Health

5 Women Get Surprisingly Frank About Why They Stopped Dieting

Heed their caution

by Lindsay Tigar | COMMENT

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"I realized diets are just a Band-Aid." The first time Jennifer Beeston dieted was at the age of 15, while she was growing up in Newport Beach, California. It was the conversations she had by the beach with her friends while wearing bikinis, nit-picking every last flaw they found. This is when her low-fat, high-fat, vegetarian, meat-heavy yo-yo dieting experiments began. As she went up and down, giving anything a chance that promised to transform her figure, she realized she wasn't actually focusing on the food she was eating; she was merely playing by the rules of the latest fad. This a-ha moment came while she was getting hypnotized at a health spa to control her food cravings.

"The magazines contradicted themselves, as did the advice of diet leaders. You are waiting to lose weight or you just gained weight, and it is hard to really live life if you are waiting to experience it because of rules you have made," said Beeston. "Diets are a Band-Aid. They are a temporary fix," she said. "I recognized that I eat when I am stressed or bored. Now, I do not have food rules. I eat what I want, when I want, but I'm mindful. I like sweets and eat a solid amount of them. In my youth I would have forced myself to eat a healthy meal and then have something sweet as a reward but now I just cut to the chase. I want cake for dinner. Great -- cake it is! I live now."

Image via Jennifer Beeston

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