Why Diets Don’t Work Vs What Does

You might know of someone who heard a “hot” stock market tip and invested heavily right before the market took a big dive. They panicked and sold their stock losing heavily. Now as a result of this experience they have never invested since and warn everyone off investing in shares. Sound familiar?

We all have what is known as a comfort zone and when we do new or challenging things we get outside that comfort zone a little or a lot. When we get too far outside our comfort zone (watching our stocks crash in value) we contract back into our safe comfort zone never to venture out again in that area. A similar dynamic happens with food.

If you go on a diet that is extremely different to your usual diet it is almost certain you will not sustain it long term. You get to far outside your comfort zone so the same thing tends to happen.

However if you do it gradually your taste buds which are malleable actually become accustomed to the new healthy flavors you introduce them to over a 12 week period.

To be successful the concept is to eat a “better burger”, not “no burger” because burgers can be delicious and nutritious. To improve your burger you might try your burgers without butter or find a better substitute, wait till you have adjusted and are comfortable with that little change, then try your burger with a lean beef patty instead of high fat. Only when comfortable and ready would you try switching to a whole grain bun, and in time add more salad, less sauce, less cheese or no cheese. Walla…healthy trim you starts to appear!

The secret is to make small incremental changes one little step at a time. Most people try to lose 20 kilos in 10 weeks. Instead take a lifelong approach and slowly adopt healthy eating habits in all areas of your diet and the weight will take care of itself and stay off for life.