Do you fall victim to fad diets?

How many times have you fallen victim to the dieting trap?

-Restrict food to try to lose weight or to gain control over food choices.
-Feel deprived.
-Crave foods you are restricting.
-Feel miserable, isolated or confused.
-Give into temptation and eat off-limit food.
-Mentally beat yourself up for eating something you shouldn't be eating and think "What the heck. I failed again so I may as well eat it all."
-Feel guilty, uncomfortable and anxious. Become overly critical of your body. Feel like a failure. Get angry. Blame yourself for not having willpower.
-Binge eat or give up on the diet and go back to your old ways of eating.
-Begin the cycle again.

If you are one of the 45 million Americans who go on a diet each year, please keep these important reminders in mind when you consider a new/popular diet as a new way of eating.

• Dieting affects your self-esteem. You don't fail at dieting, the diet fails you.
• Diets severly restrict your food choices, making you feel deprived. In return, the desire to eat "off limit" food increases.
• You blame willpower for not thriving on your new diet but body is likely not receiving the energy and nutrients it needs to function at its best. 
• Dieting makes food the enemy. As a result, dieting can lead to an unhealthy relationship with food and unhealthy behaviors such as fasting, binging, excessive exercising, food obsession, social isolation and skipping meals. 
• It's common that eating disorders start off as dieting. 
• It's difficult to love our body and diet at the same time. To respect and care for your body, you must nourish and fuel your body. 
• Food does not need to be labeled "good or bad." Labeling food as bad suggests that if you eat a certain food, you are a "bad" person. 
• Food doesn't fix feelings or emotions. When you feel anxious, bored, lonely, stressed or upset, find ways to comfort yourself without food. 
• Get in touch wih your body's signs of hunger, fullness and satisfaction. Learn to eat more mindfully. 
• Don't use exercise as a way to lose weight. Exercise because it feels good - mentally and physically - to be active. 
• Eat for health, not weight loss. A sustainable diet is balanced, non-restrictive and easy to maintain for a lifetime.