Yes, I’m making an assumption here, but there’s a good chance it’s accurate.
Your current diet is likely set up in a way to get you a physical result, which is all well and good …
However, there’s a strong chance it won’t last.
Before you start cursing at me … I’m just basing this off of statistics.
I have a 95%+ chance of being right.
I’ll take those odds.
What’s wrong with your current diet?
Your current diet is not set up in a way to create food freedom.
I love it when people tell me that mindset and social psychology aren’t research or evidence-based …
What they mean is that they have a hard time understanding something that’s not black and white.
Unfortunately, for them, everything we need to know about long term sustainability in nutrition can be found in the research on behavior change, social psychology, and personality psychology …
And no, it’s not black and white.
Let’s highlight some of the gems that are black and white …
- Dichotomous thinking around food (viewing foods as good vs. bad) is directly correlated with poor weight maintenance and less overall body satisfaction.
- An all or nothing mindset is directly correlated with more extreme dieting and lack of confidence is future dieting success.
- More food rules leads to increased likelihood of binge episodes and more stress around food.
- Less restriction, fewer rules around food, and more food freedom leads to healthier weight maintenance, overall body satisfaction, and overall sense of well being.
What IS food freedom?
Something we talk about all the time, but what does it actually mean?
Well, just looking at the important bullet points above …
Food freedom means removing the idea of good vs. bad food.
It means eliminating the all or nothing mindset around nutrition.
It means nothing is off limits and there are no restrictive rules that need to be followed.
It means food doesn’t control you.
It means that food doesn’t add stress to your life (actually, once we accomplish food freedom, it removes stress from your life).
It means that you can finally live your life without always thinking of the next way to deprive yourself.
It means you honor both your health and your taste buds.
But Mike! I have some physical goals that I want to accomplish and you keep harping about food freedom and mindset!
Damn right. Because that’s the only way to guarantee that your physical results will last.
So, before you jump into another diet …
Before you continue with your current diet …
Take a minute to assess whether you’re allowing that fundamental flaw to creep in.
If it’s not moving you towards food freedom … it’s not moving you towards your ultimate destination.
