Why “Diet” Foods Don’t Work!

The diet industry has made millions of dollars on so called “diet” foods advertised as low-calorie, low-fat, non-fat, sugar-free, and the list goes on. Americans fall for this false advertising because they don’t truly understand nutrition and are looking for a “quick-fix” to lose weight. However, these types of foods rarely help people lose weight in the long run and can even cause weight gain and other health issues.

The first reason diet foods don’t work is that they are filled with other artificial ingredients to make up for the taste lost when taking out the fat, sugar, calories, etc. For example, many foods advertised as “low-fat” have added salt and sugar. These added ingredients make the body crave more salt and sugar, which leads to overconsumption of other unhealthy foods. Also, in order for a food to be made low-calorie, such as the frozen prepared dinners sold in the “diet” foods aisle at the grocery store and other low-calorie or sugar-free snack foods, they must add no-calorie artificial sweeteners. These types of sweeteners create a chemical imbalance in the brain which makes you crave more sugar. So even though you had that low-calorie dinner, the huge bowl of ice cream you ate after dinner made up those extra calories and then some. Another reason diet foods don’t work is they are lacking in taste compared to the high-calorie, full-fat, full-sugar version. As a result, you feel unsatisfied and craving something else to make up for the lack in taste, which often leads to eating more unhealthy foods. Finally, “diet” foods don’t work because the human body needs calories and it needs fat (healthy fats) and “diet” foods promise to reduce or eliminate these things. You can’t replace essential nutrients found in whole foods with chemicals and preservatives and expect this to be a healthy sustainable diet in the long run. The key is to avoid these highly processed “diet” foods and instead eat more REAL, WHOLE foods that don’t have a laundry list of chemical ingredients on the back of the package.