Remember back when everybody thought the secret to a svelte figure was to cut back of calories? Turns out that it didn't just shrink your thighs but also your brain.

According to a new study, not only does all this dieting affect your brain's ability to focus on everyday tasks, it can also have a negative effect on your brain in a much less chemical way.
That's because, says Sendhil Mullainathan, professor of economics at Harvard University, dieting clogs up your brain with all its obsessive planning and calculating. In other words, worrying about weight loss takes up much of the precious brain bandwidth you might otherwise use for problem-solving, or rocket science, or remembering the name of the drummer of The Black Keys (Patrick Carney, for the record).

There's another unintended consequence of not having enough bandwidth; you may unwittingly sabotage your diet. For a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, one group had their mental bandwidth taxed by being given a difficult task while the other was given a more simple test. They were then given the choice between cake or fruit. The participants who'd been more heavily taxed ate the most cake. To wit: The less bandwidth you have, the harder it is to actually stick to a diet.

So, what's the solution? Choose a diet that requires less thinking.
So whatever strategy you choose for your body's "longterm weight management", just remember to make sure it's good for your brain too. Because there's really no point in sacrificing your mind for the sake of fitting in to a size 0 dress.

[Refinery29]
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