Do you continue to weight cycle and struggle to lose weight long term? Have you ‘tried all diets’ before? Could you benefit from a new approach to weight management/health?
The ‘Non-Diet’ approach is an emerging alternative to standard weight management practices which is showing very positive results including:
- Improved biochemical markers (cholesterol, blood sugar etc)
- Sustained improvements in eating behaviours and diet quality
- Sustained improvements in physical activity levels
- Reduction of weight cycling
- Reduced body dissatisfaction
Who can benefit from this approach? – Any individual as an alternative for traditional weight loss methods; however may be particularly valuable for those who have tried many diets over the years with limited sustainable improvements to their diet, physical activity or overall health. It is also beneficial for people with disordered eating patterns and/or body image disturbance.
The ‘Non-Diet’ Approach
- Moves away from using weight based goals and standard dieting practices such as prescription of restrictive diets and labelling of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods
- Encourages the client to build skills and confidence in their own innate ability to select appropriate foods for their bodies in appropriate amounts
- Uses Intuitive eating practices helping individuals become more in-tune with internal and external eating cues
- Promotes self care and a non-judgemental, nurturing and grateful attitude for one’s self and food
NOTE
*Weight loss is not a goal in this treatment approach however may occur as a result of diet and lifestyle improvements – Aim is for weight to settle at one’s own individual healthy weight
Research behind the Non-Diet Approach
Traditional restrictive dieting methods are shown to
- Be ineffective in the long term for 95% of people
- Contribute to weight cycling, and weight gain over time
- Provide only short-term improvements in biochemical markers
- Contribute to negative body image, depression and disordered eating patterns
Recent research is indicating
- That high BMI is not so much a causative factor in poor health outcomes but rather it correlates with these. There is strong evidence to support that health markers can be improved with improvements in eating and lifestyle behaviours regardless of weight change
- That having a history of weight cycling may be more strongly linked to adverse health outcomes later in life as opposed to maintaining a higher weight over time
Our Dietitian Jessica Baxter has completed training in the ’Non-Diet’ approach. Jessica believes that this approach is a fantastic alternative and very beneficial for many people who have struggled with traditional diets. Jessica would love to work with you to help improve your health and your relationship with food and your body.
You can find out more about this approach at www.healthnotdiets.com
