DIE with a capital ‘T’

South Beach, Meditteranean, Inuit, Paleo, Banting. Blood type diet! Diets without meat; diets with only meat; raw food, vegan, vegetarian!  Diets from the past; diets for the future; diets from exotic locations. Diets from doctors; diets of the superstars. So many choices, so little time! Which Holy Grail should we buy?

Ring any bells? Been there? Burnt that t-shirt? A recent online news site ran an article about it’s top 32 diets for 2014. Yep, that’s 32 different diet offerings – just the leaders amongst the pack – in one year!

We’re diet “veskrik”. One look in the mirror and we’re off for that miracle cure. One bloodcurdling scream from the bathroom and the latest diet book is in our partner’s Christmas stocking (is that a subtle hint or what?).

So, why this revolving door fascination with eating styles? Why the slavish adherence to eating philosophies and methodologies? Diet disciples are one small calorie intake, one cauliflower head (mashed) away from becoming cult members.

Diets do one thing well; they switch on the lights. In a famous psychological experiment, the Hawthorne effect examined how every time the lights in a factory changed (no matter the sequence or setting), the productivity would (for a short while) go up. The conclusion? Awareness is a greater tool than technical adjustments.

Diets also give you routine. In return for giving up personal responsibility, you get given THE way to live. No more responsibility for choices; The Diet does it all for you. And when it stops working? Simply wait at the next diet stop and a good-looking, well-spoken Diet will pull up and offer you a ride.

Diets are approximations. They’re designed for the group, not the individual, thus they’re generic. No wonder you’ll always find a little bit of yourself in the next best thing and wonder how come it knows you so well. It must be science, magic, a miracle?

Don’t get me wrong. I follow a low-carb/ high-fat eating philosophy. It makes a lot of sense to me. However, the crux of any good diet choice lies not in the diet itself, it lies in understanding your own unique body, clarifying what your body health goals are, finding a lifestyle eating pattern that suits you and then loving what you eat.

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Tanya Wyatt

Owner at The Happy Body

Tanya started out as a professional ballet dancer. Swopping her pointe shoes for takkies, she decided being a hip hop dancer was way cooler, so chopped off her bun and joined a street dance company. For many years, she also taught dance and fitness classes in Cape Town before deciding that nutrition and lifestyle coaching was the way to help people change their state of health for the better. So, while writing two health and fitness books, she moved to London to study and began her ‘real life’ – that as a health and lifestyle coach. She’s been in private practice for 10 years now, is a mom of a 7-year old pig-tailed ball of energy, writes for various national and local health publications and is a health presenter when the occasion arises. Oh – and once a dancer, always a dancer – she’s also taken up ballet pole dancing 🙂 Click here to contact Tanya.

Latest posts by Tanya Wyatt (see all)

• DIE with a capital ‘T’ - 3 October 2014
• Time to ditch the wagon? - 1 September 2014
• Tips for avid Cheescake Eaters - 5 August 2014
• Falling off the Wagon - 2 July 2014
• The future’s a promissory note; the past a cancelled cheque - 3 June 2014