Why Don’t Diet's Stick?
SEASON 1 EPISODE 1
I was reading in the papers the other day, that BBC presenter Stephen Nolan went on the now very famous 800 calorie diet for 12 weeks last year, and actually managed to lose seven stones in 14 weeks.
But the headline was actually that he then lost control and put it all back on. Now I'm sure this is not an uncommon experience that people have. And so I thought I'd talk to you about why dieting is so hard.
Contrary to popular belief, it's not actually all about you and your willpower. Some things are much more hardwired into our biology, then, you know, saying oh, just make a good decision, just make a good choice, and requires extra effort and some helpful techniques to manage them.
What happens to our bodies when we eat?
First of all, when we eat a whole series of events get triggered in our bodies, right, so our digestive system starts digesting foods with different enzymes. And as the food travels through our bodies, various hormonal and biological responses happen. But here's where it gets a bit tricky when our brains also get involved. So let's break it down. Number one, as expected, our brains prefer to feel good, right. And research has told us that all eating actually increases this thing called dopamine. Some of you may have heard the term dopamine effect. And some of you may even have heard things like I was sugar is more addictive than cocaine and things like that. And it's really based on the idea that food makes us feel good, especially the intake of high fat and sugar foods. And very naturally, you would choose to feel good rather than feel bad.
Habits, Food Association and our Brain
Which leads on nicely to our second point, which is around habits. Now when you eat certain foods and you feel good. This could be as a child and you had your first I don't know, treacle tart. And you associated that with a really happy feeling. Then over time, what happens is that we create this kind of emotional association with the food.
Just last week, I was talking to one of my clients who says that he is addicted to eating crisps Now apart from crisps being made to taste good, you know, the kind of saltiness, the crunchiness, the very strong flavours in them, we started talking more about why he likes them so much. And at the end of the conversation, we hit the realisation that it's because it reminds him of when he was a kid. And that's why he's hooked to eating crisps.
Habits are notoriously hard to change, whether it's creating them, or getting rid of them. Now certain things like brushing your teeth or getting up at the same time every morning might feel very natural. But that's probably because you've been doing them for so many years.
A good example of this actually on the flip side is if you think about disgust response. More than once, I've heard people say that when they were at university, they've had a particularly heavy night they had too much tequila and then throw up. And ever since even a whiff of tequila makes them feel sick. So that's how powerful our brains can be in terms of forming habits both good and bad.
Now, when it comes to our brains as well, a really important thing is of course memory. I'm not sure if you've seen the show secret eaters. It's a fantastic show that really demonstrates this idea very well. So in each episode, the host will meet a group of people usually a couple friends or a family who are overweight. They then filmed in the homes for a week and are followed around by private investigators who monitor the every move and record everything they eat. At the end of the week, they are then confronted by the presenter about what they ate. They're showing footage of them eating and told how many calories they have eating throughout the course of the week, and then given some dietary advice, and as I'm sure you would have guessed, in most cases, they are surprised by what they've eaten. And this is because a lot of research has shown that it is very easy to underreport or to miss remember what we've eaten.
I've done this exercise with a client where we logged everything he ate and drink in a shared food diary online. And when we reviewed it, contrary to his beliefs of eating very healthily, he was actually surprised by the content of the food that he had ate that week, and by the volume of bacon, and really fatty pork belly, that he very regularly eats.
If you need more convincing that our brains are a huge factor, I'd like you to consider disordered eating, for example, anorexia, where biologically and physically, our bodies would be sending a lot of signals actually, that we need more food to sustain functions. But somehow the brain is still able to override all of these signals and tell the person not to eat now. So those are reasons within ourselves that make dieting very difficult.
Information Overload
Now I want to talk about reasons external to us. One thing that I've noticed in the last few years, especially is that there's just too much information. The information is often confusing, conflicting, and sometimes maybe not even scientifically, that accurate, I was looking online, and I saw that Joe Rogan had just completed a carnivore diet. And for those not familiar with the term, it's kind of like one step up from a paleo or caveman diet, where you only eat meat. There's no fruit and vegetables allowed. So some people might be tempted to try it, some people might be very opposed to it.
And then if you've just watched the Game Changers documentary on Netflix, some people might think Joe Rogan did a really stupid thing. And that actually, he should go on a vegan diet.
So when all of these things are just firing off on the media, constantly, it makes it very difficult for us to make the right choice to make the best choice for our lifestyles.
The Food Industry
Secondly, the food industry probably isn't on your side. In fact, I was just talking to my client yesterday about how someone my size, going to a restaurant or ordering a meal with someone who might be double my size, are expected to have the same portions. And let's not go into too much detail in terms of our maybe you exercise a lot more and they don't aren't, you know, genetics. But just the idea that I would eat the same amount of food as someone who has double my size is a bit strange.
In addition to that marketing campaigns can be very misleading. So a really good example, is when packages say that they are multi grain, it doesn't actually legally require them to be whole grain. I know that sounds super confusing, and it is. But basically, when they use multi grain, it just means they use multiple types of grains. The grains themselves don't have to be whole grain. And that's only one example of how food labelling can be very misleading.
Also on the topic of food, you need to think about you know, restaurants and other places that sell food, they are money making companies, they do need to consider their profit margins. And if you look at you know, your supermarket bill every month, you would see that you know, proteins when you're talking about meat and fish and poultry, they do cost more than let's say a packet of rice, a packet of pasta. So what tends to happen is that when we go out to eat or when we order online, the options we get are either decent proportion of protein, good quality carbs, but more expensive, or it could be basically no protein, you know, simple carbs and unhealthy foods, but super cheap.
Now a really good comparison would be this chain called Farmer J. Some of you may have visited them. A typical meal there would be you know, a portion of beef or chicken or a vegetarian option with you know, a healthy side salad and that could be in the range of, you know, £7-8 and then you go on the Maccy D’s menu, and you would find that you can buy a cheeseburger for 99p. So I just want you to think about why that is possible.
And lastly, this is what I tell all my clients diets are not designed by somebody who's actually in your body, and living your life. Right? Diets with very clear ‘eat this not that’ rules are usually based on whatever scientific principle that they choose to adhere to. And the person who came up with whatever diet is unlikely to have the same lifestyle, or shedule, as you and more importantly, they are not you, they don't know how you feel after eating based on their meal plan. It's kind of like having someone dress you from the other side of the world without ever meeting you. And you won't ever meet them to give them feedback of whether or not you like the styles they picked.
So that kind of sums up, you know, my thoughts on why dieting is so hard. Now, to be honest, I'm not a big proponent of any fixed diets. I think it's much better to be more intuitive with how you eat, you know, follow basic principles. But I do understand that for a lot of people, you know, following a plan following a diet is more simple, and takes a lot of the guesswork out of it.
Key Takeaways
So I'd like to leave you with three actionable steps that you can do straight away after you listen to this episode.
Stick to natural foods.
This is super, super simple. It does not matter if you prefer to eat meat, or if you're vegetarian, or if you're vegan, right, it really doesn't matter. You just need to follow the idea that if something doesn't exist in nature, and you can't pronounce all the ingredients, or you don't know what it's made off, try to avoid them.Listen to your body. I know this sounds really abstract, and really kind of woowoo and ambiguous. But basically, there shouldn't be any shame or guilt, right associated with food food is awesome. Don't have a go at yourself or slipping up and eating to doughnuts, for example.
Learn to listen to your body. Remember how you feel after eating. If you're feeling super bloated like beach? Well, after eating your meal, you probably don't need to see the dessert menu.Connect with your true motivation. I always remind my clients - stop putting yourself down and saying you don't have willpower or discipline. You'd stay up late to meet a deadline; You get up early to make your kids breakfast even after that late night; And some of you are super wild and would get up for spin classes before the sun comes up. Right? So the idea that you don't have willpower or discipline is rubbish, you do have them.
The reason you're able to do all of these things is because you want to, or because it's extremely important to you. I remember the story that I once heard.
So a coach was asking his client, why do you want to lose weight? First, he started with the usual answers, you know, I've got a beer gut, I want to look better, or you know, my shirts don't fit any more. But as the conversation went on, the actual motivation came out right. He was feeling embarrassed every time that he had to take his top off and get in the pool in front of other parents when he went with a son to swimming classes. Now I'm not saying that your true motivations always have to be rooted in a negative feeling or experience.
Some of my clients actually commit because they want to achieve more in their careers or personal lives. So it can be a very positive true motivation. But the point is once you're able to really connect with your true motivation, eating healthily to reach a health goal becomes very simple.
