The Death of the Diet
Neat Ambassador Korin Nolan shares her thoughts on the death of the diet and how to live a sustainable, healthy, balanced life...
I don't know about you, but I feel a positive shift in people's attitudes towards health and fitness these days. It seems that we are finally getting our heads around the fact that short term fad diets don't work and it's more about a sustainable healthy, balanced lifestyle.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I think we've still got a long way to go in terms of convincing the entire population, but with the rise of the ‘fitness blogger/celebrity’ most of whom, promote training hard (in the correct, effective way) and eating a well balanced diet it's not surprising that people are creating a healthier approach to being fit and healthy! The days of calorie counting, cutting fat and carbs are diminishing rapidly (thank god) it now seems to be all about body confidence, acceptance and making 'gains' rather than losses - hallelujah!!!
So what’s changed?
Well, I guess people are getting fed up of punishing themselves, I know I for one, certainly am! For years I lived a yo-yo lifestyle of binge eating and restrictive diets, needless to say I was unhappy with my body and constantly felt like a failure. It wasn’t until after I had my second baby, that I decided to focus more of my attention on fitness, enjoying the feeling of getting stronger and realising that I needed to fuel my body in the correct way with things such as healthy proteins, good carbs and fats in order to achieve my goals, that my mindset started to change for the better.
These days, I am less bothered what the scales say, because I know that muscle weighs more that fat (yes, I always knew this, but my brain was programmed to believe those scales were the be all and end all). I focus more on what I feel like in my clothes and what I look like in my bikini. Yes, I still have goals that I’d like to reach, but I do this with a much more positive attitude and excitement, rather than dread, fear, trepidation of embarking on yet another starvation diet which inevitably would end yet again in misery.
And isn’t it about time we all started to accept ourselves and give ourselves a little more self-love? Trying to achieve a body shape that is far from your own, will only end in tears (remember ‘the waif’?) It’s time to celebrate our own shape and make it the best that it can be, starting with a healthy balanced attitude.
Korin Nolan is the founder of Power Pilates UK (Dynamic Reformer Pilates Studio based in South East London) and started her Pilates training at The London a college of Dance, before qualifying with Body Control Pilates over twelve years ago. Korin has had a varied career also working in TV as a presenter on Five’s The Wright Stuff for four years. She went on to co-write her cookery book 'How to Cook in High Heels' (released in 2010 with Absolute Press) which demonstrated her love for healthy food, as well as a few naughty treats! Following the birth of her second baby Olivia Grace earlier this year, Korin developed her unique online fitness plan The Baby Body Bootcamp, for busy mums on the go and is suitable for postpartum mums.