Why Diets Don’t Work (And Aren’t Actually Healthy)
Eat tons of protein, limit carbs, go low fat, cut out sugar, gluten, dairy, eat only whole foods, eat only clean foods, intermittent fast, count and track…anything and everything (calories, macros, points).
These approaches are all different. Some even contradict each other. But they have one very important thing in common… and it’s the common thread that causes them to backfire for most people.
They are built on assumptions, and we all know what happens when you assume…let’s take a closer look:
Assumption #1: There is ONE way to eat healthy.
Even though different plans and diets promote different ways of eating, they are in fact saying that THEIR way is THE way to thinness and health. And if this were true? Well then, there would be one way that everyone ate. But if you look around the world and even at different places known for longevity, people eat very differently. Different macronutrient ratios. Different food traditions. Different meal timing. Different lifestyles.
Assumption #2: Everyone should eat the SAME way to be thin and healthy.
Even if we all ate identical meals and moved our bodies in identical ways, we would still have different body sizes and different health outcomes.
Because people are not widgets.
Health and body size are influenced by genetics, environment, stress, access to care, socioeconomic factors, sleep, trauma history, and so much more. It is far more nuanced than “eat this, not that.”
And yet common diet advice ignores this complexity and promises predictability.
Assumption #3: Some foods are “good” and some foods are “bad.”
This one really irks me because it could not be a more gross oversimplification of nutrition. We can not simply say one food is good and one food is bad.
The amount, frequency, satisfaction, enjoyment, beliefs, the relativity of food access, and the overall intake of a person all play a significant role in whether or not a food is health-promoting for a person. In other words, context matters and the “healthiness” of a food is relative and nuanced. And yet, different plans and programs assign points and colors etc. to different foods or encourage you to cut out certain foods altogether.
Assumption #4: One body size is inherently better than another
At the root of most common diet advice is the belief that smaller is healthier. But that belief is largely shaped by cultural body ideals: the images we see in ads, on social media, and on magazine covers, not by a full understanding of health.
You can be thin and unhealthy.
You can be fat and healthy.
And the reverse is true as well.
Health does not equal a specific body size.
What diet culture often appeals to is not health — but our desire to achieve the thin ideal placed in front of us by industries that profit from our dissatisfaction.
So what happens when we internalize these assumptions? We blame ourselves. If you’ve ever ended the day promising to “do better tomorrow,” you know that feeling. The quiet belief that you messed up. That you failed. That you just need more discipline.But the problem isn’t you. The problem is the flawed assumptions behind the advice. When a plan is built on oversimplification, uniformity, and moralizing food and bodies, of course it won’t fit real human lives.
So if common approaches to weight loss and “healthy eating” aren’t actually health promoting… what is?
Health-promoting behaviors are flexible, not rigid. They consider the whole person and not just their weight. They make room for culture, preferences, budget, time, stress levels, medical history, and lived experience.
They don’t require you to ignore hunger.
They don’t require you to override fullness.
They don’t require you to micromanage every bite.
And they definitely don’t require you to hate your body into changing it.
True health-promoting nutrition supports:
Regular, adequate nourishment
Satisfaction and enjoyment
A peaceful relationship with food
Movement that feels supportive rather than punishing
Stress reduction and realistic expectations
Medical care that looks at more than the number on the scale
It recognizes that our needs change across seasons of life and as our body changes.
And most importantly, it’s sustainable.
Because what is the point of a way of eating that you can only maintain when life is calm, you have endless willpower, and nothing stressful is happening? Real life is busy. Messy. Emotional. Expensive. Cultural. Social. There are ups and downs, lefts and rights. Health-promoting nutrition works within real life, not against it.
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