YOUR BRAIN ON A DIET: COGNITIVE DIETARY RESTRAINT
Many of us have “dieted for decades,” yet continue to struggle with unwanted weight gain and the negative health consequences that can come with it. We constantly feel restricted around food, that we can’t have our cake OR eat it, and we are always saying “no” to foods we love.
If you’ve ever thought to yourself “I’m always on a diet, but I can never seem to lose weight,” or are a person who feels like you’re constantly food deprived, but can never see the physical results you want from all of the effort you put into dieting, this might be for you.
Today we’re talking about the concept of Cognitive Dietary Restraint. And while it might sound like stuffy research terminology, it could have major implications for you and your body.
WHAT EXACTLY IS COGNITIVE DIETARY RESTRAINT?
Cognitive dietary restraint (CDR) is defined as the desire to restrict food intake in order to lose or maintain weight. In other words, CDR is a fancy way to describe our own personal beliefs about how much or what we are “allowed” to eat. For many people, it’s the force that drives us to say “I can’t, I’m on a diet!” when offered a slice of birthday cake or who purposely choose to ignore physical signals of hunger and avoid eating to lose weight. Cognitive dietary restraint can also be described as a mental “intent to diet.” It’s important to note that CDR actually has nothing to do with how much food we are actually eating, it’s simply the psychological state of mind of “being on a diet.”
You might think that having high levels of cognitive dietary restraint would be associated with lower body weight, better health outcomes, and longer lifespans. But surprisingly, higher levels of CDR are actually associated with higher levels of perceived stress and increased markers of physiological stress: increased salivary and urinary cortisol, decreased bone mass, and menstrual cycle irregularities including disturbances to ovulation in women. In addition, higher level of CDR are also associated with shortened telomeres, which are physical markers of biological age. People with higher CDR are also more likely to engage in binge eating behaviors and are more likely to engage in a binge episode if a perceived “failure” (such as eating one cookie after a week of “clean” eating) occurs.
THE TAKEAWAY HERE: always feeling like you’re “on a diet” can have actual physical consequences, cause stress to our bodies, and make us more likely to binge. Not good.
Interestingly, actual caloric restriction DOES clearly have positive effects on health markers & longevity. When people are accurately collecting data and monitoring caloric intake, health markers & longevity improve. Insulin sensitivity, cortisol levels, menstrual cycle regularity, quality of life, and BMI all improve when we eat an appropriate amount for our body sizes and activity levels. In other words: managing your calorie intake, if done correctly, has clear and well-defined positive impacts on long term physical health in humans.
SO… WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT ALL OF THIS?
How do we ensure that we are eating an appropriate amount for our bodies AND not feel like we are constantly dieting? Let’s talk about it!
Research suggests that people who have a flexible approach to monitoring caloric intake and who eat a wide variety of foods tend to exhibit less binge eating tendencies. Those who eat meals at regular intervals, have an “all foods can fit,” approach, and moderate their intake by using physiological signals of hunger and fullness tend to have less instances of restricting, binging, and purging, which can all have negative effects on bodyweight, insulin sensitivity, and overall caloric intake.
In my personal and professional opinion, there are 2 practical takeaways that I’d encourage you to consider for a lifelong peaceful relationship with food that also facilitates long term physical health.
1.) Make peace with food and your body.
Let go of the notion that there are “bad” or “good” foods (unless, of course, you are allergic or intolerant to specific foods). Make room for foods you enjoy in your daily life, so you don’t have the constant perception of feeling deprived. Practice enjoying delicious foods and eating them mindfully, learning how to let your body’s natural satiety signals guide your intake. This will help you avoid periods of restricting, binging, and purging.
2.) Learn how to accurately measure your food intake.
You don’t have to obsessively count calories for the rest of your life, but it may be wise to periodically audit your intake, so you have an accurate idea of how much you’re actually eating. Macro tracking can be a helpful tool for this purpose. And it’s important to note that macro tracking does not always have to be about caloric restriction - for many people macro tracking is a tool that can help them ensure they are getting ENOUGH of the important things like energy, protein, fiber, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals!
This is an area of research that definitely needs to be explored further. There are many questions that have yet to be answered and more connections that have yet to be made.
It’s also a highly nuanced subject that has ties to family traditions around food, our culture’s beliefs around food, hyper-palatability of highly processed foods, food scarcity, and much more.
However, it does suggest the possibility of cognitive dietary restraint being a key aspect to our long term health and wellness. Working to establish a peaceful and neutral relationship with food AND accurately monitor the appropriate intake does take effort, but will lead to many positive health outcomes physically, mentally, and emotionally.
REFERENCES
Kiefer, A., Lin, J., Blackburn, E., & Epel, E. (2008). Dietary restraint and telomere length in pre- and postmenopausal women. Psychosomatic medicine, 70(8), 845–849. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e318187d05e
Racine, S. E., Burt, S. A., Iacono, W. G., McGue, M., & Klump, K. L. (2011). Dietary restraint moderates genetic risk for binge eating. Journal of abnormal psychology, 120(1), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020895
Bedford, J. L., Prior, J. C., & Barr, S. I. (2010). A prospective exploration of cognitive dietary restraint, subclinical ovulatory disturbances, cortisol, and change in bone density over two years in healthy young women. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 95(7), 3291–3299. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2009-2497
UNTIL NEXT TIME - COACH SARAH