Dieting Is Not the Answer Many people struggle with their weight and turn to diets to lose the extra pounds. Two-thirds of adults and one-third of children in the United States are over weight. However, statistics from the National Institutes of Health tell us that 98 percent of people who lose weight by “going on a diet” end up gaining it back within five years and 90 percent of those people end up gaining more weight than they lost (nccam.gov.). Dieting did not work for me because most diet plans eliminate or drastically reduce the foods I liked to eat making me feel deprived, they also will lead to boredom from eating the same low-calorie foods each day, and they give you very low energy making it hard to get through the day. According to Dr. Michael Lyon and Dr. Michael Murray in their book, Hunger Free Forever, the key to effective and lasting weight loss is not dieting and deprivation. Instead, they say permanent weight loss comes from a healthy lifestyle and appetite control (Murray and Lyon). “Everybody is eating what I’m not allowed to, why can’t I?” This kind of thinking is likely to lead to overeating. Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine discovered that when starved of food, brain cells actually consume each other. This causes the release of fats, which results in the stimulation of appetite (Arias). Diets tend to eliminate high-fat and high-sugar foods like fast-food hamburgers and packaged cookies and cakes, but this always made me feel deprived of the foods I like, and makes going back to unhealthy food tempting. Although fruits and vegetables can also taste great, processed foods are very convenient. Most adults work full time jobs and it takes a lot of time to come home and prepare a healthy meal. Drive-thru windows are so easy even the best dieter can be tempted to stop on his way home and pick up something that is ready to eat. The dieter may find himself staying at the same weight, or