Dieting is often a very burdensome task for many
people. The primary reasons for dieting include weight loss, allergies and
preventative measures against many obesity related illnesses. Perhaps the
most difficult aspect of starting a new diet is resisting the temptation to eat
the foods we have always turned to for pleasure. So, how can we develop
stronger willpower so that we control the food we eat instead of the foods
controlling us?
Some strategies you may want to try are listed here. Do
not have any of the “temptation foods” in the house. If you know that when
you buy a box of cookies you tend to eat the whole box (as I used to do), don’t
buy cookies in the first place. Not having the food in the house will
prevent you from overeating in the first place. Also, when you are eating
a meal, always try to leave your stomach one-quarter empty. Don’t fill
yourself up to the brim. If you know that you always eat sixteen chicken
wings, only serve yourself twelve. This way you won’t waste food. It
will take some getting used to. At first you will have to just leave
twenty-five percent of your food on the plate. Eventually though, your stomach
will shrink and you won’t serve yourself so much to begin with.
Another strategy to avoid temptation is to delay
gratification. If you love ice cream, use ice cream as a reward system,
rather than a regular food. For example, say to yourself, if I eat healthy
for one week and exercise five days this week I will allow myself one scoop of
ice cream. This way the food that you love to hate becomes motivators and
contributors toward your success.
Dieting is often a matter of breaking bad habits. Before
you launch into a new diet plan make sure you know your own body. It seems like
an obvious statement and an absurd thing to think that a person could live in
his/her own body all their life and not really know it. But it’s possible
and very often the case. To come to know your body asks yourself the
following questions:
1) What foods—after I eat them—make me feel energized? Which
make me tired?
2) Do I eat when I’m angry, upset
or bored?
3) What time of day do I find myself eating the most:
morning, noon or night?
It’s never the case that certain foods are bad for everyone. No
natural food is good or bad in itself, but we must know first and foremost,
what foods are good or bad for our own compositions. Identifying bad
habits is the first secret to nutrition.
