For every diet there is an equal and opposite binge

Have you ever wondered why diets don’t work?

Diets don’t work because they assume that the reason people are overweight is because they lack willpower. And that’s simply not true.

If we lacked willpower, nobody would have ever lost a pound on a diet.

Diets don’t work because they assume that we can’t trust ourselves.

They assume that unless we follow the latest recommendations from the latest guru about when and what and how much to eat, we would begin eating and never stop.

Diets don’t teach us to listen to the wisdom of our bodies. Diets tell us that our bodies have no wisdom, and therefore we must control their reckless, bottomless hungers.

And that is also untrue.

Diets don’t work because they lead to bingeing. For every diet, there is an equal and opposite binge.

Binges are a way in which we allow ourselves to go unconscious, to get away from the concerns of day-to-day life and plunge into oblivion for a few minutes. Binges happen when we’re deprived of something (e.g. nourishment, love, alone time).

If we developed other ways to meet those needs, our desire to binge would lessen.

What if we could lose weight while trusting ourselves?

• Trusting ourselves to eat when we’re hungry and stop when we’re satisfied.
• Trusting ourselves to feed our emotional hungers with the attention, intimacy, solitude or play-time we are craving instead of with food.

Stay tuned for next week’s blog where I’ll be discussing a 7 step framework to do just that.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences about dieting, bingeing and trusting yourself around food. How practiced are you at knowing what you’re truly hungry for? Leave a comment below.