Nutrition, Obesity, Weight Control
Healthy Approaches to Diet and Weight Management
Many people struggle with diet and weight management at times. But this relationship isn’t set in stone—there are always ways to change and improve it.
Changing that relationship and cultivating a healthy lifestyle looks different for everyone. Some may reframe the idea of a diet entirely and identify different ways to adopt sustainable change. Others may need to unlearn old beliefs and listen more closely to their body. Still others may develop skills to identify and cope with difficult emotions that don’t involve food.
Unfortunately, diets rarely lead to permanent weight loss . An overview of commercial programs found that participants typically regained the weight they lost relatively quickly. Even in studies of medically supervised low-calorie diets, patients who succeeded in losing 15 to 25 percent of their body weight tended to be the exception, and many regained that weight fairly quickly.
Despite these trends, diets and commercial weight loss programs are still pervasive. Reasons for this include that the body quickly adapts to changes in caloric intake, weight loss programs tend to exaggerate their claims, and the media often depicts thinness as an essential part of attractiveness .
Struggles of Diet, Weight, and Body Image
A good diet contributes to optimal health, but not everyone has a positive relationship with food. Some people battle with their plate, with body image challenges and obsessions joining the fight.
The act of eating is often rife with strong emotions like boredom , stress, and guilt . Looking for relief, people may gradually adopt unhealthy patterns, such as a cycle of on-and-off, short-term dieting, emotional eating , or disordered eating .
Emotional eating is when people eat in order to manage difficult emotions rather than to satisfy hunger. Feelings of stress, boredom, depression , shame , anger, and aggression can all drive emotional eating, and people can even come to associate eating with a particular emotion . Forms of therapy such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can help people learn to identify and change patterns of emotional eating and develop skills to cope with their emotions in healthy ways.
The concept of food addiction has been under debate in the field, and it is not a diagnosis in the DSM-5 . But the diagnosis of Binge-Eating Disorder involves compulsive overeating. Binges occur when people eat an abnormally large amount of food in a contained time period, accompanied by the feeling of being unable to control themselves. People may eat abnormally fast, until they’re uncomfortably full, and experience feelings of shame and distress.
The Best Foods for the Brain
A healthy brain is fed by a balanced diet and a variety of nutrients. But a few foods provide a special boost.
Fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which help build, sustain, and repair brain cells, so salmon, mackerel, tuna and others provide important nutrients. Antioxidants protect the brain from oxidative stress and reduce inflammation. Leafy greens including spinach, kale, and broccoli, as well as berries such as strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries all trigger or provide plenty of antioxidants.
Nuts, such as almonds, hazelnuts, and sunflower seeds are rich in both omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. Whole grains like barley and legumes like peanuts contain vitamin E. Another vitamin implicated in brain health is vitamin B, which can be found in eggs and dairy products.
Through omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins, these foods play a role in maintaining memory and concentration as well as staving off cognitive decline , stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Explore More About Diet
For a comprehensive understanding of diet, read our complete guide: