For years, I have been repeating that the term “diet” is unsuitable for so-called weight-loss diets. Few people in the world do not diet. When I talk about diet, I don’t just think of weight loss pills, but of all those who allow us to stay in shape, like a life coach.
Weight-loss diets were the subject of a report by ANSES a few years ago, following concerns aroused by the vogue for high-protein methods. A report which did not really bring much, apart from reminding the media and consumers alike: only theequation between the energy consumed and that expended reduces your weight, that you have to balance your diet and exercise to achieve this goal.
The purpose of the official document was ultimately to curb the immoderate appetite of the population for diets and proteins. This made most competent nutritionists smile as everyone, including me, had been aware of this truth for a very long time.
Addicted to diets
We are used to hearing (I also sometimes say it) that if the population is addicted to dietsthe responsibility lies with the media that guide us, women’s magazines, models…
But also that the same media push us to demand measures, to constantly want to hear recommendations, receive opinionfollow expert prescriptions. Everything and its opposite in short. This is to forget that popular common sense is the best of advisers, the most effective of coaches.
Let’s stop hiding our faces by accusing a scapegoat (here the media): the desire to lose weight is not only shaped by the press, it stems from a truly collective will; it is no longer a diktat of thinness, but of everyone’s desire to take control of their relationship with the outside worldmastery of one’s body and one’s own survival.
The story is worth remembering. The first health farmsof which we still find heirs or variations today, were built at the beginning of the 20th century in Michigan, in Battle Creek precisely, and held by the Seventh-day Adventists (of which Kellogg was a part).
Where were forbidden animal fats, salt, sweets, coffee, tea and alcohol, condiments, in short everything that could improve tastes and sensations. No desire to improve health in these recommendations, since the studies attesting to the harmfulness of certain dishes did not exist, but a way of banishing enjoyment.
Take the diet like a life coach
We ate to survive and meet religious restrictionsnot for fun and even less to apply nutritional advice.
It’s’hygienism of the beginning of the 20th century which allows doctors to regain control, quickly helped by marketing. the yogurtfor example, benefits from the recommendations of a Nobel Prize in medicine, Elie Metchnikoff.
When he explains that consuming it would lengthen life expectancy, delay the onset of arteriosclerosis and drive out the intestinal bacteria that cause putrefaction, he draws worldwide attention to this food and promotes it.
The “regimes” or fashions of the time therefore derive rather from the personal thought of a pure scientist.
Today, coaches are springing up everywhere, especially in the field of diets. Coach in physical activity, sports coach… in fact dieting today is like having a life coach.
This life coach will act in such a way as to change your eating habits, and undoubtedly your lifestyle because with 5, 10 or 15 kg less, you do not move in the same way and the field of possibilities is much wider.
Nutrition: a science, not an opinion
With the advent of the Web, a revolution for dietetics in the 21st century, everything is changing. My experience thus shows me every day how much people now structure themselves less by following the instructions of a doctor, a scientist, than by their belonging to a food communitye where everyone expresses himself, delivers his experience, his advice.
The word of all takes on more weight and importance than that, even substantiated, competent, of a single person.
The regime brings people together around a center of common interest: health. From this point of view, these communities have a virtuous character in a society which separates men rather than bringing them together.
But it is also the open door to all rumors, the equalization of all remarks, serious or eccentric, the premium granted to sensational promises of unbalanced methods too; in short a real diet fair.
I hope to help you see things more clearly, and especially not to venture into “diets”, “slimming diets” which would prove to be ineffective and present risks for your health. Nutrition is a science, not an opinion. Don’t be “influenced”, learn about nutrition and make the right choices for your health.
