Who's Benefiting From Diet Plans? Not You!

Guess what? Fad diets, cleanses, and programs that stray too far from the norm simply don't cut it when it comes to permanent lifestyle change. The only ones benefiting from these diets are the commercial enterprises that create and sell them. "Dieting is a multi-billion dollar industry. Our constant failure is their success.

Why Don't Diets Work?

Why don't they work? Because they don't address the basic model for behavior change. Let's face it, we all live in the real world with real temptations, stresses, and time constraints. Diets don't teach portion control and balance while eating real, whole foods available to us every day. If we don't learn how to function in the real world, we're doomed to repeat that all-too-familiar dieting cycle each time we "end" a diet.

What happens when you finish a diet plan? You've stuck to your diet, reached your goal weight, and . . . now what? Where do you go from here? Right back to your very real subconscious beliefs that constantly pull you in the wrong direction. Let's say that the "diet" was super low cal, devoid of carbs, and deprived you of every goodie you love: chocolate, wine, artisan breads . . . . Need I go on?

Commercial diets may help you drop the weight, initially. But they are missing a vital ingredient that is crucial to long-term, weight management: Permanent behavior change. You need to train your mind and body to behave around food in the very circumstances that make you weak, eventually changing your core beliefs about food.

The only way to change bad habits around food is to create new, positive behaviors that eventually become permanent ways of being. This teaches you how to cheat occasionally, recover from bad days, and love food for its beauty and nourishment, not as a quick psychological fix.

We've all heard the saying, "It takes twenty-eight days to create a new habit." Well that's true because, when we consistently think, act, and become our new behavior, it becomes fixed in our brains and bodies. New neuronal connections are formed and strengthened over time (with repetition), solidifying the new behavior, making it automatic. This is how we change.

What Do You Want?

Ask yourself what you really want? Is it to continue with yo-yo dieting: losing and gaining, losing and gaining for the rest of your life? No one wants that. I'm making an assumption here, but I would think that most people who have suffered with food and weight management simply want stability. I did.

My dream was to stop obsessing over food. I wanted to enjoy and be grateful for beautiful food, eat healthy, and learn to think of food as fuel my body instead of my emotions. I've fulfilled that dream, and so can you.

Any diet plan that takes you away from normal daily life will fail in the long run. Consistent practice in the basics of healthy, food choices (which means you can eat anything), portion control, and an active lifestyle will not only teach you how to live in the real world, but will change the way you think and react around food. You will learn to love and appreciate good food, and you will be in control of your weight, for life.

You deserve it!