One of the questions I ’ m asked most often, by clients,
journalists, in TV interviews or by friends, is: ‘ What is
the ultimate diet? ’ Of course, the truth is there is no one
diet that ’ s perfect for everyone. The ultimate diet for
each of us is the one that is safe, that works and that
we can maintain for a lifetime. Each individual ’ s diet
will be slightly different, because of course we are all
different.
Having said that, there are certain features that are
essential for a diet to be safe, healthy and successful. The
Diet ticks all the ‘ ultimate ’ requirements:
It ’ s safe
It works
It suits men and women
There are no banned foods
It ’ s simple and easy to understand
There are no fancy ingredients to worry about
THE DIET CYCLE help you to adapt the way you eat to lose weight,
maintain your weight loss and be healthy.
It ’ s an eating plan for life!
Sounds pretty good, doesn ’ t it? Perhaps the more pertinent
question to ask is: ‘ Why do other diets fail? ’
Let me explain.
THE DIET CYCLE
We ’ ve all been there. It ’ s Monday morning, another
weekend of overindulgence is behind you, and it ’ s D - day.
You ’ re all fi red up and ready to go. You ’ re about to start the
diet! Later that week, or even that day, things may start to
get a bit dodgy. You ’ ve had a stressful day at work, the kids
are playing up, you ’ re tired, hungry, haven ’ t planned ahead
for the diet, or there may be a multitude of other factors;
and at that point, it ’ s all too easy to decide the diet is just
too hard or too much hassle to stick to. Your willpower
slips by the wayside, leaving you feeling lousy,
disappointed, guilty and like a failure.
If this sounds familiar, that ’ s because it ’ s exactly what
I ’ m talking about when I describe the ‘ diet cycle ’ : a cycle of
preparing for a diet, starting a diet, stopping a diet, and
feeling guilty about it.
When I meet a new client, we spend quite a lot of our time
together talking about their previous dieting experiences. It
helps us both to understand how they usually approach a
diet, so we can plan a new approach that will work for
them. Some of the most common reasons why clients have
stopped dieting in the past include:
No willpower
Not enough time to bother with ‘ fancy ’ diet food
No time to cook at all
Can only diet when everything ’ s going smoothly in life
Everyone else keeps putting me off
Stress and pressure at work
I ’ m out two or three nights a week
Diets are really confusing and complicated, I just want
something simple to follow
Are these reasons for abandoning a diet, or excuses? Well,
they can be a bit of both, but from my experience with my
clients, and from my own dieting history, I am convinced
that dieting behaviour is something we learn and can
change. The more times you go through that diet cycle, the
more your destructive diet behaviour becomes entrenched.
The time it takes from the starting point of the diet cycle to
the stopping point, and the guilty feelings of ‘ failure ’ , get
shorter and shorter.
Eventually, for some people this
means not even getting as far as starting the next diet. We
come to know our personal diet cycle so well, we believe
we ’ re doomed to fail before we even start. So of course we
think: ‘ What ’ s the point in bothering at all? ’
The most important thing to say about this pattern
of behavior is that it can all be changed: the diet cycle
can be broken. The Diet is a great opportunity for you
to change the way you approach eating and your weight
loss goals forever. Once you break the cycle you are in
control, you make the decisions and you have the upper
hand when it comes to changing the way you eat, look and
feel.
journalists, in TV interviews or by friends, is: ‘ What is
the ultimate diet? ’ Of course, the truth is there is no one
diet that ’ s perfect for everyone. The ultimate diet for
each of us is the one that is safe, that works and that
we can maintain for a lifetime. Each individual ’ s diet
will be slightly different, because of course we are all
different.
Having said that, there are certain features that are
essential for a diet to be safe, healthy and successful. The
Diet ticks all the ‘ ultimate ’ requirements:
It ’ s safe
It works
It suits men and women
There are no banned foods
It ’ s simple and easy to understand
There are no fancy ingredients to worry about
THE DIET CYCLE help you to adapt the way you eat to lose weight,
maintain your weight loss and be healthy.
It ’ s an eating plan for life!
Sounds pretty good, doesn ’ t it? Perhaps the more pertinent
question to ask is: ‘ Why do other diets fail? ’
Let me explain.
THE DIET CYCLE
We ’ ve all been there. It ’ s Monday morning, another
weekend of overindulgence is behind you, and it ’ s D - day.
You ’ re all fi red up and ready to go. You ’ re about to start the
diet! Later that week, or even that day, things may start to
get a bit dodgy. You ’ ve had a stressful day at work, the kids
are playing up, you ’ re tired, hungry, haven ’ t planned ahead
for the diet, or there may be a multitude of other factors;
and at that point, it ’ s all too easy to decide the diet is just
too hard or too much hassle to stick to. Your willpower
slips by the wayside, leaving you feeling lousy,
disappointed, guilty and like a failure.
If this sounds familiar, that ’ s because it ’ s exactly what
I ’ m talking about when I describe the ‘ diet cycle ’ : a cycle of
preparing for a diet, starting a diet, stopping a diet, and
feeling guilty about it.
When I meet a new client, we spend quite a lot of our time
together talking about their previous dieting experiences. It
helps us both to understand how they usually approach a
diet, so we can plan a new approach that will work for
them. Some of the most common reasons why clients have
stopped dieting in the past include:
No willpower
Not enough time to bother with ‘ fancy ’ diet food
No time to cook at all
Can only diet when everything ’ s going smoothly in life
Everyone else keeps putting me off
Stress and pressure at work
I ’ m out two or three nights a week
Diets are really confusing and complicated, I just want
something simple to follow
Are these reasons for abandoning a diet, or excuses? Well,
they can be a bit of both, but from my experience with my
clients, and from my own dieting history, I am convinced
that dieting behaviour is something we learn and can
change. The more times you go through that diet cycle, the
more your destructive diet behaviour becomes entrenched.
The time it takes from the starting point of the diet cycle to
the stopping point, and the guilty feelings of ‘ failure ’ , get
shorter and shorter.
Eventually, for some people this
means not even getting as far as starting the next diet. We
come to know our personal diet cycle so well, we believe
we ’ re doomed to fail before we even start. So of course we
think: ‘ What ’ s the point in bothering at all? ’
The most important thing to say about this pattern
of behavior is that it can all be changed: the diet cycle
can be broken. The Diet is a great opportunity for you
to change the way you approach eating and your weight
loss goals forever. Once you break the cycle you are in
control, you make the decisions and you have the upper
hand when it comes to changing the way you eat, look and
feel.
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