October 22, 2024 • 12 mins
Why don't diets work?" It's a question many of us have grappled with, and today, we’re tackling it head-on. In this episode of Big Questions, Short Answers, Sian opens up about her lifelong struggle with dieting and her journey through bariatric surgery. You’ll hear firsthand how these experiences have shaped her life, both physically and psychologically. Andy joins in, adding his unique perspective and some unsolicited, yet always entertaining, advice. Together, they unravel the layers of societal pressures, psychological factors, and scientific evidence that explain why diets often fail us.
We discuss the harsh realities of yo-yo dieting, the mental toll it takes, and the misconception that weight loss surgery is a simple fix. Sian shares the ongoing mental and emotional challenges she faces post-surgery, shedding light on the complexities of weight management and self-acceptance. This episode isn’t just about the science behind diets; it’s a heartfelt conversation about the societal and psychological elements that influence our relationship with food and our bodies. Tune in for an enlightening discussion that promises to challenge your views on dieting and inspire a more holistic approach to health.
For more content, check out Sian's website sianjaquet.com, and her online course: Create The Life You Truly Love.
www.sianjaquet.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, this is something close to you, all
right.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to Big Questions.
Short Answers.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I'm Sian and I'm Andy Sian's husband asking the big
life questions.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And possibly adding a little bit of unsolicited
advice.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Maybe this podcast is brought to you by Sian's
value-based online course.
Visit SianJackaycom to find outmore.
So the question of the day iswhy don't diets work?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Are you asking for yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
That's a bit rude.
Well, possibly yes, but no.
But you've had a whole history,lifetime of diets.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Why don't diets work?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, you know because let's go a little bit of
history You've actually hadbariatric surgery some years ago
and for many years youstruggled, even though you, you
know, I, struggled to stopputting food in my mouth.
But equally you know, itresulted in diabetes and other
(01:02):
stuff.
But we're constantly given apromise of diets and diets and
exercise and all the rest, and,yes, it does work.
Well, does it work?
I don't know.
Do they work for you To destroythe Do diets work for you?
Well, I'm not very good at diets, I must admit, because I like a
(01:23):
drink, I like a beer it's justnot ideal and a little bit of
choccy and the odd crisp.
So really, diets aren't workingfor me at all because I'm not
even going into the space.
But you know, there is amassive issue, isn't there, in
terms of our population globally.
You know, overeating andgetting a bit bigger than they
(01:45):
should be From a healthperspective, we're not
fat-shaming.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I'm just sitting here with my mouth closed watching
you, watching you wrap yourselfin barbed wire.
Keep going.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I know that.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
What do you want to know?
Do diets work?
From what perspective?
My personal one, from ascientific perspective, from a
psychological one?
I mean, it depends whichconversation you want.
I mean, my own personal view isthat, from what I have read and
that doesn't make me an expert,it's just what I have read
there is an irony here that itis to do fundamentally with
(02:21):
poverty and not either knowingor having the resources to buy
and cook healthy food.
I also think there is apsychological element to this of
learned behavior from childhood, that you were given sweet
things and extra things to keepyou quiet as a treat.
If you're a good child, okay.
(02:41):
I think all of that createsbeliefs and behaviours.
I think that the media, thejudgmental world that we live in
, and we are literallyindoctrinated with visions and
ideas and specifics on what weshould look like and what our
bodies should look like Skinnymodels.
(03:03):
Yeah, you're not sexy, you'renot healthy, you're not all of
these things if you haven't gotthem.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I've got a one pack.
Have you no, no, no, thanks,I've got the whole barrel.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So my point is that it's a daft question, you know.
Do diets work?
I think there is a whole bodyof scientific evidence now that
yo-yoing and dieting and stopdieting and starving your body
and doing all the rest of itdoes not work, because your body
then just holds on to fatbecause it thinks it's it's
living in a famine.
I'm not going to pretend toknow enough about it, but I know
(03:37):
that my own personal experiencedieting never really worked for
me.
It was, from a psychologicalpoint of view, very and I mean
very traumatic.
It just undermined my sense ofself.
After saying that, I'm notsuggesting that bariatric
(03:58):
surgery is the answer toeverything and the answer to
everybody, because it is not aquick fix.
You know that smugness and godknows I saw a lot of that when I
had the surgery you know you'vecheated, you've done it the
easy way you've done, whatever.
Well, let me tell you, yeah, I'mnow four, five years on, or
whatever it is, and it's noteasy you know, every day of my
(04:19):
life, I have to think, I have toprocess, I have to, you know,
think about food and my body ina very different way.
I think one of the things Ihave learned which I think has
made a difference and is also,for me, one of the central
pillars of truth regarding foodand image, body image and all
the rest of it one of the waysthat helped me was creating an
(04:40):
understanding, therefore, thebelief and I'm now holding on to
it that food is fuel.
It's not an emotional delight,it's not hand-paved, but you see
what I mean that if you startliterally thinking of fuel and
what specific foods do to yourbody I mean when I learned after
I'd had the surgery, you know,the protein was king and I
(05:01):
remember sitting in a grouptherapy session at one point
with a whole group of people notjust women, actually who had
had surgery.
There was a fascinatingconversation with a dietician
and a psychologist who wereexplaining the detail of what
protein does to your brain andwithout it, how your brain
doesn't work.
Well, that was it.
(05:22):
That's all I needed to do.
You know what I mean.
It made me focus, in a way, andthink about food.
I think diets.
If you want my honest opinionand again, this is the world of
Connie Sashon, andy, it doesn'tmake me right I think the whole
world of dieting is dangerous,is full of emotional fire pits.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And I've seen still do too many people whose lives
have not been fulfilling becausethey're so hard on themselves,
because they don't look rightand they don't feel right.
We live in a society that's sojudgmental.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Oh, it is ridiculously judgmental.
If you're over a certain size,especially as a woman, they
don't think you're intelligent.
It's bizarre.
You steal the same head on thebody, but you change the body
and all of a sudden you becomemore intelligent.
It's quite bizarre, but that isthe case.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I think it's, I think I don't know.
I think it's got a lot to dowith emotional trauma and from
my own perspective, it was myrelationship with food and still
is about.
I have access, I can, sotherefore I will, and you can't
tell me not to.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Unless there's a fridge mount on the fridge that
says stand away, move away fromthe fridge.
We had one of those.
We did, and I had a policeman.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
He said move away from the fridge.
That was many years ago.
It's a minefield, yeah, and tobe honest, you know, the only
way I think it's througheducation, it's through teaching
kids to cook.
It's about vegetables and, youknow, making it accessible and
supporting mums and workingparents.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Because I can tell you now, there were times, andy,
where what we fed our kids fortea was not ideal.
Uh no, it was not ideal, no,but, but I was too chicken
delight, but it is a newphenomenon, probably.
I remember when I went toschool there was there weren't
that many fat kids, but now alot of fat kids at school, when
you're looking at me there's ashorting and I can see your
double chin.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I wrecked my case.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Well, you know it's bad, isn't it that there is that
it's cheap food.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It's, you know, food outlets that are clearly not
meeting the nutritional needs.
It's computers, it's television, yeah.
It's parents who don't haveenough time, yeah, to do
anything other than thefundamentals because they're
busy and they're tired, and youknow I'm not so much going on,
you know, and we were thoseparents yeah, yeah you know, I
(08:06):
can remember kind of sweetthings when our children were
small.
We didn't have that many in thehouse, to be honest, we didn't,
didn't do puddings, didn't dothat many sweets.
It doesn't mean we did, neverdid them, but they were.
But my dad and see my dad's mydad was sweet man and I can
remember you and I having acouple of rows about do we tell
you know, do we say you can'tshare, don't give those kids,
(08:28):
don't give the kids sweets.
We came to the conclusion well,look, they're looking after the
kids and you know it's the waythey want to do it, but it's.
It's what your beliefs areabout food and, as I say, it
would boil it down to do theywork?
Probably not.
To be honest, and if you wantto get healthy, the two things I
would say is get off your assand walk and, probably more
(08:49):
importantly, start thinking offood as fuel.
What do I need to eat in a dayto make the brain work, to make
my legs work, to make my heartwork, to make, yeah, quite an
interesting shift.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I mean, well, it is because, like, food is, cooking
shows, food shows.
The whole thing has justexploded, hasn't it?
And a lot of it's healthy.
But equally, you have to wonderwhy.
You know bariatric surgeryglobally is just.
I mean, the numbers are hugeand you know it's interesting,
(09:22):
isn't it, that you've got allthose factors and you know, then
have all that food and then youbring in bariatric surgery to
combat it.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
What I want to ask you is what made you ask the
question?
What is it about dieting?
Is it in your head at themoment?
What's triggered that?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Well, I think it's possibly always there and I've
tried, you know, a few times tobe consistent and you know,
drink shakes and various otherthings and you know I lose a
kilogram and then you know, amonth later, I, you know, I lose
a kilogram and then you know,it's like a month later and I,
(09:59):
you know, lose my discipline and, you know, put two kgs on, so
yeah, it's it's not easy, noteasy, not easy.
You could be on a permanentdiet.
It's tough.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
It's about what's behind it, isn't it?
You know, if the relationshipwith food is about if I look
after my body with the fuel,with what I'm putting in it, I
think that equation is probablygoing to work out well for you
If you are obsessed about whatyou're putting in your body,
because that's going to be whatI look like and that's going to
be how people judge me andthat's how I'm going to be,
whether I'm liked and whetherI'm.
(10:29):
You know, I mean, that's noteven a door to adolescence and
dieting and weight and bodyimage, and then it's like it's
like be, be whatever weight youwant to be.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
That's I mean.
You know.
From my perspective it's likebe whatever weight you want to
be.
You know, I've lived with youin very incis shine and you're
still beautiful to me, whatever.
But obviously there's thehealth issues.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Well, that's really what it's about, isn't it?
Does it?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
really matter.
You look at some people and youthink they're a walking heart
attack, do you?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That's you, isn't it, mr Judgmental?
You're right, not sentimental,just judgmental.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So does that help.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Well, hopefully it helps.
Hopefully it helps ourlisteners.
Just a little bit of discussionaround that, so no pie for me
at lunchtime.
You really thought you'd funny,don't you?
Join us next time on BigQuestions.
Short Answers with Sian Jacquetand me, Andy.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
If you have any questions you want to ask,
please send them via the websitesiansjacquetcom.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and
share it with everyone you know.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We really do appreciate you sharing 15
minutes with us.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And if you want to do a bit more learning, go on to
Sian's website siansjacquetcom.
There's a course on values tocreate the life you truly love.
I did it and it really does dowhat it says on the can see you
next time.
Okay, this is something close to you, all
right.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to Big Questions.
Short Answers.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I'm Sian and I'm Andy Sian's husband asking the big
life questions.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And possibly adding a little bit of unsolicited
advice.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Maybe this podcast is brought to you by Sian's
value-based online course.
Visit SianJackaycom to find outmore.
So the question of the day iswhy don't diets work?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Are you asking for yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
That's a bit rude.
Well, possibly yes, but no.
But you've had a whole history,lifetime of diets.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Why don't diets work?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Well, you know because let's go a little bit of
history You've actually hadbariatric surgery some years ago
and for many years youstruggled, even though you, you
know, I, struggled to stopputting food in my mouth.
But equally you know, itresulted in diabetes and other
(01:02):
stuff.
But we're constantly given apromise of diets and diets and
exercise and all the rest, and,yes, it does work.
Well, does it work?
I don't know.
Do they work for you To destroythe Do diets work for you?
Well, I'm not very good at diets, I must admit, because I like a
(01:23):
drink, I like a beer it's justnot ideal and a little bit of
choccy and the odd crisp.
So really, diets aren't workingfor me at all because I'm not
even going into the space.
But you know, there is amassive issue, isn't there, in
terms of our population globally.
You know, overeating andgetting a bit bigger than they
(01:45):
should be From a healthperspective, we're not
fat-shaming.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I'm just sitting here with my mouth closed watching
you, watching you wrap yourselfin barbed wire.
Keep going.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I know that.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
What do you want to know?
Do diets work?
From what perspective?
My personal one, from ascientific perspective, from a
psychological one?
I mean, it depends whichconversation you want.
I mean, my own personal view isthat, from what I have read and
that doesn't make me an expert,it's just what I have read
there is an irony here that itis to do fundamentally with
(02:21):
poverty and not either knowingor having the resources to buy
and cook healthy food.
I also think there is apsychological element to this of
learned behavior from childhood, that you were given sweet
things and extra things to keepyou quiet as a treat.
If you're a good child, okay.
(02:41):
I think all of that createsbeliefs and behaviours.
I think that the media, thejudgmental world that we live in
, and we are literallyindoctrinated with visions and
ideas and specifics on what weshould look like and what our
bodies should look like Skinnymodels.
(03:03):
Yeah, you're not sexy, you'renot healthy, you're not all of
these things if you haven't gotthem.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I've got a one pack.
Have you no, no, no, thanks,I've got the whole barrel.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So my point is that it's a daft question, you know.
Do diets work?
I think there is a whole bodyof scientific evidence now that
yo-yoing and dieting and stopdieting and starving your body
and doing all the rest of itdoes not work, because your body
then just holds on to fatbecause it thinks it's it's
living in a famine.
I'm not going to pretend toknow enough about it, but I know
(03:37):
that my own personal experiencedieting never really worked for
me.
It was, from a psychologicalpoint of view, very and I mean
very traumatic.
It just undermined my sense ofself.
After saying that, I'm notsuggesting that bariatric
(03:58):
surgery is the answer toeverything and the answer to
everybody, because it is not aquick fix.
You know that smugness and godknows I saw a lot of that when I
had the surgery you know you'vecheated, you've done it the
easy way you've done, whatever.
Well, let me tell you, yeah, I'mnow four, five years on, or
whatever it is, and it's noteasy you know, every day of my
(04:19):
life, I have to think, I have toprocess, I have to, you know,
think about food and my body ina very different way.
I think one of the things Ihave learned which I think has
made a difference and is also,for me, one of the central
pillars of truth regarding foodand image, body image and all
the rest of it one of the waysthat helped me was creating an
(04:40):
understanding, therefore, thebelief and I'm now holding on to
it that food is fuel.
It's not an emotional delight,it's not hand-paved, but you see
what I mean that if you startliterally thinking of fuel and
what specific foods do to yourbody I mean when I learned after
I'd had the surgery, you know,the protein was king and I
(05:01):
remember sitting in a grouptherapy session at one point
with a whole group of people notjust women, actually who had
had surgery.
There was a fascinatingconversation with a dietician
and a psychologist who wereexplaining the detail of what
protein does to your brain andwithout it, how your brain
doesn't work.
Well, that was it.
(05:22):
That's all I needed to do.
You know what I mean.
It made me focus, in a way, andthink about food.
I think diets.
If you want my honest opinionand again, this is the world of
Connie Sashon, andy, it doesn'tmake me right I think the whole
world of dieting is dangerous,is full of emotional fire pits.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And I've seen still do too many people whose lives
have not been fulfilling becausethey're so hard on themselves,
because they don't look rightand they don't feel right.
We live in a society that's sojudgmental.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Oh, it is ridiculously judgmental.
If you're over a certain size,especially as a woman, they
don't think you're intelligent.
It's bizarre.
You steal the same head on thebody, but you change the body
and all of a sudden you becomemore intelligent.
It's quite bizarre, but that isthe case.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I think it's, I think I don't know.
I think it's got a lot to dowith emotional trauma and from
my own perspective, it was myrelationship with food and still
is about.
I have access, I can, sotherefore I will, and you can't
tell me not to.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Unless there's a fridge mount on the fridge that
says stand away, move away fromthe fridge.
We had one of those.
We did, and I had a policeman.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
He said move away from the fridge.
That was many years ago.
It's a minefield, yeah, and tobe honest, you know, the only
way I think it's througheducation, it's through teaching
kids to cook.
It's about vegetables and, youknow, making it accessible and
supporting mums and workingparents.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Because I can tell you now, there were times, andy,
where what we fed our kids fortea was not ideal.
Uh no, it was not ideal, no,but, but I was too chicken
delight, but it is a newphenomenon, probably.
I remember when I went toschool there was there weren't
that many fat kids, but now alot of fat kids at school, when
you're looking at me there's ashorting and I can see your
double chin.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I wrecked my case.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Well, you know it's bad, isn't it that there is that
it's cheap food.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It's, you know, food outlets that are clearly not
meeting the nutritional needs.
It's computers, it's television, yeah.
It's parents who don't haveenough time, yeah, to do
anything other than thefundamentals because they're
busy and they're tired, and youknow I'm not so much going on,
you know, and we were thoseparents yeah, yeah you know, I
(08:06):
can remember kind of sweetthings when our children were
small.
We didn't have that many in thehouse, to be honest, we didn't,
didn't do puddings, didn't dothat many sweets.
It doesn't mean we did, neverdid them, but they were.
But my dad and see my dad's mydad was sweet man and I can
remember you and I having acouple of rows about do we tell
you know, do we say you can'tshare, don't give those kids,
(08:28):
don't give the kids sweets.
We came to the conclusion well,look, they're looking after the
kids and you know it's the waythey want to do it, but it's.
It's what your beliefs areabout food and, as I say, it
would boil it down to do theywork?
Probably not.
To be honest, and if you wantto get healthy, the two things I
would say is get off your assand walk and, probably more
(08:49):
importantly, start thinking offood as fuel.
What do I need to eat in a dayto make the brain work, to make
my legs work, to make my heartwork, to make, yeah, quite an
interesting shift.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I mean, well, it is because, like, food is, cooking
shows, food shows.
The whole thing has justexploded, hasn't it?
And a lot of it's healthy.
But equally, you have to wonderwhy.
You know bariatric surgeryglobally is just.
I mean, the numbers are hugeand you know it's interesting,
(09:22):
isn't it, that you've got allthose factors and you know, then
have all that food and then youbring in bariatric surgery to
combat it.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
What I want to ask you is what made you ask the
question?
What is it about dieting?
Is it in your head at themoment?
What's triggered that?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Well, I think it's possibly always there and I've
tried, you know, a few times tobe consistent and you know,
drink shakes and various otherthings and you know I lose a
kilogram and then you know, amonth later, I, you know, I lose
a kilogram and then you know,it's like a month later and I,
(09:59):
you know, lose my discipline and, you know, put two kgs on, so
yeah, it's it's not easy, noteasy, not easy.
You could be on a permanentdiet.
It's tough.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
It's about what's behind it, isn't it?
You know, if the relationshipwith food is about if I look
after my body with the fuel,with what I'm putting in it, I
think that equation is probablygoing to work out well for you
If you are obsessed about whatyou're putting in your body,
because that's going to be whatI look like and that's going to
be how people judge me andthat's how I'm going to be,
whether I'm liked and whetherI'm.
(10:29):
You know, I mean, that's noteven a door to adolescence and
dieting and weight and bodyimage, and then it's like it's
like be, be whatever weight youwant to be.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
That's I mean.
You know.
From my perspective it's likebe whatever weight you want to
be.
You know, I've lived with youin very incis shine and you're
still beautiful to me, whatever.
But obviously there's thehealth issues.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Well, that's really what it's about, isn't it?
Does it?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
really matter.
You look at some people and youthink they're a walking heart
attack, do you?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That's you, isn't it, mr Judgmental?
You're right, not sentimental,just judgmental.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So does that help.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Well, hopefully it helps.
Hopefully it helps ourlisteners.
Just a little bit of discussionaround that, so no pie for me
at lunchtime.
You really thought you'd funny,don't you?
Join us next time on BigQuestions.
Short Answers with Sian Jacquetand me, Andy.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
If you have any questions you want to ask,
please send them via the websitesiansjacquetcom.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and
share it with everyone you know.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We really do appreciate you sharing 15
minutes with us.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And if you want to do a bit more learning, go on to
Sian's website siansjacquetcom.
There's a course on values tocreate the life you truly love.
I did it and it really does dowhat it says on the can see you
next time.
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