Dieters psychological advantage part two

Within the first article we looked at six factors that would aid your diet and help you stay on track as you burn of the excess blubber that currently obscures your definition and all the hard work you put in at the gym. Below are a further six tips and tricks to keep you on the fat loss pathway.

7. CCK control

Trying to regulate your feel full hormone cholecystokinin (CCK) will ensure you are less likely to over eat and blow all your hard work.
CCK is a digestive hormone secreted from the duodenal enteroendocrine cells. It has a wide variety of roles relating to intestinal function, but also works upon the central nervous system and effects satiety by reducing hunger.
CCK is released when chyme, which is a mix of ingested foods and acids, arrives in the duodenum. CCK seems to be more heavily secreted when the chyme contains lipids (meaning fats) and proteins. Considering this one tactic to use during periods of the day when hunger strikes is to consume a meal of fibrous (hence large volumes of chyme) foods, healthy essential fats and proteins.
Typically most peoples ‘problem time’ when dieting is in the evening so a mix of fibrous vegetables and something along the lines of an oily portion of fish or eggs (preferably organic so as to be richer in omega threes) will provide a meal with considerable effect on satiety. This should provide you from binge eating for a fairly small calorie load. The added benefit is this kind of meal is optimal when trying to shed fat anyway, the proteins will aid in keeping a positive nitrogen balance, the essential fats (specifically omega threes) will aid in glucose sensitivity and lean body composition and the fibrous foods slow digestion which will again aid in glucose metabolism by reducing the glycemic indice of any meal.
Other suggested nutrients that may have a positive effect on CCK include L-phenyalanine, glycomacropeptide and phaseolus vulgaris which is found in kidney beans.

8 Calorie free treats

Sometimes it doesn’t matter how hard you try you need something to satisfy cravings. Rather than give in and fully scoff a large cake you could find calorie free (or near enough) treats that you allow yourself.
Examples include pickled onions, beetroot and gherkins or something like sugar free Jelly
Another thing is the use of spices and herbs to help make regular diet food (chicken and broccoli) actually enjoyable. The only caveat about this type of activity is ensuring the pre-packaged seasonings don’t have too much salt or that any sauces are low in sugar and fat.

9. Small bites at the cherry.

For some of you reaching your target may seem like along way off, especially if you have thirty or more pounds of fat to strip. Rather than look at the overall goal try to focus on smaller goals; whether it be losing one to two pounds weekly or even just ensuring that you stick to your diet that day in the end these small accomplishments add up until you eventually reach your overall target.
One thing that also aids in creating goals is to use performance goals rather than outcome goals, for example an outcome goal would be to lose two pounds a week were as a performance goals would be to exercise for half an hour each day. In order to complete an outcome goal you would have to do the necessary performances to reach the goal, so keeping your focus upon the steps towards the outcome will ensure you get there.
Far too often it’s easy to look at the bigger picture (especially when the diet seems hard) and just think ‘sod it, I can’t do this’. With smaller goals you will be more likely to win in your dietary battles which will help build confidence and momentum in your diet. Remember each little goal is one step closer to the body you want.

10. Reminder of your goals

Dieting is hard and sometimes it’s easy to forget why you’re doing all this self torture. To ensure you stick with your diet put photos or sayings around your home or work place to reinforce why your working towards losing weight. It helps to have sayings and pictures in strategic places to ensure you remember why your not going to eat the chocolate cake in the fridge (you should have listened to step one!!!).
For the competitive bodybuilder a picture of last year’s winner in top condition helps. For those of you who are just looking to get in shape either a picture of the body you want or even find a picture of yourself that shows you looking out of shape – nothing better than a harsh dose of truth to steel your inner strength.

11. Do’s Vs don’ts

When you speak to a dieter you hear the common phrase ‘I can’t have that, it’s not on my diet’. It’s these kinds of phrases and thoughts which make a diet hard as the thought of denying yourself something causes you to miss what you’re not having. In order to overcome this you must view diets differently and focus on the things you should have rather than on what you’re not allowed. I call these Do’s Vs don’ts.
Lets take a stereotypical low fat, low glycemic diet plan, when you go in to a shop to by some food most will be actively trying to not by a high fat sugary food. This will create a situation where you thinking about the food and battling not to give in which often ends up in losing out due to the food being in your mind (the mind doesn’t handle negatives well, if I say don’t think of pink elephants what are you doing? Thinking of pink elephants no doubt).
Instead what is preferable is rather than trying to resist certain foods we do the opposite and seek out certain foods which enable you to stay on your diet. Quite often I have my clients have set amount of nutritional checklist they must complete everyday such as drinking a certain amount of pure water, eating a minimum number of fruits and vegetables and ensuring they eat a fibrous breakfast. These are active positive steps the person is taking rather than negative steps such as avoiding sugary and fatty nutrient sparse food.
The results end up the same as anyone who is seeking to eat and drink a certain amount of foods will naturally avoid eating or drinking off limit foods and drink as a by product of their actions. When I ask most clients to drink three or more litres of pure water a day they just don’t seem to find room for their regular sugary drinks as they are quite full already.
Taking positive steps rather than negative will always be easier and help you keep on the diet.

12. Flavour control for feeling fuller.

Every food we eat contains a distinct flavour; usually these can be broken down into five tastes termed gustatory discrimination. These five tastes are sweet, salt, sour, bitter and lastly umami or the distinctive taste of glutamate found in many meats.
These tastes are sensed by gustatory cells, or tastes buds to you and me on the tongue as we eat our food. This has a primary role in satiety, due to the body trying to eat a wide variety of foods to ensure that it gets the eclectic array of nutrients it needs to function properly.
These natural phenomenons were your body will become full on one food but is quite able to consume more quantities of a differing tasting food is termed sensory specific satiety. You have probably experienced it yourself at a restaurant when you stuff yourself to bursting point with you main dish (typically a bitter, salty, sour or umami flavoured dish) and you cannot face another spoonful of this food for fear of exploding and covering nearby dinners, yet as soon as the desert menu is presented you could probably consume a sweet flavoured food.
There are two ways of using this phenomenon to your advantage, the first is to ensure your meal contains a mixture of tastes so you don’t crave another flavour shortly after eating and start consuming more calories. The other way is for those of you who never feel full during your diet and that is to ensure all the ingredients of your meal have similar tasting chemical structures so you become full quickly due to sensory specific satiety.
Sensory specific satiety is one of the ways that most people over consume junk food as the sugar and preservatives tend to present a mixture of tastes and therefore it takes longer to feel full and you consume a large quantity of energy dense nutrient sparse foods.

So there you have it twelve ways to help you keep on the pathway of fat loss, but these only work if you implement them, so take the ideas and work them into your diet plan, then the next real worry is getting a new set of clothes to fit your new svelte self.

Copy right glen Danbury 2007