Fat Loss Daily Update: - DAll the weight control experts recommend keeping a

D

All the weight control experts recommend keeping a record of what you eat. Seeing your daily intake in black and white reality can boost your pride in your self-discipline, gently confront you with some less than stellar choices you’ve made, or cast you into a morass of guilt and depression when you face the epicurean debacle that your food intake represents.

A food diary can become so much more useful for your weight wars if you use it as a tool for self-exploration and self-discovery. It allows you to create an oasis of support that anchors you in a world tossed by competing priorities, overwork, incredible dietary temptations, and social pressures that all lead to frustration, inwardly directed anger, diminished self-esteem, and terminal fatigue.

What do we need to do to create such a tool?

1. Buy a good spiral notebook with lots of pages and a hard cover - you’re going to keep this for a long time so avoid anything that’s going to easily fall apart.

2. Enter the date you started your journey: this is the baseline against which you will compare your entries for the next several months. Under the date, enter the following information as accurately as you can make it, as of this very moment:

Age
Height
Weight
Measurements
Waist
Bust
Hips
Thighs
Upper arms
Clothing size
Type of hairstyle
Any daily exercise obtained
Today’s primary mood
Self-Appraisal
(find 3 adjectives for each area)
General appearance
Size and shape
Personal characteristics
Interpersonal relationships
Self-value
Family or romantic relationships
Level of self-satisfaction

3. Each day, you are going to enter not only what you ate, but the thoughts and emotions that accompanied the food. Note: Don’t become obsessive - it more productive to keep this daily but if you run out of time and energy now and then, skip it, and get back to it when you can.

4. It is going to take some thought and memory-searching to ferret out what you need so find yourself a quiet spot where you can be alone and quiet. Keep your book there, close at hand, so you can quickly visit when you want to record anything that occurs to you.

5. Start teaching yourself to identify the inner landscape that accompanies your food intake. Focus on the moments before you ate: How did you feel at the time? Were you (genuinely) hungry - create a 1 to 10 rating scale for yourself, ranging from “not really” up to “starved, faint, light-headed.” Were you bored? Were you anxious and trying to calm yourself down? Were you angry and stuffing that anger down your own throat? Were you feeling sorry for yourself? Were you with good friends and just wanted to be part of the group? Were you just not thinking? Were you trying to punish yourself -or someone else? You may find that you ate several times a day for the same reason or that the triggers to eat differed throughout the day depending upon the circumstances and people involved at the time.

6. Once you have jotted down everything related to the minutes before you ate (you may start out with very little to say but as you warm to this exercise, you will find yourself recording more and more information), consider how you felt directly afterwards. Did you feel satiated and serene? Did you feel proud of your food choices? Were you satisfied with all your selections? Did you feel stuffed and uncomfortable? Did you feel guilty about the choices you made? Were you angry with yourself for giving in to temptation and blowing your diet for the day? Did the food make you light and energetic or heavy and sleepy? Did you think about tomorrow morning’s weigh-in with dread or anticipation?

7. Take a look at the day from the perspective of now (last thing in the evening or a look back the following morning). Try to look at your entries as if they belonged to someone else. As a dispassionate third party, what are your conclusions about the individual who recorded this data? Is this a self-aware, consciously motivated person or someone who lives on auto-pilot with little planning or direction? Is this someone who has internalized their diet goals and attempts to control their environment and intake? Is this an individual who merely ‘talks the talk” but pursues actions that break those verbal rules? Is this a happy person who is cheerfully continuing the weight struggle with a sense of humor and self-forgiveness? Or is this someone who resents the conspiracies of nature which attempt to load on as much fat as possible, to ward off some improbable future famine?

8. If you are generally satisfied with the day’s food intake, give yourself a mental pat on the back and relish the day’s accomplishment. Promise yourself that one great day proves forever that you can do it. Identify a small, non-edible, reward for your self-discipline, inner strength, and personal commitment. Record your conclusions and bask in the self-satisfaction you so richly deserve.

9. If you feel disappointed in what you read, remind yourself that it is only one day in a lifetime of thousands of days. Forgive yourself and start over. Think about one or two changes you can make so the following day’s record will not be quite so disappointing. Guard against swearing that today will be perfect: you are not going to get there overnight but you will get there, over time, slowly, one step at a time. You are learning to take baby steps that will nudge your food intake into closer alignment with your goals. You are going to gradually add techniques to your arsenal of weapons to keep temptation at bay. The simple fact of intake awareness will keep slowly propelling you towards the goals you have so carefully set.

10. At the end of your entry, enter your weight for the day - it will always fluctuate a little bit but will show you how you are doing when viewed over a period of time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fat Loss Daily Update: - “The Atkins Nutritional Approach counts grams of carbohydrates

“The Atkins Nutritional Approach counts grams of carbohydrates instead of calories… If you are losing weight, there is no need to concern yourself with counting calories. “

Source: atkins.com

You might be doubtful and chances are that mainstream diets are the reason. Of course you couldn’t avoid opinions like the below Q&A posted by Health Care Reality Check:

Q: Can a person eat unlimited calories, and still lose weight, as long as they severely restrict carbohydrates?

A: No, she can not. The basis of ketogenic diets, such as the Atkins Diet, is a severe restriction of carbohydrate calories, which simply causes a net reduction in total calories. Since carbohydrate calories are limited, intake of fat usually increases. This high fat diet causes ketosis (increased blood ketones from fat breakdown), which suppresses hunger, and thus contributes to caloric restriction. — Ellen Coleman, RD, MA, MPH

Is this a correct answer?

Let’s first discuss whether it’s a correct question. Or, rather, is this the real question so frequently asked by dieters. In my experience, this in fact sounds a little bit different but this makes ALL the difference.

This is what real dieters ask:

Q: Can low carb dieters eat all they want, and still lose weight as long as they only eat allowed foods?

A: Yes, they can. The basis of ketogenic diets, such as the Atkins Diet, is a restriction of carbohydrate-containing foods in favor of fat and protein containing foods, which causes the state of ketosis resulting in significant decrease in appetite. Since appetite decreases, most of low carb dieters consume significantly less calories WITHOUT INTENTIONAL CALORIE RESTRICTION.

Is there scientific evidence?

There is.

Study #1 by: Bassett Research Institute in
Cooperstown, NY and Durham (N.C.) Veterans Affairs
Medical Center.

Reported: Proceedings of North American Association
for the Study of Obesity, Oct. 29, 2000, Long Beach,
Calif.

Who participated:

18 obese men and women with 30 or more pounds to lose.

Average calorie intake before the study: 2,481
calories a day

Method:

Dr. Atkins’ Book, the “New Diet Revolution” used as
instruction for the dieters.

Results:

1. Calorie intake during the most restrictive
induction phase (when only 20 g of carbohydrates were
allowed) was 1,419 calories a day on average and weight loss
was more than 8 pounds on average.

2. Calorie intake during the ongoing weight-loss
phase (when carbohydrate intake is being increased
gradually, by 5 g a day) dieters ate an average of
1,500 calories a day and lost an additional 3 pounds
in two weeks.

3. The calorie reduction was attributed almost
completely to carbohydrate abstaining. Intake of fat
and protein remained practically the same as before
the diet.

4. After 6 months on Atkins diet, 41 overweight people
lost an average of 10% of their weight. Most dieters
lowered their cholesterol by 5%, but there were a few
whose cholesterol increased.

5. 20 out of 41 dieters continued the program, and
kept the lost weight off for more than a year.

Study #2 by: Harvard School of Public Health.

Reported: American Association for the Study of
Obesity, October 16, 2003

Who participated: 21 overweight volunteers.

Two groups were randomly assigned to either lowfat or
low-carb diets with 1,500 calories for women and 1,800
for men; a third group was also low-carb but got an
extra 300 calories a day.

Method: All the food was prepared at a restaurant in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Note that most earlier
studies including the above Study #1 simply gave out
diet plans.

So in this study, dieters were given dinner and a
bedtime snack as well as breakfast and lunch for the
next day, which made the setting a carefully
controlled one. Foods were mostly fish, chicken,
salads, vegetables and unsaturated oils. Red meats and
saturated fats were limited (as opposed to traditional
Atkins menus.)

All meals looked similar but were cooked to different
recipes. The low-carb meals were 5% carbs, 15%
protein, 65% fat. The low fat group got 55%
carbohydrate, 15% protein, 30% fat.

Results:

1. All dieters lost weight, but those on low carb diet
lost more than the low fat group — even while consuming
MORE calories:

- Group on lower-cal, low-carb diet lost an average of 23
lbs.
- Group on same-calories low-fat diet lost an average of
17 lbs.
- Group on extra 300 calories, low-carb diet lost an
average of 20 lbs.

2. Over the course of the study, the group of low carb
dieters who got an extra 300 calories a day consumed extra 25,000
calories. That should have added up to
about seven pounds. But for some reason, it did not.

Discussion:

“It doesn’t make sense, does it?” said Barbara Rolls
of Pennsylvania State University. “It violates the
laws of thermodynamics. No one has ever found any
miraculous metabolic effects.”

So it violates the laws of thermodynamics, huh? Not so
fast! When it comes to calorie counting, the “calorie
is a calorie” concept is very deceiving.

Let’s see what we count when we think we
count calories. When you burn a piece of wood in a
stove, you can directly measure how much heat energy
it produces. Then you can claim that you know how many
calories a piece of wood contains, right? Not exactly.
You should specify what kind of wood it was, dry or
wet, how you burned it, etc. Because if you spent
another material to start the burning, you should
subtract these calories from the total; if the wood was wet you
should take into account the calories that the water
evaporation took. So even with a piece of wood, it’s
not that simple.

Now look at a piece of food. You know how they tell
how many calories it contains? Same way they talk
about a piece of wood in a stove. It’s the calorie
number that the food would produce by being burnt in a
stove.

Then in addition to the wood’s calorie estimation (that takes
into account the dryness, etc.), you should add many
more circumstances: how hard should one chew it
before being able to swallow, how hard one’s enzyme
system will have work to digest it, will it influence
the hormones in charge of fat storing? What about its effect on the
hormones in charge of fat burning?

Which chain of reactions will it trigger, activity-wise
or metabolism-wise? Will it make one sleepy, thus
conserving the energy? Ot will it make one jumpy, thus
wasting the energy?

Study #3 by: Laboratory of Applied Physiology,
Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies,
Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan

Reported: J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003
Dec;88(12):5661-7

Method:

Healthy boys, aged 8-11 yr, were examined for resting
energy expenditure and the thermic effect of a meal,
which were measured for three hours after a
same-calorie but high-fat or a high-carb meals.

Results:

There was no changes after high carbohydrate meals but
there was an increase in resting energy expenditure
after a high-fat meal.

If the researchers in the Study #2 would have measured
resting energy expenditure and the thermic effects of the
meals, they would probably have registered the same changes.
Then everybody would make a sigh of relief:
none of the laws of thermodynamics have been violated:
yes, the low-carb dieters COULD INDEED eat more
calories and lose more weight than the low-fat group
while violating no physical laws because — they just
burnt more, all the time, even at rest. It’s that simple.

“The Atkins Nutritional Approach counts grams of carbohydrates instead of calories… If you are losing weight, there is no need to concern yourself with counting calories. “

Source: atkins.com

You might be doubtful and chances are that mainstream diets are the reason. Of course you couldn’t avoid opinions like the below Q&A posted by Health Care Reality Check:

Q: Can a person eat unlimited calories, and still lose weight, as long as they severely restrict carbohydrates?

A: No, she can not. The basis of ketogenic diets, such as the Atkins Diet, is a severe restriction of carbohydrate calories, which simply causes a net reduction in total calories. Since carbohydrate calories are limited, intake of fat usually increases. This high fat diet causes ketosis (increased blood ketones from fat breakdown), which suppresses hunger, and thus contributes to caloric restriction. — Ellen Coleman, RD, MA, MPH

Is this a correct answer?

Let’s first discuss whether it’s a correct question. Or, rather, is this the real question so frequently asked by dieters. In my experience, this in fact sounds a little bit different but this makes ALL the difference.

This is what real dieters ask:

Q: Can low carb dieters eat all they want, and still lose weight as long as they only eat allowed foods?

A: Yes, they can. The basis of ketogenic diets, such as the Atkins Diet, is a restriction of carbohydrate-containing foods in favor of fat and protein containing foods, which causes the state of ketosis resulting in significant decrease in appetite. Since appetite decreases, most of low carb dieters consume significantly less calories WITHOUT INTENTIONAL CALORIE RESTRICTION.

Is there scientific evidence?

There is.

Study #1 by: Bassett Research Institute in
Cooperstown, NY and Durham (N.C.) Veterans Affairs
Medical Center.

Reported: Proceedings of North American Association
for the Study of Obesity, Oct. 29, 2000, Long Beach,
Calif.

Who participated:

18 obese men and women with 30 or more pounds to lose.

Average calorie intake before the study: 2,481
calories a day

Method:

Dr. Atkins’ Book, the “New Diet Revolution” used as
instruction for the dieters.

Results:

1. Calorie intake during the most restrictive
induction phase (when only 20 g of carbohydrates were
allowed) was 1,419 calories a day on average and weight loss
was more than 8 pounds on average.

2. Calorie intake during the ongoing weight-loss
phase (when carbohydrate intake is being increased
gradually, by 5 g a day) dieters ate an average of
1,500 calories a day and lost an additional 3 pounds
in two weeks.

3. The calorie reduction was attributed almost
completely to carbohydrate abstaining. Intake of fat
and protein remained practically the same as before
the diet.

4. After 6 months on Atkins diet, 41 overweight people
lost an average of 10% of their weight. Most dieters
lowered their cholesterol by 5%, but there were a few
whose cholesterol increased.

5. 20 out of 41 dieters continued the program, and
kept the lost weight off for more than a year.

Study #2 by: Harvard School of Public Health.

Reported: American Association for the Study of
Obesity, October 16, 2003

Who participated: 21 overweight volunteers.

Two groups were randomly assigned to either lowfat or
low-carb diets with 1,500 calories for women and 1,800
for men; a third group was also low-carb but got an
extra 300 calories a day.

Method: All the food was prepared at a restaurant in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Note that most earlier
studies including the above Study #1 simply gave out
diet plans.

So in this study, dieters were given dinner and a
bedtime snack as well as breakfast and lunch for the
next day, which made the setting a carefully
controlled one. Foods were mostly fish, chicken,
salads, vegetables and unsaturated oils. Red meats and
saturated fats were limited (as opposed to traditional
Atkins menus.)

All meals looked similar but were cooked to different
recipes. The low-carb meals were 5% carbs, 15%
protein, 65% fat. The low fat group got 55%
carbohydrate, 15% protein, 30% fat.

Results:

1. All dieters lost weight, but those on low carb diet
lost more than the low fat group — even while consuming
MORE calories:

- Group on lower-cal, low-carb diet lost an average of 23
lbs.
- Group on same-calories low-fat diet lost an average of
17 lbs.
- Group on extra 300 calories, low-carb diet lost an
average of 20 lbs.

2. Over the course of the study, the group of low carb
dieters who got an extra 300 calories a day consumed extra 25,000
calories. That should have added up to
about seven pounds. But for some reason, it did not.

Discussion:

“It doesn’t make sense, does it?” said Barbara Rolls
of Pennsylvania State University. “It violates the
laws of thermodynamics. No one has ever found any
miraculous metabolic effects.”

So it violates the laws of thermodynamics, huh? Not so
fast! When it comes to calorie counting, the “calorie
is a calorie” concept is very deceiving.

Let’s see what we count when we think we
count calories. When you burn a piece of wood in a
stove, you can directly measure how much heat energy
it produces. Then you can claim that you know how many
calories a piece of wood contains, right? Not exactly.
You should specify what kind of wood it was, dry or
wet, how you burned it, etc. Because if you spent
another material to start the burning, you should
subtract these calories from the total; if the wood was wet you
should take into account the calories that the water
evaporation took. So even with a piece of wood, it’s
not that simple.

Now look at a piece of food. You know how they tell
how many calories it contains? Same way they talk
about a piece of wood in a stove. It’s the calorie
number that the food would produce by being burnt in a
stove.

Then in addition to the wood’s calorie estimation (that takes
into account the dryness, etc.), you should add many
more circumstances: how hard should one chew it
before being able to swallow, how hard one’s enzyme
system will have work to digest it, will it influence
the hormones in charge of fat storing? What about its effect on the
hormones in charge of fat burning?

Which chain of reactions will it trigger, activity-wise
or metabolism-wise? Will it make one sleepy, thus
conserving the energy? Ot will it make one jumpy, thus
wasting the energy?

Study #3 by: Laboratory of Applied Physiology,
Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies,
Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan

Reported: J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003
Dec;88(12):5661-7

Method:

Healthy boys, aged 8-11 yr, were examined for resting
energy expenditure and the thermic effect of a meal,
which were measured for three hours after a
same-calorie but high-fat or a high-carb meals.

Results:

There was no changes after high carbohydrate meals but
there was an increase in resting energy expenditure
after a high-fat meal.

If the researchers in the Study #2 would have measured
resting energy expenditure and the thermic effects of the
meals, they would probably have registered the same changes.
Then everybody would make a sigh of relief:
none of the laws of thermodynamics have been violated:
yes, the low-carb dieters COULD INDEED eat more
calories and lose more weight than the low-fat group
while violating no physical laws because — they just
burnt more, all the time, even at rest. It’s that simple.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fat Loss Daily Update: - CalorieFoods.com You have permission to publish this article

CalorieFoods.com You have permission to publish this article in your web sites, ezines or electronic publication, as long as it is used in its entirety including the resource box
(given at the end of the article), all HTML hyperlinks, references (clickable) and
copyright information.

Weight Loss Diets with Negative Calorie Foods
Copyright 2004, www.negativecaloriefoods.com

Negative calorie foods are said to use more calories to digest than the calorie content
of the foods themselves, resulting in a negative calorie balance. It is therefore natural
to consider a diet containing these foods for weight loss.

A diet is a combination of a balanced selection of foods designed for medical or nutritional reasons. A good diet should include all major food groups. The weight loss diets (with or without negative calorie foods) are made to reduce body fat and weight. Some of the popular weight loss diets are : Atkin’s diet, cabbage soup diet, grapefruit diet, Hollywood diet, negative calorie foods diet, Pritikin diet,the South beach diet and the zone diet.

Most of the weight loss diets promote to eat a particular food group and restrict other food groups. Such diets may show temporary results. If you follow these restricted diets for a long time, you may develop some health problems at later stage as these diets do not contain all the necessary nutrients needed for your body.

The secret to losing weight is to eat and drink the right kind of foods until you are satisfied. Skipping of meals is not the answer for weight loss, it can rather deteriorate your health. A healthy weight loss diet plan should include vegetables, fruits, grains, lentils and beans in your diet. Following is a sample daily diet plan that is good for keeping healthy weight and good health, irrespective of whether you follow a diet plan with negative calorie foods or not.

- Skim milk and skim yogurt .
- Salads or boiled vegetables or vegetable soup as starter.
- Whole-wheat bread/tortila, whole grain cereal and rice.
- Whole grains like kidney beans, chick peas and lentils.
- Lightly cooked green vegetables.
- Any dessert with minimum sugar.
- Lean variety of meat (it is better to avoid).
- The dinner should be light. If you had bread for lunch then have rice for dinner.

Include as much negative calorie foods as possible in the above diet plan. If you are meat eater, choose from a lean variety and restrict to one serving in a day.

A diet with negative calorie foods as main ingredients can include foods that are loaded with carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibers necessary for keeping you fit.

The diet with negative calorie foods can be tailored for fast or gradual weight loss. The fast weight loss diet that can lower the weight up to two pounds per day, is not recommended for long term.The gradual weight loss diet can reduce one pound in a week and can be followed until desired weight is achieved. The diet can be made according to ones needs. The negative calorie foods will not give you much benefit if you are eating foods loaded with fats and sugars. If you eat a serving of potato fries, don’t think that you can reduce the calories gained from fries by simply eating some negative calorie celery.

————————————
For more information on negative calorie foods, negative calorie recipes and diets, visit the web site:
http://www.negativecaloriefoods.com/
————————————
(given at the end of the article), all HTML hyperlinks, references (clickable) and
copyright information.

Weight Loss Diets with Negative Calorie Foods
Copyright 2004, www.negativecaloriefoods.com

Negative calorie foods are said to use more calories to digest than the calorie content
of the foods themselves, resulting in a negative calorie balance. It is therefore natural
to consider a diet containing these foods for weight loss.

A diet is a combination of a balanced selection of foods designed for medical or nutritional reasons. A good diet should include all major food groups. The weight loss diets (with or without negative calorie foods) are made to reduce body fat and weight. Some of the popular weight loss diets are : Atkin’s diet, cabbage soup diet, grapefruit diet, Hollywood diet, negative calorie foods diet, Pritikin diet,the South beach diet and the zone diet.

Most of the weight loss diets promote to eat a particular food group and restrict other food groups. Such diets may show temporary results. If you follow these restricted diets for a long time, you may develop some health problems at later stage as these diets do not contain all the necessary nutrients needed for your body.

The secret to losing weight is to eat and drink the right kind of foods until you are satisfied. Skipping of meals is not the answer for weight loss, it can rather deteriorate your health. A healthy weight loss diet plan should include vegetables, fruits, grains, lentils and beans in your diet. Following is a sample daily diet plan that is good for keeping healthy weight and good health, irrespective of whether you follow a diet plan with negative calorie foods or not.

- Skim milk and skim yogurt .
- Salads or boiled vegetables or vegetable soup as starter.
- Whole-wheat bread/tortila, whole grain cereal and rice.
- Whole grains like kidney beans, chick peas and lentils.
- Lightly cooked green vegetables.
- Any dessert with minimum sugar.
- Lean variety of meat (it is better to avoid).
- The dinner should be light. If you had bread for lunch then have rice for dinner.

Include as much negative calorie foods as possible in the above diet plan. If you are meat eater, choose from a lean variety and restrict to one serving in a day.

A diet with negative calorie foods as main ingredients can include foods that are loaded with carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibers necessary for keeping you fit.

The diet with negative calorie foods can be tailored for fast or gradual weight loss. The fast weight loss diet that can lower the weight up to two pounds per day, is not recommended for long term.The gradual weight loss diet can reduce one pound in a week and can be followed until desired weight is achieved. The diet can be made according to ones needs. The negative calorie foods will not give you much benefit if you are eating foods loaded with fats and sugars. If you eat a serving of potato fries, don’t think that you can reduce the calories gained from fries by simply eating some negative calorie celery.

————————————
For more information on negative calorie foods, negative calorie recipes and diets, visit the web site:
http://www.negativecaloriefoods.com/
———————————— Managing Cravings with EFTKathryn Martyn, M.NLPThere are several ways to manage cravings. You can:

Attempt to stop eating the food you crave entirely (out of sight
out of mind).
Modify your eating habits around a particular food, i.e. cut back
on the quantity or how often you indulge.
Use EFT to end the attachment you have to this particular food.

1. Stop Eating the Food you Crave
Eliminating the offending food entirely is rarely successful. We
can only limit ourselves for so long before we go crazy, eating
everything in sight to make up for the deprivation. This also
introduces deprivation and control issues, which many have
trouble with leftover from childhood. Would it be better to learn
to enjoy your favorites without losing control around them?

2. Modify your Eating Habits
Modifying your behavior can be successful, but it can also be
difficult because even though we want to change, it seems that
despite our best efforts, we still find ourselves craving the
same things, day after day. It is the “how” that stops us. How
can we change a behavior that is a habitual response? How can we
stop doing what we don’t want to do? There are literally
thousands of diet and weight loss books and most offer nothing
more useful than the “eat less, exercise more” advice. If it were
simply a matter of doing what we know we should do, there would
be no obesity epidemic, but it’s not that simple. We need to know
HOW.

3. Use EFT to end the Attachment to a Particular Food
EFT is often helpful to diminish or demolish the cravings. It can
be your HOW. How to change habits that you want to be rid of, how
to create new, better habits, that support what you want, instead
of what you don’t. EFT is simple to learn, and effective.

If you don’t yet know how to do EFT, read this brief explanation,
then download and print the worksheets, instructions and
reminders all in one convenient PDF packet.

4. Stop Talking Yourself Into It

You’ve said you are going to stop nighttime snacking, and then
the voices start, “I’ve been good all day, I deserve a treat,
just one won’t hurt…” You’re basically talking yourself into
it, and then you’re off and running to the kitchen. Most of us
find that once we say yes to that voice, there’s no holding
ourselves back.

As soon as you realize you are doing the “talk myself into it”
routine, start using EFT immediately. Catching yourself in the
act is difficult at first, but if you keep an open mind, you will
start to notice. No matter where you are or what you are doing,
you can instantly perform an EFT procedure on yourself, and get
quick results. You don’t need to wait until later, until the
atmosphere is just right, or until you are alone or somewhere you
can relax. You can do it while driving, you can do it in a crowd
standing on the corner.

Examples of EFT for Ending Cravings

The first round you might notice the craving is somewhat reduced
(or it could disappear entirely), but it will likely be lessened.
Once you have done one round, re-rate your desire for the food,
and if it is still high (more than a six), do another round of
EFT right then:

Set-up: “Even though I still want to eat _________, I’m fine just
the way I am.”

Reminder: “Still want to eat _________.”

While I’m doing the EFT round, I might find myself thinking
things such as, “It’s not that I want to eat them all, it’s just
that once I start I can’t stop.”

So, for the next round I’ll use that statement:

Set-up: “Even though I can’t stop eating cookies once I get
started, I deeply and completely accept myself anyway.”

Say the “even though” part with gusto, you really mean it! You
are okay, just the way you are.

Reminder: “Can’t stop”

This round might lead to, “That’s not true, I can decide how much
I want, I just don’t want to limit myself,” so the next round
might be:

Set-up: “Even though I hate to limit myself, I deeply and
completely…” or “Even though I don’t want to limit myself,” or
whatever words fit your situation.

Reminder: “No limits”

Make this process yours and let your personal thoughts guide you.
Doing this will help you unearth core issues and beliefs you may
not have realized were there.

More often than not what happens with these simple and effective
techniques is you will stop using them. Not because they don’t
work, but because they do. You will stop because you aren’t ready
to give up your eating habits - you like the food, you enjoy the
taste, the pleasure you gain from the eating is greater than the
pleasure you anticipate by making a change in your habits. It’s
as if you say to yourself, “Screw it, I don’t care. I want it
now, and I’m going to have it.” Much like a small child, you are
simply feeding your instant desire, and that’s okay too.

Be gentle with yourself. Realize you will do this on occasion,
and accept it. It doesn’t make you a failure, it simply proves
you are human. Accept yourself as you are. If you make a
commitment to do the EFT exercises, even though you don’t want
to, you will reach success.

In my work reluctance to do something that will work explains why
people continue to seek something new. They read new books, they
try new diets (witness Atkins, now South Beach Diet), they ask
each other (usually their overweight friends) what they are doing
(why not ask someone without a weight problem instead?). The
answer is they don’t really want to make a change for the better,
they just want the easy fix. Give me a pill, a simple food plan,
make it easy for me, and I’ll do it. I can keep on any plan for
the short-term, lose some weight, then as I’m gaining it back I
can just blame myself. It’s my fault for stopping the diet. It’s
my fault, for not staying on the plan.

This is not a healthy way to live. Take back your power. You
decide what you will or won’t do every day. Stop giving that
power to others - stop blaming yourself for not staying on
someone else’s plan, and make your own plan.

This is the single most important thing in anyone’s change
process: Realizing what you want for your health, your body, your
life, is more important than what you get by the instant
gratification.

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