Diets are Ineffective for a Variety of Reasons

Diets are Ineffective for a Variety of Reasons

This year, millions of individuals will begin on a weight-loss journey, with the majority of them failing miserably. When a diet fails, the typical reaction from those who promote it is to place the blame on the person who tried it and failed. As a result, the individual feels dejected and guilty as a result of their lack of "will-power" or determination.

Furthermore, blaming the person keeps alive the misconception that diets are an efficient method of losing weight. I believe it is past time to advance the conversation above the level of "blaming" and to investigate the true reasons why diets fail.

I'll give you an example to help you understand my point of view.

When most individuals are confronted with something sweet, such as a chocolate (candy) bar, it doesn't take long for them to develop a strong urge to consume the item. Most people will just attribute the urge to the chocolate. They will then attempt to overcome the urge by using "willpower." Usually, they lose this struggle and eventually succumb to temptation and consume the chocolate bar. This "caving in" is often the harbinger of the end of a diet.

Examine why this "caving-in" happened in the first place. According to what we know about the cognitive process that resulted in the desire to consume the chocolate bar, sensory input was received through appropriate receptors [in this case, the eyes] and the mind formed some type of neural or sensory representation of the object that will be defined as a chocolate bar. This is an unavoidable process, and we should accept it. If the item's sensory receptors are functioning properly, the mind must create a mental representation, also known as a "neural picture," of the thing.

When a brain picture has been produced, we have been trained to attribute meanings to these images as they appear in our minds, based on our previous experiences. It is followed by an emotional reaction suited to the meaning once the meaning has been determined. In the instance of the chocolate bar, the meaning given comprised prior recollections of happy events associated with eating chocolate bars, resulting in a desire to consume this particular chocolate bar at the time of the assignment. It was the cognitive process described above, rather than the physical presence of the thing that would be classified as a chocolate bar, that triggered the need in this case.

It was the attribution of meaning, namely, that was the source of the need. And since this assignment of meaning has become completely automatic in the majority of people, the chocolate bar is often held responsible for the yearning, while in reality, it merely had the ability to induce the mind to construct a meaningless picture in the first place. Most people believe that the meaning and the picture have been "fused," with the meaning now considered to be an intrinsic element of the neural image itself rather than something allocated from inside the mind's working memory. This, of course, offers the stimulus the ability to act as the catalyst for the reaction to occur.

It is enough to only think about or reflect on a chocolate bar to have the same impact as eating one. After that reflection has been generated, a brain picture is formed, and after that image has been formed, the cognitive process of automatically assigning meaning to it is identical to the process that occurs when images are caused by external stimuli. It is impossible to resist the intense temptation of the chocolate bar.

This implies, of course, that every time we are faced with a chocolate bar or another delectable meal, our minds immediately go through the cognitive process stated above and generate a desire to consume the delicacy. These constant emotional reactions add up and finally tire us out physically and psychologically. We "give in" and throw the diet out the window for this same reason.

That is, the only way to minimize our food intake while being comfortable is to adjust the natural process by which we attach meaning to the pictures that enter our minds when we awaken in the morning. With this method, we may limit our urge to overeat and, as a result, change our eating habits, allowing us to lose weight and keep it off for good.

Nutritional supplements and diets do not give these strategies, and in fact, they fail the person rather than the other way around, as their vendors would have you think. If altering our behavior were as simple as making the choice to go on a diet, the majority of us would have made a variety of changes to our lives long before now. The fact is that we need tactics that will assist us in bringing about that transformation, or else we are setting ourselves up for failure.

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