Just using the word “diet” can make people feel hungry.

Too often, it signals that we mean to undertake a restrictive eating plan that, quite frankly, we can’t wait to quit.

Statistics find that only 1 in 6 Americans who have ever been overweight or obese loses that and maintains weight loss, according to researchers at the Penn State College of Medicine.

But there is a different way to think about the word “diet” that doesn’t necessarily involve restricting what you eat to lose weight.

Originally, the word simply referred to food and drink regularly provided or consumed. In other words, your diet is just what you habitually eat.

Losing weight is all about changing your eating habits permanently — not taking up a quick-fix weight-loss scheme that is doomed to fail.