What Actually Works

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As always, thank you for reading.  I look forward to seeing you at the shiny new home of Diet, Dessert and Dogs!

“Mum, we are coming with you, aren’t we?  Because (and sorry to have to tell you this), we actually have more fans on this blog than you do.”

In this section, I’m going to outline what strategies or rules have actually worked for me (i.e., prevented me from binging on something I shouldn’t eat, alllowed me to eat a whole foods, healthy diet, allowed me to eat in a way that supported my optimal health, taught me how to be a “normal” eater, etc.).

 1. Distract Yourself

You read variations of this idea all the time in “diet” advice (such as, “wait ten minutes before eating anything you crave and see if you still want it”; “force yourself to drink a glass of water first before eating something you crave”; or “have two spears of celery before eating something you crave”).

In this case, I’ve found that forcing myself to do something else–in every case so far, write in this blog–has allowed the craving to dissipate so that I was either able to overcome it and move on to something else, or leave me feeling that I was no longer attracted to the food in question. 

Do you have something that needs to be done for 10 minutes or so?  What about a chore you’ve been putting off, a letter or email to write, some veggies to chop for dinner, a dog to walk, grass to mow, an essay to mark, a bill to pay, a sock to knit, a baby to comfort, a car to wash, a printer cartridge to change (yes, that often takes me 10 minutes!!), a blog to write, other groceries to buy, a magazine to read, a piece of music to practise, an appointment to book, a sweetheart to tell that you love him or her?  Once you’ve done it, you may find that you actually no longer crave that–whatever it was.

2. If You Mess Up, Immediately Start All Over As If It Never Happened

I talked about this one the first time I mentioned Stacey Halprin, who lost the weight of one large, or two small, individuals and has kept it off, written a book, and had her journey recorded on Oprah.  When I first said it, I wasn’t wholly convinced, but now I am.

What I like about this strategy is that there is no guilt involved.  Normal eaters, like my Honey, never worry about what they already ate.  If they eat too much, they burp a little, rub their bellies, and then forget about it.  The next day, they are still a normal eater, eating the way they always did. 

The first time I tried this strategy (since I’ve begun this blog, anyway), I went back to healthy eating for about 12 hours before bingeing again.  After repeating this pattern several times, I’ve found that the timespan between binges is longer and longer. I have no idea why this works for me, but it seems to, so here it is.

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