Why Freshmen Shouldn't Diet
One of the main reasons Previte urged Freshmen not to diet is because studies show that diets don't work! In 2007, Traci Mann, who has a PhD in psychology, conducted a review of every randomized controlled trial of diets and included a follow-up of at least two years. She and her team discovered that one-third to two-thirds of dieters regained more weight than they lost on their diets — more weight! Previte explained that this proves that dieting is a predictor of weight gain, which means if you diet, you could end up weighing more than you did before you started.
Dieting can also be harmful to our physical health, Previte said. In this study, yo-yo dieters had a higher risk of heart disease than women who stayed at a consistent weight. She added that disordered eating habits can also affect your mental health, making you feel depressed, isolated, and out of control.
Life was made for so much more than chasing a smaller body, Previte said, and she speaks from experience. "I'm a dietitian and intuitive eating counselor, and college for me was my most prominent time of disordered eating habits that I've ever had. I wish so badly that I knew what intuitive eating was back then," she said. "Social events would be ruined because I was too absorbed and caring what other people thought about my body. I would set strict food rules only to break them and get so mad at myself for not being able to stick to the diet. And I'd end up eating more of those forbidden foods until I felt physically unpleasant."
We know restrictive dieting doesn't work, and we know that it only causes disordered eating behaviours, and she added, "It wasn't until I made peace with food that I was able to honour my health." If you want to improve your health, you can absolutely focus on health-promoting behaviours that will honour your body, but she said that "dieting is not the answer."