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For years, people who had polycystic ovary syndrome and were also overweight were told that their symptoms would improve if they lost weight via a restrictive diet. In 2018, a leading group of PCOS experts recommended that overweight or obese women with the hormonal disorder consider reducing their caloric intake by up to 750 calories a day. That guidance helped to spawn questionable diet programs on social media, and reinforced an impression among people with PCOS that if only they could successfully alter their diets, they would feel better.

But the recommendations were not based on robust PCOS studies, and researchers now say that there is no solid evidence to suggest that a restrictive diet in the long-term has any significant impact on PCOS symptoms. Dieting rarely leads to sustained weight loss for anyone, and for people with PCOS, losing weight is particularly difficult. Beyond that, the link between sustained weight loss and improved symptoms is not very clear or well-established, said Julie Duffy Dillon, a registered dietitian specializing in PCOS care.

In 2023, the same group, called the International PCOS Network, revised its guidance based on a new analysis of the research and dropped all references to caloric restriction. The group now recommends that people with PCOS maintain an overall balanced and healthy dietary composition similar to the Mediterranean diet, which is associated with a reduced risk of the health issues that are linked to the disorder, like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Its not known whether eating this way might improve symptoms of PCOS.

The changes in the guidelines reflect the PCOS literature and the lived experience of people with the condition, said Dr. Helena Teede, an endocrinologist at Monash Health in Australia and lead author of the 2023 guidelines. Its no longer about blaming people or stigmatizing them, or suggesting that its their personal behavioral failure that they have higher weight.

PCOS is a hormonal disorder that affects as many as five million women in the United States. Its characterized by irregular periods, infertility, excessive facial hair growth, acne and scalp hair loss symptoms that are common with other health conditions, too, making diagnosis tricky. People with PCOS usually ovulate less than once a month and often also have higher levels of androgens (male sex hormones) or multiple underdeveloped follicles on their ovaries (not, as the name suggests, cysts) or both.

Typically, when a woman is experiencing symptoms, a doctor will either scan the ovaries to look for those follicles or draw blood to test hormone levels. There is no cure for PCOS; the first line of treatment is often some form of birth control to help regulate the menstrual cycle.

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PCOS Diets Are Unlikely to Ease Symptoms - The New York Times

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Mar 14th, 2024 | Filed under Dieting
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I first got into the non-diet health at every size movement probably around 2017.

Q. By that time, youd been a dietician for 17 years. What turned the tide for you?

A. I had been dealing with my own disordered eating and it flew under the radar. And because disordered eating and dieting is so pervasive, nobody picked up on it. But I knew that it took up a lot of head space for me. And I see that a lot with students and the patients who Ive worked with. So, it kind of started off personally, and I also saw it in my former job in a weight-loss bariatric surgery clinic.

Q. Where does diet culture surface across genders and identities?

A. It really affects us all. I like to ask people, When you think of eating disorders and disordered eating, what sort of person comes to your mind? Often its cisgender, white, female, very thin or underweight-appearing, but thats just not the case. Eating disorders affect all populations. People who are of color, the LGBTQ community, people who are not able-bodied, they often get overlooked. And those are actually the populations that we need to be looking at more.

Q. How should people be eating? We dont want to starve ourselves, but we also shouldnt be gluttons. Whats the right balance?

A. Everyone is different. And everyone, I would hope, would have an individualized way forward. You know, thats the thing with dieting and Apple Watches and My Fitness Pal. They dont know you as a person and what access to care you have. What food do you have? Those things dont cater to you.

We talk to students about intuitive eating. Intuitive eating is the opposite of dieting. People often think that intuitive eating is eat when youre hungry, stop when youre full and you can eat whatever you want. Thats not necessarily saying that. Its saying that you can have autonomy over your own body. You can honor, respect and listen to what your body is saying without rigidity, without food rules. Its finding where is that gray area for someone?

Q. What are humans typical approaches to eating if they dont have the benefit of dietician services like you and your colleagues offer at Student Health and Wellness?

A. We often go to all-or-nothing when it comes to food, because thats a safe spot for us, because were in control, we know what to expect. Living in the gray is really challenging sometimes. Thats why meeting with a dietician, a mental health provider, can really help somebody navigate where they want to go in terms of their relationship with food.

Q. How can students access that support in Student Health and Wellness?

A. If eating and your body image is taking up a lot of head space and its affecting your day-to-day and your ability to be present with yourself and other people, students have the ability to reach out via the HealthyHoos Patient Portal. Or they can call Counseling and Psychological Services.

They cancall Medical Services, or they can get in contact with our Nutrition Services team, which is myself and Melanie Brede, and get plugged in.

I just invite people to not minimize it because, again, disordered eating and dieting are so pervasive you might not think that its a big deal, but its a big deal because its affecting your life.

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What is 'Diet Culture' and How Can You Avoid Its Pitfalls and Accept Your Body? - UVA Today

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Mar 14th, 2024 | Filed under Dieting
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Research using fruit flies has revealed activin signaling as a key mechanism in gut plasticity, influencing its ability to shrink and expand in response to nutrient availability. This finding has implications for understanding organ adaptation and opens new pathways for exploring treatments for colorectal cancer linked to activin signaling disruptions.

One of the most striking examples of gut plasticity can be observed in animals that are exposed to prolonged periods of fasting, such as hibernating animals or phyton snakes that goes for months without eating, where the gut shrinks with as much as 50%, but recovers in size following a few days of re-feeding. Importantly, the capacity of the gut to undergo resizing is broadly conserved. Hence, in humans, an increase in gut size is observed during pregnancy, which facilitates the uptake of nutrients to support the growth of the fetus.

The Colombani Andersen lab at the section of Cell & Neurobiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen uses the fruit fly, Drosophila, to study the mechanisms that regulate gut plasticity. The results have just been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Taking advantage of the broad genetic toolbox available in the fruit fly, we have investigated the mechanisms underpinning nutrient-dependent gut resizing, says Dr. Ditte S. Andersen.

The results show that nutrient deprivation results in an accumulation of progenitor cells that fail to differentiate into the mature cells causing the gut to shrink. Upon refeeding these stalled progenitor cells readily differentiate into mature cells to promote regrowth of the gut.

Ditte S. Andersen continues: We have identified activins as critical regulators of this process. In nutrient-restrictive conditions, activin signaling is strongly repressed, while it is reactivated and required for progenitor maturation and gut resizing in response to refeeding. Activin-dependent resizing of the gut is physiologically important as inhibition of activin signaling reduces survival of flies to intermittent fasting.

Regulators of organ plasticity are essential for host adaptation to an ever-changing environment, however, the same signals are often deregulated in cancers. Indeed, mutations affecting activin signaling are frequent in cancer cells in a variety of tissues. Our study provides a starting point for investigating the link between aberrant activin signaling and the development of colorectal cancers and sets the stage for exploring the efficiency of anti-activin therapeutic strategies in treating colorectal cancers.

Reference: Drosophila activins adapt gut size to food intake and promote regenerative growth by Christian F. Christensen, Quentin Laurichesse, Rihab Loudhaief, Julien Colombani and Ditte S. Andersen, 4 January 2024, Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44553-9

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Nature's Dieting Tip: Scientists Uncover Surprising Plasticity of the Gut - SciTechDaily

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Mar 14th, 2024 | Filed under Dieting
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Diet culture makes us ashamed of our bodies, but weight-loss diets dont work long-term or lead to better health. Photo / Getty Images

Question:

I am elderly and after struggling all my life to keep my weight at a reasonable level, I succeeded with the help of a diet company. So I know all about healthy eating, the importance of exercising regularly and my psychology. But successive Covid lockdowns sent my resolutions out the window: Ive put on weight, none of my clothes fit, and I hate how I look. How do I lose weight safely?

Answer:

While many diets produce weight loss in the short term, almost all diets fail long-term, and typically, all lost weight is regained within three to five years. Despite this conspicuous failure rate, the dieter is still blamed for the failure rather than the dieting process itself. It is time we examined our beliefs about weight loss, diets and health.

The desire to lose weight is typically founded on the assumption that this will improve health. This ignores the lack of evidence that intentional weight loss improves health outcomes independently of behaviour changes, such as exercising regularly and eating a more nutritious diet, a 2022 article in Frontiers of Psychiatry noted. It is likely the acts of exercising regularly and eating healthier foods improve health outcomes rather than weight loss as such. Weight loss is neither a prerequisite for improved health nor an appropriate target for treatment, the article noted.

Moreover, being overweight is associated with improved mortality among community-dwelling older adults, a 2022 study published in Gerontology found.

So, why are overweight people encouraged to diet and become skinny? Diet culture is a widespread belief system in Western cultures that equates thinness with health, gives social status to weight loss and exercise behaviours, prioritises control and restriction of foods, moralises food choices, and contributes significantly to body dissatisfaction. Studies since 1985 have reported variously that 69-84% of American women were dissatisfied with their bodies; 93% of 168 female students surveyed at a Spanish university wanted to change at least three areas of their body; and 60% of Austrian women aged 60-70 were dissatisfied with their bodies. Women, no matter their age, are habitually unhappy with their bodies and want to be thinner.

Social scientists have long been aware of this cultural phenomenon. For example, the impact of Western diet culture was profoundly demonstrated in Fiji during the 1990s when broadcasters introduced Western television shows. Until then, bulimia nervosa had been unheard of in the Pacific Island nation.

However, three years after the introduction of Western soap operas and advertisements, Fijian teenage girls reported dissatisfaction with their bodies. Critical indicators of disordered eating were now present, with 11% of Fijian teenage girls inducing vomiting to control their body weight. While 74% reported feeling too big or fat sometimes, 83% stated that television had influenced their feelings or their friends feelings about their body shape or weight.

Diet culture is all around us but is not consciously seen. It shapes how women (and men) think and feel about our bodies and eating habits, whether through newspaper headlines, magazine advertisements for womens shapewear, derogatory jokes about fat bodies, or metaphors like you are what you eat.

You mentioned that you hate how you look, and that is a very telling illustration of diet cultures impact on women. It is unfortunate that even at retirement age, diet culture is still able to make women feel less than worthy because of their body weight.

The problem is not your body weight but instead that our culture has convinced you that losing weight is the only path to good health and looking good. You know about healthy eating, the importance of exercising regularly and understanding your psychology, so focus on those things, not your body weight, and your body will settle into its natural weight range. That weight may not be what diet culture tells you it should be or what you wish to be, but your body is the ultimate authority in this case, and no amount of dieting will permanently downsize your body to a weight it cannot sustain long-term.

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Why weight-loss diets don't work long-term - New Zealand Herald

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Mar 14th, 2024 | Filed under Dieting
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One of the most recognisable faces on the country's longest running soap opera is about to head into the Celebrity Big Brother house.

Colson Smith is known across the country for starring as Craig Tinker in ITV's Coronation Street; a role he's played since 2011.

Originally a child actor on the famous cobbles, the now 25-year-old will be swapping one ITV set for another as CBB makes its first showing on the same channel after a history of being broadcast on Channel 4 and then Channel 5.

With Celebrity Big Brother set to air tonight (4 March), Smith is expected to star alongside Strictly Come Dancing's Nikita Kuzmin, Ibiza Weekender star David Potts, Heartstopper's Bradley Riches, Zeze Millz, Marisha Wallace, Fern Britton, Louis Walsh, Lauren Simon, Gary Goldsmith, Ekin-Su Clclolu, Levi Roots, and Sharon Osbourne

But it is away from television that Smith has arguable had his greatest achievement, after losing 10 stone in an inspiring weight loss transformation that has left him unrecognisable to some.

The actor admitted to struggling to find clothes that fit him well; something that saw him focus on having eccentric footwear so in his head people weren't looking at his body and he couldn't feel embarrassed as show sizes are universal regardless of someone being under or overweight.

He told the Sofa Club podcast: "Being probably 18/19 I started to really enjoy like a pair of shoes, it was mainly shoes because I was too fat to wear clothes, nothing fit... whatever ASOS did in 20 XL and then shoes... anyone can fit into shoes."

He's said himself that it was during the first Covid-19 lockdown that he started to first take his weight loss journey seriously, using social media - as we all did when stuck in our homes 24/7 - to share updates on where he was at.

And the key for Smith was not dieting but instead changing his life in every way he thought was possible.

At the core of his physical change was a passion for running. He said: "I dont know how long it took me to decide that I was now a runner.

"Every run until at least May was for the benefit of losing weight, but then something clicked and it wasnt about that any more.

"I became more interested in what running actually was."

His journey even saw him vreate his own YouTube documentary called Bored of Being the Fat Kid.

Key to his lifestyle change was combining running with a strict meal prep plan created for him by life roach Rob Brennan.

It means his food is prepped for him in advance and is specific to his physical needs, reducing the urge to say you've run out of time to cook and order a takeaway instead. We've all been there.

Smith previously told ITV's Lorraine: "We worked through everything I could do to make it as easy as possible. So I have my breakfast and lunches delivered, and theyre still being delivered now, which means cooking I don't have to think about, I can just eat."

He said: "In lockdown, I put myself first over everything. Now, when it comes to normal life, I've kind of still got that in my head.

"So when I'm going through my day, when I've got my work, when I've got stuff, other stuff going on, I'm trying to balance my day out."

Smith is now set to run the The Great Bruges Half in Belgium, with his Instagram feed full of positive content on how much running has changed both his mind and body.

To keep his physique as it is, Smith is known to also combine running with weight training and using the rowing machine.

On appearing in CBB, a source told The Sun: "Big Brother producers have been in talks with Colson for months and it looks like a done deal.

"They're thrilled he's keen to enter the nation's most famous house because he's a big name already loved by millions of viewers and they were hellbent on securing someone from Corrie as it's great cross-promotion for ITV.

"Colson's character Craig is a huge favourite with soap fans and he's just as likeable and down to earth in real life so don't be surprised if he ends up winning the whole thing."

An ITV spokesperson previously told LADbible: Any names are at this point pure speculation and viewers will have to tune in to see who will be entering the Celebrity Big Brother house.

Topics:Celebrity, Celebrity Big Brother, Big Brother, ITV, UK News

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How Celebrity Big Brother's Colson Smith lost 10st without dieting - LADbible

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Mar 6th, 2024 | Filed under Dieting
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Weight loss is one of the most common health and appearance-related goals.

Women and teen girls are especially likely to pursue dieting to achieve weight loss goals even though a great deal of research shows that dieting doesnt work over the long term.

We are a developmental psychologist and a social psychologist who together wrote a forthcoming book, Beyond Body Positive: A Mothers Evidence-Based Guide for Helping Girls Build a Healthy Body Image.

In the book, we address topics such as the effects of maternal dieting behaviors on daughters health and well-being. We provide information on how to build a foundation for healthy body image beginning in girlhood.

Given the strong influence of social media and other cultural influences on body ideals, its understandable that so many people pursue diets aimed at weight loss. TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and celebrity websites feature slim influencers and how-tos for achieving those same results in no time.

For example, women and teens are engaging in rigid and extreme forms of exercise such as 54D, a program to achieve body transformation in 54 days, or the 75 Hard Challenge, which is to follow five strict rules for 75 days.

For teens, these pursuits are likely fueled by trendy body preoccupations such as the desire for legging legs.

Women and teens have also been been inundated with recent messaging around quick-fix weight loss drugs, which come with a lot of caveats.

Dieting and weight loss goals are highly individual, and when people are intensely self-focused, it is possible to lose sight of the bigger picture. Although women might wonder what the harm is in trying the latest diet, science shows that dieting behavior doesnt just affect the dieter. In particular, for women who are mothers or who have other girls in their lives, these behaviors affect girls emerging body image and their health and well-being.

Research shows that mothers and maternal figures have a profound influence on their daughters body image.

The opportunity to influence girls body image comes far earlier than adolescence. In fact, research shows that these influences on body image begin very early in life during the preschool years.

Mothers may feel that they are being discreet about their dieting behavior, but little girls are watching and listening, and they are far more observant of us than many might think.

For example, one study revealed that compared with daughters of nondieting women, 5-year-old girls whose mothers dieted were aware of the connection between dieting and thinness.

Mothers eating behavior does not just affect girls ideas about dieting, but also their daughters eating behavior. The amount of food that mothers eat predicts how much their daughters will eat. In addition, daughters whose mothers are dieters are more likely to become dieters themselves and are also more likely to have a negative body image.

Negative body image is not a trivial matter. It affects girls and womens mental and physical well-being in a host of ways and can predict the emergence of eating disorders.

What can moms do, then, to serve their daughters and their own health?

They can focus on small steps. And although it is best to begin these efforts early in life in girlhood it is never too late to do so.

For example, mothers can consider how they think about and talk about themselves around their daughters. Engaging in fat talk may inadvertently send their daughters the message that larger bodies are bad, contributing to weight bias and negative self-image. Mothers fat talk also predicts later body dissatisfaction in daughters.

And negative self-talk isnt good for mothers, either; it is associated with lower motivation and unhealthful eating. Mothers can instead practice and model self-compassion, which involves treating oneself the way a loving friend might treat you.

In discussions about food and eating behavior, it is important to avoid moralizing certain kinds of food by labeling them as good or bad, as girls may extend these labels to their personal worth. For example, a young girl may feel that she is being bad if she eats dessert, if that is what she has learned from observing the women around her. In contrast, she may feel that she has to eat a salad to be good.

Moms and other female role models can make sure that the dinner plate sends a healthy message to their daughters by showing instead that all foods can fit into a balanced diet when the time is right. Intuitive eating, which emphasizes paying attention to hunger and satiety and allows flexibility in eating behavior, is associated with better physical and mental health in adolescence.

Another way that women and especially moms can buffer girls body image is by helping their daughters to develop media literacy and to think critically about the nature and purpose of media. For example, moms can discuss the misrepresentation and distortion of bodies, such as the use of filters to enhance physical appearance, on social media.

One way to begin to focus on health behaviors rather than dieting behaviors is to develop respect for the body and to consider body neutrality. In other words, prize body function rather than appearance and spend less time thinking about your bodys appearance. Accept that there are times when you may not feel great about your body, and that this is OK.

To feel and look their best, mothers can aim to stick to a healthy sleep schedule, manage their stress levels, eat a varied diet that includes all of the foods that they enjoy, and move and exercise their bodies regularly as lifelong practices, rather than engaging in quick-fix trends.

Although many of these tips sound familiar, and perhaps even simple, they become effective when we recognize their importance and begin acting on them. Mothers can work toward modeling these behaviors and tailor each of them to their daughters developmental level. Its never too early to start.

Science shows that several personal characteristics are associated with body image concerns among women.

For example, research shows that women who are higher in neuroticism and perfectionism, lower in self-compassion or lower in self-efficacy are all more likely to struggle with negative body image.

Personality is frequently defined as a persons characteristic pattern of thoughts, feelings and behaviors. But if they wish, mothers can change personality characteristics that they feel arent serving them well.

For example, perfectionist tendencies such as setting unrealistic, inflexible goals can be examined, challenged and replaced with more rational thoughts and behaviors. A woman who believes she must work out every day can practice being more flexible in her thinking. One who thinks of dessert as cheating can practice resisting moral judgments about food.

Changing habitual ways of thinking, feeling and behaving certainly takes effort and time, but it is far more likely than diet trends to bring about sustainable, long-term change. And taking the first steps to modify even a few of these habits can positively affect daughters.

In spite of all the noise from media and other cultural influences, mothers can feel empowered knowing that they have a significant influence on their daughters feelings about, and treatment of, their bodies.

In this way, mothers modeling of healthier attitudes and behaviors is a sound investment for both their own body image and that of the girls they love.

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Mothers' dieting habits and self-talk have profound impact on daughters 2 psychologists explain how to cultivate ... - The Conversation

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Feb 24th, 2024 | Filed under Dieting
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By MATT SHIPMAN-NC STATE

The work underscores how toxic yo-yo dieting can be and how difficult it can be for people to break the cycle.

Yo-yo dietingunintentionally gaining weight and dieting to lose weight only to gain it back and restart the cycleis a prevalent part of American culture, with fad diets and lose-weight-quick plans or drugs normalized as people pursue beauty ideals, says Lynsey Romo, corresponding author of a paper on the study and an associate professor of communication at North Carolina State University.

Based on what we learned through this study, as well as the existing research, we recommend that most people avoid dieting, unless it is medically necessary. Our study also offers insights into how people can combat insidious aspects of weight cycling and challenge the cycle.

For the study, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 36 adults13 men and 23 womenwho had experienced weight cycling where they lost and regained more than 11 pounds. The goal was to learn more about why and how people entered the yo-yo dieting cycle and how, if at all, they were able to get out of it.

All the study participants reported wanting to lose weight due to social stigma related to their weight, and/or because they were comparing their weight to that of celebrities or peers.

Overwhelmingly, participants did not start dieting for health reasons, but because they felt social pressure to lose weight, Romo says.

The study participants also reported engaging in a variety of weight-loss strategies, which resulted in initial weight loss, but eventual regain.

Regaining the weight led people to feel shame and further internalize stigma associated with weightleaving study participants feeling worse about themselves than they did before they began dieting. This, in turn, often led people to engage in increasingly extreme behaviors to try to lose weight again.

For instance, many participants engaged indisorderedweight management behaviors, such asbingeor emotional eating, restricting food and calories, memorizing calorie counts, being stressed about what they were eating and the number on the scale, falling back on quick fixes (such as low-carb diets or diet drugs), overexercising, and avoiding social events with food to drop pounds fast, says Romo. Inevitably, these diet behaviors became unsustainable, and participants regained weight, often more than they had initially lost.

Almost all of the study participants became obsessed with their weight, says Katelin Mueller, coauthor of the study and graduate student at NC State. Weight loss became a focal point for their lives, to the point that it distracted them from spending time with friends, family, and colleagues and reducing weight-gain temptations such as drinking and overeating.

Participants referred to the experience as an addiction or a vicious cycle, Romo says. Individuals who were able to understand and address their toxic dieting behaviors were more successful at breaking the cycle. Strategies people used to combat these toxic behaviors included focusing on their health rather than the number on the scale, as well as exercising for fun, rather than counting the number of calories they burned.

Participants who were more successful at challenging the cycle were also able to embracehealthy eatingbehaviorssuch as eating a varied diet and eating when they were hungryrather than treating eating as something that needs to be closely monitored, controlled, or punished.

However, the researchers found the vast majority of study participants stuck in the cycle.

The combination of ingrained thought patterns, societal expectations, toxic diet culture, and pervasive weight stigma make it difficult for people to completely exit the cycle, even when they really want to, Romo says.

Ultimately, this study tells us that weight cycling is a negative practice that can cause people real harm, Romo says. Our findings suggest that it can be damaging for people to begin dieting unless it is medically necessary. Dieting to meet some perceived societal standard inadvertently set participants up for years of shame, body dissatisfaction, unhappiness, stress, social comparisons, and weight-related preoccupation. Once a diet has begun, it is very difficult for many people to avoid a lifelong struggle with their weight.

The paper appears in the journalQualitative Health Research.

Source:NC State

Previously Published on futurity.org with Creative Commons License

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Why Most People Should Avoid Dieting - The Good Men Project

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Feb 24th, 2024 | Filed under Dieting
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The journal Archives of Sexual Behavior recently published a study showing that womens dissatisfaction with their body image and their motivations for weight loss are significantly influenced by how they perceive the local sex ratio specifically, the number of women compared to men in their environment. This investigation, involving five studies, found that a higher ratio of women to men intensifies competition among women and leads to increased body dissatisfaction and, as such, a stronger desire to lose weight.

The concept of sex ratio, the balance between the number of males and females in a given population, has long fascinated scientists. Sex ratio itself is a crucial aspect of mating competition across various species including humans.

Previous studies have shown that skewed sex ratios can affect individuals behavior and preferences in the mating market, and this latest research builds on these findings by exploring how perceived sex ratios impact womens body image and dieting intentions, using a mix of real-world observations and experimental manipulations to shed light on this complex phenomenon.

The team embarked on this study to understand the underlying mechanisms of how womens perceptions of their mating environmentparticularly the abundance or scarcity of men relative to womenaffect their feelings of competitiveness, perceived mating prospects, and, ultimately, their body image and weight loss behaviors.

We hypothesized that women perceiving a greater number of female competitors would feel a need to enhance their physical attractiveness, leading to heightened body dissatisfaction and dieting motivations, explained the researchers.

To test their hypotheses, the researchers employed a variety of methods with 1,776 total participants recruited from Amazons Mechanical Turk. These ranged from surveys assessing womens perceptions of the sex ratio in their local environments to experimental setups that manipulated these perceptions.

For instance, some participants were shown profiles representing a skewed sexratio in a dating context to see how this influenced their body satisfaction and dieting intentions. This multifaceted approach allowed the team to meticulously examine the relationship between sex ratio perceptions, competitive feelings among women, and their implications for body image and dieting behaviors.

The findings were striking. Women who perceived a higher ratio of women to men in their surroundings reported greater dissatisfaction with their bodies and an increased drive to diet. Experimental studies reinforced these results, showing that women in scenarios suggesting a female-skewed sex ratio felt less satisfied with their weight and shape and exhibited a stronger desire to lose weight. These effects were partly mediated by womens perceptions of their mating prospects, with unfavorable views leading to increased body dissatisfaction and dieting motivations.

While the research sheds light on factors influencing womens body image, the study includes some limitations. The reliance on self-reported data could introduce bias, and the focus on heterosexual women may limit the generalizability of the findings. In addition, the weak correlation between perceived and actual sex ratios based on participants zip codes suggests that personal perceptions may not fully reflect demographic realities.

Despite these caveats, the study provides invaluable insights into how social environments may shape womens body image and weight loss motivations.

Interventions that adjust womens perceptions of their mating prospects or reduce the emphasis on competitiveness could be particularly effective, suggests the research team. It is evident that understanding the role of sex ratio dynamics offers a critical piece of the puzzle in fostering environments that support positive body image and self-esteem.

Tania Reynolds, Jon Maner, David Frederick, K. Jean Forney, and Justin Garcia at the University of New Mexico, Indiana University, Florida State University, Chapman University, and Ohio University authored this study, published under A Slim Majority: The Influence of Sex Ratio on Womens Body Dissatisfaction and Weight Loss Motivations.

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Perceived sex ratios influence women's body image and dieting motivation, study finds - PsyPost

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Feb 24th, 2024 | Filed under Dieting
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Feb 24th, 2024 | Filed under Dieting
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Every year, roughly 45 million Americans go on a diet and spend about $33 billion on weight loss products. Todays diets often drive people to limit the amount of calories they consume or eliminate entire food groups. Theres the Atkins diet and the keto diet, along with intermittent fasting, the paleo diet, and Whole30. On TikTok, people promote all kinds of eating plans, including calorie counting, intuitive eating, and vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free diets.[]

While these diets may help people lose weight in the short term, the results gained through fad dieting tend to be short-lived and cause considerable physical and emotional harm, according to a study recently published in Sage Journals.[]

Dieting can snowball into weight cycling, or yo-yo dieting, in which people regularly alter their eating habits and dangerously cycle between losing and regaining weight. As the researchers put it, Weight loss was often achieved at considerable cost, and typically fleeting, as the cycle continued.[]

Dana Ellis Hunnes, Ph.D., MPH, RD, a senior clinical dietitian at UCLA Medical Center, assistant professor at UCLAs Fielding School of Public Health, and author of Recipe For Survival, says that diets may seem like an effective way to lose weight fast with little effort. But the reality is that they're frequently not good for your health and do not have lasting results, which is really what people want but don't get with trendy diets, says Hunnes.

Why fad diets arent effectiveor healthy

These new findings suggest that unless someone needs to medically lose weight due to a health condition, its not recommended they go on a diet. We found that dieting for aesthetic reasons, as most people do, results in so many harmful behaviors, ranging from disordered eating and exercise, [to] all-consuming thoughts about calories and the scale, to low self-esteem and confidence, missed out social opportunities and friendships, and, in general, not being very happy as weight yo-yos up and down, the studys co-author, Lynsey Romo, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Communication at North Carolina State University, tells MDLinx.

In the short term, fad dieting may cause people to become irritable and moody, says Zachary Appenzeller, PsyD, a psychologist and Director of UTHealth Houstons Center for Eating Disorders. In an effort to control what they eat, people may end up thinking excessively about food, he adds, which can lead to disordered eating and binge eating.[]

Certain diets may cause people to become malnourished or lack crucial nutrients that make their bodies strong and healthy. People following the keto diet, for example, tend to restrict calories in a way that slows down their metabolism, explains Hunnes. When they revert to eating the way they did before the diet, their bodies store more fat, especially around the midsection, in an effort to preserve calories.[]

Weight cycling can have a disastrous impact on mental health: evidence has linked it to higher rates of depression, suicidal ideation, and poor body image. In addition, post-diet weight regain can increase risks of developing cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and hormone-mediated cancers, such as breast cancer, Hunnes adds. In addition, eating excess amounts of meat, as is encouraged with the keto diet, can trigger inflammation and increase the risk of developing various cancers, including colorectal cancer. As a result, many diets shorten peoples lives and make them look and feel worse, Hunnes adds.[]

It is very hard for people to diet without regaining the weight, and then some, and for [the diet not] to take such a negative toll on people, Romo says.

Why so many people fall for trendy diets

According to the new study, while many people start dieting to get healthy and lose weight, people also do so to get thinner and to sculpt their bodies to cultural beauty standards. Past research has shown that people associate weight loss with a better life.[]

We live in a society that largely overvalues the importance of physical appearance, and currently, the trend is to idealize unrealistically thin, lean, and/or muscular bodies, says Dr. Appenzeller. In addition, social media apps allow people to alter their body shape and appearance in photos. Other people may compare themselves to what they see in the images circulating on social media and experience dissatisfaction with their own bodies, evidence suggests.[]

This, in turn, can lead to low self-esteem and disordered eating habits, including fad dieting. When we look good in the short term, it makes us feel better about ourselves, and people are constantly chasing that good feeling, says Hunnes. This approach isnt sustainable. Many people burn out and end up reverting to their old eating habits, causing them to quickly regain the weight they lostand, in some cases, more. We have yet to find a magic bullet diet that helps people long-term to suppress their weight. [Fad diets] almost always come along with an array of negative psychological consequences that can range from mildly uncomfortable to severely impairing, says Dr. Appenzeller.[]

How to lose weightand keep it off

The most effective way to maintain a healthy weight is by adhering to long-term healthy lifestyle behaviors, says Hunnes. Quick fixes are rarely the answer, she adds. She recommends eating a high-fiber, whole-food, plant-based diet. For those wanting to work with a nutritionist, she recommends looking for someone who promotes real, whole foods over supplements or prepackaged meal plans. Listen to your body: Eat only as much as your body needs and wants. Don't overstuff yourself, Hunnes says.

Dr. Appenzeller believes that fad diets are one of the biggest scams out there: Diet companies make billions of dollars a year off of this lie that we can somehow, [in the] long term, have the ability to suppress our weight below where our body would naturally like to be. [These companies] disregard the scientific literature that speaks to the contrary.. Diets operate on the misguided premise that you can change your body if you try harder, eat less, and work out more. They ignore the fact that there is a general weight and size that our bodies are largely biologically predetermined to be, Dr. Appenzeller says.

His advice: Live your life by attending to the things you can change, like relationships, connections with others, and hobbies that bring you joy. There is so much that life has to offer us, and peoples worth comes from so much more than their ability to control the size and shape of their organs, Dr. Appenzeller says.

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Study shocker: Diets might hurt more than they help, says new research - MD Linx

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Feb 14th, 2024 | Filed under Dieting
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