Kick the Dieting Habit

What does Diet mean

This is how an Online Dictionary defines the word Diet:

The usual food and drink of a person or animal

And that tells us doesn’t it?  After all whatever we eat … that is our diet – in the treditional sense of the word.   Yet the Diet Industry has taken the word and made it their own, which includes all varieties of definition.

But what do we think of that?  Everywhere we look we find the word … its smacked right there as a product name for one of the nation’s favourite soft drinks, and so on.

Yet if you  have a medical condition diagnosed sometimes you might be ‘put on’ a special pastoral diet to aid your recovery … but this will be a temporary measure …

My (now) elderly mother was put on a special plan back in the eighties and somehow forgot to come off it .  She is old school and if a doctor tells her to do something then they must tell her to do the opposite before she will adhere.  And she became convinced that she was on the plan for life.  In time it caused some complications (and its too near breakfast to go into detail).  The upshot was that another doctor resumed her eating to ‘normal service’ and she hasn’t looked back.

Marc David (the Nutritional Psychologist) recognizes that ‘special eating plans’ be reserved for short bursts of post-illness recovery and the body’s owner (that’s us) should keep an eye out for any signals that we are recovered.  After all we know our own bodies better than any medical health worker.  Or at least we’re meant to.   And sometimes this simply involves ‘tuning in’.

So be aware that next time you hear the word ‘diet’ – you are on one – we all are – but avoiding plans that we take up for ourselves without tuning into our body and mind that is a topic for another day.

The Clean Plate Club

I make no apologies for stealing Paul McKenna’s phrase The ‘Clean Plate’ Club …  I took my NLP training with Paul McKenna and Richard Bandler … wonderful both ….

Its a great phrase and many of us relate to it from childhood … we were taught it was ‘rude’ to leave food on the plate and that is why we had to ‘scoff’ the lot.  Of course our parents thought they were doing the right thing, as their aim was to get some decent nutrients into their kids and keep everyone healthy.  After all don’t parents always do the best they can with the tools they have at the time?  I feel sure of it!

I’ll bet most of us have been threatened with ‘the starving children in Africa’ line (ouch!) and how wasteful we were being when there were children in the world who would be more than grateful, and the guilt piled up (just like my plate later in life) it all went into the mix.

Of course our folks did the best they knew how … but it doesn’t have to continue like that does it?

There is no physical way that we can transport any wasted food – from the plate – to any starving people anywhere – instead we might like to explore what’s happening a bit nearer home … how about inside the home.  We know that children need boundaries and here are a few tips, although by no means extensive:

• It makes sense not to eat before mealtimes, such as nibbling while prepping food, so that we are genuinely hungry when the meal is ready
  
• Sitting around a table and having conversation, enables accountability
• Conversation is great, breaking bread with others is one of life’s pleasures and every opportunity should be taken to make some time in the day to do it
  
• It also takes the pressure away from what’s on the plate, for example, the healthy bits that we’re convinced we don’t like, such as vegetables.  By talking about the day it’ll take the big deal out of meal times, encouraging us to eat less consciously (like we need any encouragement) and before we know it we’re enjoying all those lovely ‘greens’
  
• It also means that no-one can slip a fullish plate into the kitchen unseen (if everyone is eating in different rooms or while the TV is on, then attention might be elsewhere)
• With children a psychological approach is better than ‘forcing’ because a battle is ‘the last resort’.  Perhaps a trade-off can be struck, i.e. eating the vegetables, natural fruit, or salad in exchange for a small treat (preferably not edible, otherwise it reinforces ‘out of control’ eating habits – which is something we are striving to avoid).  Instead offer them or (if its you) agree to make the reward something enjoyable around the house.  With children it can be as aspect they particularly enjoy, which often is just time spent as a family, like a board game.  It doesn’t have to be super serious to get kids, in particular, to do something they don’t want to  … humor can play a very large part, and is less stressful for all concerned.  The less resistance there is, the quicker behavioural change occurs
  
• And I’ve done this for myself,  you can always sneak food onto the plate in other guises, i.e. celeriac is a good replacement for potato … we don’t have to have spuds with everything?  Or do we
  

These are just a few thoughts … feel free to add some of your own …

Getting experimental around the kitchen can be just as exciting as in other rooms in the house … oo la la!  Enjoy!

Call today to book an appointment and take advantage of an obligation-free 15-min telephone session to decide if its right for you.

* Folkestone 223233
* 07951 522829
* jane@abcsimpleas.co.uk

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Kick the Dieting Habit

So to one of my favorite topics … Food …

But this site isn’t necessarily about recipes, or diets.  Instead I want to talk about How to Change Your Relationship with Food and still be able to love it.

Isn’t it that we just got into bad habits.  We became reliant on diets, patches, pills and potions (and drinks) to save us from ourselves.

Question

What is it about the people that have been successful with any ‘dieting’ products found on the market.  Why did they work for them and not for me?

What is that they did that I couldn’t … There seems to be ONE answer and that was they approached it as a long-term plan.  They didn’t just see the ‘diet’ as a quick-fix, where they would manage to reach their target weight, and then go back to their old regime.  The evidence strongly suggests that the people that diets work for (around 5%) instead change their lifestyle.

• Would you like to change your body shape?
• Are you willing to change your mindset?
• Would you like to say goodbye to all diets, patches, potions and pills?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then read on … this site has more information to unveil!

But does change need to involve great sacrifice?  Or is it just about the way we frame it …

Can you think of any other area of life … where you want to make improvements, get ahead and be your best self, i.e. relationships, career, finances, friendship, where you simply expect a short term struggle in exchange for a long-term solution.  Is it that we want the result without putting in the work?

So why do we try to trick ourselves into believing its different with weight or more importantly our relationship with food?

Jane