Is what and how you eat working for you…or against you?

We think ‘diet’ is a four-letter word.

Food restriction or “dieting” means intentionally depriving yourself. Ongoing deprivation is generally only ‘successful’ for a certain amount of time before we ‘fall off the wagon’ and start eating for comfort or to rebel against the ‘diet’.

Initially we might feel temporarily better before we inevitably become disappointed or frustrated with ourselves that we ‘failed’ and decide to “diet” again.

Why does the diet industry thrive? Repeat business!

Does this cycle sound familiar?

The majority of clients that we see for weight management are already aware of what an ‘everyday’ food and a ‘sometimes’ food is, yet struggle to reach or maintain their most comfortable weight. Why is that?

When working towards your weight loss goals it is imperative to not only look at what you eat but also why you eat, how you eat and where you eat.

We are all capable of eating when we are not physically hungry and it is quite normal to do this on occasion. This is called ‘non-hungry eating’. Do it too often however and this type of eating behaviour can result in unwanted weight gain or difficulty losing weight.

If we can reduce the amount we are eating when we don’t really want it, as well as reduce the amount we are eating when we don’t really enjoy it, it will make reaching a healthy, comfortable weight easier without relying on extreme diet restrictions.

Experience tells us that in many situations, a particular type of food might taste great initially, but if we pay attention to the taste, texture and flavour, surprisingly quickly the food becomes less pleasurable.

Being more aware of whether or not we are enjoying the food we are eating is an important step in reducing the overall amount of food we eat.

Do you start off enjoying something but then just keep eating to finish it off?

The If not dieting© ‘Law of Diminishing Pleasure’ is a concept that can assist us to eat less, while at the same time increase our enjoyment from food. It can show us that if we eat with awareness, the more we eat of a particular food the less pleasure we receive as we continue to eat that particular food. It applies to all types of food that we eat although the rate of decrease will vary for various types of foods.

By being more mindful of this decrease in pleasure we can continue to eat all types of foods (everyday and sometimes foods), however learn to eat less by stopping earlier – when our enjoyment has diminished.

Lifestyle Maternity Dietitians specialise in dietary counselling methods that focus on the behaviour of eating. We use a coaching approach to weight management and healthy eating that draws on evidence based strategies to promote a ‘life-skills’ focus to facilitate lifestyle change to assist our clients achieve a more comfortable and healthy weight.

For further information or advice on being a healthier you, make an appointment here.

 

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IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Looking down into a spiral staircase