I don’t know if the moon or stars are in some strange alignment….

But lately I’ve been talking to so many clients/coworkers etc…and it seems like there are more than the usual amount of people trying (and ultimately failing miserably) these trendy “quick fix” diets….such as Keto, (which, BTW, if done the way it’s intended…is a pretty miserable experience…there’s even a name for the unpleasant side effects called “Keto flu”), whole 30, cleanses, etc.

Take the post you see here. This poor person tried Keto and an insanely intense exercise program. Lost 60 pounds. Regained 80. And now the poor thing is so desperate, she’s willing to try it again!

UGHHH!!!!!

Another one of my clients was told by her doctor she needs to loose 20# and wanted her to go on an extremely strict diet for 3 weeks and then resume her regular eating.

We are totally going against the Doc’s advice (there is no medical issue here that requires strict dieting for 3 weeks). We are going to incorporate healthier options and change habits…one at a time…while allowing her to still eat her favorite foods with mindfulness to portion control.

WTF!!!!!

There are so many reasons why these strategies DO NOT WORK for the majority of people over the long haul.

1) They are ridiculously restrictive often excluding huge entire food groups leaving us feel deprived and miserable.

2) They cause us to have unhealthy relationships with food. We begin to assign moral values to food, i.e. this food is “good” this one is “bad”.

3) They make us feel horribly guilty if we, god forbid, want to eat a piece of bread, a piece of cheese, or try a little bit of dessert (all of which can fit into a healthy diet BTW).

4) They emphasize that “All or Nothing” way of thinking. We’re either ALL in on our cleanse, detox, or diet or if we break the rules (as with Whole 30), we have to start all over again because we were “bad” and ate something that was forbidden on the diet. So we figure if we were “bad” we might as well be “bad” for days, weeks, months… cuz the thought of going back to all of that restriction is unbearable.

5) They teach us ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about how to eat once we finish the “magic diet”.

In fact, pretty much 100% of the time, we feel like we’ve failed after we’ve been on one of these diets (truth is THEY FAIL US..and we end up gaining the weight we lost along with a few extra additional pounds and our self esteem takes a hit.

I know, I’ve been there.

I tried sooooooo many diets over the 80’s and 90’s it’s almost embarrassing to admit.

I was chasing the latest thing…Slimfast, Fiber Trim Pills, Herbal Life, South Beach….the list goes on and on and on.

I got so tired of the hamster wheel….I knew something had to change.

So I started changing one thing at a time.

I started to eat some protein at every meal.

I kept up with this until it became a habit.

Sometimes this takes a few weeks….maybe even a few months.

And then I moved on to the next habit once I mastered protein.

I kept doing this until I’ve finally reached a place where I eat a healthy, non restrictive diet that keeps me satisfied.

It didn’t happen overnight; real lasting change rarely does.

But I can’t emphasize enough, that taking time to figure out how to eat healthy while enjoying what you eat AND including those special treats in moderation, will be the key to success long term (potion control is a big piece of the puzzle too).

The greatest success I’ve had with myself and with my clients over the past 9+ years has been teaching them (and me) how to change habits one at a time, incorporate the foods we love (such as bread, cheese, wine, chocolate, etc….in moderation), and avoiding the damn “quick fixes” FOR EVUH!!!