Are you at the dieting T intersection, considering which option to take? To go on another diet, or try something new? Let’s see what Sarah’s journey and destination look like when she chooses to turn right and, then left.
Approaching the dieting T intersection
Sarah has decided that the way she is eating is not working. She is not taking care to make nutritious choices
and finds that when she skips meals she often overeats at night. Then she can’t sleep because she has eaten too much.
And feels tired the next day.
Sarah’s work has allowed her to gain nutrition and health knowledge, but she is not putting what she knows into practice.
She is now standing in front of the dieting T intersection deciding which way to go.
She is very familiar with diets, so decides to turn right.
Right-hand turn “Diet”
Sarah, having chosen a diet feels well prepared for her journey ahead.
She has a long list of food rules: what she can eat and what she should avoid.
Her list of food rules will be her compass for her journey.
Her chosen destination is a long term way of eating that supports her health and lifestyle.
Whilst she would like to lose some weight, she is not quite sure what her healthy body weight is, because of her previous dieting.
She sets off very optimistic, that unlike her other dieting attempts,
This one will work.
A few days pass and she feels well in control of her eating.
Then a few unexpected life events pop up. Including work.
Sarah finds that she is working long hours and falls back into the habit of skipping lunch and eating too much at night.
And because she is tired, dinner is often cheese, crackers, and a glass of wine.
She didn’t even realise that her old habit had returned.
The realisation hit her when one morning she woke up feeling yuk again.
She thinks “I have failed again.”
“How am I ever going to get my eating on track?”
And her negative self-talk got louder and louder,
“You of all people should know better…”
Left-hand turn “A new way of eating”
Back at the dieting T intersection, Sarah questions,
“Is there a new way of eating that doesn’t involve a diet?”
And thinks
“I wonder what that would be like?”
Sarah turns left.
Rather than her list of good and bad foods,
Sarah’s compass is her physical hunger and satiety signals.
She thinks this makes sense, as she knows what healthy eating is,
but has been totally unaware of her eating habits, and her reasons or drivers for eating.
Since there are no rights or wrongs with this approach, she never feels like she is failing.
Sarah keeps going, tracking her experiences of eating.
She tackles boredom eating, emotional eating, and eating for convenience.
Along the way, Sarah strengthens her drive to eat and live healthily and mindfully.
By doing this she works out a pattern of eating that works for her.
Sarah chose the Eating for You approach which is based on mindfulness.
Your dieting T intersection
If you are considering a new way of eating,
Do you want it to include a diet with someone else’s rules to follow?
Or
Would you like to discover a lifelong way of eating that supports your health and lifestyle?
If you are interested in finding out more about the Eating for You approach, and gaining my support, then join me in an Eating Habit Profile Call.
Click here
For all of the details and to book!