A dietitian who lost 20 pounds in four years by ditching her scale has shared the worst health advice she’s ever heard in her years of yo-yo dieting.
Lyndy Cohenfrom Sydney, had been on 20 different diets and seen four different nutritionists by the time she turned 21 when she knew her attitude to food and eating had to change.
Today the dietitian – whose new book Your weight is not the problem is now out – has completely overhauled her attitude to eating and exercise, and she’s never looked or felt better.
Lyndi takes an intuitive approach to eating and exercise, stopping eating when she’s full and exercising in a way she enjoys — saying women should stop “dieting” because it can lead to them getting fat.
According to the celebrity dietician, there is so much health advice – or what she calls “wellnesswa**ery” on the Internet – that either “makes health too difficult or pushes us to the limit.”
A dietitian who lost 20 pounds in four years by ditching her scale has shared the worst health advice she’s ever heard in her years of yo-yo dieting (Lyndi Cohen, pictured now)
BEFORE AND NOW: Lyndi Cohen, from Sydney, had been on 20 different diets and had seen four different nutritionists by the time she turned 21, when she knew her attitude to food and eating had to change
1. Fast intermittently
The first thing Lyndi brought up as bad advice is that you need to fast intermittently if you want to lose weight.
“Intermittent fasting is socially acceptable starvation,” she told FEMAIL.
“If you can fast intermittently for the rest of your life, fine. But for most of us, it’s completely unsustainable and will lead to more binge eating.
“There is so much bad advice that lives on the internet. This is what I call wellness wankery. Either the health feels too heavy, or we go to the extreme.’
2. Extremely low-calorie diets
Lyndi is the author of the new book Your Weight is Not The Problem (pictured)
In a similar vein, Lyndi said you should never go on an extremely low-calorie diet, such as eating 1,200, 1,000, or even 800 calories a day.
“We know that 1,200 calories a day is the bare minimum you need to function, it’s what a toddler needs,” she said.
“Again, this advice is untenable and many dieters will try to follow it and not eat much all day before devouring everything they can find in the pantry at night because they’re just so hungry.”
Instead, the dietician recommends that you include many of the different food groups in your meals and snacks, especially “more carbs than you think.”
“A salad with some lean protein isn’t enough to keep you full all afternoon,” Lyndi added.
‘A wholemeal sandwich with some yoghurt and fruit on the side is a good meal. Try to take stock.’
She explained that you should never think that intermittent fasting or eating just 1200 calories a day is a good idea
3. Fruit contains too much sugar
Many people think they should avoid fruit because it is “too sugary” and instead think they should stick to vegetables.
But the dietitian said that’s not the case and you should aim for 1-2 servings of fruit a day instead.
“If you get a sugar craving, fruit is the perfect thing to have,” Lyndi said.
“And it doesn’t matter if it’s a higher sugar fruit like banana or mango.” They are all packed with vitamins and minerals to keep you full and satisfied.’
4. Lemon water detoxifies your body
One of the worst things the dietician has heard is the idea that lemon water “detoxifies” the body – and it’s great to drink first.
“There’s just no evidence to support this,” Lyndi said.
Your body naturally detoxifies itself. Your lungs and kidneys naturally do it for you, otherwise you would be dead.’
5. Pasta is fattening
Lyndi highlighted research showing that people who eat pasta tend to be slimmer than those who don’t.
“You don’t have to trade carbs for vegetarian alternatives like zoodles,” she said.
“Carbs are the reason we feel full and satisfied after a meal and they need to be absorbed.”
Instead, Lyndi recommends eating carbs when you feel like it, and boosting your plate with plenty of veggies.
Lyndi (pictured) said you should aim for 1-2 servings of fruit a day and never think it’s fat or has too much sugar
6. Cheat Days
When Lyndi was dieting, she said she often heard about “cheat days,” where you can eat whatever you want for a day.
“I’ve come to realize that cheat days are a very disorderly idea,” Lyndi said.
“It’s socially acceptable binge eating and sets you up for big swings in the health pendulum.”
She added, “If your diet is so unsustainable that you have to take a break from it every now and then, it’s the wrong diet.” Plus, cheat meals easily turn into cheat days and full blown blowouts.
“It’s an eating disorder behavior.”
7. Use the suggestion from the back of the package
Finally, Lyndi said that you should never think that the back of the package is what you should eat.
“Say you look at a chocolate bar and it says there are 2.5 servings in it,” she said.
“You might think there’s something wrong with your appetite if you eat it all in one. But that’s what the food industry does to make their products look healthier.’
She said to “listen” to your body and go with its hunger level.
Lyndi (pictured as a teenager and now) realized as a young woman that she was addicted to dieting and had in fact been dieting “fat” herself
Previously, Lyndi shared her own battle with overeating, when she realized as a six-year-old that she was ‘bigger’ than the other kids (pictured on her 11th birthday)
Previously, Lyndi shared her own battle with overeating, when she realized as a six-year-old that she was “bigger” than the other kids.
This was the start of an endless cycle of binge eating and restriction that saw her rise to a size 48 in clothes at worst.
The Sydney dietician eventually figured out that her problem was really that she was addicted to diets, and she slowly and steadily began to lose 20 kilos over four years.
She now practices what she preaches and doesn’t cut out pasta, wine, or chocolate in the name of dieting.
“It was a slow process [my weight loss]but it worked,” she said.
‘When you start losing weight, you naturally get stuck on different plateaus.
“But instead of focusing on the numbers on the scale, the most important thing for me was knowing that when I felt happiest, I was eating right and exercising.”
Lyndi Cohen’s new book is out now. Click for more information here. You can also click here to listen to a free 30 minute sample. Lyndi’s Instagram page is linked here.