Find out the secret ingredients of the latest miracle diet you will ever try
With the arrival of spring and good weather, I see again many people around me looking at themselves in the mirror with concern. In addition, I overhear them saying that they saw such diet or such fitness plan on social media, and that the people are posting incredible results in a very short time.
This makes my ears ring, and there I go, trying to deny all the arguments that I am exposed to. I use statistics, in addition to my opinion about my total disagreement about miraculous diets or exercise plans. But I feel my point is useless, that nothing changes in their mind. They seem to firmly believe what they have seen on social media and that they will achieve the promised results. I realize, then, that there is something powerful that makes them have absolute blind faith in what they saw there. What is so powerful? How is it possible?
After thinking about it for a while, I consider that there can only be two reasons.
First, they need to believe that it is possible and real in order to have what they crave, that is, a body that they won't feel ashamed of when the heat arrives. After all, my point is only destroying that desire, so taking it into account would be accepting that it is not possible. So, better not listen to it.
And second, seeing it written in a public media acquires the category of greater, absolute truth. Which reminds me of my time in college, when I learned about the great power of the media in shaping people's opinion and what is perceived as absolute truth.
So, in order to try to help as many people as possible, I have decided to write down this blog post against the miracle diets and exercise plans that get so popular every spring season and trap so many people in an infinite unhealthy cycle.
The important data to keep in mind is:
Statistically, an overwhelming majority of dieters regain their previous weight shortly after dieting.
The vast majority of people who tend to diet regularly instead of losing weight progressively gain weight over the years.
We must also take into account the risks of nutrient decompensation, and anemia, to which we can be exposed with a diet that focuses only on a very limited group of foods.
In addition, rapid changes in metabolism play against our long-term health, and make them not the healthiest for our body.
But the real root cause is the distortion of our body image and the competition for having the body type we are bombarded constantly on media. Many times, the person who considers starting a diet does not need it at all. They see themselves without filters, in front of the mirror, and compare that body image with pictures of strangers passed through the app's filter. The comparison is totally unfair and distorted, and many times they are not overweight at all.
You have to look at yourself with better eyes, and stop comparing the non-comparable
Also, if you are just starting a fitness plan and compare yourself with people who have been practicing sports for a long time will only generate frustration. If you go daily to the office, take care of your children, do chores at home and do little or no sports, do you think it is fair to compare yourself with someone who expend hours every day obsessively in the gym?
Of course, comparing your own image in the mirror with someone else’s photos or videos in the media is the one thing you should never do. These are totally incomparable images.
Generally speaking, comparisons are awful. Everyone has a different body, and accepting yours and stop comparing is important. On top of that, the body type trend is constantly changing, and beauty is totally subjective and everyone has a different taste.
Be liked by everyone is impossible, so let's start by liking ourselves, and accepting that there will always be people who are not going to like us, whatever body shape we have.
To conclude, simply remember that changes take time, and our bodies and our health are no exception. If we are sold a plan that promises to quickly transform your body, just dismiss it, it's not true.
Transforming our body takes time, and above all, transforming our health requires a real change in our lifestyle, which is what the word diet originally means.
Changing our habits and lifestyle is what will give us the health, body shape, and self-love that we really need to be happy
Anyone trying to sell us miracle diets or plans wants probably mainly our money, not really our health and happiness.
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