Dieting Dilemma's

There are many dilemmas we face when dieting and we have two options.  One is to continue to eat and use these dilemmas as an excuse and remain overweight.  Or secondly,  learn how to deal with these dilemmas and be successful in our weight loss campaign.

Dilemma One

“I don’t have time to shop for healthy food.  Besides, I often eat out in restaurants or cafes.”        
This is the ultimate excuse.  If weight loss is important to you, you will make time to find healthy options. Sure, with responsibilities in the office and at home, not to mention the demands of relationships, it’s easy enough to dream about a 27-hour day where everything gets done.  However, you can always find time for the things you want to do!

Be a clever shopper

If you shop for food, it’s just as easy to shop for what’s good for you.  Stock up on fresh fruit and vegetables.  Frozen vegetables have plenty of nutrients as well, so fill the freezer.  If time is a real limitation buy ready washed and prepared vegetables and salads.  These are a little more expensive but if it means you will eat the wrong foods if you don’t buy them,  then you will be wasting money on your weekly class fee when you have not lost any weight.

Why convenience?

What’s the price of convenience?  Often it is the pleasure of good food.  As a nation we are drifting away from home cooking, but why?  Adopt the Continental attitude.  In Italy and France, good, fresh food is practically a religion.  Preparing food is a great way to relax after a long day.  Make cooking your way to unwind.

Eat out imaginatively

No rule demands that you order a starter, main course and dessert in a restaurant.  If you are eating out a lot for business, there may even be times when you’re not hungry.  Why not choose two starters and eat one as a main course?  Or order extra portions of vegetables and a big salad while the others have dessert.  If you feel cheated, treat yourself to a healthy fruit salad when you get home. 

Tailor-make your order

Scrutinise the menu.  Are they serving salmon in cream sauce?  Ask for it grilled, without sauce.  Order what the restaurant already has but in a less fattening format.  Most restaurants these days have a healthy option.  If your favourite restaurant is only full of fattening food then perhaps it is time you tried somewhere else!

Avoid alcohol

Alcohol is the great un-inhibitor.  A few drinks and you slide right into the destructive “what the heck” mentality. Drinking alcohol before you eat increases appetite and it’s also a source of extra calories.  Start your meal with a large glass of water instead.

Dilemma Two

“I’m so tempted by chocolate!”
First, the good news, we all get food cravings.  That’s quite normal and 95% of women admit to cravings, the majority of which are for chocolate or chocolate-based foods.  The mere idea of starting a diet can trigger off a craving.  As soon as you can’t have something, you want it all the more!

Accept your cravings

The real problem is that cravings make us feel bad because they make us eat foods we are avoiding when we don’t really want to eat anyway.  Acknowledge that this feeling is normal and try to actually eat what you crave only once and within your treat allowance.

Stop the mood, not the food

Look at the circumstances triggering your cravings.  Most cravings start from a negative mood.  When women tend to act on their craving, it tends to add to the feeling of negativity.  Address your bad mood and the reasons for it and your healthy eating plan will fall into place.

Put it off for a while

Try and think how you will feel in a couple of hours time if you eat the food and how you will feel if you resist.  People think their cravings will get worse when in fact, most urges decline with time.  See if you really need that snack after ten minutes.

Never say never

Try not to think about forbidden foods.  Concentrate on the foods you can eat.  Low-fat foods, high carbohydrates and indulge yourself occasionally.  Deprivation only leads to bingeing.

Eat treats at meal times

We tend to crave foods we eat as snacks. Try to eat treats as part of your meal, not between meals.  Research suggests that cravings increased among people who munch between meals and decrease for those eating chocolate as part of their meal.  If there are snack-type foods you enjoy, it’s more sensible to have them as part of a meal.  This also works for PMS carbohydrate cravings.  At this time of the month boost the level of carbohydrates at mealtimes to ensure that your body gets what it desires. 

Don’t skip meals

Cravings occur when people are really hungry.  Eating balanced, regular meals keeps your blood-sugar levels stable, reducing the urge to over indulge.  Try to have three meals a day, plus a snack.  Never skip breakfast, you’ll only eat more calories later.

Train your willpower

If a particular food tempts you, set up a resistance plan.  The longer you can go without eating something then that food loses it’s appeal.  Eating is habit forming.  Most people who eat chocolate everyday will admit that it is mere habit.  If they can resist it and get over the hurdle of the first couple of days then that habit starts to break and our desire for the chocolate diminishes. 

Dilemma Three

“I’m doomed - my whole family is overweight.”
Even if there is a  tendency to obesity and fuller body figure,  that does not mean that you cannot fight nature.  Blaming obesity on your genes does not help you control your own body weight.  Environment is more important than genetics.  Often a family is overweight because of their emotional relationship to food.  The first step is to acknowledge the role food has in your lifestyle and then change it.

Empower yourself

Address your attitude to food and think how you can change it.  If you make positive changes, it may encourage other members to follow suit.  Remember we should eat to live, not live to eat and food should not be an emotional crutch to us.

STAY REALISTIC !

Take an honest look at yourself, then set realistic weight loss goals.  Choose a health goal, such as lowering cholesterol, or an activity goal, such as training for a fun run.  Society sometimes dictates an unrealistic body shape.  We may not be able to achieve this but identify what we can do something about.  If you can make an improvement and lose weight you will feel so much better anyway and have more confidence to deal with what you do not like about your body shape.