that way - and possibly will die following that same diet. It is a style of eating rather than an effort to lose weight. Dieting on the other hand is something we go on when we want to put off some extra pounds - or even gain some pounds for any reason. However, when dieting we are looking for short-term results. An example of this is when on every New Year's there is an abundance of diets promising you a bikini body by summer time. 

Diet: the long-term commitment

As mentioned, following a diet is a long term commitment. When you are following a particular diet, you will probably go through an adaptation period until your body settles to the new habits and those new habits become natural to you. It takes more commitment and persistence to change the diet you want to follow, but once you do it, it becomes easy to stick to it. Many people following the Standard American Diet, which includes processed foods, frozen items and fast-food, would want to switch from that to a more wholesome diet that includes more fresh fruits and vegetables. Changing these eating habits isn’t easy at the beginning, but once passed the adaptation phase it is easy to maintain. 

The benefits of opting for a longer-term diet change are reflected on the overall health of individuals and also on their capacity of sticking to that new diet. This is because just like any addiction, some foods can also make us hostage. For example sugar and caffeine, they trigger hormone responses in our body that will make us want more. That is why sugary and caffeinated drinks are so popular. Cleansing your body from these addictive substances is hard - at the beginning you will feel moody, hungry and a lot of craves. This is a normal process, it is like your body was going through abstinence, but after about two weeks all of those symptoms should cease and you will start to enjoy the new diet - I promise! 

Once you are fully onboarded into your new diet your body will regain energy and you will start to see the benefits of the change. As you gain energy you may feel more inclined to exercise - keep in mind that exercising can be anything from a walk around the block, climbing stairs or going to your preferred class at the gym. Some other changes you may notice are: less aches and pain on your body, better gut health, less hunger or cravings, better mood and an overall feeling of well-being. 

These changes come and stay as there isn’t a deadline for when you need to be done with your ‘diet’. As you get accustomed to the new way of eating you will slowly see changes on how your body looks. You may realize you look slimmer without cutting on calories, you may feel better overall. These are the benefits of reeducating your body on how to eat. By making more conscious food choices your body will slowly change and you will regain control of your health. These changes won’t come quickly, in fact how long it will take for changes to be noticeable will vary from person to person, as each one of us responds to change differently. But if you persist, the results will appear and they will last forever. 

Dieting: the short time solution 

And what about dieting? Is it bad or good for you? Dieting is when you decide to completely change the way you eat for a short period to achieve a specific goal - mostly to lose weight. There are several different diets out there, the grapefruit diet, the cabbage diet, the paleo and Atkins diets and the list goes on and on. The one thing that all of these diets have in common is that they are very restrictive. They usually impose that you cut many ingredients from your meals or they are very calorie restrictive. They are definitely a good option if you need to see results in a short time. However they are hard to keep for a long time, so they usually come with a set time-frame to which you should see results and then you can go back to your regular eating habits. The issue with this is that our bodies do not understand that we are not actually starving and trigger a survival mode that will make us feel even hungrier during the dieting period and after it to compensate for the lower calorie intake. The result is that once you are done dieting you will probably gain more weight than you lost during the dieting process, and soon enough you will need to go on a diet again. 

As you can see, dieting looks like a great option to achieve results in a short-term, however they can impact our health, create imbalances in our bodies and the results are short lived. They also impact your mental health negatively as it is easy for us to feel ashamed for not being able to finish the diet or keep out the extra pounds. This also can lead to many other issues and even worse eating disorders. 

Should you diet at all? 

I particularly dislike the idea that we need to stick to any diet for the purpose of losing weight. I believe that we need education to understand the impact that our food choices have on our bodies, and this goes beyond the weight loss. Food can make us sick, but it can also heal. Knowing how to pick what goes on our plates is not easy, but such as any other skill with proper training we eventually get good at it! When people ask me if I am vegan, vegetarian or what, I say ‘I eat what makes me feel good’. And whenever they ask when did I change my habits I say ‘it was a process. It did not happen overnight’. No lasting change will happen overnight and no lasting changing should be imposed on you. This is why I don’t follow any particular diet, instead I learned to listen to my body and know what makes it happy. If a type of food makes me feel tired, sluggish or in any type of pain or discomfort, I know that I should not be eating it. I also know that some particular foods are known for causing some diseases or they can increase my risk of developing illness. Knowing that allows me to make food choices that are perfect for me. They may not be the best choices for your body, so before jumping into any diet change, my recommendation to you is to first learn to listen to your body - and this is the hardest part. Once you know what your body wants in order to feel good, then changing how you eat will become easier. That is my promise to you!