People, places, and things play an important role in our daily lives and have an enormous impact on the success or failure of a diet. My previous article discussed the different roles played by the people in our lives. Now I would like to examine the impact of the places and things dieters encounter daily.
During a leisurely drive, physical and emotional saboteurs visually assault us from all sides. They are everywhere and appear in the form of fast food restaurants, billboards displaying mouthwatering dishes advertising the best and least expensive places to eat, signs in store windows, on top of buildings, and on trucks whizzing by. Even businesses not related to the food industry such as hotels and motels, offer food as an incentive to attract your business. We live in a country obsessed by food. Turn on the TV and you will spend so much time watching food commercials that you can easily forget the name of the program you originally tuned in to see. What happened to the days when program segments lasted longer than commercials?
Food assaults us whenever we pick up a magazine, go to a ball game, a movie, a wrestling match. We not only eat when we are hungry, we entertain with food, celebrate happy occasions with food, comfort ourselves with food when we are sad, bored or lonely, and give it as gifts. Certain foods offer a mild analgesic effect and therefore can be used as medication when we experiencing light pain. Food, originally meant to fuel our bodies, has become the creator of millionaires, and the destroyer of lives.
The two fuels with the highest consumption, food and oil, have the biggest impact upon our economy. Our cars do not require psychological triggers to induce us to purchase gas, but restaurants, fast food establishments, chain stores, diet centers and weight loss programs, book publishers, booksellers, and others peddling food, food products and gadgets, pay billions of dollars for advertising to attract the astronomical sums spent by consumers on food and food-related products. We are the innocent victims of their viciously competitive mass-marketing techniques for stimulating the desire for food. Desire equates to stress, as does loneliness, boredom, or any emotional situation. Awareness of the triggers that stimulate your appetite can help to mitigate or to nullify their effect, and proper use of food can make it a lethal weapon to be used in your defense against these diet and health saboteurs.
The common denominator in stressful situations is the need for carbohydrates to stimulate the release of the hormone seratonin from the brain. Seratonin is the feel good hormone, the one that relieves tension, calms anxiety, and helps us to sleep. Our bodies always let us know what they need to correct any chemical imbalance like that resulting from stress. This is why we desire things like cake, cookies, bread, and ice cream in stressful situations. However, the simple carbohydrates found in white bread, white rice, pastries, sugared sodas, and other highly processed foods contribute to weight gain and interfere with weight loss while the complex carbs in whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables, promote good health.
Defensive Eating Techniques
- Always carry an apple, nuts, or any snack consisting of 100 to 150 calories that does not contain simple sugars (simple carbohydrates) to relieve bouts of hunger between meals or when assaulted by the temptation to participate in impulsive eating.
- While dieting, eat balanced meals containing protein, good fats, and complex carbohydrates in the proportions outlined in the food pyramid. The new food pyramid lists abundant choices for each food group, and contains charts to assist you in portion control.
- Use the RMR calculator and suggestions for calorie control in one of my previous weight management articles, to obtain additional information about your body's nutritional requirements and useful tools for achieving and maintaining a healthier weight, body, and lifestyle.
Knowledge is the best weapon in your quest for health. There are abundant sources of information in reference to diets, eating preferences, and exercise. Read as much as you can, and choose the information that best suits your current life style or the lifestyle you wish to achieve.
