Lifestyle Choices

Lasting weight-loss success is related partly to your understanding of food and what it does to your body, and partly to your mind and how you think. What kind of relationship do you have with food?

Do you live to eat, or eat to live? Are you able to control your diet quite easily, or does food rule your life? Whether you are interested in low-GL as a way to improve your health, lose weight effectively, or both, my Holford Low-GL Diet will help you to listen to your body and to learn the difference between your true hunger signals and your cravings. Importantly, it will also reintroduce you to the taste and flavour of food.

Eating is essential for life and we crave food from the moment we are born. For most, the early months of feeding are connected to feelings of comfort and safety. However, as we get older, the message becomes more mixed. By the time we reach adolescence, most girls will associate being attractive with being thin, and most boys will have been told to ‘eat up, if you want to become big and strong’. Sweets are usually given as rewards (or withheld as punishment) and are associated with pleasure and comfort.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you reach for chocolate or other high-fat foods when you are upset?
• Do you gain or lose weight when you are in love?
• Do you reward or punish yourself with food?

Do you feel the need always to finish what is on your plate?

• Do you eat and drink more when you are out with friends?
• Do you eat more or less when you are under pressure?

A yes to any of these questions means your emotions rather than your appetite sometimes drive your eating. In some peoplethis can lead to eating disorders, compulsive and obsessive eating, and crash dieting. Healthy eating encourages healthy thinking.

The following keys to positive thinking will help you to understand your relationship with food:

• Self-awareness Understanding how, why and when: how youfeel about food and weight-gain, why you feel guilty about certain eating habits and when food or eating is a problem for you.
• Self-acceptance Appreciation of who you are, and acceptanceof your needs, your wants and your problems.
• Personal action A commitment to change. Choose just one situation where eating (or not eating) becomes your comfort trigger. Now think of an alternative, non-food way of coping with the situation. Write that down as your personal target for the week. By stopping each negative habit for a week you will see that you can choose your response to your emotions.
• How you cope with your emotions does not have to involve food. That is why on the Holford Low-GL Diet you will not find sugary snacks and desserts associated with ‘treats’. I believe in other ways to pamper yourself that are more enjoyable (such as treating yourself to a massage, new clothing, a haircut, or a night out with friends). High energy levels and 100 per cent health are the real benefits of balanced eating. The low-GL diet will help to keep you on track by banishing food cravings.

Convenience foods and eating ‘on the run’ mean it is easier than ever before to reach for unhealthy food, or to overeat. Take a look at the following scenarios and the low-GL way to keep out of trouble and keep your blood sugar on track.

Choose just one action point to change this week. Make a commitment to change one behavior per week. You will see improvement in no time.

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