Article by katsquarter
Wouldn’t it be so much easier to lose weight if we didn’t love to eat? When it comes to weight loss, proper diet plays a very important role. Many of today’s fad diets and weight-loss strategies fail because they are not designed for everyday, real-life eating scenarios.
Weight loss programs such as Denise Austin, Jenny Craig, Jillian Michaels, Nutri-System, and oh-so-many-more that are just as successful, though perhaps not as widely known, focus on this everyday eating ritual we are all committed to.
I believe these weight loss systems work because they tend to alleviate much of the decision making process. Participants are provided with quasi-instructions on what they need to do and what they need to eat every day in order to meet some predetermined weight loss goal.
I for one truly loathe cooking for me and my family. Mostly because everyone wants something different. Being a mother I feel like I have to offer as many food groups as possible to try and meet everyone’s Nutritional Daily Allowance. Sadly though, just because I cook six vegetables at dinner, rarely does anyone put more than two different choices on their plate. On the other hand, going out to dinner, while it may offer more choices for everyone in the group, deciding on the ‘where to eat’ can be most burdensome.
Another probable reason online diet programs work more often than not, is that when you buy into their system, you are paying for an education. You may think that sounds silly, but stop and let your brain wrap around the idea for just a minute.
If you earnestly participate in any of these programs, let’s say for 3 months, you will be charged a membership fee at the very least. These fees could range anywhere from just under to well over 0 or more for this 3 month time period. So whatever you learn from their system, you are pretty much paying for – and who of us doesn’t want our money’s worth after all! By following their menu and meal plans you should come away with several valuable pieces of knowledge.
You should learn firsthand that eating more frequently throughout the day helps avoid unhealthy snacking and binging. Skipping meals or waiting long periods between eating times, causes your body to stop supplying your blood with glucose. This is one of the more common reasons for sugar cravings–especially at night. The blood sugar drops and by the time you finally get around to eating, you’re crazy for simple sugar. Continuing to eat simple sugars results in a falling blood sugar. This stimulates a need for more sugar and so creates a vicious cycle.
Despite our body being supplied with the proper nutrients, we may likely still get cravings. These can be generally categorized as wanting or needing specific tastes or textures. Tastes might be salty, sweet or savory; textures include crunchy, chewy, soft or creamy. Here we find yet another ‘sweet’ lesson from these weight loss systems. Even though most of us have grown up to believe desserts are not to be eaten when losing weight, we are instead encouraged by additional offerings of dessert and snack foods to satisfy us.
Cravings are real. Our body instinctively searches for a variety of nutrients to support the biological systems that function to ensure our survival. These weight loss programs emphasize consumption of the proper vitamins and minerals required for healthy body functions.
Another very important thing to learn is how to realize what it feels like to be full. Most of us have little idea what it feels like to be full. This is because over time, we’ve taught ourselves (erroneously) to override our biological instincts. Hence, we eat until we are full, and then we keep eating until we are bloated and miserable.
What is your body hungry for? When it’s time to eat, you want to be able to survey the food categories and trust your instincts. Be aware of psychological triggers that connect with food, as they have a very powerful influence. Your rules about food represent your emotional side to eating and the triggers that lead you to impulse and stray away from what you know is good for you. Beware of family associations, movie rituals, familiar restaurants, childhood habits, etc., that tell you to eat even when you know you shouldn’t. Aim to get rid of rules that don’t support you or the new healthy world you want to live in.
Being accountable, monitoring your habits – good and bad, and realizing psychological associations with food are things we will remember long after we have quit paying for weight loss education. Make sure you get what you paid for. In the end, it is ultimately up to each of us individually to follow through and continue to maintain our new healthy LIFEstyle.
Weight Loss is a matter of making a decision for one’s self 
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