Diet according to Urban Dictionary is “a four-letter word that often leads to deprivation, frustration and, ultimately, failure – Diet should not be in your vocabulary.”
No one wants to tell something they should go on a diet, at least without being prepared to duck or run.
How did diet become a four letter word?
Diet Evolves
Diet has its origins in the Greek word “diaita” meaning “manner of life”. The first use in English is believed to date back to around the 13th century with the same meaning. Basically it is how we live.
To understand how diet became a four letter word, we only need to look at mankinds natural progression. We started as hunter-gathers spending the vast majority of the day – you guessed it – hunting and gathering to simply survive. Nutritional needs were hard to meet and as a result we had a much shorter life span.
Along comes farming and now we can grow crops, raise animals, live in larger groups and ultimately develop cities. Add modern advances in food storage and refrigeration and traditional hunting and gathering to survive is no longer our primary activity – the internet is.
Today “food” of some sort, is just an intersection away.
Todays Diet
Fasting for religous or moral beliefs has occurred since ancient times. Prior to the 19th century fat or obese people were primarily in the ruling class and wealthy. They had access to more food and others to do their work.
Diet, for health or medical reasons to lose weight, started in the 19th century. This type of diet is attributed to Rev. Sylvester Graham (1795-1851), a New Jersey preacher and creator of the graham craker, and William Banting (1797 – 1878), a London undertaker.
A timeline of the progression of diets shows the real explosion beginning after World War II.
Take a look at Calories and Corsets for an entertaining book on the history of dieting. Be sure and let us now what you think.
Todays Diet Is Expensive
Americans spend over $40 billion dollars every year on diet and weight reducing programs. That is $110 million per day. That is a lot of money, let’s hope it is well spent.
Todays Diet Fails
In spite of all that money, dieting does not work or only creates minimal positive results. If it did work, U.S obesity rates would be dropping, they are not. While ironically the the percentage of people who say they diet is decreasing. More than 66% of adults are overweight and over 35% are obese. Child obesity rates have increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% by 2012. The estimated adult annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008. Todays diet is obviously not working.
A Good Diet
Your body will naturally let you know when you are hungry. Focusing on nutrition is the key to better health.
The cravings you experience do not usually result from lack of eating, they come from bad choices.
Eating that focuses on macronutrients consumed, is more effective than a portion control or calorie counting diet.
Do Not Diet – Eat Better
Whether a diet is a good or bad four letter word, really boils down to the choices we make. Choose to eat a traditional American diet and it is not your friend. Choose to Eat to Live and it is. How you choose to eat and live, is in your hands.
Better Health By Better Eating does work.
Learn more about Eat Clean and make better choices.
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