What is the Non-Diet Approach?

About half of the U.S. population follows a specific diet to achieve health or weight loss, yet research tells us that diets simply don’t work. Some of us might experience weight loss in the beginning, but the vast majority of us will gain that same weight back or more in the long term. Instead of questioning the very nature of diets themselves, we blame our derailed dieting on a lack of willpower and feel like something must be wrong with us.

The non-diet approach flips this logic on its head and argues that diets fail us. And for many reasons. Diets were not created with our individual and unique physical, social, and emotional needs in mind. They impose food rules and restrictions that are difficult to maintain long-term and jeopardize our physical and mental health. Popular diets like Keto, Whole30, Atkins, and Paleo receive criticism and consistent low ratings because their severe restrictions go against government health recommendations that were created to keep us healthy and well.

Many nutrition professionals around the world recommend the non-diet approach for its more flexible and balanced approach to eating and living, and for its positive impact on physical and psychological health outcomes.

What is the non-diet approach?

The non-diet approach is the exact opposite of dieting. It’s a philosophy and a tangible practice that encourages healthy behaviors regardless of a person’s weight, shape, or health status. It asserts that we are the experts of our own bodies, so we don’t need external rules, regimens, protocols, or strict plans to govern our behaviors.

The non-diet approach differs from dieting in many respects. Most notably, this approach:

• Encourages eating for well-being. This means eating to feel nourished and satisfied. This happens when we make space for flexibility, variety, balance, and pleasure in the eating experience -- everything from hamburgers and pastries to salads and grain bowls.

• Allows all foods. Whereas popular diets require us to restrict or eliminate foods, the non-diet approach says that all foods fit. It encourages us to discover and incorporate the foods we actually like, rather than the foods we feel we ought to eat.

• Removes judgment from foods as “good” or “bad”. This mindset leaves little room for joy, satisfaction, and flexibility around food and creates a sense of shame, guilt, and regret -- all of which harm our physical and mental health.

• Instead of tracking nutrients, weighing foods, counting calories, and sticking to hard-and-fast mealtimes, it encourages mindful and intuitive eating. This means many things, like paying attention and responding to hunger and fullness cues in the body, slowing down to appreciate the taste of your food, and enjoying the social aspect of eating.

• Takes the focus off of weight, arguing that weight is not a reliable indicator of someone’s health status. Instead, it asserts that modifiable health behaviors like getting enough sleep, not smoking, engaging in regular physical activity, and eating a broad diet are far more powerful in determining a person’s health than their weight. Weight loss may occur as a result of improved health behaviors, but it’s never the focus.

• Promotes enjoyable physical activity as a way to improve energy levels and enhance mental wellbeing, not as punishment or to manipulate weight or body size.

• Honors all bodies. It celebrates the diversity of body sizes that exist and encourages us to accept and appreciate our bodies for all they allow us to do.

What are the benefits of a non-diet approach?

To understand the benefits of a non-diet approach, it helps to understand the harms of dieting. We know that diets result in weight regain but also weight cycling (more commonly known as “yo-yo dieting”), which is associated with poor physical and mental health.

Diets also increase the risk of poor or inadequate nutrition because they call for eliminating food groups, cutting down on nutrients, and/or decreasing our calorie intake. For example, the ketogenic diet severely restricts the amount of carbohydrates we’re allowed to eat. Though demonized relentlessly, carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy. When we don’t eat enough of them, we can feel fatigued, struggle to focus, and quickly run out of energy when we exercise.

Additionally, dieting is often a gateway to disordered eating behaviors like binge eating and bulimia nervosa (self-induced vomiting). Dieting requires a level of control and rigidity that, when broken, causes us to lose control, overeat, and then try to compensate through any means necessary. Compensatory behaviors include excessive exercise, skipping meals, and vomiting.

On the other hand, research on non-diet approaches shows significant improvements in physical and mental health outcomes. Such improvements include:

• Blood pressure

• Cholesterol and triglyceride levels

• Disordered eating behaviors

• Depression, self-esteem, and body satisfaction

Want to learn more?

This post scratches only the surface of a topic that is highly nuanced and widely debated. Many people struggle to make sense of the non-diet approach because dieting is so normalized and widespread. If you’re interested in reviewing the evidence and practicing the non-diet approach, I recommend the following resources:

• Podcasts like Food Psych, Body Kindness, RD Real Talk, Dietitians, Unplugged and Love, Food

• Blogs of non-diet dietitians like Taylor Wolfram, Marci Evans, and Robyn Nohling

• Research articles like this one, this one, and this one

I hope you're all staying safe and well!

-Emily