PLEASE Stop Being Afraid of the Word “Diet”
Never miss a glorious update - click here!Thoughts on Diets vs. Dieting, and the End of Word Fear
Posted by
John Romaniello
When it comes to losing fat, there are a lot of things you can, should, and often need to change about your diet. I’m going to cover them in a second post, and give you the exact order I believe you need to address them in for maximal changes.
First, though, I just want to get the semantics out of the way. “Diet” – it’s a word a lot of people avoid like the plague. I don’t, because I’m not afraid of words. Avoiding a word because you’re afraid of it has the opposite effect you intend, and it can have disastrous effects on your progress.
Let me explain.
The vast majority of people are either intrinsically afraid of the word diet and the ideas it brings to mind, or have been conditioned to think they should be. Because this is well known, when fitness professionals or doctors or anyone else tell you “it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle” or whatever other nonsense people spew out, they’re trying to mollify you into being receptive to their information.
Without turning this into a full on lesson about marketing, one aspect of why this is done is called mirroring: use the words your clients or customers use; avoid the ones they don’t or that cause them pain.
By avoiding the use of the word diet, they believe they’re able to get through to more by following the old marketing mantra of “sell them what they want, give them what they need.”
As a result, if they want to give you something short term, many coaches or doctors to avoid the word diet and call it a “nutritional plan.” Equally silly.
In other words, they know that the word diet has some negative connotations, and they want to avoid triggering those feelings before they introduce their idea to you, to prevent you from transferring that negative association to their plan. Make sense?
There is nothing wrong with that. Other than the fact that it’s completely idiotic.
Trying to avoid the word diet when talking about nutrition is tantamount to trying to avoid the word “tackle” when talking about football. No one likes to be tackled, and no one really likes having to diet. That doesn’t change the fact that if you avoid thinking about tackling and you don’t prepare for it, you’re going to get crushed on the field. If you avoid thinking about dieting, when you have to do it, i’ll be a lot more intimidating.
Far worse than that is the fear. Can you imagine if we taught aspiring football players to not only avoid thinking about tackling, but created a system of aversion so complete and filled with so many alternative terms that it resulted in fear of the word itself?
I think the sport would die out pretty quickly.
Please accept this. Take a deep breath. Stop being afraid. A diet is different from diet-ing to be sure, but they are both necessary for progress, and you can’t avoid thinking about or doing either.
So, to be clear: any food you eat is your diet. To eat food is to have a diet. All animals have diets. For example, I live exclusively on meats, veggies, the hearts of my enemies, cake, a few protein shakes and the occasional glass of bourbon. That’s my diet.
My dogs have a diet of meats, eggs, yams, and veggies. That is their diet.
It’s really that simple. If you eat food, you have a diet.
As you can tell, thing people really want to avoid is talking about going on a diet, which is different than just having a diet. Having a diet is a longterm approach to eating. Going on a diet of some kind implies a short-term change in the way you eat–one that will hopefully create some long term changes.
People are afraid of this because going on a diet either means you have to make a few big changes (or a lot of small ones), and that’s inconvenient. Well, so is being fat or unhealthy or dead.
You want to make a change, you need to change the diet you have, and that starts with the diet you’re on.
Or, put another way, you need to go on a diet.
If I wanted to get leaner, my diet would change a bit. I’d eliminate cake and bourbon–so I’d go ON a diet. It’s just a word, and it’s just a thing that you have to do. HAVE TO. Need. Must. Necessary.
Because it’s necessary, the fear of the word is detrimental in the extreme. Which is why I have chosen never to be afraid of it, or any other words. And I don’t get why more people don’t do the same. If I may quote Professor Dumbledore:
Great knowledge is attained with great pain.
Seriously. I mean, Dumbledore said it, and he’s one of the most powerful wizards ever. So you basically have to listen.
All joking aside, please stop being afraid of words. In general. Did you know that “moist” is the most disliked word in the English language, according to a number of different polls? Seriously. I’m not making that up — you can check it out here.
Moist. As in, “sort of wet, but not really.” People don’t like the imagery it conjures, or the way the word sounds, or the mouthfeel of the word when they say it. Because this has become popular knowledge, people have started to be afraid of the word.
My former roommate, Jackie, would actually shudder when anyone said it. Seriously; she had convinced herself that moist was such a terrible word that saying it was like telling an arachnophobe that there’s a spider on their shoulder.
What the actual fuck?
Look, if you don’t like a word, don’t use it. There’s nothing wrong with that. Fear and dislike are not mutually inclusive: while you’re generally going to dislike the things you fear, you certainly don’t have to fear everything you dislike.
Personally, I dislike when the sounds words make are radically different from the meaning of the word. A good example is “pulchritude.” Pronounced “pulk-rah-tude”, it actually means, “having great physical beauty.”
It sounds like it would be something awful or horrid, but it means beauty. Imagine if you called a woman pulchritudinous and she didn’t know what it meant? Based on sound alone, I think you’d get slapped, despite having given such a wonderful compliment.
Another example would be bucolic. It’s pronounced “byoo-khal-ik”, which to me sounds like a disease. It means having pastoral beauty or relating to the countryside. It’s the kind of word you’d find in a college admissions essay. No thank you.
Now, I’m obviously a word nerd, so I have some strong feelings about these things. But, just because I don’t care for these words, doesn’t mean I’m afraid of them or the things they represent. If I was afraid, and avoided using them, it would strengthen their hold over me.
Imagine if I was so freaked out by the word pulchritude that I created some sort of aversion to the idea of beauty? What kind of life would that be?
Okay, I’m getting off topic. By a lot. Sort of. The main thing is, words are power. Ancient cultures believed that words and names were filled with inherent magic; to know someone’s True Name would give you power over them. Certainly, we no longer hold to this belief, but it’s left it’s fingerprints on our langue–it’s no coincidence that the correct words are required to cast a magic spell, just as the correct letters are required to spell something on paper.
For my part, I believe that words are infinitely more powerful than actions, regardless of what any adage, proverb, idiom or axiom would have you believe.
All of which is to say that have their own power, but we also give them power–when we do that, we give them power over us.
Make the decision now to stop being afraid of words. For good. Especially the word diet. Because if you’re afraid of that word, afraid of saying it, afraid of thinking it, and afraid of doing it, you’ll be paralyzed when you need to make a change to your “nutritional plan” to better yourself.
So. Yeah. Words. And stuff. No more fear.
Did you make the decision? Are you no longer afraid? EXCELLENT.
Then, you will enjoy tomorrow’s post. Well, maybe.
I’m going to talk all about dieting; more specifically, as I said at the top of this post, I’m going to cover the exact aspects of dieting, and give you the exact order I believe you need to address them in for maximal changes.
The post is long, and it’s damn good too.
Oh, if you want to get sexy as hell by starting a you know what together with me, let’s do it.
Okay, I’m off to the gym to get all moist and sweaty. Yeah. Moist. Because that’s how I roll.
Comments for This Entry
Maria Velazquez
Love your down to earth advise!October 20, 2014 at 11:37 am
Smart Drinks & Nutrition
Great information! hey, check out this website: www.smartdrinks.com ! They sell supplements to help with your diet/workout. And they even have 3 stores located in Texas!August 27, 2014 at 10:59 pm
Smart Drinks & Nutrition
Great information! hey, check out this website: www.smartdrinks.com ! They sell supplements to help with your diet/workout. And they even have 3 stores located in Texas!August 27, 2014 at 10:59 pm
Joe
Bottom line: Everyone is on some kind of diet and if you act like you're not on a diet and just enjoy eating pancakes and sipping 1000 calorie Starbucks shakes then you're on the,"I don't know or care to know about nutrition and thats why I am going to become fat and die really fucking prematurely" Diet.March 27, 2014 at 11:42 pm
Pam Ehrecke
Somehow the mere mention of the word diet provokes rebellion and a need to consume any and all foods that would not be allowed once the Dieting begins. My normal, everyday diet is actually quite balanced and good, until I think about dieting. Why is this? Human nature? Deprivation of things perceived to bring pleasure? Tantrums? Fear....March 27, 2014 at 3:36 am
chuck
"...And we're damn good too. But you can't be any geek off the street" Looking forward to tomorrow's article!March 27, 2014 at 3:06 am
embracethealpha
Throw the diet fear-mongers right along in the box with all of these muti level nutritional "gurus" & toss it in the room of requirement already! Looking forward to tomorrow's post btw.March 27, 2014 at 1:24 am
Colleen Peterson
Love your writing Style JohnMarch 27, 2014 at 1:17 am
Gia Traynor
This made me laugh. A lot! I will add an lol for gud effect! Seriously tho, gr8 post. Informative, funny & grammatically correct. Ticks all my boxesMarch 27, 2014 at 12:19 am
Caitlin Weller
When you use Harry Potter references in your posts...yeah you're awesome.March 26, 2014 at 9:35 pm
Adam Hays
In my experience, people don't want to step outside of their comfort zone... Me being one of these people. I'm willing to admit this. However, everytime I do change occurs. When I began fasting and exercising it was QUITE uncomfortable. BUT! Change occurred. We fear the unknown, we fear what we are not familiar with. But without change there is no change.... And hey- you can always quit and go back to whatever you were doingMarch 26, 2014 at 9:08 pm
Monica Kimball
I've argued the distinction between diet and dieting for years.March 26, 2014 at 9:07 pm
James Byrne
A: I agree completely. I have a friend who actually gets angry with me when I use the word diet, and I've made most of the points you made here to him, albeit not as eloquently. B: Just scored some major bonus points with a lady friend by telling her she was pulchritudinous, so thanks for that!March 26, 2014 at 8:51 pm
Aaron Baynes
Its so true diet is a hated word by so many. I took a course on nutrition and the instructor even said don't use the word diet people will stop listening and think more about what bad diets they have been on.March 26, 2014 at 8:17 pm
Josh Hamilton
Would your palm be moist (or moistened) whilst open-palming said Diet-Hater's trachea, as outlined in your status update? Has relevance to painting the appropriate mental picture. Sound effects included.March 26, 2014 at 7:40 pm
Thompson Plyler
People are like that about so many things, these days. Our culture tends to ignore real problems while chomping at the bit to take someone down for imagined slights based on a word choice they don't agree with. You can make a perfectly coherent argument about race/racism or sex/sexism, but if you use the word "black" or "chick" in either case, a certain segment of the population will tune out because you used a magical letter configuration that instantly disintegrates their ability to think critically. Diet is just one facet of this insidious problem that is, I think, one of the most direct signs of the erosion of our education system. People like to label this sort of caution about language "political correctness," but I think that's just a fancy word for a habit of lazy, unfocused, uncareful thinking... the same sort of thing that led to them having such a shitty diet to begin with.March 26, 2014 at 7:37 pm
Jocelyn Shaw
Perhaps a bit off topic, but I'm always amazed at how up-in-arms people get about dietary terms, not just the word 'diet' itself. The endless debate over "clean versus dirty", "Cheat versus Treat/Free/Off-plan", etc. is enough to drive a person insane (should they choose to entertain it.) Why do people feel the need to argue these asinine terms when they know damn well what the person using them meant to convey? It grates on my nerves (though I stay silent) when someone tells me they're making a "lifestyle change" or says "I don't cheat on my diet, I'm not married to it." Those are minor annoyances but not worth reacting to. The one that REALLY chaps my ass is when someone says "I don't reward myself with food because I'm not a dog". *sigh* No, because dogs are awesome and you're a self-righteous asshat. People reward themselves with food... its a part of who we are. We use food to celebrate momentous occasions, holidays, family gatherings and so on. Anyone who can reduce a huge part of every culture, dating back to the dawn of time, to something to feel guilty over can kiss my ass. Have fun crying into your broccoli all alone. *End rant*March 26, 2014 at 7:23 pm
Ryan Graczkowski
It's always a bit of a shock to read your work and remember that your dogs eat better than I do. Which is your right to provide and their right to enjoy, etc. It just always gets me. But yeah. Definitely been one of those 'not a diet but a lifestyle' people. That's toolish. I'mma stop now. Thanks for the gut-check.March 26, 2014 at 3:12 pm
Matt Kay
So true! People develop a bias towards that are things they find uncomfortable or hard or life changing. Such as the word gym. Some people don't like to hear it because it makes them angry or afraid of exercise. I tell them when you start to get angry that you missed the gym rather than angry you "have" to go, that's when you're on a path to success.March 26, 2014 at 6:45 pm
Jamie Alexander
I hate when someone who has lifted for 5 minutes suddenly becomes afraid of the word 'toned' even know 99.99% of the world could easily relate to it. I actually think they get disgusted when they hear it mentioned.March 26, 2014 at 2:20 pm