When you’re on a diet, you deny yourself things you love, force yourself to eat things you don’t like, and generally lead a miserable existence. Diets isolate you socially, screw up your metabolism, and destroy your relationship with food. On top of all that, they don’t even work. Because diets are so horrible, they require willpower to stick to. Lots of willpower. And since willpower is unreliable for long-term goals, diets inevitably fail to make you healthier. That may sound depressing, but it’s actually excellent news. If you want to get healthier (and there’s a good chance that includes losing weight), dieting isn’t the answer. Instead, you need to focus on building habits, because habits last. One distinctive characteristic about habits is that they are always paired with a reward. Think about it: Get in the habit of going to bed an hour earlier, and your reward is not nodding off at your desk at 3 p.m. Feels good, right? Rewards reinforce our reactions to certain triggers in our environment (e.g., when Netflix beckons you to binge watch at 11 p.m., you resist). Do this enough times and a new neural circuit forms, essentially programming you with a new habit. Let’s get back to food: To build a healthy eating habit, you have to find healthy foods you love. And this is where real food has the edge. We can all agree that processed diet or “health” foods are disgusting. I still can’t believe I used to eat added-fiber cereals and low-fat yogurt. But what I discovered after learning to eat clean is that the unhealthy processed foods that I used to long for are still a far cry from the deliciousness of real food. Real food, like naturally fiber-rich steel-cut oats or full-fat Greek yogurt, has real flavor and is so packed with nutrients that it’s far more satisfying than the gimmicky weight loss foods I used to think were virtuous. As a result, I enjoy my food more and naturally eat less. It’s incredibly rewarding. You could even call it a habit. I told you this was good news.Darya Rose, Ph.D. is the author of SummerTomato.com.
