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If you're reading this newsletter, you've joined the many people who are fed up with diets. Happily, there is another way to lose weight and keep it off forever. Here are the components of true, lasting weight loss:
Which of these three is your guide for satiety—your stomach, your blood sugar or your eyes? This month, we'll discuss how to know when you're not hungry anymore.
For children, the stomach is usually a good guide. But often, a child leaves the table when he's not hungry enough to stay. He's distracted by the next excitement. For adults, though, the stomach is not a good guide. Most of us have learned to sit longer than children, and since the food is delicious, we tend to eat too much. Especially for those of us with strife, hardship, long hours, or just the wear and tear of adult responsibilities, food can turn into a pleasant diversion.
For adults, it's better to get in touch with your blood sugar. Rather than refer to fullness, we'll call it "satiety." To get in touch with your blood sugar level, consider your hunger signals. Do you get a headache? A stomach growl? Irritability? These are symptoms that your blood sugar has dropped and that you're ready to eat. These symptoms will go away as you eat. When you learn to tune in to your body's hunger and satiety signals, you will become adept at knowing when your blood sugar has been restored. That is when to stop eating.
Since it takes about twenty minutes for your brain to tell you that your blood sugar has been restored, practice twenty minute meals whenever you have that much time. But don't worry. Once you've learned how to do this, you'll be free to judge fullness in yet another way.
You'll be able to estimate. After some practice waiting for your blood sugar to rise, you will be used to your typical portion sizes, and you can tell just by looking at your plate. There's no need to be concerned that you'll fool us all by filling in a just-right portion of plum pudding—that's not a balanced meal, and you are striving for balanced meals. Now that you can eyeball your portions, you are free to eat in five minutes, eat in the car, eat standing up while watching the news, the sky's the limit. Just keep in mind your typical portion sizes.
The study of human psychology has done us a world of good. Experts in the field have helped us understand mental illness, grief, our need for friendship, and so much more. Unfortunately, some of us "therapize" ourselves too much. Not every undesirable behavior in our lives goes back to something in our childhood. And even if it does, there's good news. We don't have to analyze or dig up the past in order to change.
Try this. Drop the idea of asking yourself why you do what you do. Every time you start to analyze your "whys," stop yourself. Decide today and then decide again tomorrow that you would like to fade out your food issues and replace them with the pursuit of a dream you've been putting off. Notice your self-talk. Are you telling yourself "I can never get rid of this eating disorder?" Analyze whether this is true. Can you find concrete evidence? This is known as disputing your irrational belief. You may be scared, but now replace your self-talk with "I'd really like to move on from this food issue. I don't have to have it. It's okay if it takes me, realistically, a few months. I'll start today by trying to think more positive thoughts."
The idea is to get rid of your "musts" and "shoulds" every time they crop up, and replace them with thoughts of all the things you'd really like to be and do. Strongly preferring something is far different from a "must." Now you have some dreams to strive for, and you can begin the process of taking steps toward your dreams.
What's wrong with traditional therapy? Nothing, as far as it goes. Traditional therapy can help raise your self-awareness, an important ingredient for changing your self-talk. Many people benefit from traditional therapy. But whether you go down the conventional road or not, there comes a time for folks to make some choices about their beliefs, boundaries, and choices. Until they do so, they will be somewhat stuck. It's not true that if you keep psychoanalyzing your childhood, you will naturally change. You won't. You will need to be more intentional, and that's where self-talk comes in.
See back issues of this newsletter to learn more about positive self-talk. Learn more about technical and adaptive change.
This tip is both technical and adaptive. Start telling yourself today that it's okay to ignore most of the clothes in your wardrobe. Stick only with what you like and is loose and comfortable. Don't let your unused clothes stress you anymore.
These Web pages provide sensible advice on healthy diets, nutrition, and weight loss. However, no advice given here is intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult your doctor when deciding to make significant dietary or lifestyle changes.
Direct all technical questions and comments about this site to webmaster
Last Modified: Wednesday, 06-Feb-2008 07:12:56 PST Betterway Press
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What's Your Fullness Detector?
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| To view the current issue of the monthly newsletter for Diet Survivors™, view Diet Survivors™ current issue |
| Learn more about the book, How to Survive Your Diet, available now! Click on the book cover to order. |
| Diets often don't work. Find out what is normal eating? |
| What is cognitive therapy? Cognitive therapy is a way to help yourself live a more rational, peaceful life, without having to delve into your past. Find out more about cognitive therapy. |
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What are technical and adaptive changes? These are two different approaches to bringing about improvement in your life. Many dieters mistakenly make technical changes, when they really need to make adaptive changes. Find out more about technical and adaptive change. |
| View back issues of this newsletter. See a list that links to every issue. Don't forget—these newsletters are printer-friendly! |
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Talk to us!* Comments and questions are always welcome. Please share
with us your story about how you survived your diet. Tell us what you would like to read about in these newsletters. And don't
hesitate to ask questions about the problems you face. We can't answer every question, but we are here to help.
Send us e-mail. *All correspondence becomes the property of Betterway Press and may appear in future newsletters (with names and e-mail addresses kept confidential). |
| View further studies that support our principles of normal eating. |
| In our upcoming October newsletter, we'll discuss how to stop those out-of-control binges. It's harder—and easier, than you think! |
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Order How to Survive Your Diet and Conquer Your Food Issues Forever by Linda Moran. Find out more about this book for dieters. 5.25" x 8.25" quality paperback 150 pages Index ISBN: 0-9749396-0-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2004092105 $14.95 |