Every dieter knows the signs. The gnawing hunger, a banging headache, the depression, the wild swings of mood and energy (not to mention the intractable constipation)….. Dieting isn’t just a thoroughly miserable thing to do it is also the least effective means you can think of for controlling weight with the possible exception of the deep-fried Mars bar. 

Researchers at the University of California have just discovered that dieting isn’t just futile it is also damaging to health. In a landmark study the scientists analysed the data from 31 major diet experiments and discovered that people typically lose only around five to ten percent of their weight in the first six months of a diet. And it gets worse. Within five years around two thirds of dieters weigh more than they did before they started. And this, the researchers believe, is likely to be a gross over-estimate of a diet’s effectiveness.

Diets are likely to be even more useless at controlling weight than their figures suggest. Dr Traci Mann, lead researcher of the team at the University of California, said: "We found that the majority of people regained all the weight, plus more. Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people.

"We concluded most of them would have been better off not going on the diet at all. Their weight would have been pretty much the same, and their bodies would not suffer the wear and tear of losing weight and gaining it all back."

The California study analysed all of the five major types of diet. Not only were the uber-fashionable GI and  GL diets put under the microscope but so were the Atkins, Zone and LEARN (Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationships and Nutrition) diets. 

The researchers also warn that yo-yo dieting is linked to a host of health problems. It can wreck your health and hasten your demise. Yo-yo dieting can cause long-term damage to the body’s major organs such as the kidneys, liver and heart. It also reduces the body’s levels of natural killer cells, vital for fighting off cancer. And if all that wasn’t enough, dieting can cause skin problems, hair loss, light-headedness, osteoporosis, menstrual irregularities, sleepiness, gallstones and constipation. 

If you are at all worried, anxious even, for your mental health, you’d be well advised to give dieting a wide berth. Numerous studies have now linked chronic dieting with stress, depression and low self-esteem. Dieting doesn’t just make you feel horrible about yourself, it can also sap your energy and reduce your brainpower.

Why do diets have such an abysmal success rate and appalling side-effects? After all, it stands to reason that if you eat fewer calories you’ll lose weight. Recent research suggests that this superficial logic is completely wrong-headed. In fact, the best thing you can do to lose weight permanently is to ditch the diet habit completely. And if you really want to maximise your weight loss, you should grab life by the throat and enjoy it to the full.

These heartening findings come from ground-breaking research done by Professor Ben Fletcher and Dr Karen Pine at the University of Hertfordshire. It seems that the ‘naturally’ slim and the overweight do not differ so much in what they eat, but in whether or not they are driven by a collection of hidden habits. Professor Fletcher’s research reveals that over-eating is a side-issue. A symptom of something deeper.

It turns out that if you break these hidden habits then you naturally slim down to your ideal weight. A diet isn’t needed at all. And breaking these habits is relatively simple, involving such daily tasks as taking a different route to work or switching off the TV for a day.

In clinical trials, people lost two pounds a week and continued losing weight until their body’s healthy figure emerged. Some people lost over 40 pounds and virtually everyone kept the weight off. Interestingly, the patients also reported feeling happier. It was quickly dubbed the No Diet Diet  and has just been turned into a successful book by the same name.

To understand how the No Diet Diet works you need to realise that we are all creatures of habit. Psychologists estimate that the average person spends around 85 percent of their time carrying out some sort of habit. If you doubt this disturbing figure, have a look at your own life.

Do you always sleep on the same side of the bed? Get up at the same time? Do you always have sex on the same nights of the week (and in the same positions)? Do you always go to the toilet at the same times? Do you always take the same number of footsteps to the bus stop, station or car? Do you always take the same route to work? And when you’re there, do you always drink out of the same mug? Do you always sit in the same chair at meetings? Do you always have the same polite conversations with the same people? Need I ask any more?

Habits also drive what we eat and this is the reason why diets fail. They do not tackle the underlying causes of over-eating. Diet gurus assume that people just need to be told what to eat. But that’s the equivalent of slapping a manic-depressive around the head and telling him to pull himself together. Dieters know what to do but their habits force them to do something else entirely. In the long run, the only way to lose weight permanently is to break the stranglehold of bad habits.

So if you want to lose weight permanently ditch the diet habit and do something a little differently. If nothing else, breaking a few habits will blow away the cobwebs and brighten up your day. And in the long run it will help you lose substantial amounts of weight.

Read chapter one of the No Diet Diet

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