If I gave you $100 for every time you thought about dieting, would you be rich by now? You might very well be, but whether you’d be healthy, let alone enjoying your food, is another question entirely.

If you have tried diet after diet, then you may already know from experience what I’m about to tell you. Diets don’t work. Diets have never worked. Not in the long term, when you look at a person’s weight change over a period longer than 5 years.

But don’t throw in the towel just yet. What can work is changing your habits. I’m talking about exercise (the average American gets 17 minutes a day when 60 minutes is recommended). I’m talking about managing stress (22 percent of Americans report extreme levels of stress). I’m talking about eating habits, too. But you may be surprised to learn that I’m not talking about eating perfectly. I’m talking about eating normally. Continue reading The Most Effective Diet: Listening to Your Body →