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Every year, millions of Americans commit to dieting in January to lose the weight gained over the holidays and start the new year in a healthy way. As a gastroenterologist and obesity medicine specialist, I’m often asked about which diets I personally recommend this time of year. The short answer is: None.
If your resolution in 2024 is to improve your health and lose weight, those are important and worthwhile goals. But please don’t turn to fad diets or overly restrictive programs to make it happen, because the reality is diets don’t work and they can actually be detrimental to your long-term health. Here are three main downfalls of dieting:
- It’s ineffective: Study after study has shown that people who try dieting end up regaining most of the weight they managed to lose initially. In addition, a comprehensive meta-analysis comparing various diet programs showed that diet and exercise alone will generally only lead to a two to three percent weight loss after a full year of effort. For most people, that simply isn’t sufficient to impact health.
- It can negatively affect physical health: Very low-calorie diets can lead to numerous problems like hair loss, thinning of the skin, vitamin deficiency, altered fertility, and an increased risk of gallstones. Furthermore, it can alter metabolism in a negative, and lasting way.
- It can be detrimental to mental health: Most diets are not sustainable and leave people feeling guilty or like they failed when they veer off course or “cheat.” Additionally, strict calorie counting can lead to a fixation on the numbers and set dieters up for potential disordered eating habits.
For the full article and more info, https://www.wral.com/story/dont-diet-and-try-this-instead/20653191/
