How to respect your body and respect the fuel you use to energize it.
We all know yo-yo dieting doesn't work - and is in fact bad for our health. But what is the secret to staying slim? Follow these tips and you will be on the road to success.
Recognize your type - By finding out what triggers your bursts of overeating, you can begin to eliminate them.
Emotional Eating - Take to writing down your feelings.
Stressful Eating - Take up yoga or pilates.
Boredom Eating - Socialise more by joining a club, phoning friends or joining an internet chat room.
Give food some respect - make eating a pastime, spend time over a meal and NEVER eat while distracted. If the brain isn't engaged in the process of eating the receptors that tell the stomach it is full aren't utilized so we eat far more than is necessary
Making eating a matter of choice. Listen to your body and decide whether you really want that extra bar of chocolate. If you really do then choose when to eat it. Savour every mouthful, chewing at least 20 times and chewing from both sides, maximizing the taste receptors and therefore reducing the need for sweets.
Distract yourself. Decide to eat it after your favourite programme. By getting involved in a gripping storyline, the brain has turned away from the desire to eat and you may find your desire to eat has faded by the end of the programme.
Clear all temptation out of the way. Don't delude yourself that the sweets and crisps in the cupboards are for the children. If you love them then keep them out of the house. If you find yourself craving naughty food then walk to the shop to buy it. Take the scenic route and you could work of the calorific content before you even take a bite : -).
Put washing up liquid onto the plates of leftovers as soon as dinner is finished. You will be far less inclined to eat the kids' chips if they are covered in soap suds.
Get active - Jump on the trampoline, pull up the weeds, Hoover the stairs or put a music channel on and try out the new dance moves to stop you getting bored and raiding the biscuit barrel.
Enlist the help of others - Make it a team effort. Your partner might love sharing a takeaway with you but teach them the delights of feeding fresh, juicy fruit to each other. Get the kids to help prepare the food, making all your meals colorful and filling. Substitute filo pastry for other pastry to make pies - just as delicious but nowhere near as fattening. Make cereal your snack of choice. Make the kids packed lunches on a Sunday and freeze them - along with any chocolate bars or cakes - and remove daily. It keeps the packed lunches cool til lunch and means you can have a bread free home for most of the week.
The most important fact to remember is that Slim people eat only when hungry. Try the above tricks to help stave off cravings and distract your thoughts but if you really take the time to listen to your body you will soon discover your own hunger and learn to eat as and when your body needs fuel. By all means go out and enjoy that dinner party, wedding reception or leaving do. Eat whatever you fancy. The following day, listen to your body and get right back into the groove or eating sensibly and treating your body and mind with the respect it deserves.
IT really is that simple to stay on track once the weight is off.
