Dieting: more of a problem than a solution?

Many dieters are like drug addicts ? their next go is definitely going to be their last but somehow it never is. Increasing amounts of research indicates that dieting is more often a contributor to long-term eating and weight issues than it is a passport to lasting and relaxed weight control. Whilst repeated dieting does not automatically lead on to the very serious eating disorders of anorexia and bulimia, constant unhappiness with eating and self-image can certainly be harmful to self-esteem and, indeed, physical and mental health.

Yale University's Prof. Kelly Brownell coined the notion of Yo-Yo Dieting 20 years ago. The research was a major breakthrough into realizing the limitations of interfering too much with a natural relationship with food and eating. Yo-Yo Dieting is the widely understood notion of periods of crash weight reduction being followed by periods of weight regain once the artificial eating regime is relaxed. Subsequent studies have indicated that major health risks, particularly of heart disease, are associated with these dieting cycles.

There are cataloged examples of dieters who have, across multiple diet cycles, lost in total more than their entire average bodyweight . Now, new research by a weight-control charity suggests that many more people than previously recognized are living their lives dominated by anxieties over eating and dieting. The research being conducted by the charity's founder through the UK's Manchester Metropolitan University is shedding light on the millions of dieters worldwide who suffer long-term distress but do not undergo any dramatic swings in weight.

Yo-Yo Dieting is being redefined as Swinger Dieting to account better for the fact that whilst many dieters do regain their original weight ? and more besides ? it is clear that some do not. The UK's BBC recently investigated the subject in its Real Story programme when it contacted 70 former ?champion slimmers? of various commercial weight loss organizations. It discovered that the majority of these individuals had regained at least a considerable proportion of the weight originally lost.

Interviews identified that the stumbling block frequently came when the read more