Diets Don't Work

A successful diet starts with the recognition that diets, in and of themselves, do not work. Diets concentrate on denying you food that you love to eat for some momentary weight loss, instead of teaching you how to maintain that weight loss.

A successful diet is more of a slow lifestyle change. A slow giving up of unhealthful ways to learn how to eat what you need to live, and how to improve your health as a whole. You need to learn to, as the expression goes, "Eat to Live, not Live to Eat."

A successful diet almost always approaches the weight loss challenge on more than just one level. First of all, you need to learn what you have done wrong in the past. Eating too many chips is not an answer to that question - feeling frequently emotionally empty and eating to affect your mood, is. Obviously, the next step would be to find a cure to the root problem before you start taking care of the consequences (ie, your weight gain).

Another level that is essential to every successful diet is a sizable dose of education in the fields of nutrition and general health. None of the fad diets would have ever been successful, had we all known more about these topics. If it says low-fat on certain products, does it mean you can eat as much of them as you want? You would be surprised to hear how many people still believe that.

Finally, a successful diet is a true lifestyle change towards fitness and health. In other words, its dominating idea should not concentrate on the negative, such as what foods you are no longer allowed to consume, but on the positives, such as how you can better your life and your health.

A successful diet starts from within, embodies all aspects of your life, and becomes an integral part of your new lifestyle. Now, let's have a look at the definition of the word Diet, as provided by thefreedictionary.com:

1. The usual food and drink of a person or animal.


2. A regulated selection of foods, as for medical reasons or cosmetic weight loss.


3. Something used, enjoyed, or provided regularly.

Obviously, there is a disconnect between the popular definition of a diet and the ideas that we laid out above. Therefore, once again, diets don't work.