How To Ditch The Diet For Good.

Do you ever find yourself eating and eating and eating? Some days your eating seems out of control. Boy I know how that feels, I ended up weighing in at my heaviest 15st 9 ! at 5ft 6 this meant I was in a size 18 - 20. Until I took control. So how did I ditch the diet and achieve a good food attitude which I term 'fattitude' which simply means making peace with your body and it's cravings to enable you to drop the pounds and ditch dieting for good. As an expert in behavioural studies I have taught hundreds of people all over the country to do the same.

Do you struggle with food cravings and really wish you had the will power to cut out certain foods completely? When we work toward a lifestyle change and look at a healthy diet, many of us think that making a list of food culprits and telling ourselves they are off-limits and forbidden will help us to succeed. However, sadly this is not sustainable and sooner or later we fall off the wagon and end up 'cheating' and feeling guilty for doing so. Why? well lets take a deeper look at the psychology behind this flawed method, that leaves us feeling a failure. You’ll see many reasons why adopting a ''good food'' or ''bad food'' attitude will NEVER work. Restricting certain foods won't just make dieting miserable and boring, it can also ruin your good intentions of getting healthy and losing weight. Making arbitrary rules about good and bad food really is not the answer to lasting, sustainable lifestyle change. Instead, use my tips below to build a better relationship with food, learn to master cravings, build self-control and enjoy ALL foods in moderation.

Stop Labelling Foods as 'Good' and 'Bad'

For decades, behaviour analysts have studied the effects of deprivation on people’s preferences for food, tangible items and activities. The majority of literature on this topic says that, when we are deprived of something, we are more likely to select that particular item from the many choices. 

In a recent study conducted at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, researchers found that participants who were asked to restrict either high-carb or high-protein foods for three days reported higher cravings for the so called banned forbidden foods. 

For example, if you label chocolate or crisps as evil and forbid it from your diet, you will be more likely to want it, in any form you get it.

The good news here is that some level of satisfying your craving for a particular food can actually help you to avoid overindulging more often than not. If you can be conscious about your eating and have just enough of your favourite chocolate bar to satisfy that craving, you will be much less tempted to dip into the sweets on your office desk or buy a sweet snack from the vending machine or petrol station when you fill up.

Now some of you may say this information about deprivation seems like common sense, but you have probably heard from friends or fellow dieters that the first step in avoiding high-calorie foods is putting them out of your mind altogether. This really is NOT TRUE. Researchers are realising that suppressing thoughts about a particular food can cause an increase in consumption of that food. In a 2010 study, 116 women were split into three groups. The first group was asked to suppress thoughts about chocolate, the second group was asked to actively think about chocolate, and the third group was instructed to think about anything they wished. Afterward, each of the participants were given a chocolate bar. The women who had suppressed their thoughts about chocolate ate significantly more chocolate than the others, despite identifying themselves as more ''restrained eaters'' in general. This just goes to show that ''out of mind'' doesn’t necessarily always mean ''out of mouth.'' I use a special technique with my clients that has them mastering their food emotions instantly. Eliminating all the need, longing and wanting for food as an emotional release.

Ditch the Idea of 'Diet Foods'

Often, when people are trying to eat better, they start to categorise foods into those that are on their diet food plan and those that are not. However, banning specific foods from your weight-loss plan may just make you crave them more. According to an article published this year in the journal Appetite, a UK study of 129 women measured the cravings of those who were ''dieting'' to lose weight ''watching'' to maintain their weight, and not dieting at all. The researchers found that, compared with non-dieters, dieters experienced stronger, more irresistible cravings for the foods they were restricting.

Noticing the difference between healthy and unhealthy options is definitely a key in establishing a pattern of healthier eating. And, when you are starting a weight-loss programme, it does help to read food labels and menus very carefully, in order to choose wisely. However, when you start to categorise specific foods such as sweets, breads, cakes, alcohol and fried foods, as foods you can not have, you are setting yourself up for a fall. The issue with labeling a food as forbidden is that your thoughts immediately centre on that particular item and then you inadvertently start bargaining, bartering and rationalising to get more of it. How many times have you broken your diet to reward a trip to the gym with chocolate or a long day at work with a glass of wine?

There are some diet plans out there that advocate choosing a particular day of the week as your cheat day, this is a day when you can indulge in all the foods you have cut out during the week. This can work but you need to have established your a good weight loss first to really benefit psychologically from this. As listing certain foods as ''cheats'' or ''treats'' can set up a scenario where you’re depriving yourself all week long and constantly looking to the future, waiting on the moment that you will be able to indulge your favourite forbidden delights and end up binge eating.

I encourage you to learn what foods are best for your individual body. I advocate alkalising your body for amazing health benefits as well as weight loss. But everything in moderation is the best way to proceed, because I don't know about you, but if I know I CAN have it I am less likely to want it anyway. 

Moments of 'Moderation'

You have heard the line a thousand times 'everything in moderation'. But what does this phrase really mean and how can you apply it to your healthy eating plan? Usually, people hand this advice out when they are indulging in unhealthy food and drink and trying to get you to join in. So is it just peer pressure? Or is there truly something to this age-old saying?

Choosing to eat all foods in moderation works OK for some people. If you have a healthy relationship with food e.g, you have no trouble at all putting away the bag of crisps after having a handful, then eating a little of your favourite food may just satisfy your craving and leave you full and content until the next healthy meal.

However, for most people, it just does not work that way. Sweets, salts and alcohol all cause biological reactions in the body that really are hard to ignore. And, if you are someone who responds strongly to these reactions, even one small bite can trigger you to continue eating more of these foods. If you are one of these folks, you are not alone, and it is important to know which foods affect you in this way. You hear it all the time 'I can take or leave savoury things but put a plate of choccy biscuits in front of me and they are gone.' Or  'I don't eat sweet things but put a plate of sausage rolls in front of me and I will eat the lot.' So noting which tempting foods are your triggers can help you arrange your environment so that you can avoid overindulging.

Rearranging your environment to encourage your success is the easiest way to change your behaviours. If you do decide to indulge in a ''trigger food'' in moderation, opt to eat it in a place where there are not any other snack type options for you to munch on afterwards an all you can eat buffet would not be the best environment!. Choose snacks that you like, but don't love, so you are not tempted to eat too much but are still satisfied. Understanding which foods are likely to lead you down a slippery slope and preparing your environment and schedule for success will help you keep cravings at bay and keep your overeating under control.

Crack the Cravings code

Cravings are a good thing. On a basic, biological level, cravings tell 

us when we’re hungry, thirsty, sleepy and even when we need some human attention such as emotional connection. The problem is that, because we are so accustomed to having easy access to eating whenever we want and we are able to choose from many 'quick fix' unhealthy foods, the ratio of our wants and needs are all out of sync! It is now time to step back and become aware of what we are really craving and why. When we can look objectively at our yearnings for sweet fizzy drinks, crisps, chocolate, cake and biscuits, we can make much better powerful decisions about what we put in our mouths.

One of the best ways to get back in touch with your body and it's cravings, is to keep track of them. I recommend to all my clients to keep a journal, a food and mood diary, what you are you craving, what time is it, what is your mood, where are you? at work, at home, driving, with your children, etc.  What is the environment like? How Stressful is it? What are you thinking? You may still give in to temptation but this exercise will simply give us a clearer picture of how often you crave, what you crave and in what settings those cravings occur. with this information we can put an quick simple action plan in place. I am not one for long winded solutions. Let's get it nipped in the bud as soon as possible so we can lead a happy, slim, healthy life.

In behavioural sciences, before we try to change any habit, we do an assessment like this to look at the person’s current patterns and programmes. We can then set goals accordingly for small, step by step changes. With a little mindfulness, you can ditch the ''good food, bad food'' attitude! and gain some 'fattitude' and make a plan that allows you to stay in tune with your body to make sensible powerful decisions that will satisfy your cravings and promote weight loss for life.



References:

James A.K. Erskine & George J. Georgiou. 4 February 2010. Effects of thought suppression on eating behaviour in restrained and non-restrained eaters. Appetite 54, 3 (2010):499-503.

Jennifer S. Coelho, Janet Polivy, C. Peter Herman. 16 May 2006. Selective carbohydrate or protein restriction: Effects on subsequent food intake and cravings. Appetite 47, 3 (November 2006): 352-360.

David B. McAdam, Kevin P. Klatt, Mikhail Koffarnus, Anthony Dicesare, Katherine Solberg, Cassie Welch, & Sean Murphy. The effects of establishing operations on preferences for tangible items. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 38 (2005): 107-110.

Anna Massey & Andrew J. Hill. 18 January 2012. Dieting and food craving. A descriptive, quasi-prospective study.Appetite 58, 3 (June 2012): 781–785.

Megan Cotley, Behavioural Expert - How to Ditch the 'Good/Bad Food' Attitude