We’re talking about the psychological strategies that can help you stay on a diet without cheating. Twenty years
ago I did a study on the University of Michigan campus, looking at overweight from a new perspective. I figured
that overweight people didn’t have an eating disorder, they were very good at eating. Their problem was noteating,
so specifically, overweight was not an eating disorder, but a not-eating disorder. The study looked at
what caused patients to over eat, what caused patients to cheat and fall off diets. The answer was so simple it
was staring me in the face, and I didn’t see it at first. The study found that stress reduction is what causes patients
to cheat and fall off diets. Patients cheat to relieve stress, to calm tension, to relax. Tension is caused by life
events (happy or sad, by the way) and tension is also caused by low energy, by hunger, and by sweet and starch
cravings. So, what causes patients to cheat and fall off diets is stress from life events, stress from hunger, stress
from low energy and stress from carbohydrate cravings. The key was to come up with how to release the stress
or tension, before patients would cheat and fall off thier diet. More tomorrow.