You can’t turn on the TV, drive down the road or go to a party without being confronted with America’s hottest obsession: weight.

Diets are a billion-dollar industry; companies spend millions and millions luring you to try the latest diet (low carb, high protein, low-fat, no fat, you name it) with promises that this will (finally!) be the solution—your shortcut to a thinner body.

Advertising efforts also deeply affect our children, who develop distorted body images and are often on diets as early as nine or 10 years of age.

Our culture touts diet pills, celebrity workouts, convenience foods and trendy diets to help us meet our desired weight, but these quick-fix solutions have backfired.

America’s populace has reached its highest weight in history. About half of Americans are overweight; one-third are obese.

Diets steer us away from our common sense and dip deeply into our pocketbooks while eliciting few, if any, lasting results. Why?

Reasons Why Weight Diets Do Not Work

#1 Everyone is Different

Diets don’t work because each person is unique, with different needs based on gender, age, ancestry and lifestyle; how could one diet be right for everyone?

#2  Diets are Extreme Solutions

Diets don’t work because they are extreme solutions. As in physics, if a pendulum swings to one extreme, it has to swing equally to the other. A diet might work for a short amount of time, but research shows that almost all diets result in a 10-pound gain once off the diet.

#3  Diets are Too Restrictive

Diets don’t work because they are too restrictive. People who fail on diet plans are not flawed or weak. Diets by nature require discipline and restriction at levels that are unsustainable by a healthy human body.

#4  Not Knowing the Reason For Weight Gain

Most people are disconnected from why they gain weight and see diet as the only culprit. For example, ignoring or discounting emotions is often the first thing to cause weight imbalances.

Conclusion

In our fast-paced world, we have lost sight of many aspects of life that truly nourish and balance our bodies, such as slowing down, eating a home-cooked meal and spending quality time with loving people.

Eating consciously and making simple lifestyle changes will create positive results and release you from the endless cycle of dieting.

Given half a chance, your body will balance out by itself, but this is only possible by getting out of the diet mentality and listening to what you truly need.

Imagine taking all the outward energy you expend on diets, fads and gimmicks and turning it inward, so that you can listen to your heart and inner wisdom.

There is no such thing as a quick fix; you already have everything you need within you. With careful thought and loving reflection, you can feed yourself in a nourishing way.

Working with your body and not against it will bring you increased energy, stabilized weight and sustainable health.

About the Author:  Carolyn Akens, Board Certified Holistic Health Coach, Chef, and Raw Food Educator, helps women and families who are struggling with overweight and obesity to eat whole foods to transform their life so that they will live long and have good health!

As a world-renowned raw food educator, Carolyn has trained and coached raw food chefs, raw food instructors and raw pastry chefs locally, nationally, and internationally.

Image courtesy of Keattikorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net