Why Dieting in January is Bonkers....

OK so, here we are, end of the first week of January almost. Hands up how many of you decided to adopt a fad diet in January and are flagging? 

Well, if you are, that's not necessarily because you are a weak and feeble woman with all the self-control of a palm tree blowing in the wind. There are good reasons for it. Dieting in January is biologically a really bad idea (are you feeling better about yourself already?). 

Here's my top five reasons:

1. Feast to Famine Shocks the Body

So, it was Christmas, then New Year, you've done more cooking than you do for the rest of the year, had all sorts of treats and nibbles, partied like its 1999, totally done justice to all things Christmas and maybe, just maybe had one too many glasses of your favourite tipple on more than one occasion. Totally brilliant. 

The thing is, your body still thinks it's feast-time: from a primal perspective you're in a land of abundance and your body has geared up to take in all that lovely food, and then you're suddenly only giving it a lettuce leaf and maybe a couple of ryvitas to live on. 

If you think about it from your body's perspective that's a massive change and a shock! If you've gone even further and eschewed food altogether in favour of a shake based meal replacement, think how horrendous that must be for the system!

2. Calorie Reduction Lowers Your Immune System

Not eating properly, fad diets and significant calorie restriction do not count as eating properly, and not eating properly leads to an impaired immune system, which is really silly at the peak time for colds, flu and other epidemics. 

If your kids have gone back to school this week, or you're going back to the office, you're surrounded by so many germs it's a wonder we don't all wear hazmat suits the entire time, but you've also punched holes in your immune system (your "inbuilt" hazmat suit) so guess who's going to be first in line for every cold coming? Oh yeah, that's you I'm afraid. 

3. You're Producing Enzymes to Process Alcohol

You've been sinking quite a bit of alcohol - alcohol is everywhere at Christmas - in the pudding, in the trifle, in the gravy, in the mince pies and pretty much everywhere else. Even your elderly auntie dusts off the sherry. All this introduces a level of toxins into the body, and it adapts to expect them. The western world has been drinking mead, beer, wine for all of its history so it has the ability to produce the enzymes required to break down these compounds. Your body has increased production to cope, but suddenly they're not needed and they're roaming around your body with nowhere to do their job. 

Your body is still producing these even though you've gone cold turkey, so now you need to process these enzymes out until your body gets the message, and that doesn't happen within a week. 

4. It's Blinking Cold!

If you live in the UK or other northerly countries, this one's for you (maybe less so if you live in the Bahamas). 

Your body requires calories to keep itself warm - from where I'm sitting right now I've had to boost the heating because there's a thick blanket of fog outside, it's not even got properly light today and I'm guessing there's snow on the way in the next week or two. 

Keeping warm requires energy and if you're not eating, you're not giving your body anything to work with. Now is truly the time to get out the slow-cooker, have some hearty stews and comfort food, not to be surviving on food (lettuce) which only grows in the UK in July. 

5. January is Peak Time for Depression

We all need to feel good about ourselves. We all deserve it. This is difficult, however, when there's little sunshine (affecting Vitamin D levels), the Christmas credit card bills are all hitting the mat and there's seemingly, nothing to look forward to. 

Putting a whole heap of pressure on yourself to get your bikini body back on top of everything else is a recipe for disaster. It's just too hard. Do something nice for yourself instead. You're worth it. 

What's the Alternative?

I'm passionate about this - starvation diets are always a bad idea but more so in January than any other time of the year. If you want to shave a few pounds off, cut down, especially on sugar and complex carbs (that includes Ryvita, in fact chuck them away and never buy them again, or any other "diet" foods), choosing lots of vegetables and unprocessed food instead. Choose plenty of good quality protein and enjoy natural fats (fats do not make you fat, by the way, see my other posts). Gently cut down your alcohol content, gently move more and more often, and give yourself a break. The spring isn't far away remember, and those credit card balances will get sorted one way or another over time. 

Don't Stress

Most of all relax, chill out, Stress is the biggest problem of all. It doesn't matter how much you diet or restrict yourself from every food and drink you enjoy - if you're stressed it will make little difference. 

Be nice to yourself, have the odd treat, put your feet up occasionally (I'm rubbish at that, but I try), do something fun, even if it's only a walk in the park. Spring is on the way, remember.