I recently came across this study which finds that “nondieting” — behavior change and self-acceptance — has greater health benefits to obese women than dieting. The study was a randomized clinical trial — the gold standard of experimental designs — and the results are striking. While the nondieters maintained their weight throughout the study, the dieters actually gained weight. Furthermore, by the end of the study, the nondieters (when compared to the dieters) increased their physical activity, lowered their cholesterol levels, lowered their systolic blood pressure, increased their self-esteem and lowered their incidence of clinical depression.

“We have been ingrained to think that seriously large people can only make improvements in their health if they diet and slim down,” said nutrition researcher and professor Linda Bacon, who conducted the study along with Judith Stern, a UC Davis professor of nutrition and internal medicine. “But this study tells us that you can make significant improvements in both metabolic and psychological health without ever stepping on the scales or counting calories. You can relax about food and eat what you want.”

Maybe we need to take the focus off weight, and put it on health?