Inquiry 3: The Concept of Dieting Relative to Healthy Eating
Introduction
For the third inquiry, I struggled with figuring out which direction to take my argument. After completing Inquiry 2 (on an article about possible recovery methods for eating disorder), I knew that I wanted to incorporate the dangers of dieting, including eating disorders. But I did not want to leave my readers there. All too often, you hear individuals complain about the current dieting trends but they never offer an alternative. Having had personal experience with eating disorders, I wanted to change up the stereotypical argument of "dieting is bad" to "dieting is bad, and here is how to fix it". I wanted those who read my article to not be left with unanswered questions, not knowing where to go from here. Therefore, while in the first half of my argument I present a case against dieting, the entire second half is a detailed description of how to stay away from the dieting mindset.
The Concept of Dieting Relative to Healthy Eating
The concept of dieting has always intrigued me, from my childhood up until today. I’ve learned the tips, tricks, and pitfalls of the dieting world, and I’ve learned their effects, none of which were ever positive. While reading some of the comments under an article on ProbioticSmart.com, I came across a personal testimony that reflected my dieting experiences, and those of many other people. “I tried the sleeping diet the 5 bite diet and the eggs diet even the warrior diet (16 hrs of fasting and 8 hr eating period)…I gained it all back immediately every time…I am now bulimic/anorexic”. This is a comment by a user under the name of “Xena” from an online article listing the top fourteen most extreme diets. These “extreme” diets range from the burrito diet (where you only eat Chipotle), to the ear stapling diet (where you staple the section of your ear that is supposedly triggering your hunger), to the tapeworm diet (where you either eat an adult tapeworm or take a pill containing the babies). Those are just to name a few.
I have figured out that no matter where you look, you will inevitably find a dieting promotion. They are found in magazines, on TV, on the Internet, on billboards, in newspapers, on food containers, in books, everywhere. Beyond that, there are multiple diets to choose from: Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, South Beach Diet, Special K diet, Jenny Craig, Slim Fast, or the Atkin’s Diet. Maybe, instead of choosing a brand-name diet, you want to cut out whole food groups: vegetarian, vegan, no carbs, no red meat, no candy. Or you can just start all over with a week-long cleansing diet made up of one ingredient: H2O. Needless to say, America has explored the entire spectrum of diet and weight loss strategies in an attempt to find the fastest and easiest ways to lose weight; but somehow, America continues to remain as the country with the highest rate of obesity. Obviously, the quick and easy strategies that are being promoted have not worked, and will continue to not work. Individuals looking to lose weight must change their weight loss strategies from a mindset of dieting to a mindset of healthy living. Not only will doing so allow them to be happier, it will also save them from the dangers of disordered eating, heart conditions, and stress on both the body and mind.
Dieting has worsened, not helped, America’s weight issues. Think through these statistics reported by Rainier (2010), a blogger for “Just Health”, who received the following facts in a letter from her insurance company: the obesity rate in America has reached about 73%, while each year there is somewhere around 218 fatalities resulting from illnesses such as anorexia and bulimia. How does that measure up? That the nation with sky-rocketing obesity rates also has sky-rocketing eating disorder rates? There is one main issue that has been able to cause both extremes, and that is dieting.
In their search for quick and easy weight loss, many individuals are willing to do whatever it takes, even if it means spending disgusting amounts of money. The dieting business in the United States brings in about forty billion dollars each year (Rainier, 2010). That is the equivalent of what it would cost about 40,000 people to get a four-year education at Miami University (if you round the price to $25,000 per year). What makes this fact even worse is that most spend all of this money to be left with nothing but disappointment in the end. Under the article, “14 of the Most Extreme Diets”, one user (“Denise”) reported the experiences of both herself and her boss: “I did the cereal diet once and lost 50 lbs, but gained it all back. I watched a boss of mine go through diet after diet…and he never lost a pound except on the Atkins diet, where he lost a bunch of weight right off the bat then started having heart palpitations” (n.d.). Unfortunately, many people can attest to a similar experience with dieting. Forty billion dollars seems like a lot for America to be paying to only receive disappointment or worse in the end. Like Denise’s boss, many people not only go back to their original state after a diet, but even have negative side effects (like heart palpitations).
The Atkins Diet, as mentioned in Denise’s comment, is one example of a dangerous yet popular fad that has been in America over recent years. It specifically seems to appeal to people because it is “low-carb” and therefore, people think, quick weight loss. What people do not know is that the reason that people lose weight quickly and right away on the Atkins diet is because the body is put under so much stress. This type of low-carb, high-protein diet is the type that makes a greater possibility for a person to develop cardiovascular disease and other heart conditions (Ornish, 2012). Any time that the body is deprived of essential nutrients, including those found in healthy, complex carbohydrates, it goes into a state of stress. This is exactly why the low-calorie, sometimes no-calorie, diets do not work. A person’s Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of calories that his or her body would need to function if he or she were in a coma. If someone eats less than he or she’s BMR, or some simply round down to about 1,200 calories, the body begins to conserve any of the food that is eaten, preventing the ability to lose any significant amount of weight.
This lack of nutrients can also prevent individuals from making progress in their health and fitness level. When the body is deprived, it begins to affect other body functions, such as one’s temperature, heart rate, metabolism, and ability to focus (Berg, 2008). As far as fitness goes, a lack of nutrients will cause muscles to not repair themselves after working out. I, personally, have had first-hand experience with this fact.
I am a runner; I enjoy running anywhere from four to fourteen miles. Alongside that, I love to weight lift and strength train. Since many muscles are torn when I work out, I need to eat a balanced and healthy diet in order for my muscles to repair and be ready to go for my next work out. There are many days that I go to run and I feel extra sore if I did not eat enough sufficient foods the day before. Other times, after a much-needed night of plenty of proteins and carbohydrates, I get my “runner’s high” almost immediately and feel like I could run forever. Proper nutrition plays a vital role in exercise, which is why a lack of nutrients in dieting can be very dangerous.
Along with putting high stress on the body, dieting puts high stress on the mind. Individuals begin to always have food on their mind, some people begin yo-yo dieting (“weight cycling”), and sometimes, dieting can even distort the natural “signals of hunger and satiety” (Berg, 2008). All of these can very likely lead to an eating disorder. Some people develop binge-eating disorder, which is where an individual consumes an extremely high amount of calories (thousands of calories) in a very small amount of time. Other people develop disorders such as bulimia, anorexia, or EDNOS. Bulimia is where an individual binges and then purges. Anorexia is characterized mostly by a high restriction of calories, extremely low Body Mass Index, and excessive exercise. EDNOS is an eating disorder that many have not heard of; it stands for Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. It is where a person exhibits many odd, sometimes specific, eating habits but does not necessarily fall into the category of another eating disorder. The restriction of food that many diets call for is the primary reason that eating disorders can take hold after a diet. In her blog post, Rainier (2010) tells the story of one woman, Geneen Roth (who is known through the popular magazine Good Housekeeping), whose mother made her restrict her snack intake: “her mother refused to let her have second creamsicles, ‘or you will get fat.’ Thus, from age 11 to 28, she cycled through diets and innumerous eating disorders, losing and re-gaining a total of over a thousand pounds”.
Disordered eating coming about as a result of dieting is not a surprising sequence. Many people go into dieting with the wrong mindset. They, as Berg (2008) states in her book, Women Afraid to Eat: Breaking Free in Today’s Weight-Obsessed World, “put their lives on hold, ‘waiting to be thin’”. They believe that in order to be happy, you must be healthy, which may have some weight to it; but for many, their idea of “health” is skinny, which is far from the truth. So what is the difference between thin and health? Thin is a number on a scale; health is a mindset, a way of living.
Now, for some, dieting can be helpful if they really are just looking for a quick (and most likely temporary) way to lose weight, such as for an upcoming wedding or vacation. For others, a diet can provide the motivation and structure needed to begin the journey of weight loss and heath. My aunt is a prime example of this: she is currently using Nutrisystem diet and has lost over sixty pounds, and she is still losing. I also have a “friend” on Facebook currently using the Beachbody diet, which is a combination of a balanced diet, a brand of nutrition shakes called “Shakeology”, and an exercise program, such as the popular P90X. She, like my aunt, seems to be doing well; very happy, and healthy.
Dieting could very well help people who need a complete nutritional makeover because it gives them structure. For those who have no clue as to where to begin their weight loss journey, a diet might be a better option rather than causing themselves harm by doing it on their own. The problem with dieting, though, is not necessarily the makeup of the diet (although, many times, the diet itself isn’t all that healthy), the problem falls in the concept of a diet. This is why people must stop focusing on the false promises of quick weight loss and start focusing on bringing themselves to a better state of health.
First, one must know exactly what health is. With all of the ways in which the idea of “health” has been distorted in today’s society, it is difficult to distinguish the differences between the development of a healthy lifestyle and another dieting approach. One of the keys to a healthy lifestyle is the long-term view. Dieting focuses mainly on short-term results. With long-term results in mind, an individual is able to enjoy all types of food as long as they keep it in balance. They do not have to refrain from indulging in a sugary dessert or fried dish because it is not about a number on the scale, it is about a state of mind.
I came about this reasoning through personal experience. I have tried to diet many times- I remember first attempting it when I was in the late elementary school or early middle school years. I remember thinking of a diet as being “healthy” and it seemed like the popular thing to do. Then, as I got older, I learned how to compare myself and my nutrition with that of others. Every so often, interspersed with the times of dieting and giving up on a diet, I would attempt to live “healthier”; but all of my thoughts about dieting made even that fail because I was only looking for short-term results, for a number on the scale. Eventually in high school, I was tired of living unhealthily. I decided to begin a new diet, but it started out correctly-with healthy food, exercise, and a “cheat” day every so often (where you indulge in some foods that aren’t all that healthy for you). As time went on, my diet became stricter and stricter because I wanted results faster and was tired of losing motivation. Eventually, this “diet” became extremely dangerous to my health and had to be stopped.
Normalcy never returned after that experience, but very recently there was more improvement than ever before. I learned the value of the long-term development of a healthy lifestyle, and received numerous pieces of advice from people with experience. Combined with the consultation I had previously received from a nutritionist, I finally figured out how to live a healthy and happy life, free of dieting.
One must first understand that adjusting to a healthy lifestyle takes time and patience- it does not happen overnight. It also does not always mean that you will have the same body as the models and performers you see displayed everywhere- you are not supposed to. Therefore, a healthy lifestyle is not about a jean size or a certain weight reading; it is about balance and keeping your body in the healthiest state possible. In order to do so, you must combine four vital elements. Those elements are a balanced diet, cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and moderation.
As I have learned from my own personal nutritionist, a balanced diet involves every single group in the food pyramid: carbohydrates, proteins, fruits, vegetables, dairy, and fats. The average person should have two or three servings of fruit each day, a serving being the equivalent of a medium apple or a cup of diced fruit. Fruits give the body vital nutrients, natural sugars, and energy. For the vegetable food group, a person should have about three or four servings (cups); they, too, give the body essential vitamins and minerals. Carbohydrates, protein, and fats require a bit more consideration. The average active individual should take in about seven or eight servings of carbohydrates and protein, but they should be mostly complex carbohydrates (such as whole grain bread, brown rice, and oatmeal) and lean proteins (such as turkey, chicken, salmon, and almonds). A healthy amount of fats is about 3 servings (the equivalent of a tablespoon of Thousand Island dressing or peanut butter). Lastly, a balanced diet should include about three servings of dairy, such as a cup of yogurt or milk.
Trust me when I say that I know that this seems like a lot of information to follow but like I said before, a healthy lifestyle comes with time. As you begin to practice a balanced diet, your body will automatically know what you should eat- if you haven’t had enough vegetables but already ate a sufficient amount of carbohydrates, you will simply think through your meals and you will know to have vegetables. The caloric equivalent of all of the food groups put into a balanced diet will come to around 2,000- give or take some. Along with a balanced diet comes moderation, in both the foods you eat and how you exercise.
The next aspect of a healthy lifestyle is exercise, a combination of cardio and strength. In an article posted to LiveStrong.com, Adams (2011), a certified health educator, explains the benefits that cardiovascular and strength exercise can have on not just your fitness level, but also your entire well-being. Cardiovascular exercise has the potential of resulting in greater amounts of stamina, energy, and endurance. It can make your heart, lungs, and mind healthier. Strength training assists the body in burning fat and gaining lean muscle. It also can increase an individual’s metabolism.
As you begin a workout regime and work towards balancing a healthy diet, you will begin to see food for more than just its taste; you will see it as fuel for your body. The food is what will allow your muscles to recover and perform at the highest level possible. You will want a balanced diet and as you work towards a healthy lifestyle, you will see results, mentally and physically.
I personally have reaped the benefits of working towards a healthier lifestyle, and have been more satisfied doing so than I ever have on any diet. I have learned the value of being strong and healthy over just skinny. This is why I believe that it is a necessity that individuals looking to lose weight need to shift focus from dieting to health. It will save them from many years of disappointment and the dangerous side effects of bad nutrition. A healthy lifestyle not only improves overall physical and mental health, it allows for a little indulgence, because no one is perfect and it is completely okay to enjoy a piece of cake every once in a while. Dieting is only focused on the here and now. Healthful living gives an individual perspective and the ability to appreciate both food and fitness.
References:
Ornish, D. (2012, September 22). The optimal diet- eating for health, not weight.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/opinion/sunday/the-optimal-diet.html?ref=weight
Berg, F.M. (2008). Top 10 reasons not to diet. In Women Afraid to Eat:
Breaking Free in Today’s Weight-Obsessed World. Retrieved from http://www.healthyweightnetwork.com/top10.pdf
ProbioticSmart.com (“Josh”). (n.d.) 14 of the most extreme diets.
Retrieved from http://www.probioticsmart.com/blog/14-of-the-most-extreme-diets/
Rainier, M. (2010, November 9). Just health: Dieting, eating disorders, and obesity in America.
Retrieved from http://healthintotality.blogspot.com/2010/11/dieting-eating-disorders-and-obesity-in.html
Adams, G. (2011, March 28). Benefits from cardio & strength workouts.
Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/407334-benefits-from-cardio-strength-workouts/
To the Reader:
When I began this argument, I did so with the mindset of somehow expounding on Inquiry 2, where I analyzed an article about whether or not pro-anorexia websites can aid in recovery. One of the lead causes of eating disorders is society’s idea of “dieting” and “weight loss”. So, I decided to write an argument about diets versus a healthy lifestyle. I approached this paper not only wanting to change my audience’s mind about dieting, but also to give them the foundations of health. I want anyone who is questioning their weight or whether they should go on a diet to be able to read my paper and have a refreshed view of the idea of “weight loss”. I want my audience to come away equipped with the information needed to make good and healthy choices.
My intended audience is not one specific part of society, but it is intended for teenagers up to older men and women. The specific audience I had in mind while writing was college and middle-aged women who have been considering a diet. Thinking back on my audience, if I were to ever go further with this argument, I would write to a younger audience, such as children in middle school. I would do so because I believe that is a vital age where the concepts of dieting and health are first introduced in detail. I think that if more young children were given the proper perception on health, eating problems in America, from eating disorders to obesity, would begin to decline.
Since the dieting has caused so many eating problems in America, I wanted my audience to be able to read my paper and come away with both the proper perspective on health and a proper view of themselves. I wanted them to feel hopeful about their nutrition. I hope they also walk away with an immediate confidence in who they are right now, not waiting to be thin or reach a certain jean size.
This concept, along with many others threaded throughout my paper, gave me many new insights as I wrote my argument. I was even given a new insight with the main difficulty I had in writing. When I began, I really struggled with finding a focus for my paper. At first, I was going to intertwine problems with the media promoting diets, until I realized that adding that idea in might make the paper seem somewhat scattered. When I think about it, I believe that this difficulty, and the choice to leave the media out, actually has a greater lesson hidden in it. You can fight against what the media promotes with all of your strength; you can try your very hardest to keep children from any of society’s influences. But you cannot stop anyone from gaining a perception that would naturally come from all that they see, hear, and experience. Therefore, the immediate focus should not be changing what the media promotes. Change must first happen in our own minds and lives. That is why the focus of my argument is changing our personal perspectives on dieting and health.
Both peer response and teacher feedback helped immensely in developing the focus of my argument. They also assisted me with balancing research with personal knowledge, the organization of the paper, and the structure of the argument. The blog that we did in class, based on fixing a less-impressive paragraph greatly assisted me in learning how to evaluate my writing.
Overall, I wrote this paper with a passion for offering individuals with an alternative to dieting. I hope that as they read it, they would become both encouraged and enlightened.
Alexis Pihoker
I have figured out that no matter where you look, you will inevitably find a dieting promotion. They are found in magazines, on TV, on the Internet, on billboards, in newspapers, on food containers, in books, everywhere. Beyond that, there are multiple diets to choose from: Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, South Beach Diet, Special K diet, Jenny Craig, Slim Fast, or the Atkin’s Diet. Maybe, instead of choosing a brand-name diet, you want to cut out whole food groups: vegetarian, vegan, no carbs, no red meat, no candy. Or you can just start all over with a week-long cleansing diet made up of one ingredient: H2O. Needless to say, America has explored the entire spectrum of diet and weight loss strategies in an attempt to find the fastest and easiest ways to lose weight; but somehow, America continues to remain as the country with the highest rate of obesity. Obviously, the quick and easy strategies that are being promoted have not worked, and will continue to not work. Individuals looking to lose weight must change their weight loss strategies from a mindset of dieting to a mindset of healthy living. Not only will doing so allow them to be happier, it will also save them from the dangers of disordered eating, heart conditions, and stress on both the body and mind.
Dieting has worsened, not helped, America’s weight issues. Think through these statistics reported by Rainier (2010), a blogger for “Just Health”, who received the following facts in a letter from her insurance company: the obesity rate in America has reached about 73%, while each year there is somewhere around 218 fatalities resulting from illnesses such as anorexia and bulimia. How does that measure up? That the nation with sky-rocketing obesity rates also has sky-rocketing eating disorder rates? There is one main issue that has been able to cause both extremes, and that is dieting.
In their search for quick and easy weight loss, many individuals are willing to do whatever it takes, even if it means spending disgusting amounts of money. The dieting business in the United States brings in about forty billion dollars each year (Rainier, 2010). That is the equivalent of what it would cost about 40,000 people to get a four-year education at Miami University (if you round the price to $25,000 per year). What makes this fact even worse is that most spend all of this money to be left with nothing but disappointment in the end. Under the article, “14 of the Most Extreme Diets”, one user (“Denise”) reported the experiences of both herself and her boss: “I did the cereal diet once and lost 50 lbs, but gained it all back. I watched a boss of mine go through diet after diet…and he never lost a pound except on the Atkins diet, where he lost a bunch of weight right off the bat then started having heart palpitations” (n.d.). Unfortunately, many people can attest to a similar experience with dieting. Forty billion dollars seems like a lot for America to be paying to only receive disappointment or worse in the end. Like Denise’s boss, many people not only go back to their original state after a diet, but even have negative side effects (like heart palpitations).
The Atkins Diet, as mentioned in Denise’s comment, is one example of a dangerous yet popular fad that has been in America over recent years. It specifically seems to appeal to people because it is “low-carb” and therefore, people think, quick weight loss. What people do not know is that the reason that people lose weight quickly and right away on the Atkins diet is because the body is put under so much stress. This type of low-carb, high-protein diet is the type that makes a greater possibility for a person to develop cardiovascular disease and other heart conditions (Ornish, 2012). Any time that the body is deprived of essential nutrients, including those found in healthy, complex carbohydrates, it goes into a state of stress. This is exactly why the low-calorie, sometimes no-calorie, diets do not work. A person’s Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of calories that his or her body would need to function if he or she were in a coma. If someone eats less than he or she’s BMR, or some simply round down to about 1,200 calories, the body begins to conserve any of the food that is eaten, preventing the ability to lose any significant amount of weight.
This lack of nutrients can also prevent individuals from making progress in their health and fitness level. When the body is deprived, it begins to affect other body functions, such as one’s temperature, heart rate, metabolism, and ability to focus (Berg, 2008). As far as fitness goes, a lack of nutrients will cause muscles to not repair themselves after working out. I, personally, have had first-hand experience with this fact.
I am a runner; I enjoy running anywhere from four to fourteen miles. Alongside that, I love to weight lift and strength train. Since many muscles are torn when I work out, I need to eat a balanced and healthy diet in order for my muscles to repair and be ready to go for my next work out. There are many days that I go to run and I feel extra sore if I did not eat enough sufficient foods the day before. Other times, after a much-needed night of plenty of proteins and carbohydrates, I get my “runner’s high” almost immediately and feel like I could run forever. Proper nutrition plays a vital role in exercise, which is why a lack of nutrients in dieting can be very dangerous.
Along with putting high stress on the body, dieting puts high stress on the mind. Individuals begin to always have food on their mind, some people begin yo-yo dieting (“weight cycling”), and sometimes, dieting can even distort the natural “signals of hunger and satiety” (Berg, 2008). All of these can very likely lead to an eating disorder. Some people develop binge-eating disorder, which is where an individual consumes an extremely high amount of calories (thousands of calories) in a very small amount of time. Other people develop disorders such as bulimia, anorexia, or EDNOS. Bulimia is where an individual binges and then purges. Anorexia is characterized mostly by a high restriction of calories, extremely low Body Mass Index, and excessive exercise. EDNOS is an eating disorder that many have not heard of; it stands for Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. It is where a person exhibits many odd, sometimes specific, eating habits but does not necessarily fall into the category of another eating disorder. The restriction of food that many diets call for is the primary reason that eating disorders can take hold after a diet. In her blog post, Rainier (2010) tells the story of one woman, Geneen Roth (who is known through the popular magazine Good Housekeeping), whose mother made her restrict her snack intake: “her mother refused to let her have second creamsicles, ‘or you will get fat.’ Thus, from age 11 to 28, she cycled through diets and innumerous eating disorders, losing and re-gaining a total of over a thousand pounds”.
Disordered eating coming about as a result of dieting is not a surprising sequence. Many people go into dieting with the wrong mindset. They, as Berg (2008) states in her book, Women Afraid to Eat: Breaking Free in Today’s Weight-Obsessed World, “put their lives on hold, ‘waiting to be thin’”. They believe that in order to be happy, you must be healthy, which may have some weight to it; but for many, their idea of “health” is skinny, which is far from the truth. So what is the difference between thin and health? Thin is a number on a scale; health is a mindset, a way of living.
Now, for some, dieting can be helpful if they really are just looking for a quick (and most likely temporary) way to lose weight, such as for an upcoming wedding or vacation. For others, a diet can provide the motivation and structure needed to begin the journey of weight loss and heath. My aunt is a prime example of this: she is currently using Nutrisystem diet and has lost over sixty pounds, and she is still losing. I also have a “friend” on Facebook currently using the Beachbody diet, which is a combination of a balanced diet, a brand of nutrition shakes called “Shakeology”, and an exercise program, such as the popular P90X. She, like my aunt, seems to be doing well; very happy, and healthy.
Dieting could very well help people who need a complete nutritional makeover because it gives them structure. For those who have no clue as to where to begin their weight loss journey, a diet might be a better option rather than causing themselves harm by doing it on their own. The problem with dieting, though, is not necessarily the makeup of the diet (although, many times, the diet itself isn’t all that healthy), the problem falls in the concept of a diet. This is why people must stop focusing on the false promises of quick weight loss and start focusing on bringing themselves to a better state of health.
First, one must know exactly what health is. With all of the ways in which the idea of “health” has been distorted in today’s society, it is difficult to distinguish the differences between the development of a healthy lifestyle and another dieting approach. One of the keys to a healthy lifestyle is the long-term view. Dieting focuses mainly on short-term results. With long-term results in mind, an individual is able to enjoy all types of food as long as they keep it in balance. They do not have to refrain from indulging in a sugary dessert or fried dish because it is not about a number on the scale, it is about a state of mind.
I came about this reasoning through personal experience. I have tried to diet many times- I remember first attempting it when I was in the late elementary school or early middle school years. I remember thinking of a diet as being “healthy” and it seemed like the popular thing to do. Then, as I got older, I learned how to compare myself and my nutrition with that of others. Every so often, interspersed with the times of dieting and giving up on a diet, I would attempt to live “healthier”; but all of my thoughts about dieting made even that fail because I was only looking for short-term results, for a number on the scale. Eventually in high school, I was tired of living unhealthily. I decided to begin a new diet, but it started out correctly-with healthy food, exercise, and a “cheat” day every so often (where you indulge in some foods that aren’t all that healthy for you). As time went on, my diet became stricter and stricter because I wanted results faster and was tired of losing motivation. Eventually, this “diet” became extremely dangerous to my health and had to be stopped.
Normalcy never returned after that experience, but very recently there was more improvement than ever before. I learned the value of the long-term development of a healthy lifestyle, and received numerous pieces of advice from people with experience. Combined with the consultation I had previously received from a nutritionist, I finally figured out how to live a healthy and happy life, free of dieting.
One must first understand that adjusting to a healthy lifestyle takes time and patience- it does not happen overnight. It also does not always mean that you will have the same body as the models and performers you see displayed everywhere- you are not supposed to. Therefore, a healthy lifestyle is not about a jean size or a certain weight reading; it is about balance and keeping your body in the healthiest state possible. In order to do so, you must combine four vital elements. Those elements are a balanced diet, cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and moderation.
As I have learned from my own personal nutritionist, a balanced diet involves every single group in the food pyramid: carbohydrates, proteins, fruits, vegetables, dairy, and fats. The average person should have two or three servings of fruit each day, a serving being the equivalent of a medium apple or a cup of diced fruit. Fruits give the body vital nutrients, natural sugars, and energy. For the vegetable food group, a person should have about three or four servings (cups); they, too, give the body essential vitamins and minerals. Carbohydrates, protein, and fats require a bit more consideration. The average active individual should take in about seven or eight servings of carbohydrates and protein, but they should be mostly complex carbohydrates (such as whole grain bread, brown rice, and oatmeal) and lean proteins (such as turkey, chicken, salmon, and almonds). A healthy amount of fats is about 3 servings (the equivalent of a tablespoon of Thousand Island dressing or peanut butter). Lastly, a balanced diet should include about three servings of dairy, such as a cup of yogurt or milk.
Trust me when I say that I know that this seems like a lot of information to follow but like I said before, a healthy lifestyle comes with time. As you begin to practice a balanced diet, your body will automatically know what you should eat- if you haven’t had enough vegetables but already ate a sufficient amount of carbohydrates, you will simply think through your meals and you will know to have vegetables. The caloric equivalent of all of the food groups put into a balanced diet will come to around 2,000- give or take some. Along with a balanced diet comes moderation, in both the foods you eat and how you exercise.
The next aspect of a healthy lifestyle is exercise, a combination of cardio and strength. In an article posted to LiveStrong.com, Adams (2011), a certified health educator, explains the benefits that cardiovascular and strength exercise can have on not just your fitness level, but also your entire well-being. Cardiovascular exercise has the potential of resulting in greater amounts of stamina, energy, and endurance. It can make your heart, lungs, and mind healthier. Strength training assists the body in burning fat and gaining lean muscle. It also can increase an individual’s metabolism.
As you begin a workout regime and work towards balancing a healthy diet, you will begin to see food for more than just its taste; you will see it as fuel for your body. The food is what will allow your muscles to recover and perform at the highest level possible. You will want a balanced diet and as you work towards a healthy lifestyle, you will see results, mentally and physically.
I personally have reaped the benefits of working towards a healthier lifestyle, and have been more satisfied doing so than I ever have on any diet. I have learned the value of being strong and healthy over just skinny. This is why I believe that it is a necessity that individuals looking to lose weight need to shift focus from dieting to health. It will save them from many years of disappointment and the dangerous side effects of bad nutrition. A healthy lifestyle not only improves overall physical and mental health, it allows for a little indulgence, because no one is perfect and it is completely okay to enjoy a piece of cake every once in a while. Dieting is only focused on the here and now. Healthful living gives an individual perspective and the ability to appreciate both food and fitness.
References:
Ornish, D. (2012, September 22). The optimal diet- eating for health, not weight.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/opinion/sunday/the-optimal-diet.html?ref=weight
Berg, F.M. (2008). Top 10 reasons not to diet. In Women Afraid to Eat:
Breaking Free in Today’s Weight-Obsessed World. Retrieved from http://www.healthyweightnetwork.com/top10.pdf
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To the Reader:
When I began this argument, I did so with the mindset of somehow expounding on Inquiry 2, where I analyzed an article about whether or not pro-anorexia websites can aid in recovery. One of the lead causes of eating disorders is society’s idea of “dieting” and “weight loss”. So, I decided to write an argument about diets versus a healthy lifestyle. I approached this paper not only wanting to change my audience’s mind about dieting, but also to give them the foundations of health. I want anyone who is questioning their weight or whether they should go on a diet to be able to read my paper and have a refreshed view of the idea of “weight loss”. I want my audience to come away equipped with the information needed to make good and healthy choices.
My intended audience is not one specific part of society, but it is intended for teenagers up to older men and women. The specific audience I had in mind while writing was college and middle-aged women who have been considering a diet. Thinking back on my audience, if I were to ever go further with this argument, I would write to a younger audience, such as children in middle school. I would do so because I believe that is a vital age where the concepts of dieting and health are first introduced in detail. I think that if more young children were given the proper perception on health, eating problems in America, from eating disorders to obesity, would begin to decline.
Since the dieting has caused so many eating problems in America, I wanted my audience to be able to read my paper and come away with both the proper perspective on health and a proper view of themselves. I wanted them to feel hopeful about their nutrition. I hope they also walk away with an immediate confidence in who they are right now, not waiting to be thin or reach a certain jean size.
This concept, along with many others threaded throughout my paper, gave me many new insights as I wrote my argument. I was even given a new insight with the main difficulty I had in writing. When I began, I really struggled with finding a focus for my paper. At first, I was going to intertwine problems with the media promoting diets, until I realized that adding that idea in might make the paper seem somewhat scattered. When I think about it, I believe that this difficulty, and the choice to leave the media out, actually has a greater lesson hidden in it. You can fight against what the media promotes with all of your strength; you can try your very hardest to keep children from any of society’s influences. But you cannot stop anyone from gaining a perception that would naturally come from all that they see, hear, and experience. Therefore, the immediate focus should not be changing what the media promotes. Change must first happen in our own minds and lives. That is why the focus of my argument is changing our personal perspectives on dieting and health.
Both peer response and teacher feedback helped immensely in developing the focus of my argument. They also assisted me with balancing research with personal knowledge, the organization of the paper, and the structure of the argument. The blog that we did in class, based on fixing a less-impressive paragraph greatly assisted me in learning how to evaluate my writing.
Overall, I wrote this paper with a passion for offering individuals with an alternative to dieting. I hope that as they read it, they would become both encouraged and enlightened.
Alexis Pihoker