When Your "Lifestyle Change" Is Actually a Diet
“No, no, no, I’m not dieting. I’m eating clean. It’s a lifestyle change.”
Yeah, sure.
A lot of us say we are “eating clean” (you know, avoiding processed foods, focusing on plants, condemning sweets of all kinds) in order to make a “lifestyle change” that will help us be “healthier.” That’s what I used to say.
But the real driver behind my desire to eat clean was losing weight and finally getting skinny. And that turns eating clean into a diet.
If you wouldn’t eat clean if you didn’t think you’d lose weight and get skinny, then you, my dear, are dieting.
“If you wouldn’t eat clean if you didn’t think you’d lose weight and get skinny, then you, my dear, are dieting.”
And if you’re dieting, you’re eventually going to binge-eat because dieting causes binge-eating (if that’s news to you, I recommend watching Video 1 of my training series for women who want to stop binge-eating for good).
Eating clean is a diet when it’s restrictive, predictive, non-intuitive, and moralistic, all in service of losing weight and getting skinny.
If you’re restricting, eating clean is a diet and will eventually lead to binge-eating.
If you restrict the types of food you eat, or how much you eat, or when you eat, or maybe all of the above, so you can eat less and weigh less, eating clean is a diet. If you feel deprived, eating clean is a diet.
If the way you eat is predictive, eating clean is a diet and will eventually lead to binge-eating.
If you plan what you’re going to eat in advance so you don’t screw it up (so you don’t gain weight), eating clean is a diet. I’m not talking about bringing lunch to work. I’m talking about “I’m never, ever going to ever, eat brownies ever again, never ever.” I’m talking about “for the next three months, I’m not eating carbs so I can lose weight before my next vacation.” I’m talking about predictive eating decisions that you cannot determine realistically in advance.
If your food decisions are non-intuitive, your clean eating is a diet and will eventually lead to binge-eating.
If you ignore your hunger and fullness cues (because you might eat “too much” if you ate until you were satisfied), eating clean is a diet. If you have no idea when you’re hungry or full, eating clean might be a diet. If you only eat according to external cues, like specific times of day, eating clean is a diet. If the way you eat is derived from anywhere else besides an inner sense of knowing, clean eating might be a diet.
If eating clean is a moral issue, eating clean is a diet and will lead to binge-eating.
If you judge yourself when you don’t eat clean, eating clean is a diet. If you consider yourself bad or wrong when you don’t eat clean, eating clean is a diet. If you criticize yourself when you don’t eat clean, eating clean is a diet. (More on this in Video 3 of my training series.) If you define yourself by eating clean or you wouldn’t know who you are without eating clean, eating clean is a diet. If you freak out when you don’t eat clean, eating clean is a diet.
(And by the way, even the name, “eating clean,” is inherently moralistic — its opposite is dirty!)
I’m not saying eating clean is ALWAYS a diet, but eating clean is definitely a diet and will eventually cause binge-eating when it’s restrictive, predictive, non-intuitive, and moralistic, all in service of losing weight and getting skinny.
So…are you eating clean? Or are you dieting?
P. S. I teach women how to eat without dieting in my free video training series. Check it out.