Do you have concerns about your weight or body size?
In the past, there was a view that being “supposedly overweight” put us at risk of developing quite a few health problems including Diabetes, High Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure and even some cancers. If you had these conditions, then losing just a small amount of weight was “supposed to help you”.
The science is now slowly changing. We know that following diets is hard and for many people difficult to maintain in the long term (can you relate ?). In fact 95% of diets fail us. We also now know having a supposedly “healthy BMI” does not mean we are necessarily healthy. Weight is not a reliable indicator of good health and in fact dieting can be harmful to our physical and mental health.
We now know a more gentle and health focused approach can be more positive and for many people produces much better health outcomes long term.
So we suggest you look for a health practitioner who has a philosophy is to support you to change your diet to improve your health without pushing you to lose weight!
In particular, Non-Diet and HAES ® (Health-At-Every-Size) Dietitians will aim to help you decipher the health messages out there, make dietary changes but still enjoy your food. They specialise in helping you develop mindful eating habits and gain an understanding of WHY you eat, WHEN you eat and HOW you eat. They also try their best to support you to look at your whole life – how and when you move your body, your stress, your sleep patterns and any physical symptoms you might be experiencing that affect how you eat.
If you would like to start to see a Dietitian to discuss your health, then contact a Dietitian in your area.
Looking for more info about the Non-Diet Approach?
You might also like to check out the online mindful eating program from SOL founder, Christina. You can find it by clicking here.
Christina has also penned many articles on the topic in Australian magazines, like this one in Womens Health and this one in Body and Soul.