American researchers have shed light on the divide between the desire to go on a diet to lose weight and the follow through. According to this study, if a diet doesn't take into account alimenatry preferences it will more likely than not end in failure.
Scientists from the University at Buffalo and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have concluded that, though a large part of American society makes an effort to lose weight, most people fail in their endeavor.
With more than 160 million overweight or obese people, the US is the country most affected by this public health crisis, and this results in 16% of deaths nationwide being related to diet and physical activity.
And yet, according to the study, nearly one third of adults currently follow some kind of diet to control or lose weight. Few succeed.
"There is clearly a disconnect if we have a majority of the population that has tried to lose weight and a majority of the population that is overweight," says Marc Kiviniemi, a public health researcher at the University at Buffalo.
"People are planning to diet and trying to diet, but that's not translating into a successful weight loss effort."
The researchers analysed people's decision making process regarding their health and tried to understand what factors actually drive people's behavior, especially when deciding to go on a diet.
Many issues, from biological to environmental, determine effective weight control, but how people manage their own behavior is a big piece of that puzzle.
Kiviniemi also states that "It's not just the knowledge of what we're eating, but consideration of how we'll feel having decided to eat those foods."
Though dieting is a process that involves a plan to change eating habits followed by modified behavior in accordance with that plan, according to Kiviniemi and his co-author Carolyn Brown-Kramer of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, when it comes to making a food choice and deciding to execute the plan, feelings guide behavior.
The study underlines the fact that how you feel about what you are eating has a determining effect on the success of your diet.
The researchers' conclusions also highlight the fact that deprivation diets or diets based on food choices that ignore people's preferences are practically doomed to fail from the start.
In fact, "the deprivation experience is miserable. If you didn't associate negative feelings with it to start, you will after a few days," says Kiviniemi.
It's also important to distinguish between behavior that requires effort and that which come naturally.
In the end, according to this study, it would be preferable to eat the healthiest foods that you enjoy, and that it is also essential, before beginning any diet, to evaluate your capacity for overcoming obstacles.
