Rejecting the Diet Mentality with PCOS

The dieting mentality is just as dangerous in the context of a PCOS dietary pattern as it is to any other situation. Diet plans convince people that the "eat less, move more" mentality is the key to good health when there are little to no long-term studies that show that these behaviors are effective, much less sustainable.

 In fact, dieting can cultivate behaviors that do more harm than good. Dieting emphasizes prioritizing the number on a scale, which is a false proxy for health status. It persuades people that one body type or one weight value is synonymous with vitality and wellness. Believing these false narratives can damage one's mental health and self-worth. The pitfalls of dieting can also be dangerously mirrored on the opposite side of the spectrum, where it's just as dangerous to obsess over  healthful foods and "clean" eating. This preoccupation with food type and quality can pose serious threats to physical and emotional well-being because it drives people to worry over every single thing they eat. 

 We must get away from both ends of the spectrum. Whether it be through exposure to advertisements, TV shows, and social media, restrictive methods of eating are detrimental. This sentiment applies to PCOS dietary patterns as well. There is no evidence that people with PCOS should eliminate certain foods, as complete elimination of one food will not instantly make symptoms disappear. Instead, people with PCOs can focus on gently integrating foods to manage inflammation and blood sugar, while minimizing others that incite these symptoms.

Luckily, there are a bevy of foods that naturally help. The fiber in whole grains and cruciferous vegetables slow blood sugar spikes. Omega-3s found in fish, avocados, and olive oil can reduce inflammation. And lastly, nutritious breakfast foods, like eggs and whole wheat toast, help to sustain energy throughout the day.

Listen to your body to understand how often that may be. But don't listen to fad diet experts saying removing one type of food will completely change your life and living with PCOS. The benefits of focusing on the sum of the parts will have many more positive benefits for physical and mental health than completely subtracting one food from the dietary pattern equation.

If you desire to learn more about how to eat and live with PCOS, contact a local dietitian near you or book a free discovery call with Elissa below. It’s essential to identify the foods that make you feel like you’re managing your PCOS  without restriction or limitation. 

The Principles of Non-Diet Nutrition

"Quality over quantity" is the sage expression we probably learned at a young age, but never really understood until we got older. It applies to many facets of our lives, from picking a few close friends to minimizing our possessions to several meaningful items. The phrase reverberates in diet culture and health settings now too: diet quality is a better predictor of good health than quantity. But what does that really mean?

The principles of non-diet frameworks are synchronous with the idea that diet quality is more important than quantity. Intuitive Eating (IE) is a framework that emphasizes freedom to eat, tuning in and honoring your hunger and fullness. Perhaps the most relevant principle is gentle nutrition, where healthful eating is about overall consumption patterns as opposed to meticulous counting. Health At Every Size (HAES)  is also a non diet approach that incorporates IE into its core principles. Eating should be satisfying and something to look forward to.

Many people may wonder what the evidence for these frameworks are. Can we really improve physical and mental health with non-diet approaches? In one study of Canadian women, participants were split into an experimental group and a control group. The 216 women in the experimental group received HAES and IE training whereas the 110 women in the control group did not. Researchers collected measurements on levels of IE adherence and diet quality. Women in the HAES group had increased IE scores and improvement in diet quality compared to the control group. One year after the study, these improvements remained. The researchers concluded that the study showed promise for HAES in improving both IE and diet quality.

A literature review of different types of study designs showed promise as well. Clinical studies demonstrated that participants who practiced IE improved psychological health, and showed signs of improved physical health indicators. Cross-sectional studies corroborated the findings of clinical setting, where IE was positively associated with psychological health indicators, and improved dietary intake. 

In conclusion, HAES and IE are not only good for physical health, but also psychological well-being. By embracing food and eating, we can create a more positive relationship between our bodies and health.  If you’re interested in improving your relationship with food and diet quality, contact a local dietitian who is well-versed in the IE and HAES approaches. 

Why Work with a Non-Diet Registered Dietitian Nutritionist?

When working with a non-diet Health at Every Size (HAES) aligned Dietitian, our work together will guide you to:

• Feel free around all foods. That’s right - you’ll be able to keep food at home that was previously off limits without overeating

• Build your self care toolbox to handle food cravings and emotional eating

• Listen to and trust your body’s hunger and fullness cues

• Regain body trust through health promoting behaviors - joyful movement, self care, and nourishment

• Enjoy eating without diet related food rules. Instead, you’ll learn to make food choices based on your specific needs and what feels great in your body

• Redefine what healthy means to you

• Enjoy a healthier, more peaceful relationship with food and movement

• Fully enjoy your life without all the time spent obsessing over food, tracking, counting, weighing, so you can fill your spare minutes with activities and mind space that bring you joy

• Increase energy

• Improve your quality of life

• Improve your body image and self-worth regardless of the number on the scale

Finding your Stride

About a week ago, my friends and I went for a gorgeous walk along the beach at sunrise. The ocean served as a placid backdrop to our lively conversation. The walk inspired us to think about what we liked to do for exercise. We lamented about how tired we were of seeing gym fitness and marathons touted as the cornerstones to good health. They reminded us of the onerous physical fitness tests we had to do in high school, from running a mile to getting as many sit-ups in one minute as you possibly could. Despite all of these tests, no one once told us: it's OK if this isn't for you.

Throughout high school and college, both of my friends tried dieting to lose weight, but they found it taxing and restricting with limited results. Over time, they discovered activities that were both physically and mentally satisfying. My other friend exclaimed that exercising in the morning always got her day on track, even if it's a quick 10 minute Peloton workout. Both of them are healthy and beautiful girls, and the best part is, they believe that too.

There is a fallacy perpetuated by dieting programs that we will finally be happy when we lose weight: “If I lose 30 pounds, I'll have my dream body,” or “If I workout every single day, I'll hit my target weight in no time.” But these promises are empty. Moreover, the media doesn't do anything to change this narrative when it equivocates impossible beauty standards with ultimate happiness. My friends believed these fallacies too, but one of the breakthroughs for them was to think less about unlikely outcomes and more about activities that made them feel good. My friends and I surmised, what if instead of thinking I'll be happy when… we change the conversation to what makes me feel good right now is.

Fortunately, non-diet approaches like Intuitive Eating (IE) and Health At Every Size (HAES) acknowledge the fallacies of one-size fits all health frameworks too. That’s why these approaches emphasize personalization, encouraging adherents to recognize what feels good to them. Their philosophies also transcend the idea that health is based on your body size. Instead, HAES and IE are holistic, incorporating all aspects of health like nourishment, joyful movement, body kindness, and emotional satisfaction. 

Our conversation concluded with agreement that good health, both physical and emotional, starts with what feels personally right. And it's OK if you don't know what that thing is yet. For my friends, it took some trial and error to find out that dieting wasn't what made them happy. Behavior is more sustainable when we want something and it feels good to us, not when it resembles a punishment.

The Dieting Traffic Jam

Think about driving a car. You hop in the car hoping to reach your destination with no issues along the way. Ideally, the roads are wide open, all the traffic lights are green, and no one is trying to aggressively cut you off from two lanes over. But realistically, when you go somewhere, at least one of those things is bound to go wrong. Heavy traffic, endless red lights, and hostile drivers tend to complicate what you otherwise thought was a routine trip.

When we think of dieting, we hope for the optimistic driving scenario, where reaching a weight loss goal is achievable with few barriers: quick results without much effort. But in actuality, the physical and mental highs and lows of dieting make it more like the realistic driving scenario. 

If you’ve experienced these obstacles, you are not alone. Even the most “successful” dieters face challenges associated with dieting over time. Take, for example, the contestants from the Biggest Loser. Participants were challenged to lose weight over a seven to eight month time period with the help of trainers and doctors. Six years following the conclusion of the show, participants were asked to participate in a follow-up study. Of the 16 who were originally recruited, 14 people completed the follow-up. Approximately 70% of the weight lost was regained over the six years, and participants experienced lower Resting Metabolic Rates (RMR) than what would be expected at their weights and ages. Though the sample size was extremely small, researchers warned that slow metabolic adaptation undermines efforts to quickly lose weight.

Even the intensity of the diet doesn't really impact long-term results. Some popular diet companies like to say that gradual weight loss is more effective than quick, crash diets. This is simply not true. In one study of 60 people, participants were placed on either a low-calorie diet (500 calories per day over five days) or a very low-calorie diet (1250 calories per day over 12 days). Researchers found that at follow-up, 9 months after the conclusion of the study, participants from both groups regained on average more than 50% of the weight they lost. Though low-calorie diets appear to resemble healthy lifestyles, they are just as ineffective as crash diets. 

These studies show that dieting practices do not lead to sustainable results. In addition to physical complications, dieting can induce psychological stress. From frustrations with calorie restrictions to the feelings of guilt for “giving in” to cravings, dieting can send anyone on an emotional roller coaster. Furthermore, not seeing the aspired-to number on the scale repeatedly can break anyone’s spirits. 

It’s time to liken dieting to a big traffic: irritating, headache-inducing, and no clear way to go. It’s bad for our physical, emotional, and mental health. If you yearn for open roads, contact a local, non-diet dietitian about an approach that addresses your goals and all of the facets of your health.

What Does Research Show About Intuitive Eating?

If you’ve ever researched a particular food or ingredient, you may have said to yourself: Nutrition evidence is confusing. One day, carbs are out, then the next day, they’re back in. Staying up to date on the latest nutrition recommendation is tricky, particularly when the information available on the internet seems endless.

Luckily, some of our favorite non-diet approaches to health have data backed by experimental studies. As you may know, Intuitive Eating (IE) is a framework that incorporates physical and emotional needs into 10 principles. According to its founders, IE has been validated by over 100 studies. Today, we’ll cover a few from the last five years.

 In 2017, researchers from New Zealand examined how hunger training over a six-month time period affected eating behaviors in people living with overweight or obesity. Researchers used a 23-item IE Scale to assess body-food choice congruence (choosing foods that match physical needs), eating for physical rather than emotional reasons, and unconditional permission to eat. Out of 50 recruits, 34 completed the training. Compared to those who completed less than 30 days, participants who completed at least 60 days of hunger training showed increases in body-food choice congruence and eating for physical rather than emotional reasons, and decreases in unconditional permission to eat. 

In another study of 137 American college students, who were predominantly female, researchers assessed how IE knowledge and plate size affected intake levels. One group of students received an 8-inch plate of pasta and tomato sauce, while the other received a 12-inch plate of the same food. Prior to the meal, students fasted for four hours, completed an IE Scale, and rated the meal. Students who adhered more closely to IE had greater food intake. Additionally, students with larger plates ate more. Lastly, those who had greater adherence to IE and larger plates, had greater food intakes. The researchers concluded that the results counteracted the theory that IE eaters would be more sensitive to internal cues of hunger rather than external ones. However, the researchers cautioned the findings because most of the data collected was self-reported, which is subject to errors.

In one large meta-analysis, researchers compiled evidence from 16 studies to assess the relationship between novel non-diet frameworks and eating behaviors. Most of the sample size consisted of fifty or fewer participants, who were predominantly female. Eight papers specifically examined the impact of IE on food behaviors, and found that IE was positively associated with observed hunger cues, freedom to eat, pleasure derived from food, and awareness of one’s body state. Since the relationships observed were associations, the researchers couldn't determine underlying mechanisms behind these relationships. However, they speculated that IE fostered greater understanding of physical and emotional needs. For example, in one sample of young adults, participants with higher adherence to IE exhibited more anti-dieting and self-care behaviors. In another study, participants with higher levels of Intuitive eating had greater sensitivity to their body’s state. 

Intuitive eating shows promise in building a better understanding of our bodies' needs. If you want to learn more about Intuitive Eating, book a free discovery call here.

Managing PCOS Through a Non-Diet Approach

Every woman who has PCOS knows the struggle. Imbalances in hormones and metabolism present daily challenges with blood sugar regulation and chronic low-grade inflammation. PCOS is not a lonely struggle either, for it affects 1 in 10 women of childbearing age.  

For someone who is frustrated with her PCOS, trendy diets may offer a glimmer of hope: perhaps the carb-free keto diet or grain-free paleo diet will alleviate these symptoms and help me lose weight? Though these approaches seem attractive, there is little evidence that prohibitive diets work, particularly over time. Completely cutting out carbs or fats doesn’t have immense health benefits, and indeed, restricting intake can actually lead to a stress response from the body.  

When it comes to dieting, the bottom line is that the diets fail, not the individual. Their restrictive nature makes it inherently impossible to maintain in the long-term. It’s natural for the body to desire the types and levels of food it normally receives. Furthermore, a uniform, prescribed diet approach to health for everyone is simply unrealistic, nor feasible. Rather than cut and restrict intake to improve health, it’s far more important to diversify food sources and get sufficient levels of nutrients. 

This mantra is echoed in the principles of non-diet frameworks, which are significantly better for our physical and mental health. Both Intuitive Eating (IE) and the Health At Every Size (HAES) approach advocate for rejecting the diet mentality and embracing self care health promoting behaviors instead of restriction. With these frameworks, people are empowered to listen to the signals the body sends, and learn how to properly address those signals. 

IE shows potential for people with PCOS. In one web-based study, a representative sample of 120 women with PCOS completed a survey about dietary behaviors and self-efficacy. Results indicated that 89% of respondents had previously tried traditional diets. But the most interesting result was that a significant, positive relationship existed between high adherence to IE and confidence in maintaining healthy habits, like trusting hunger and satiety signals. The authors suggested that more sustainable, beneficial changes in diet are possible when people follow the IE framework.  

Like IE, the HAES approach can be tailored to women with PCOS too. It condemns the idea that weight status is synonymous with health and encourages followers to focus more on what works for them. This means freely eating the foods that help manage PCOS symptoms, and paying more attention to ovulation changes, blood sugar levels, and mood than the number on the scale. 

IE and HAES offer real, achievable solutions to living with PCOS. Unlike diets, these frameworks celebrate individuality and value body knowledge. Learning to be aware of the signals the body sends, the foods that taste good, as well as the movements that ease symptoms is a sustainable and effective way to live with PCOS. If you’re interested in learning more about identifying these things for yourself, get in touch with a HAES dietitian specializing in PCOS and discuss how to apply non-diet frameworks to your lifestyle.

How Working With a Dietitian Can Help You With Intuitive Eating

Intuitive Eating, by its very concept, seems to be relatively self-explanatory. After all, the very premise of Intuitive Eating is based on the idea of listening to your internal bodily cues instead of going on diets and following various food rules in order to achieve a healthy lifestyle. So, you may be wondering, how can a Registered Dietitian help me as an Intuitive Eating? Shouldn't I be just able to figure out on my own? Well, the answer is that Intuitive Eating, while simple in concept, can actually be quite a challenge, especially in the beginning, and a Registered Dietitian can help you at any point in your Intuitive Eating journey. A Registered Dietitian can help you navigate many areas related to recognizing hunger and satiety cues, can help you make better decisions and change your behaviors, and can help to clarify common misconceptions you may have about health and wellness. 

While Intuitive Eating can be simply summed up as “eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full” it isn't actually that simple in practice. Intuitive Eating actually encompasses a set of ten principles that each need to be worked on. If you’ve been a yo-yo dieter for years, it can be extremely challenging to get in touch with your body and its internal cues. It can be difficult to pinpoint true feelings of hunger and satiety especially when you’ve been suppressing these natural cues over a long period of time. A Registered Dietitian will help you to differentiate between hunger and appetite, and can help you to learn to recognize when you are actually physically hungry, as opposed to when you are driven to eat out of habit or impulse. These distinctions are key, as recognizing and responding properly to your body’s cues are a crucial part of learning to eat intuitively. 

Another way that a Registered Dietitian can help you on your Intuitive Eating journey is through behavior modification. For a lot of us, our eating habits are closely tied to our emotional states. When we are not in tune with our body’s physical and emotional states, it becomes all too easy to overeat or under eat in response to certain emotions we might be experiencing. A key part of Intuitive Eating is learning to cope with your emotions with kindness. A qualified Registered Dietitian can help you to develop coping mechanisms and to implement behavior modification so that food no longer serves as the main coping tool. 

A Registered Dietitian can also be instrumental in clearing up common misconceptions about Intuitive Eating. Many people falsely believe that Intuitive Eating means just eating whatever you want. Many are hesitant to embrace Intuitive Eating because they don’t feel that they can trust themselves to have freedom to eat any and all foods, and still live a healthy lifestyle. However, working with a Registered Dietitian, you will quickly come to learn that Intuitive Eating is not simply eating whatever you want, but rather eating in a thoughtful and mindful way, which honors your body, and prioritizes your overall health. 

Working with a Registered Dietitian at any point in your Intuitive Eating journey can be hugely beneficial, as Registered Dietitians are trained to work and respond to your unique health concerns.

Schedule a free discovery call here.

Rejecting the Diet Mentality

The very first thing you need to do when learning to embrace intuitive eating is to reject the diet mentality. It is a mentality that we are all familiar with. It is a mentality that keeps us trapped in a cycle of mistrusting ourselves, and mistrusting our bodies. It is a desperate and never ending endeavor to control our cravings and appetite, depriving ourselves of your favorite foods, and the flavor and zest of life. Healthful, joyful living comes from a mindset that embraces abundance and nourishment over restrictive diets. Learning to reject the diet mentality is key to cultivating the joyful, healthy lifestyle you deserve. 

The dictionary definition of diet is, “a special course of food to which one restricts oneself” while the dictionary definition of nourish is “provide with the food or other substances necessary for growth, health, and good condition”. These starkly different definitions really highlight how toxic and destructive the diet mentality can be. The diet mentality puts self-control over self-care. When we diet, we are constantly at war with ourselves, trying to conform our appetite and cravings to fit arbitrary sets of rules. The diet mentality is an approach based on deprivation and restriction, and it is hard to live a full and happy life when we are constantly concerned over food rules and trying to stay in control. Nourishment on the other hand is all about living a full and healthy life. Nourishment is about honoring and respecting our bodies, eating in a way that promotes growth, health and vitality. 

In order to reject the diet mentality, it's important to be able to embrace the gray areas in life. What does this mean? It means realizing that we are human, and that we don't have to be perfect in order to be happy, successful and fulfilled in life. The diet mentality is an all-or-nothing approach that leaves little room for spontaneity or flexibility. When we go on diets we make harsh and unrealistic demands on ourselves, setting ourselves up for misery and failure. Embrace the gray. There can be room in a healthy lifestyle for any and all foods, all in the right amounts. Embrace moderation and flexibility, and stop falling for the all-or-nothing trap. Remember: diets are hardwired to fail. It's not about a lack of self-control or discipline. When we restrict and are undernourished, our bodies naturally strive to come back into balance. Diets are not designed to be sustainable long-term. Cultivating a mindset focused on nourishment and balance is key to creating a long-term, sustainable, healthy lifestyle. 

Practicing Gentle Nutrition

I’m sure most of us have experienced the terrible feelings of shame and guilt that result from falling off a diet bandwagon. Dieting often seems like a never ending cycle of restriction and deprivation followed by overwhelming feelings of self-loathing. We berate ourselves, trying to control our cravings and appetites and agonizing over every single food choice, but healthy eating doesn't have to be so complicated and difficult! Gentle nutrition, the tenth principle of intuitive eating, is about approaching health and nutrition from a relaxed and flexible perspective. With this approach, we don’t cut out any food groups, and we don’t moralize food. When we practice gentle nutrition, all types of food can be a part of a healthy and balanced diet.

Gentle nutrition can be a difficult concept to accept, especially if you’ve been influenced by years of diet culture. Diet culture is constantly sending us messages about how food is harmful, and that we need to cut out foods and restrict our diets. This over emphasis on restriction creates a sense of urgency in our brains. Urgency is what motivates us to act: when we feel like something might not be available to us, we are more motivated to act to get it. The more we feel like we can’t have something or we won't have access to it, the more we want it, and the more urgently we pursue it. When we go on a diet, we are in effect, telling ourselves that certain foods are limited to us. In doing so, we are creating a sense of urgency around these foods, causing our brains to more actively pursue and desire these foods. Gentle nutrition throws all of these mind games out the window. Gentle nutrition is about giving ourselves unconditional permission to eat any and all foods. Once we genuinely stop thinking of certain foods as “off-limits” or as “good” or “bad” we can come to a place where we are more capable of making rational and sound decisions in order to best nourish and sustain our bodies. Gentle nutrition is a practice of self-care, not self-control. It is about eating without restriction and anxiety, allowing us to feel happy, satisfied, and relaxed about eating.