A Canadian nutritionist advises against diets, recommends healthy habits

Many Canadian’s resolutions for the New Year include getting more exercise and to lose weight.

Those two resolutions have remained the most popular for decades, but according to a registered dietitian, we should ditch our scales.

Nutritionist Olivia Carone says dieting does not work for most people.

“It doesn’t work for weight loss in the long term, and 66 per cent of people that go on these diets, they gain even more weight than what they were at the starting point,” she explained. “There’s a lot of pretty new studies coming out that are showing that restrictive eating…does work for short term weight loss, but only up to two to five years.”

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Carone says it’s important to stop categorizing food as good or bad, understand where your food rules come from, and to learn how to move past some of those rules. She recommends people stop second guessing food choices, ditch that calorie counter, and broaden the variety of foods that you eat.

“There are specific tools to work on your hunger in terms of fullness while you’re eating. Midway through, asking yourself, “How much more food do I need to feel satisfied?” And then listening to what your body needs,” she said.

According to Carone, a few of the more important things to understand when taking a healthier approach to life are to understand your cravings, drink more water, and prioritize your sleep.