Eat What You Love

An important principal in releasing weight through pleasure is this: eat only foods you love.
Diets lead to restriction. Restriction leads to deprivation. Deprivation leads to desperation. Desperation leads to bingeing. Bingeing leads to weight gain. Weight gain leads to diets. This vicious circle does not lead to a lot of pleasure.

Eating foods you love does, in fact, lead to pleasure.

There are certain foods that scream “diet” to me. Iceburg lettuce, baby carrots, and rice cakes are a few of those foods. So I avoid those foods like the plague!

However, dark bittersweet chocolate is a food that I love. And so I make sure that I eat some form of it often!

“But Kristin, you’re telling me to eat only what I love. I love it all! If it’s food, I love it,” you may say.

Great! Then it becomes important to pay attention to your hunger signals and your feelings. Eat when you feel physically hungry. And stop when you feel physically satisfied.

And never settle for a food that you don’t really love. If you have a deep desire for brie cheese, do not settle for Cheese Whiz. If you have a deep desire for pot roast, do not settle for a peanut butter sandwich. If you desire real cream in your coffee, do not settle for non-dairy creamer.

In releasing weight through pleasure, here are three tips:

1. Identify which foods bring you the most pleasure.

2. Ask yourself which foods you really desire.

2. Eat only those foods.

Honor your physical appetite. Listen to what your body really wants. And never settle.

Up Next: “Is It Really About Hunger?”