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Do We Need More Diet Books?
Have you noticed how many of the bestselling books are on diets? I have one question: If all of these diets are so great, then how come we need more diets and diet books? Seems to me that if there were a really great diet that was easy to stay on, helped you lose weight anddid its job beautifully and didn't leave you feeling either hungry or wanting to pig out on cheese cake, that would be just fine.
The fact that there are so many books on diets leads me to think that everyone is looking for the "perfect" diet and why is that? Well, the "perfect diet," I suppose, would give us that "perfect body" that the magazines keep telling us is desirable and then everything else in life would just fall into place. Wrong.
Diets are distractions and making people believe that they can do what they can't is just wrong. Yes, there I go again with my "wrong" thing. What are they really aimed at?
Basic insecurity is one of the things that psychologists have been looking at for years and it's one of the major appeals in any advertisement. I can remember taking a course in advertising copywriting and the instructor told us what would be the most effective. We were supposed to think of safety, love relationships (sex, if you will), self-esteem, responsibility to others and the "be all you can be" concept, among others.
So diet books are aimed at that basic sense of insecurity that is pounded away at by countless magazine articles full of air-brushed bodies and bulging six-pack stomachs. Do you know how those men and women get that way? I once had someone let me in on some of the secrets.
First, they get three months notice about magazine covers for which they have to prepare, then they go on crash diets to make those muscles stand out and they work out feverishly every day, six or seven days a week. Who wouldn't have those muscles? Of course liposuction doesn't hurt, either or good lighting and body make and then there's that wonderful computer software that can cure a host of ills.
Anorexia is one of our most serious eating disorders which are driven by anxiety, depression, poor self-esteem and the body's positive response to starvation. We found the latter out through the work of Ancel Keyes in the 1940s where he actually discovered that, once the hunger pangs went away, starving people actually began to feel quite good. It's the brain's way of handling a life-threatening situation.
So, the allure of diet books is really a statement that we're still looking for that miracle diet that will cure a host of ills, one of them being our own anxiety about our looks. I'm all for health and fighting obesity and diabetes, but I don't believe these books are the way to go. Dieting isn't easy, but it is simple and there needn't be anything trendy about it.
Related Topics: The Skinny on Diet Scams, Eating Well With Cancer
The fact that there are so many books on diets leads me to think that everyone is looking for the "perfect" diet and why is that? Well, the "perfect diet," I suppose, would give us that "perfect body" that the magazines keep telling us is desirable and then everything else in life would just fall into place. Wrong.
Diets are distractions and making people believe that they can do what they can't is just wrong. Yes, there I go again with my "wrong" thing. What are they really aimed at?
Basic insecurity is one of the things that psychologists have been looking at for years and it's one of the major appeals in any advertisement. I can remember taking a course in advertising copywriting and the instructor told us what would be the most effective. We were supposed to think of safety, love relationships (sex, if you will), self-esteem, responsibility to others and the "be all you can be" concept, among others.
So diet books are aimed at that basic sense of insecurity that is pounded away at by countless magazine articles full of air-brushed bodies and bulging six-pack stomachs. Do you know how those men and women get that way? I once had someone let me in on some of the secrets.
First, they get three months notice about magazine covers for which they have to prepare, then they go on crash diets to make those muscles stand out and they work out feverishly every day, six or seven days a week. Who wouldn't have those muscles? Of course liposuction doesn't hurt, either or good lighting and body make and then there's that wonderful computer software that can cure a host of ills.
Anorexia is one of our most serious eating disorders which are driven by anxiety, depression, poor self-esteem and the body's positive response to starvation. We found the latter out through the work of Ancel Keyes in the 1940s where he actually discovered that, once the hunger pangs went away, starving people actually began to feel quite good. It's the brain's way of handling a life-threatening situation.
So, the allure of diet books is really a statement that we're still looking for that miracle diet that will cure a host of ills, one of them being our own anxiety about our looks. I'm all for health and fighting obesity and diabetes, but I don't believe these books are the way to go. Dieting isn't easy, but it is simple and there needn't be anything trendy about it.
Related Topics: The Skinny on Diet Scams, Eating Well With Cancer
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2 Comments:
I realized having obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)_thoughts, behavior as well as anxiety (severe, unusual)when I was only eight years old. I went under medication in 1988 when I was 21 after experiencing a very severe panic attack. Since then docs have prescribed many antidepressant on me but panic attack returned every 2 or 3 years. Since I've been given sertraline 7 years ago it hasn't reappeared (along with vigorous physical exercise too)though way of life have become less complicated to me since then unwanted obsessive thoughts and anxiety occurs from time to time.
could there be any way to improve?
You're improving already, but you might consider some cognitive therapy to help with finding things to do to keep the OCD in check more. Medication is wonderful, no doubt about that, but you need, often, to learn new ways to help your thought processes or new coping techniques and that's where therapy comes in. But, of course, it had to be with someone who is experienced in dealing with these issues and is truly a cognitive psychologist.
I hope you continue to improve day-by-day and wish you well.
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