“Restraint eating may relate to more weight regain due to the tendency of restraint eaters to think about food and dieting in dichotomous terms. This “all or nothing” thinking style may be the reason why people fail to adhere to their diets and regain weight in the long-term…Our results suggest that dichotomous thinking, and particularly the dichotomous cognitions related to food and dieting, may have an adverse effect on restraint eating behavior with possible implications on weight loss maintenance in the long-term.”
Palascha et al.
Religious thinking around food is not helpful. Self-awareness and education are. Some people must be more restrained than others because of addictive tendencies/the inability to moderate certain food items, immunological responses/intolerances to certain foods, or because of the inability to cope with even small to moderate amounts of carbohydrates (diabetes/insulin resistance). You could toss higher amounts of protein in that mix as well for those with kidney dysfunction and higher fat consumption for those who do not respond well to high fat diets for genetic or even physiological reasons.
Thus, people need to understand individually if they are being restrained – why – beyond the token cultish phrases, “this is what humans evolved to eat.” or “vegetarianism is the healthiest diet, so this is what we DO.”
If a certain eating strategy worked for you ask why?
If it didn’t, ask why?
And avoid the term dieting. People who “diet” have a higher tendency to go through weight regain.
I use a high protein version of the AutoImmune Paleo Approach with a lot of my clients. Not because I am married or in love with the actual nuts and bolts of the protocol. It still contains higher amounts of fructooligosaccharides which can be problematic, and I actually hate the inevitable placebo effect and the extreme attachments we have to certain foods.
I use this approach because it increases protein and satiety, drastically heightens nutrient density and fiber, and eliminates the most common food immunoreactivities. My goal is not for people to adhere religiously to AutoImmune Paleo for extended periods of time (unless it is advantageous because of an AutoImmune condition). I don’t care in the slightest.
But, in six months how they eat and live must be different, more individualized. They must become more educated about the why behind going through this type of protocol, as well as its limitations. They must become cognizant of what foods and activities make them feel nourished. They must understand that figuring out how we can optimize long term adherence is the show.
The goal is not restraint to be “clean” or “pure”. That’s incredibly dangerous because then you have the answer and others are “unclean” or “unpure”.
No, we are all under-educated and sleep walking, myself included.
The objective is to maintain a beginner’s mind and to wake up again and again and again.
Recent Comments