Nutrition News & Views

February 1, 2000
Top 10 Reasons Not To Diet-February 2000/No. 1

  1. Diets don't work. You lose weight and gain it right back (weight cycle), often regaining more than you lost.
  2. Dieting is dangerous. It causes many deaths and injuries every year.
  3. Diets are expensive and without value.
  4. Dieting causes fatigue, lightheadedness, saps your energy and strength.
  5. Dieting disrupts normal eating, causes bingeing, overeating and chaotic feeding patterns.
  6. Dieting increases food preoccupation, so half your day or more is spent thinking about food and weight.
  7. Dieting diminishes women, subverting their dreams and ambitions, keeping them playing the anticipation game. There's a lot more to life than this.
  8. Dieting decreases self-esteem, feelings of well-being. Instead, accepting and respecting yourself as you are brings confidence, health and a sense of wellness and wholeness.
  9. Dieting stunts the growth and development of young people, mentally and physically.
  10. Dieting increases size prejudice, makes people more judgmental and critical of themselves and others.
Reprinted with permission from Women Afraid to Eat: Breaking Free in Today's Weight-Obsessed World, by Frances M. Berg. Copyright 1998. All rights reserved. This 10 Reasons Not to Diet special feature may be used as a handout or in nonprofit newsletters for educational purposes when printed with this citation. It may not be reprinted in books or publications for sale or on the Internet without written permission from the publisher. Published by Healthy Weight Network, 402 South 14th Street, Hettinger, ND 58639 (701-567-2646; Fax 701-567-2602)

Submitted by Judy Wingert, MSU Graduate Assistant
Distributed by Barbara McLaurin, Ph.D.,R.D.,L.D., Human Nutrition Specialist, MSU Extension Service, February 2000

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