In recent years the psychological approach called behaviour
modification has proved highly successful in treating eating disorders from the
mild to the very serious. Because many experts believe that external stimuli,
or cues in the environment trigger eating, they have focused on altering habits
that are, in fact conditioned responses to false stimuli. What many people read
as signals to eat are in fact symptoms - or sensations - of fatigue,
depression, anxiety, boredom or tension.
The aim of behaviour modification is to teach you to
recognise when you are most vulnerable to false stimuli and how to change your
behaviour to thwart inappropriate responses. By attending to your patterns,
your habits and your responses, you can avoid the feeling of helplessness that overtakes troubled eaters.
The following
tips should help to get you started:
- The first step is to decide you really do want to change.
List the benefits you believe will result if you succeed in gaining control of
your eating.
- Set realistic goals. Weight gained over 10 years cannot be
lost in a week or two.
- Focus on patterns, not kilograms. You are teaching yourself
new responses, not counting every bite.
- Do not collapse in guilt if you breakdown and have a
chocolate biscuit. Just put away the rest.
- Keep a food diary. Be honest and precise.
- When you’ve become aware of your personal danger zones, take
action to avoid them: plan ahead; change your routine; avoid temptation.
- Eat three meals a day. Do not skip. Have a good breakfast and
make every meal an occasion. If you must snack, make it low-kilo-joule.
- Eat only sitting down and, when at home, in a place
designated specially for eating.
- Present food attractively. Divide your meals into two or
more courses, even if the second course is only coffee or tea with biscuits.
- Eat slowly. Taste your food. Put down your knife and fork
after every two or three bites. Make each meal last 20 to 30 minutes.
- Never shop when you are hungry. Make a list and stick to it.
Buy only what you need right now. Buy small packages, even if they are not the
best bargain. Buy foods that require preparation-and enough time to think about
whether you really need to eat.
- Build support for success. Educate those close to you to
reinforce your efforts. But weight control and eating habits are your
responsibility. Do not ask someone else to control your actions.
- Act thin. Stand erect. Walk confidently at any weight and
you will look better, feel better.
- Look at yourself in the mirror once a day, but weigh
yourself only every week or two. Weight fluctuates from day to day, and you
could unfairly become discouraged by failure to lose or by suddenly gaining a
kilogram or two.
Once you reach your desired weight or state of health, don’t
revert to old habits. Remind yourself that you have accomplished something
terrific. And, if you do find your weight creeping back up, start a dairy again
to find out where you are having trouble.
You will have had a lot of practice running your own life by
then. It should not take you long to get yourself back on the right track.
