Now that Halloween is behind us, the holiday season is off and running. With it comes all the goodies that we so desire and that we so fear will make us overindulge.

But with a little planning, the food conflicts that can drain the joy from the holidays can be a thing of the past. We can use a wealth of solid research about why it’s so much better to control portions instead of falling for the same old failing dieting tactics.

There are researchers who devote their careers to studying what makes us eat more and what helps us push away from the buffet. Food psychology laboratories produce information of particular interest to the food industry, which wants us to eat their products in abundance. But there’s no reason we can’t use this information to gain insight into how we tend to respond to different eating situations so we can better manage portions – and weight.

Some of the research findings:

. Out of sight, out of mind: he more visible food is (like the candy dish on the coffee table or your co-worker’s desk), the more likely we are to eat it. No problem if it’s food you don’t like, but if you love chocolate and have to stare at a bowl full of holiday M&M’s, you’ll probably surrender. The trick here is to make tempting goodies less visible. Using covered, opaque dishes for candy, and open dishes to display fresh fruit will encourage the healthier choice. Also, try keeping nutritious foods in front of the fridge or cupboard while putting the ones you want to control in the back.

. Size matters: The bigger the package, container, or plate you’re eating from, the more you’re likely to eat. The brain seems to be looking for signals to mark the end of eating. Something about seeing an empty plate, bowl or bag helps us feel satisfied whether the container is large or small. That’s why using smaller plates is so effective. So, when going to that big holiday buffet, put your entree on the salad plate.

. Serve and step away: During party situations, whenever possible, serve yourself reasonable portions and then step far away from the rest of the food. The less you look at food, the more likely you will be to feel satisfied with what you served yourself. I saw this in action myself at a party last weekend. Engrossed in conversation with a local chocolatier, I didn’t step away from the serving trays filled with exquisite chocolates. Result: I ate more than I would have if I had invited my conversation partner to have a seat in another room.

. Slow down: It’s takes about 20 minutes for your brain to receive all the physiological signals that you’ve eaten enough. So the faster you eat, the more you’ll eat.

What’s the hurry anyway? There are few things we will do as often in our lives as eat, so let’s sit back, take a deep breath and enjoy. The more you let your body get the full enjoyment out of what you’re eating, the sooner it will say, “Okay, that was good, but I’m done.”

These are only a few research-based tips that you can incorporate into your holiday eating. Use your creativity to come up with others and practice them as you enjoy not just the food, but the people and the surroundings.

Consider the alternative – getting overly preoccupied with weight, food and dieting. When has that ever worked? It’s the gentle, positive, consistent approaches that make for the best results.

People being treated for eating disorders and other eating related problems often believe that they’re more dysfunctional than they actually are.  Invariably, I find myself showing patients that many of the behaviors they think are unique and “weird” about themselves are experienced by people they consider “normal eaters.”

Most articles discussing the differences between thin and overweight people focus on the things that thin people do better than overweight people, but what do these thinner people have in common with those that have problems with their eating and weight?

Here are some of the most common misperceptions my patients have about normal eaters:

• They never overeat – The truth is that most people sometimes overeat – it’s normal.  Those people who consider their health and fitness a priority, however, do pay attention to when they have overeaten, try to make subsequent meals more balanced, and try to increase activity.
• They don’t have sweet cravings – Sweet tastes are particularly pleasurable to humans and most people have sweet cravings from time to time.  The normal eater will not panic or get anxious when they get a sweet craving.  In fact, they will readily admit they’re having one since they see no shame in it.  Then they will satisfy it as soon as possible by asking themselves what it is that they want, getting what they want instead of some dissatisfying substitute, and proceed to savor every bite.  Because of how they treat their sweet cravings, however, most of the time they’re able to feel satisfied with a normal portion.
• They have healthy diets – The truth is that just because someone does not appear overweight doesn’t mean that they eat healthily.  In fact, some overweight people eat better than some thinner people.
• They exercise – Unfortunately, most people do not exercise regularly regardless of whether or not they have eating problems.  Sedentary lifestyles are pervasive in our society.
• They eat only when they’re hungry – Although people who don’t have eating and weight problems usually don’t eat when they aren’t hungry, people do sometimes eat when they’re not hungry.  If this were not the case, we wouldn’t have desserts.  Desserts are eaten after a meal – when people are no longer hungry.  Eating when we’re not hungry too frequently can certainly lead to health problems but everyone sometimes eats when they’re not hungry.
• They never gain weight or watch their weight –The truth is that people who are successful managing their weight experience weight fluctuations, too.  It’s normal.  Most people who don’t have eating problems have a weight range that their body goes through as they live out their lives.  However, most of these people don’t focus excessively on it.  They understand that the pattern is normal for them. Typically, the weight shift can be easily attributed to some temporary change in lifestyle (i.e. eating out more or less often, eating or moving more while on vacation, or not having engaged in the usual exercise program). Invariably, the person gets back to their regular lifestyle shifting the weight back to its usual place.  For others, they calmly note the change, its cause, and then consciously set about correcting the behavior that has caused any weight gain by getting back to their healthy lifestyle.
• They never lose control of eating – Although this is generally true, most people have experienced times where they’ve felt out of control with their eating after being ravenously hungry.  Interestingly, a normal eating person might refer to this as simply “pigging out.”  The emotional roller coaster that the binger puts themselves through when they lose control is what makes it a binge.  Feeling a loss of control with eating isn’t seen as a character flaw by the normal eater.  It’s just a function of not having eaten properly to begin with.  In this case, avoiding intense hunger helps prevent the problem in the future.

Understanding that “normal” eaters aren’t perfect eaters can be a relief to those with food and weight problems.  It helps them resolve their eating issues sooner when they know they’re not so different after all.  In fact, the best known professionals in the weight and fitness field don’t do things perfectly themselves.  It may look like they do and they may even suggest that they do, but they don’t.

“Normal” eaters that are mindful of their health pay attention to the behaviors that can take them in the wrong direction with their health and weight.  They do it with a relaxed mind, however.  They use “concern” rather than “self-punishment” and strive for “improvement” rather than “perfection”.  A good average is all that’s necessary.  Expecting that your behaviors be perfect and thinking that you’re different from others because of your imperfections only leads to low self-esteem, frustration, and giving up on achieving health and fitness.  So let’s all strive for good health while accepting our imperfections.  After all, they’re normal.

Most people with problems controlling their eating think that it’s caused by some weakness on their part. In reality the problem has more to do with the human brain.

Compulsive eating problems are not rare today, but for the person experiencing the problem, it feels like no one could possibly understand what it’s like. Sadly, the person with compulsive eating problems or binging often thinks that the problem would go away if only they could gain more control. The cause of most compulsive eating is a control issue, not a lack of control, but rather a problem with over-control.

Why Diets Fail

Ninety percent of dieting attempts fail and most of these dieting attempts involve diets that have the following in common:

1. Are too rigid – Rigid rules in dieting, such as dictating exactly what should and should not be eaten, do not teach a person how to change his lifestyle. Lifestyle change is important for lasting weight loss.
2. Eliminate particular foods or food groups completely – Usually the foods eliminated by diets are those that the person likes the most. This creates a situation of psychological deprivation that leads to diet failure, overeating, and even binging with the foods that were eliminated.
3. Do not provide enough calories – Not eating enough calories slows down metabolism and creates a situation where the body stores fat more efficiently and burns it more slowly. This is the opposite of what the dieter wants to achieve.
4. Dictate what to do but not how to do it – People know what they should do to lose weight (eat well and exercise) but find it difficult to get themselves to do it. Most diets just tell a person what foods to eat or not eat; a few suggest exercise. These things are “easier said than done” because there are psychological barriers that are common to everyone and can get in the way.

Dieting and the Brain

The human brain responds well to some things but not to others. Most diets are designed counter to how the human brain thinks, leading to loss of control of eating and ultimate failure of the diet. However, there are ways to approach weight loss that will lead to long-term success. These involve how the person works with their brain. The brain responds best to the following:

• Flexibility – The more flexible an eating plan is the more likely it is that a person can follow it for the rest of their lives, resulting in a lifetime of health and leanness rather than yo-yo dieting.
• Praise – Just like a child learns better if praised rather than put down, the brain is motivated, encouraged, and energized by praise, not punishment or criticism. Pointing out successes and efforts, no matter how small, will lead to more success in the long run.
• Small goals – Large goals are overwhelming. Breaking large goals down into smaller ones and focusing on one small goal at a time will prevent stress and, instead, lead to more motivation.
• Focus on behaviors rather than numbers (e.g. calories and weight numbers) – Behaviors are what make a person lose weight, not numbers.
• Adding things rather than omitting things – Psychologically, it’s easier for a person to think of adding things such as increasing the number of fruits and vegetable eaten, rather than omitting things like not eating sweets.

Anything that adds stress and focuses on negativity tends to make the brain resistant to a person’s intentions and goals. This is especially true when dealing with weight loss. Having control of eating is not so much a function of willpower or discipline but rather understanding how the human brain responds to characteristics of the weight loss plan being used. The smart way to go about losing weight and controlling eating is by working with, not against, the brain.

Copyright Lavinia Rodriguez. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.

Weight-loss talk is heard too often these days. If there’s a new fad diet going around, you hear about it and its so-called “successes.” • Weight-loss success ought to be defined not by how much weight has been lost, but by how long the weight loss is maintained. • People who have had long-term success with weight seem to be relatively quiet. You don’t usually hear, “I’m going on 10 years of managing my weight successfully,” or “I haven’t binged in 15 years!” • There are plenty of weight-loss myths that get in the way of weight-loss success. Here are some real-life examples, with names changed to protect patient privacy:

Myth 1: The Less You Eat, the More You Lose

Jeanie walked into my office sharing her frustration at a life filled with one diet after another. “I’ve tried every diet,” she told me. “You name it, I’ve tried it.” It quickly became clear that Jeanie subscribed to the myth that you have to keep eating less in order to lose more. Her diets became more restrictive through time. After years of such diets, her body had compensated for her starvation attempts by slowing its metabolism, making it more difficult for her body to burn fat and easier for it to store it. Without her realizing it, Jeanie’s diets were contributing to her weight problem.

With education, Jeanie was able to restructure her thinking and behavior. She started to eat more often, stopped skipping meals, and avoided long periods without eating. She focused on nutritious meals that were satisfying, preventing extreme hunger and feelings of deprivation.

She learned to allow time for her body to start burning more again. After all, she had been abusing it for a long time. Those kinds of physiological changes don’t happen overnight.

Once Jeanie understood how her body worked, she was able to give up the belief that the less you eat the more you lose. Then she started to gradually lose weight. By being consistent she made these changes part of her lifestyle and was able to manage her weight successfully.

Myth 2: If You Have a Busy Life, That’s Exercise

George was a busy guy. His work kept him on the move. Through the years, his body had put on an unattractive spare tire. “I don’t understand it,” he said. “I’m busy all the time at work. Why can’t I lose weight?”

George had confused busyness with fat-burning exercise. The type of exercise that burns fat is sustained activity that gets the heart pumping, creates deep but relaxed breathing, and lasts 30 minutes or more. Most of the busyness that George thought should be fat-burning exercise was stop-and-go activity.

George decided get up a half-hour earlier to get a run in each day. He started out slowly and worked up to running 30 minutes at a time. In addition, he used the run to decompress from the stress of work. Gradually, George’s body started to show the fat loss he was looking for.

Myth 3: Carbs Make You Fat

Leni was a believer in the no-carb craze. She was proud that carbs never touched her lips. Never, that is, except when she binged on carbs several nights per week. “Why can’t I control my eating?” she said. “I know I shouldn’t eat carbs, but I lose control!”

Leni didn’t realize that the reason she was bingeing was precisely because she was trying to eliminate carbs. Although some carbs are not very nutritious, they don’t, in and of themselves, make you fat. If they did, all people who eat bread and pasta would be fat.

Leni loved carbs. Her stringent rule of no carbs was actually causing her to lose control by making her feel deprived. This psychological deprivation made her preoccupied with carbs. It’s no wonder she lost control. Once she understood why she was bingeing, Leni was able to work on letting go of her rigid expectations, eat high-quality carbs and feel satisfied. Gradually, she regained natural control of eating, the binges stopped and she lost weight permanently.

• • •

There are ways to lose weight, but only a logical approach will keep it off. It pays to take the time to be honest with yourself about approaches that are only perpetuating the problem and start down the right road to a life of leanness. Even if the weight loss is slower, it’s not nearly as frustrating as losing and regaining the weight again and again.

Previously published in The St. Petersburg Times July 17, 2010

How to Eat Healthy Food Without Measuring, Weighing, or Counting

Diets that involve rigid measuring, weighing or counting never last. But there are simple and fun ways of improving nutrition without becoming a scholar on the subject.

Who wants to be bothered with studying up on nutrition to eat better or lose weight? Learning about vitamins and minerals, number of servings, and what food qualities affect what body functions can get tedious and boring.

Isn’t There an Easy Way to Improve Nutrition?

You don’t have to be a nutritionist or a biologist to improve your nutrition. All you have to do is:

1. Want to eat better.
2. Understand that learning to eat better is a process and needs to be done one step at a time.
3. Strive for continual improvement rather than perfection.
4. Be willing to experiment.

The 1-2-3′s of Better Nutrition

• One: Food Groups

The first thing to do to improve nutritional intake is to have a general knowledge of food groups. Most people are familiar with what these are:

• Protein/Meat Group-foods such as meats, eggs, beans
• Fruit/Vegetable Group-all fruits and vegetables
• Grains/Cereals Group-breads, pasta, cereals

Although the particular food groups differ depending upon the source, concentrating on the three basic food groups above will get you started in a good direction and keep you from feeling overwhelmed about how much to know. Remember it’s about increasing nutrition, not about perfection. Later, if you wish to learn more and continue to consume higher quality foods you can get into more details. For now, keep it simple. The psychology of change is important to success.

• Two: Color

The most nutritious foods have bright colors. Instead of boring ourselves with what vitamins and minerals are in different foods all we have to do is focus on color in the following ways:

1. Look for foods that have bright colors such as green, yellow, red, orange, and black. Fruits and vegetables are the most colorful foods.
2. Strive to make your plate colorful. A plate that has mainly beige and brown foods is not what we’re looking for. Make it look like a beautiful color wheel.
3. As you approach each meal ask yourself, “What colors have I eaten today? What colors am I missing?”
4. Strive to have a meal where most of the plate is composed of bright-colored foods.

By following the above, your nutrition will improve significantly and you will have had fun doing it. It’s that easy.

• Three: The Comfort Group

These are the foods that give you warm fuzzies – your favorite foods. It’s important to include comfort foods in any eating program as trying to eliminate them completely makes it more difficult to succeed at your goal. It’s one of the main reasons most diets are broken sooner or later. However, the focus here should be to see how your comfort foods can be made more nutritious. For example, if your comfort food is ice cream perhaps you can add colorful berries to add more nutrition and fiber. Experiment with your favorite cookie recipe to see what can be added or eliminated to add nutrition and still keep the flavor. Don’t eliminate these foods – just make them more nutritious.

Finally, experiment with different recipes to see if you can find ways to eat those nutritious foods you don’t like by disguising their flavor with other tastes. Sometimes mixing foods you don’t like with those you like a lot will make the whole dish taste good. Chopping less liked foods into tiny pieces to mix with other foods, also can be tried. Just don’t give up on something nutritious just because you feel you don’t like it. If nothing makes a disliked food taste good don’t eat it, but search for the same color elsewhere. It’s about making nutrition easy and fun.

Disclaimer: The above tips do not replace the advise of your health care professional. Consult with your doctor.

Most of the time sweet cravings boil down to habit. Like other animals, humans can be easily conditioned to things. For example, if you grew up always having dessert after dinner, your brain will be conditioned to expect that and it will prepare your body for eating sweets after dinner. That usually means not feeling satisfied at the end of the meal, feeling a craving for something sweet. You will salivate, preparing for the delicious treat. This doesn’t mean you can’t get rid of the habit, but that it takes some time and an effective strategy to get there.

I used to have a habit of drinking Diet Coke. I only drank one per day but my body expected it anytime between 11 and 2 each day. That’s the time that my office schedule allowed it in the beginning. I was so conditioned that my body and mind wouldn’t leave me alone until I got one. Even when I could honestly say that I didn’t quite enjoy drinking them as much as in the beginning, I still craved them. It’s been over 6 years since I’ve had any soda but it took a conscious effort and some time to get past the cravings.

Getting rid of sweet cravings isn’t as tough as people think if you know a few facts and take the time that’s necessary to eliminate the habit.

The best way to get rid of sweet cravings is to:

• improve what you eat in general–eat more nutritiously. This makes sure that you’re not lacking anything that the brain will make you crave.
• wait 20 minutes after a meal before having your sweet. If the cravings are due to having gone too long without eating so that your blood sugar is low, it gives your body enough time to raise the blood sugar so that you don’t have the cravings.
• Don’t try to go “cold turkey” with your attempts to get rid of sweets after meals. Gradually change the type of sweets you eat by having desserts that are made with fruit so that you’re having more natural sugars and less granulated or high fructose sugar, cut down on processed foods and sweets. Also reduce the quantities of the sweets gradually until you have the habit licked.
• You can even try this little (temporary) trick I used once with a patient and it worked nicely for them. Eat your small dessert first. Make it a small amount-then have your meal. This does two things-if low blood sugar is the problem, you start stabilizing it sooner and the meal keeps it there. If habit is the problem, you will disrupt things just enough to weaken the habit for sweets after the meal.

Remember, all that is said here is assuming that you do not have any medical problem that prohibits you from taking the above steps. Your doctor should be able to tell you.  However, getting rid of sweet cravings is not as hard as you think if you’re patient and take it one small step at a time.

Food problems and addictions are  similar only on the surface.

“Overeating and drug addiction may converge on some of the same neurons,” says Endocrinologist Barbara Kahn. “but other pathways are also involved. And from a biochemical point of view, the two are not the same thing. Drug addictions are much stronger.”

Unfortunately for people who have weight and food problems, theories about  food addiction are not only inaccurate, but they do a disservice to people who are struggling to lose weight.  Sure, some people eat compulsively and some even binge.  This type of eating behavior can be chronic.  It can really look like it’s an addiction.  The “food addict” experiences strong cravings and feels out of control when the compulsive eating is taking place.

There are more differences, however, than there are similarities when it comes to compulsive eating and true addiction.  Here are some of those:

• A person can live without addictive drugs but they cannot live without food.
• People can recover completely from compulsive overeating and binging problem without having to deprive themselves of any particular foods.
• Humans have always been drawn to sweet and salty tastes.  It is a universal trait.
• When people are deprived of the foods they like, it creates a state of psychological deprivation that leads to compulsive eating.

It’s not addiction that causes addiction-like behaviors of compulsive eating and binging – it’s psychological deprivation.

By only looking at the surface of a problem, it can mislead.  Thirty years of experience treating the most severe cases of eating problems (eating disorders) and seeing that they can completely recover from losing control of food is evidence that food addiction is a myth.

That should sound like good news.  Who wants to think that they have an addiction to food that in incurable?  Isn’t it better to think that the addictive-like behaviors can be a thing of the past and that a person can once again become a normal-eating individual?