Diets Don t Work, They Are Just Familiar

Do you want to lose weight quickly? Are you anxious to finally see that number on the scale dip after years of struggling? If the answer is yes, then simply choose any diet book that has been out there for the last 20 years. Simply go ahead and pick any "fad" diet or "latest craze", and I guarantee that you will lose weight temporarily.

I will also guarantee that you will gain all the weight you lost back, plus more within one year. The overwhelming pool of data suggests that over 90% of people who follow "diets" not only gain back the weight they lost, they actually become heavier than when they first started. None of us need statistics or pie charts to confirm this obvious truth. If you've never tried to diet, I'm certain you know someone who has. Are the results ever favorable in the long run? We all know they are not. Why is this so? How come all of these books keep coming out with a boat load of nutritional information that still has everyone scratching their heads in confusion and frustration?

Life teaches all of us that nothing worth having comes easy. Unfortunately, most diet books prey on what we wish were true. Quick and easy sells and authors know this. They promise you quick results and permanent change. Trust me when I tell you that I have read many, if not all of the most popular fad diets not to follow them, but to educate myself on why some people, specifically current and potential clients, have failed to lose weight over and over again.

Except for a select few, most diet books fall into 2 harmful categories. I label the first category, "Outright Lies". You can spot these books a mile away, although it saddens me as a Nutritionist when people actually purchase them. One example that comes to mind is the "The Grapefruit Diet". Filled with nutritionally unsound information, this diet promises to help slash 52 pounds in two and a half months. Most foods are restricted, and it's dangerously low in calories causing your body to consume its lean muscle (catabolism), ultimately destroying your metabolism.

The second category, and in my opinion the most deadly, are the "Half-Truths". What do I mean by that? Well, these are the books that actually have a lot of correct nutritional information contained within the pages. They are accurate when telling you how many calories a food or dish is, they are dead on when describing the functions of macronutrients (proteins, fats, and carbohydrates), they are almost encyclopedia-like in describing the human digestive system, and so on. The big problem is they do not tell you "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth". Remember, they are selling you something, and in order for the book to be successful, they have to water-down or simplify things by creating "the system of all systems". In many cases, these books eliminate foods or entire food groups, swear by some sort of "magic food or supplement", provide you with a super-strict blueprint of exactly what to eat, supply you with recipes that only a professionally trained chef could prepare, or drastically slash calories (below 1,200). All of these programs eventually fail because they are unhealthy, unrealistic, rigid, or a combination of all three. Unfortunately, diet books do not have your health or long-term success in mind. Let's not set ourselves up for failure ever again by believing the "quick and easy" gimmick or that in order to lose weight we have to suffer through lunches of cabbage soup, and dinners of celery sticks.

Remember why we purchase these books in the first place. We are unhappy with our weight. We are disappointed with our waist-size, hips, cellulite, energy levels, mood, focus, and the short-comings from "the next great diet book". We are overweight and we are over it. We relentlessly try to trim down by reading every diet book just to wind up driving down that ever-familiar dead end street, totally heart-broken that we have not arrived at our goal. It's not that we are lazy (some of us anyway) or stupid. What we are is discouraged and confused. We don't know where to look anymore, or who to trust because we have been misled by the misinformation circulating the web, the "fad" diet books, and the 2am infomercials that target us when we are at our emotional weak points. Our patience is running thin, and our desperate attempts to lose weight just aren't working. I understand all of your concerns and dwindling confidence. My hope is that you are not ready to throw in the towel just yet.

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