Many of the overeaters I work with ask, If 95% of diets fail, what's the answer? Well, the fact is you need three things to lose weight (and keep it off for life):
1. A sensible eating plan
2. A regular exercise routine
3. An understanding of Emotional Eating (without this people yo-yo)
We all know we need to eat well. We all know we need to exercise. But what most people don't know is that they need to understand emotional eating for the other two things to work. The people that come to our site begin to understand emotional eating which finally sets them up to win their struggle with their weight. Inevitably though, at some point, many of our members will ask me about what they should eat. As a certified nutritional consultant I believe everyone must find a sensible eating plan that works for them. There is no steadfast rule. Each body is different. When I recommend eating plans I resist calling them diets because "diet" tends to connote that you're going to do it for a while and then go back to your old ways. I have a friend who lost a significant amount of weight and has kept it off for years (she was definitely emotionally eating because her husband had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's) and she said she had to accept that she was giving up bagels for breakfast, not just for a while but forever (and other foods, too). I'm not that rigid, I still have a bagel once or twice a month but you get the idea, it's a special treat, not a staple of my daily eating. To lose weight, and lose it for life, you have to change your ways, not just for a little while, for good.
Whatever plan you choose it should be one that teaches you a new way of eating that you can adopt for life. It should be one that teaches you about portion size and healthy snacks and basic nutrition. Don't panic. That doesn't mean you can never splurge. I always say, "everything in moderation, even moderation."
Many people can understand that eating to cope with life doesn't work (that's the basic foundation of breaking an emotional eating pattern). But the harder part of sticking to a sensible eating plan is caused by the Rebellious Self (this is discussed in the Shrink Yourself book and in the Week 11 of the Shrink Yourself program). The Rebellious Self is the childlike part of each of us that doesn't want to be told what to do. It will get you to eat what it wants just to prove that it's not being controlled by anyone. Think of a six-year old whose parent restricts their sugar intake and can't wait for the day when no one is going to tell them how much candy and ice-cream they can eat. That six-year old stays with us and chooses what we eat in adulthood. The problem is that it doesn't understand that it's hurting us more than helping us. A big part of growing up is developing the knowledge of which foods work for us and which foods don't. It took me a long time to figure it out, but at thirty-five I pretty much know what I need to eat and what kind of exercise I need to do to look the way I want, and more importantly, to feel the way I want. If I'm an adult, I do it. On the days when I'm being rebellious, I don't. When I'm being an adult I can plan for splurging. For instance if I've eaten well and exercised during the work-week, I can feel justified going out for dinner on the weekend with no restrictions and sitting around reading the paper all day. I am a chef and thoroughly enjoy food so I can assure you that I do leave room for eating all of my favorite foods. I just don't eat them every day anymore.
If eating well doesn't come naturally to you, then you need to teach yourself or let someone teach you. Perhaps, your next grown-up move is admitting you need guidance about what to eat and then picking an eating plan that makes sense to you. An eating plan is not a step back if you're viewing it differently this time. One friend I know had to adopt an eating plan that would prevent her from getting diabetes. This meant eliminating sugar and simple carbohydrates. She feels good physically but also feels less worried about her health which makes her feel good mentally. Another friend thrives on eating mostly whole grains and vegetables with very little meat. This helps her control her chronic gall bladder problems and keeps extra weight off. Another person does best on mostly animal protein and very little carbohydrates. He realized that when he eats bread or pasta or potatoes with meat, his thinking feels clouded, so he doesn't eat that way anymore. As you can see there is no eating plan that works for everyone. A big part of knowing which foods make you feel your best is understanding yourself, your needs, your moods, your illnesses, essentially it's coming to know the machine that is your body just like you know the workings of the particular car you have.
A solid understanding of emotional eating will ensure that you adhere to any eating plan you design or choose.
Michelle Fiordaliso, writer and psychotherapist
Clinical director of ShrinkYourself.com
Shrink Yourself is the Proven Online Program Designed to End Emotional Eating
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michelle_Fiordaliso
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