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11 September 2006
Accept Your Body And Ditch The Dieting!
by Angie Rankman
Every week, a new fad diet promising to rapidly shed-away the pounds appears, but unfortunately the only thing that seems to be any lighter by the end of the ordeal is your purse. The fact that women willingly jump on the next diet bandwagon in spite of this is either a sign of sheer blinkered optimism, or, more likely, desperation. It's not hard to see where the desperation and confusion that many women feel about their bodies comes from. On the one hand we have advertisements telling us to eat more chocolate, ice-cream and fast food, while other equally seductive marketing messages tell us that we need to look rake-thin if we ever want to be considered sexy. So here's a novel idea. Why not give diets the cold shoulder and just accept our unique body shapes?
We all know that each fad piece of dieting wisdom taken at face value is total nonsense, but collectively, a barrage of mixed messages keeps women in a perpetual state of guilt and anxiety about their bodies. This is perfect for marketers, as the emotional roller coaster makes sure that you are primed for the next big diet craze, which almost always requires a bit of masochism on your part. It's one thing to suffer for fashion, but starving yourself in the hope of catching the eye of some gorgeous stranger is probably taking things a little too far. Of course, there are other reasons why we might want to be able to pour ourselves into the tiniest pair of jeans we can find on the rack; perhaps we're dieting for our own self-esteem, or for health reasons, or a little of both.
But what's driving those perceptions of self-worth and health consciousness? Who are we really dieting for, and is that 48-hour lettuce leaf diet really all that healthy? Could it be that we're dieting for every reason other than our own well-being? We see girls of fifteen on catwalks and in magazines modeling this season's fashions and we consciously or subconsciously rate our bodies against theirs. What's the point of modeling a garment on a body that is structurally different to an adult woman's? Unfortunately, marketers have become savvy to the feelings of inadequacy that such images instill in women, and have subsequently focused their talents toward turning diets into a brand.
You know them. The Atkins' Diet was probably the first real attempt at devising a formulaic diet marketing strategy, and now there are all sorts of carefully marketed diets available, from the Sonoma Diet to the Fat Smash Diet. There's a lot more sophistication to the way in which these diets are being sold, too. The successful ones - that is, the ones that are making the most money - claim that their diets have some basis in science, and follow more natural eating patterns than, well, the last fad diet. The truth is that all an expensive diet book needs these days is an approving nod from a high profile celebrity (even though we may witness said celeb's weight constantly yo-yoing). No, it is unlikely that you will ever find a dieting panacea anywhere on the pages of a book promising that you'll look like Kate Moss on amphetamines in just under a week.
It sounds corny, but you only need to look inside yourself to get on the right track toward healthy eating. After all, you are the one who is most important when it comes to your health, not some publisher earning wads of cash from your socially inflicted misery. That's right, as long as you're happy with whom you are and what you look like, one thing will naturally lead to another. And you'll be pleased to hear that as corny as this simple idea may sound, it is based on impartial scientific research. It makes perfect sense when you think about it. Most of our weight loss hang-ups are a result of external pressures and lack of others accepting who you are as a person physically.
In a study soon to be published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, Tracy Tylka, assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University, demonstrated how women who are more comfortable with their bodies are far more likely to follow a healthy eating regimen. How can this be? Surely no good can come from having such a blasé attitude toward eating, because not caring about food will surely lead to obesity. Not so, according to Tylka, who suggests that women who diet because of body dissatisfaction are actually more likely to go back to square one. "The message that women often hear is that some degree of body dissatisfaction is healthy because it could help them strive to take care of their bodies. But it may be just the opposite: an appreciation of your body is needed to really adopt better eating habits," Tylka said. And she's got even more counter-intuitive advice to share.
Tylka says that her studies on "intuitive eating," or eating based on hunger, rather than emotions and situations, were designed to determine what can be considered healthy, or natural eating habits. The cues for eating healthily are based on physical reasons, such as hunger and fullness. It sounds like obvious stuff, but we are so conditioned to eat at particular times that we have lost the ability to follow the physical cues. Not surprisingly, Tylka's research on eating whenever and whatever you want has been deemed controversial, but the findings speak for themselves. "There's this belief that if you give people unconditional permission to eat, they are going to binge and add on a lot of pounds. But that's not what we've found," Tylka said.
Her study, involving hundreds of college women, found that women who ate intuitively had a lower Body Mass Index (BMI) than those who had regimented or diet controlled eating patterns. "It seems amazing, but it is true. If you listen to your body signals in determining what, when, and how much to eat, you are not going to binge and you're going to eat an appropriate amount of nutrient-dense foods," said Tylka. Seen another way, Tylka showed that if you take the stress and emphasis out of eating, then what follows is not only a healthier lifestyle, but also a greater appreciation for your own body.
Tylka also revealed another interesting fact about those who ate intuitively. She found that intuitive eaters perceived that their parents, peers and others accepted their physicality unconditionally. "When women feel that the people in their life accept their body, they don't feel like they need to lose weight or tone up to be worthwhile," Tylka said. "That seems to be directly related to eating intuitively." A second study also showed that intuitive eating led to higher levels of self-esteem, coping ability, optimism, and ability to deal with stressful situations.
Most importantly, and getting back to our original point, Tylka says that while intuitive eating will most likely lead to a healthy body weight, it will not necessarily get you that svelte, willowy body we see all too often on catwalks and in the media. "There are going to be a variety of body types. For most people, their ideal body type will hover around the range that doctors say is healthy. But some will be healthy at a higher weight and others at a lower weight."
Thankfully, we are just beginning to see the faintest hint of this kind of acceptance emerging in the mainstream consciousness. Increasing numbers of designers and manufacturers are using real-world sized models in their shows and catalogues. Without this kind of public exposure, women everywhere - real women - will be forever anxious about what they eat and how they appear to others, rather than looking for self-acceptance, a healthier lifestyle and a unique sexiness that has been hidden from view for far too long. Variety is the spice of life!
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