Dieting, undereating and overeating

Each individual has their own form of a normal eating pattern, but in general, this means eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are full. Toddlers have this ability and this is why most of the time, toddlers are at a weight healthy for them because their hunger and fullness cues are strong and have not been tampered with.

If you tell someone they cannot have something, chances are, they are going to want it even more, so when you tell yourself you can’t have a certain food, your body is likely going to want it increasingly more. Restriction makes our body enter a state of physiological and psychological deprivation, and the normal biological response to this is an increase in hunger-inducing mechanisms and puts us in a state of hyper-awareness about food.

Most ‘diets’ require you to restrict something whether it be a certain food group or type of food, or the amount of food that you eat. This restricting action leads your body to want more of this “disallowed or forbidden” food, ultimately then your body gives in and you end up often eating 2-3x more of this food than you usually would due to the fact that you restricted yourself. A common pattern is under-eating during the start of the day or during the week and feeling ‘good’ about how controlled you were, then later in the day or on the weekend overeating – then promising yourself to be more controlled the next day or on Monday and the cycle repeats.

After going through this cycle over and over again, your brain begins to label certain foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and this can contribute to developing an unhealthy relationship with food.With dieting comes restriction or certain food rules, and with restriction comes eventual overeating – leading to an ongoing cycle between the two.

Ongoing restriction distances you farther and farther from your natural eating cues and disrupts a normal eating pattern. Restricting and overeating is a vicious cycle that takes mindfulness and resilience to overcome.

The only long-term solution to overeating is eating balanced meals everyday with adequate energy intake, macronutrient intake (fats, protein, carbohydrates), no cycling on and off strict diets, and being kind to your body – no food is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Food is about nourishing your body and mind, provides social connection and shouldn’t bring guilt to your life.