Diet Pitfalls

Thinking of taking off a few pounds before you put on the swim suit?  What are some diet pitfalls to avoid? A recent article, 9 Things You Should Never Do When Starting a Diet, offers a few tips.  Many people start a diet, lose some weight, only to have the weight come back when they go “off”  the diet.  The old, bad habits return and then the weight returns.  

Diet Tips – Don’t make these mistakes:      

Mistake #1 – Don’t set a Diet Start Date

Have you ever heard someone say, “Next week I start my new diet”.  That just gives them the excuse to eat what they want until next week or whatever start date they set.  So the person gains more weight they have to lose once they do start on their diet regimen.

Mistake#2:  Giving Up all the Treats

All of us have heard someone say, “I ate the cookie and I blew my diet.”  Enjoy that cookie, it doesn’t ruin your diet.  People who cut out all the treats, all the desserts, start to feel deprived.  At some point, they give up and then don’t eat just one cookie but the whole box, or whole row of cookies.  A better idea is to allow some treats but portion them out.  Buy the 100 calorie cookie package and enjoy that treat with your packed lunch of healthier foods.  But a small serving size of ice cream and enjoy every bite.  

Mistake #3:  Focusing on Diet Foods

Many diet foods aren’t really diet foods at all.  Low-fat foods may be loaded with added sugar.  To cut back on fat, I asked my husband to buy some low-fat mayonnaise.  I made some egg salad and my husband took one bite of his egg salad sandwich and asked me, “Why did you put sugar in the egg salad sandwich?”  I assured him I did not add any sugar.  Then I looked at the mayonnaise ingredients and it was full of added sugar.  Who wants mayonnaise that tastes sweet?  So we have gone back to regular mayonnaise and once again enjoy our egg salad sandwiches.  Another problem is many people see “low-fat” or “low sugar” and then they think they can eat all they want.  A study at Cornell University found participants ate 28% more M&M’s when they were marked “low-fat” even though they were just regular M&M’s.  If you want to treat yourself, go for the real thing.  Just watch your portions and how often you “treat yourself”.  

Mistake#4:  Excluding a Food Group

So many diets cut out a food group which results in cutting out the nutrients that food group provides.  Each food group in MyPlate provides important nutrients our bodies need.  Cutting out dairy cuts out needed calcium, vitamin D and high quality protein and many other nutrients.  Cut out the carbs, especially whole grains and you are cutting out important trace minerals, fiber, antioxidants.  And we need carbs for energy.  A low carb diet is often a low energy diet.  Last night, my husband was preparing dinner. Drumsticks, baked sweet potato, veggies, fruit salad.  He asked me if I also wanted a roll with dinner.  I said, “of course”.   He responded, “you never turn down bread.”  To me it isn’t a meal if it doesn’t have bread.  Yes, it was a whole grain roll so it packed a nutritious punch.  But at dinner I almost always have bread, whole grain or not.  No low carb diets for me as I want my energy and the nutrients the grain group provides.

Why do some people seem to lose weight on low carb diets?  A dietitian, Rosenbloom, explains that our body stores carbs as glycogen in our muscles.  When you cut down on carbs you lose some of this glycogen which holds onto to water.  The water loss leads to less pounds on the scale but this isn’t fat loss.  Go off the diet, eat more carbs, store more glycogen and you gain back the weight as you store more water. 

Mistake #5:  All or Nothing

So many people are “on a diet” or “off a diet”.  What they should be focusing on is changing their lifestyle.  Eating healthier and exercising more.  You didn’t put on the weight overnight so you shouldn’t expect instant results.  Slow and steady weight loss is much more likely to last.  Learn new eating habits, healthier eating habits.  Add more exercise, after dinner walks, lunch time walks to your day and week.  Keri Gans, R.D.N, author of The Small Change Diet, recommends small changes for big wins.   For example, she suggests starting with one meal such as breakfast.  Eat a healthy breakfast every day.  I suggest 100% juice, some General Mills cereal, low-fat milk and some whole grain bread like a whole grain English muffin with a little margarine and jam.  A healthy breakfast is a very healthy way to start your day.  Or follow dietitian Christy Brissette 80-20 rule which is Choose “healthy” foods 80% of the time and treat yourself to “other” foods 20% of the time.  

Enjoy a Healthy Breakfast

Let’s look at the other 4 mistakes next week.  Think about your eating this week.  What “mistake” are you making? Maybe it is mistake #2 and you need to add some treats back to your diet.  Maybe you need to add back an entire food group.  Dairy is one no woman should be excluding as women need the extra calcium and vitamin D in their diet for strong bones.  Check the label on that low-fat food you bought.  It may be low in fat but have a lot of added sugar.  

Sources:  9 Things You Should Never Do When Starting a Diet, 80-20 rule  Image source:  Cookies, Food Groups, Healthy Breakfast