Diets Don’t Work, Reason #2 - Diets Focus on Food, Not Feelings

Dieting has directed you to focus solely on the foods you’ve been eating. The problem is not what you’ve been eating, but what’s been eating you! When you diet, you throw your body into conflict and you wage war on yourself.

For people who are emotional eaters, food holds an extraordinarily powerful and important meaning, connecting with love and acceptance, comfort and peace. If you have happy memories of eating and food, your brain has created an association that food=comfort. You may have heard people joke around and say that they are on a See food diet. That means that when they see food, they automatically want to eat it.

Now here’s where things get interesting. Your experience with trying to lose weight and dieting has led you to accept many conflicting beliefs about yourself and food.

As a dieter and a woman raised in a society where thin is considered beautiful and fat is ugly, you’ve been unconsciously collecting a whole bunch of limiting beliefs that keep you stuck and afraid of food, trying to grab the brass ring of beauty and become that thin version of you. With the focus and emphasis on the importance of being thin, diets reinforce the message that deprivation is the road to success.

Our culture worships thinness and condemns fat. We are living in a fat phobic society where it’s not okay to be okay with being fat. According to our society’s double standard, if you’re fat, then you have to resign yourself to eating carrots and celery and eating lean until you become a thin person and then you can eat what you want. Diet organizations have turned food into the enemy.

Imagine what kind of pressure that puts on you as a dieter. There are two conflicting thought patterns going on inside of you. First you’re thinking about how good food tastes, how much you love it and all the happy memories that come from eating. At the same time, your brain is battling with thoughts and judgments that come from years of dieting that has labeled your beloved food as bad for you, fattening, tempting, forbidden, poison and many other labels that lead you to fear it and want it at the same time.

It’s no wonder that your head doesn’t just explode from the stress!You've got to end the conflict that keeps you in unhappy patterns of dieting and binging. Freedom from food and weight obsession starts by making peace with food, saying goodbye to dieting and self acceptance. Get started on the road to ending the war on food and calling a truce with your body. Grab a free copy of my Lovin' the Skin You're in Sampler.