Often times in my practice I encounter patients with difficulty losing weight. They will start out the day with a great breakfast and have small meals every 2-3 hours there after…until dinner time. After dinner is probably one of the most dangerous times for overindulging and poor food choices. This happens for several reasons. Avoiding these pitfalls can ensure better success in weight loss.
1. Excessive Caloric restriction
If your meals in the beginning part of the day are too small, your body will be looking to fill in the caloric gaps later in the day. Weight loss shouldn’t dramatic. 2-3 pounds a week is a very fair and healthy goal. Putting yourself into starvation mode is going to have your body hold onto high energy fat, eat up muscle tissue and leave you very cranky and hungry just as you’re home from a long day of work and about to watch television.
2. Mindless eating
Many People spend an hour a day with our primary focus on food. Many of us then spend another 30 minutes with eating and drinking as a secondary focus. It is found though that obese and overweight people do more secondary eating than non-obese people. This mindless eating creates a disconnect between our bodies and the ingestion of calories. Take time for your health and take time for your meals. This is a fun article about just that:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/41028/title/Where_do_you_eat?
3. The “I deserve it” trap
Food was one of the first good experiences for every human. Being nurtured and supported as infants meant care, affection and food. Often times, with busy stressful lives, we nurture ourselves with food. Breaking this habit requires two components. Identifying if and when as well as why you nurture yourself with food. Look at the driving factors that make you feel overextended and needing extra care. Secondly, find other ways of nurturing youself. Baths, pets and reading are a few of mine. Find things that fill up your bucket again and make a habit of doing those before reaching for the ice cream.
4. The Jenny So-n-So’s all grapefruit low carb decaf diet
Eating healty is about balance. Even if you are eating healthy, if you feel deprived, you are still not balanced. Make changes slowly and find a nutrition plan that works with your lifestyle. Create balance and healthy choices that leave you feeling good and happy about your meals. In my practice, I meet the patient where they are and try to implement changes that are lasting and realistic. I find this much more successful than a strict diet that people don’t feel like they can adhere to. Jamming your lifestyle and food preferences into a cookie cutter mold can often lead to frustration and a persistent disconnect between your actions and intuition regarding food.
Thanks for reading. This is the first of many blogs to come regarding natural health and alternative medicine. My passion is create a locus of control within each patient. My role as a physician, in my opinion, is to empower individuals to improve their own health and life. I believe we are all here to grow and learn, and our health conditions and struggles can facilitate an improved awareness of ourselves and our strengths.