What is the Best Diet?

By Dave Tishendorf

Often it happens late at night, just before you crawl into bed.

You're still feeling a little stuffed from - as usual - eating too much at dinner. You wince as you walk past the full-length mirror in your bedroom and see yourself in profile. You wince again as you look in the bathroom as you brush your teeth. That double chin you're starting to form. Those cheeks that are starting to round themselves out. The conclusion is inescapable:

"I'm getting fat. I have GOT to lose weight."

Of course, you've told yourself that a dozen times before, maybe a hundred times. But this time is going to be different, you insist, this time, in the name of all that is holy, you are going to make it work. Enough is enough!

But the question remains: What is the best diet? What is the best way to lose weight?

So over the course of the next few days or weeks you do the research. The diet and cook books pile up. You scour the Internet. You toss out all the cookies and ice cream in the house. Maybe you even buy a treadmill. You talk to friends, relatives and co-workers. "Oh, you should try X diet," says one. "No, no, try XX diet," says another. "Well, I lost 30 pounds in 30 days on the XXX diet," says your chubby neighbor, failing to mention that he gained it all back and then some.

Soon you discover what thousands and thousands of Americans also have discovered: That the answer to "What is the best diet?" can be very difficult to find.

But, undaunted, you pick a diet plan and dive in.

Before too long, however, the idea of eating another salad or drinking 8 glasses of water a day has made you suicidal. Meanwhile, the treadmill is collecting dust in the corner, half hidden by the potted ficus tree.

You look in the mirror and see the same old fat face. What on earth happened?

First off, don't blame yourself. Failure to stick with a restrictive diet plan doesn't mean you're a bad person. Will power wasn't the problem. After all, statistics show that nearly 98 percent of American women and more than 60 percent of American men are on a diet for at least part of every single year. And yet Americans as a whole are getting fatter every year; obesity has reached epic proportions, bringing with it a host of diseases and medical issues.

But if diets don't work, and obesity is unhealthy as well as unattractive, what is the answer? What is a person to do?

** Well, to begin with, and this may be the most important step, you have to analyze why you want to go on a diet in the first place. If you want to lose weight because you are going to get married next June, a diet will be a temporary fix at best. Same thing if all you want to do is be able to wear that favorite pair of pants again.

And don't go on a diet to bolster your self-esteem or to improve your chances with the opposite sex. A diet won't get you a pay raise or a better job. It won't pay your bills or automatically make you healthy or attractive.

Going on a diet for any of the above reasons likely will result in you going back to your previous bad habits sooner rather than later, and you ultimately will suffer the humiliation of another diet failure.

A diet is not just a stopgap measure. It must be an entire lifestyle change or it will certainly fail.

** Second, you have to understand why most diets fail. Many diets read like the assembly instructions of a complex toy - it takes a rocket scientist to figure them out. Other diets require exotic, expensive foods. Still others want you to eat certain foods, but only on certain days. And some diets are so expensive only the very rich (and famous?) can afford them.

** Third, you have to understand what a huge change most diet plans ask you to make. In essence, they are asking you to overhaul your entire life, and to do it quickly. It's similar to asking a heroin addict to kick the habit overnight. Can't be done. Lifelong habits are hard to break. If you have tried a number of diet plans without success, you know how difficult dieting can be. There is a psychological aspect to dieting that has very deep emotional roots. Severing your emotional ties to eating and food can be painful, and no one should underestimate what it takes to go through that process.

So ... rather than a diet plan that tries to jerk you out by your roots and plop you down in the next county, what is needed are small, simple changes carried out over time. In other words, make a small change, stick with it until it becomes a new habit, then make another small change and turn it into another new habit, and so on. Soon you will have developed a new, healthy lifestyle, and the weight will start to peel away.

So, what is the best diet? It's one that allows for some flexibility and personalization. It's one that's easy to follow and understand, with easily obtained and prepared food. It is attainable and maintainable.

Choose one that meets those criteria and, maybe for the first time ever, you will have a lot better chance at dieting success.