Are You Dieting on the DL?
Written by Isabel Vasquez, RD, LDN
You may think that you’re only dieting if you’re following a concrete meal plan and workout regimen focused on weight loss. However, sometimes dieting can be more insidious than that. It can be disguised as “eating healthy” or making a “lifestyle change”.
Why does it matter? Well, dieting can have some real mental and physical health repercussions.
Keep reading to learn signs that you’re dieting on the DL, the harms of dieting, and resources for ditching diets.
Signs You’re Dieting On The DL
Dieting can take different forms, but it usually comes with restrictive food behaviors. That could mean restricting when you eat, what you eat, or how much you eat.
Of course, tailoring your diet to manage medical conditions is sometimes necessary, so the intention behind your actions is worth considering.
It can be helpful to ask yourself: Are my actions motivated by a desire to lose weight, control my body shape/size or prevent weight gain?
If yes, it could be a sign that you’re dieting.
Here are some examples of how the diet mentality could present in your life:
You choose to eat a certain food not because it’s what you want, but because you’re afraid of how the food you really DO want might change your body
When you look at a food, you see all the nutritional facts (calories, sugar content, carbs, fat, etc.) instead of the other nourishment it can provide, such as satisfaction, pleasure, etc.
You label foods as “good”, “bad”, “healthy”, and “unhealthy”
You have a daily calorie limit and make decisions on what you eat based on if it would fit into your calorie limit for the day
You only view food for one of its properties. For example, you may view a piece of birthday cake as just a load of sugar instead of for the other functions it can serve, such as a fun way of partaking in a birthday celebration
Your food habits are rigid. You are strict about what you eat and don’t practice flexibility when other foods are presented or when deciding what you are going to eat.
You feel pride when you’re hungry. You don’t eat to a point of fullness or satisfaction. You may not even be in tune with whether or not you feel satisfied when eating.
Even if you feel hungry, you try to put off eating.
You have food rules, such as not eating after a certain time of the evening.
If you resonate with any of these points, you may be dieting on the DL. Another term for this could be that you have disordered eating behaviors.
What Are The Harms of Dieting?
Mental and Emotional Effects
Studies show that dieting is linked with depression, emotional distress, and irritability. It also disconnects you from your body’s hunger and fullness cues. Research shows that dieters also have a higher risk of developing eating disorders.
Plus, following food rules and experiencing preoccupation with your weight can cause you to be disconnected from your current self, your intuition, and the present moment.
Ultimately, you are putting the external rules above your own body’s cues.
Say you’re at a friend’s birthday party, and there’s lots of food and good company. While your friend is talking to you, you’re stressing internally about all the food you ate. You feel guilty and are thinking about how you should “start over and be good” tomorrow.
Imagine you weren’t dieting on the DL though. Imagine you decided to work on having a better relationship with food.
You’d be checking in on how your body feels in the moment, and you’d look at the food as more than just the number of calories or carbs it has. You could see the value food has outside of the nutritional content. You could make decisions from an empowered place, not a fearful and self-judgmental place.
You may also find that you’re more present in the moment with your loved ones, enjoying the food and company, instead of stressing over what you ate.
Physical Effects
Dieting can have a lot of physical harms as well.
For one, it often leads to weight cycling—big, repeated shifts up and down in weight that often happen from dieting. This is linked with health issues like diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, high blood pressure, and a shorter lifespan.
Depending on the extent to which you are dieting, your body may even go into starvation mode, which can cause your metabolism to slow down. With severe restriction and dieting, other bodily systems could suffer as well, such as the reproductive system and digestive system.
This is all in an effort to protect us when our bodies detect danger or stress.
That said, we can benefit greatly from working towards building a mutual trust with our bodies instead of working against them.
Reflecting on Your Dieting Behaviors
It can be helpful to reflect on your own relationship to food and your body to see how you may be dieting on the DL. Here are some questions to consider:
How much of your time, energy, and thoughts are expended thinking about food, working out, and changing your body?
If you were able to let go of some of those thoughts, how would your relationships change, including your relationship to yourself? What about other aspects of your life?
What do you hope to get out of controlling your food intake?
Final Thoughts
Even if you may not think you’re dieting, following food rules to control your weight or shape could be a sign that you are, in fact, dieting on the DL.
If you think you may benefit from improving your relationship with food, we have a team of dietitians ready to help you ditch diets and learn positive nutrition. Learn more about working with us through insurance here.
For education on how to ADD nutrition to your favorite Latine cultural dishes, make peace with food, and focus on your health without dieting, join our nutrition library for just $27/month.
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