BRAIN OVER BINGE ?

Today I decided to review a book that I discovered a while ago, called "Brain Over Binge (Why I Was Bulimic, Why Conventional Therapy Didn't Work, And How I Recovered"). 

It is written by Kathryn Hansen, a recovered bulimic who developed her own approach to succumb binge eating after conventional therapy concepts (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy and Addiction Therapy) didn't work for her.

Basically, she sees the root of binge eating in an initial decision to diet, an not in traumatising experience and psychological issues, as traditionally seen in the majority of theories.
Therefore, binge eating illustrates a symptom of a survival instinct as a reaction to calorie restriction, and the more you engage in it, the more it starts to become a habit due to neural connections that are strengthened over time ("brain wiring").

She doesn't discount conventional treatment methods, claiming they are ineffective and useless, but she addresses the problem that while they helped her to stop irrational beliefs, thoughts and harmful behaviours of dieting, it didn't reduce her binges. Fruthermore, she emphasises that just because these concepts didn't work for her, and she believes they can definitely help other people. Her objective is mainly to help people who have made similar experiences like her and have given up hope in recovery.

I will briefly explain how the three conventional concepts aim to change the harmful eating behaviour, and why Hansen didn't find them effective for her:

1. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy:

The goal is to substitute the harmful behaviour (bingeing) with healthier alternatives or distractions in order to overcome the urge. For Hansen, this approach is only an indirect solution. While it helped her regarding confronting and reflecting on her binge urges, it didn't take away the desire to eat . If anything, it only fuelled this instinct, since it put even more focus and attention to it.
On top of that, CBT stays dependent on monitoring behaviours that recognise triggers on the long term, so in certain ways, you will always be something like a 'tamed pet' that isn't fully recovered.

2. Psychodynamic Therapy:

This form of therapy assumes that underlying psychological issues and past experiences (especially in childhood) are the root of problematic behaviours/thoughts/feelings. However, for Hansen realising that certain behaviours or statements her parents made in the past probably had an influence with the accumulating factors which eventually resulted in her decision to diet, but this insight didn't reduce her binge eating.

3. Addiction Therapy:

Proponents of this therapy believe that a complete recovery from excessive consumption of stimulating substances (including drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and food) is only possible by complete abstinence from the substance, which is obviously not possible for eating disorders, because food keeps us alive and we cannot avoid it altogether. This is why it is suggested to stay away from triggering foods that provoke a binge due to the hormonal and neurotransmitter responses, which are primarily refined sugar and white flour.
This means, you will always have to restrict yourself and will always have a problem with eating. And if you then do eat these foods (accidentally or lack of choice), this means you are relapsing, which may result in unnecessary negative thoughts that in turn could actually provoke a full on binge.

Hansen suggests an alternative approach that she has derived from the so called "Rational Recovery".
This approach has mainly been applied for OCD patients, who have similar thought and behaviour patterns like eating disordered people (intrusive thoughts, compulsiveness and black and white thinking).

It is assumed that our brain consists of two parts, the lower brain (or "animal brain") and the higher brain (prefrontal cortex).
The lower brain is responsible for all binge urges. It is primitive and includes our survival instincts, in this case the binge eating is a response to restrictive dieting. 
The highest human brain, which is seen strictly separated from the lower brain, separates the "I "from binge urges by inhibiting them.
This can be achieched by the following steps:

1. view urges to binges as neurological junk from lower brain
2. separate highest human brain from urges (or as ego-dystonic)
3. stop reacting to my urges
4. stop acting on my urges
5. get excited (by realising that this works which will enforce future resistance to binge)

Taking this into consideration, developing binge eating as well as reducing it, is a form of conditioning and extinction.

The points are elaborated more precisely in the book. If you would like me to summarise them in a future Thrive Thursday post, just leave me a comment , and I am happy to do so.

My personal opinion on this book is overall positive.
I find this woman's story very inspiring, especially considering that she suffered from binge eating for her whole young adult life and had already given up hope until she stumbled onto this originally developed for OCD technique and applied it to a problem herself many people suffer from, which is very innovative.
While she cannot prove that this theory works by scientific evidence, I see parallels to a cognitive technique that I read about a few months ago, where binge urges or simply urges to eat unhealthy foods, are seen as intrusive passengers on a bus, that you are blocking out, which is equivalent to a ego-dystonic technique (other passengers are not part of you).

I definitely don't think that it can replace conventional therapy, because it is important to address underlying issues and irrational beliefs or harmful thoughts, however it is worth considering implementing it in cognitive techniques as a method to help reducing binge eating urges that will in turn make it easier to develop better alternative behaviours.

The only negative point I would like to mention is that Hansen sees certain disease criteria, e.g. "compensatory behaviours such as the use of laxative and overexercising" as "no sign of disease" which I disagree about, because from personal observation a person without an eating disorder would keep eating normally after overeating.

Find out more about the book here. I definitely recommend it to people who have a long history of binge eating or other eating disorders. I also think that it is very important to read for people who are thinking out going on a strict diet, or are already on it. The sooner you prevent potential harmful consequences, the better; especially considering that Hansen sees her initial root for problematic eating (first anorexia, then bulimia) in her decision to diet.

WEEKLY FOOD DIARY 1: A GLIMPSE INTO MY DIET

Happy Monday, everyone!

I wish you all have a great start of the week.

To give you some inspiration for what to eat, and also to give you a kind of glimpse into my diet, I decided to do a weekly post of a selection of meals I have been eating during the week before.

I initially contemplated doing something like "What I Ate Wednesday" like many bloggers, but I figured that would be a little boring since I tend to have similar snacks and breakfasts, and let's be honest, a sandwich usually doesn't look pretty enough to be photographed (unless it is from some fancy bakery which mine are not).

As a disclaimer, I don't really eat out a lot because firstly, I try to live on a budget, and secondly, I enjoy home cooked food more at most times, because it is often fresher, more nutritious and I can determine the ingredients.

I would also like to point out, that I don't follow any diet hype or the 'clean eating movement'. I usually enjoy eating healthy and nutritious meals because it makes me feel better mentally and physically, but I would say about 80% of my diet is what is considered healthy, and for the rest 20% I enjoy eating things like cookies, chocolates and cake (I am not a huge fan of takeaway meals or fast food such as chips and pizza, but my weakness is my sweet tooth).

With all that being said, let's take a look at some of the things I ate!

This granola fruit parfait was my fancy Saturday breakfast! I used my favourite granola brand Dorset (which tastes amazing plus it's sugar-free), dairy-free coconut yogurt by Coyo and as a special treat raspberries as a topping. I buy raspberries very rarely because they are so expensive but I thought I would treat myself for once ;).

This foto isn't the best quality because I took it with my phone but I just had to show you this great lunch! It was Indian chicken curry with my favourite Indian bread, Paratha (admittedly it is frozen, but you would never be able to tell!). To make it a little more nutritious I added a chopped beetroot. I actually hate beetroots, but I force myself to eat them because they are so incredibly good for you.

This photo was taken Saturday afternoon, when I went to Waitrose cafe in Aylesbury with my boyfriend. I had a cappuccino (right), and he went for a Moccha (left). To be honest, they didn't taste as great as they looked. I envy people who live in Italy because everywhere you order a cappuccino it is simply amazing!

This is a spinach omelette with avocado, marmite and wholemeal bread that I whipped up for brunch Sunday last week. I just love the combination of eggs and marmite, although so many people hate the bitter taste. In the UK, it is very difficult to find good quality wholemeal bread, so I was thrilled to pick up this delicious 80% wholemeal rye bread from the Bakery Euphorium in Islington. It almost tastes like from Germany (although it is apparently Swedish).

I simply love Green Juices, because they provide so many nutrients, they are energising and provide an easy way to contribute to your 5 a day, oh and of course they are delicious ;).

This is how I usually make mine (but you can add what you like really):

- 1/2 avocado

- 1 or 2 apples

- 1 beetroot

- generous amount of spinach leaves

- 1 banana

- cucumber or celery

This delicious Green Tea Pasta with salmon is a staple of mine. Salmon is one of my favourite foods, and along with the green tea sauce (that I make with Matcha Powder and leek), it makes an interesting but irresistible combination. This was dinner from Wednesday night.

I snacked on this combination of dried apricots, dates, blueberries and nuts on Saturday night while watching TV. I am not a fan of conventional snacks such as crips or salty crackers, so I usually reach out for something like this.

I know this photo looks super messy but this is how Sunday brunches usually look like with my boyfriend and me. We started with an onion omelette with cherry tomatoes, wholemeal bread and avokado, and then had muesli with fruit (Crunchy Nut for my boyfriend and granola for me). I sipped on Green Tea, and he had orange juice.

My mouth is still watering from just looking at this photo! Because my boyfriend loves cheesecake, and I am obsessed with peanut butter, I decided to join these two foods into an indulgent dessert, called Peanut Butter Cheesecake. We ate this though out the week every now and then, because I made a small tray altogether. The base was made from crumbled digestives with melted butter, and for the topping I simply mixed cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar and some more butter. It was actually the first cheesecake I tasted and genuily liked! Will definitely make this again, and it is really easy to make.

I just thought I would share a photo of my favourite mug with green tea I got as a gift for Christmas from my sister. I usually drink a cup of green tea every morning with my breakfast, or sometimes as night after dinner.

I hope you all had delicious meals. What did you have? I am always curious to know what other people are eating!

THRIVE THURSDAY: USE YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS TO EAT HEALTHIER

Like I promised last week, I have started a new series that 'investigates' strategies to use knowledge about the meaning of psychological needs in the context of healthy behaviours.

The first part focuses on ways to evoke basic needs in order to fuel your motivation for the right nutrition.

I admit that this sounds a bit bizarre and abstract, so let me start with the theory behind all this.

Abraham Maslow developed a pyramid that suggests that human beings strive to fulfil basic psychological needs in a certain rank order, starting with physiological needs that are necessary to survive. The assumption is that if the 'lower' more basic needs are fulfilled, the person will strive for 'higher' goals, such as elevating his self-esteem.

This is how this hierarchal pyramid looks like:

In normal circumstances of our society, we can assume that our physiological and safety needs are more or less fulfilled. We live in our own place without immediate jeopardy and we have access to food and water (even here you can take hunger/thirst as a motivation if you feel that only a healthy and nutritious diet is vital for your body and physical well-being, however it is not required to survive), so the focus of the approach I am discussing  is on the three needs love/belonging, esteem and self-actualisation.

According to the self-determination theory, the needs that are crucial to engage increased intrinsic motivation are especially autonomy, personal growth (relevant for self-actualization) , experiencing competence (part of the need esteem) contribution to community, acceptance (important for love/belonging).

(see last week's blog post).

To give you a more precise understanding of how each single need can consciously be evoked by eating healthily, I will elaborate examples of thought patterns and behaviours that address them and thus may lead to actual motivation.

1. PERSONAL GROWTH

Have you ever had a hobby that you felt you truly 'owned'? You might have felt pride because you felt with time you developed more abilities and skills.

This was probably because you had potential and talent for it. 

With other things (may it be a certain sport or instrument) you maybe felt you were not progressing although you were practicing a lot.

Luckily, with the right nutrition, what you put 'in' correlates highly with results, so you don't really need a special gift to be 'good' at eating healthily.

All it takes is certain discipline and patience. Of course, there are some people that are blessed with a exceptionally fast metabolism, and it will be slightly easier for them to shed weight.

It is important that you see yourself isolated from other people and stop comparing yourself. After all, you can 'only' be the best version of yourself, and if you put enough time and effort you will see results.

See the healthy lifestyle (I don't like to call it diet because this is often associated with restriction) as a form of a hobby and skill that you are good at. If you see it rationally, it is easy really. You just eat three times a day and include healthy foods. See it as a form of entertainment and enjoyment. It gives you the opportunity to experiment with new foods and to learn cooking (which actually can be a proper hobby!).

And like I said last week, don't focus on the outcome, but enjoy the ride. At all times, even if you have just been doing this for a week, you will feel some sorts of benefits, be it physical (more energy, feeling fuller for longer...) or emotional (excitement of cooking with new foods, stable mood...). 

Feel how these benefits affect your personality (e.g. happier, calmer) , your skills (e.g. cooking different cuisines and hosting dinner parties) and identity (e.g. "I am able to control what I eat." / "I believe in the importance of healthy nutrition.")

2. AUTONOMY

See the healthy lifestyle as your personal choice. You eat what you eat because you want it and made the decision, not because you were pressurised or it is expected from society. You are the master of your beliefs and actions and you are passionate about it and stand behind your opinion.

To enhance this aspect, I recommend not sticking to a certain diet plan stricly. Maybe initially when you are still learning about good nutrition this is important, but try to incorporate your own ideas and favourite foods as soon as possible. So you can kind of see it as a 'patchwork approach'. Try to include different recipes and choose these based on what you enjoy eating, after all this is a long-term change.

I recommend looking through different types of cook books and blogs and experiment with what you like. After a while you will feel you have to put less effort and it will come more naturally. Remember to always stay true to yourself and keep your diet interesting for yourself. 

You may even cook old indulgent favourites and look for healthier alternatives. Often even the fact that the meal is homecooked makes it automatically lower in sugar, salt and saturated fat, but you will often find that by replacing certain ingredients, you will barely taste a difference and it may be up to half the fat and calories. (Just google Healthy Spaghetti Carbonara or Vegetarian Lasagna ;) )

With this type of customised diet you will feel that what you buy and eat is your own and that you were actively engaged in the choice.

3. COMPETENCE

This psychological need is somewhat related to Personal Growth, in the sense that you acquire a skill or a vast knowledge that makes you an expert, and thus elevates your self-esteem.

Nowadays, there are countless 'diet' books, blogs and articles on healthy nutrition. I generally recommend staying away from one-sided and extreme concepts in books (especially initially) , such as low-carb, the now uber-trendy veganism, Dukan diet, etc.

Choose more holistic approaches that focus on all food groups, because going from an unhealthy diet to entirely restricting certain foods is certainly not healthy and will most likely result in a relapse or complete resignation. 

Pick literature that genuily interests you, because that keeps you motivated and passionate about your health journey.

This depends on your personally preferred approach and style. 

For people who like scientific literature I recommend the book "The Diet Deluison" , which I recently read and was impressed by the fact that every statement was backed up by scientific evidence. 

For somebody with who would prefers the easy-going, fun approach , the book "French Women Don't Get Fat" is a great read and engages the reader on a more personal and casual level and is very entertaining to read. You learn about the right nutrition without even realising it because it is integrated in stories.

I don't read many food blogs ( I am personally for into fashion and lifestyle blogs that sometimes have food-related posts) , but I definitely enjoy the following blogs or websites from time to time:

http://deliciouslyella.com

http://ohsheglows.com

http://www.katheats.com

http://www.shape.com

4. CONTRIBUTION TO COMMUNITY

This definitely sounds a lot more idealistic and far-fetched that it really is in practice. 

Simply use your acquired knowledge and newly accomplished skills to help your near and dears (family or partner) to develop a healthier and better lifestyle.

They will be simply motivated by the fact that they see the benefits of these changes in you, and you inspire them. Of course there will be some that are very resistant to change, but I promise you that it is very rewarding to see after seemingly ages of convincing and talking to no avail, (I definitely annoy everyone with my obsession to eat mountains of vegetables and fruits ;) ) you suddenly see a small change  in their behaviour as well, so all your selfless efforts had an impact on them after all.

Of course it is impossible to make a pizza and candy addict into a health nut over night, but don't stop to try to inspire others (without being patronising of course!). It always makes me happy when people tell me they have integrated useful tips I gave them into their daily lives, and they made a significant and positive impact on their well-being and health.

It will motivate you to stay this healthy role model that others take their inspiration and motivation from.

5. ACCEPTANCE/ CONNECTIVITY

I added connectivity as part of a social need, because acceptance often implies a wrong approach for motivation that is extrinsic. This is the case if you for example lose weight because you think you will be more popular or attractive with others.

I am , on the other hand, talking about the sense of acceptance and connection you experience when you engage with other people who have similar beliefs, goals and aspirations, in this case eating healthily.

This can be achieved by cooking healthy meals together, supporting each other by giving advise, or just talking about their journey and experiences. This creates a strong emotional bond and adresses human the psychological needs love and belonging.

If your family, friends or partner don't engage in changing their lifestyle, you can find social support systems online in various communities, and if you prefer a more personal interaction face to face, there are funded support groups for weight loss in every city.

The main aspect of this need is probably the feeling of being part of a community, which is achieved by a strong group identity and connection among its members. 

Everyone feels more accountable and responsible for their actions, and they associate their positive health changes with being accepted and being part of a social support system.

NEW SERIES: THRIVE THURSDAY

I would like to introduce the start of a new series I intend to blog about once a week every Thursday, called THRIVE THURSDAY. 

The purpose of this is to give you helpful and practical ideas or techniques to apply in your everyday life, or a question to make you think about or even reevaluate important aspects regarding your eating habits.

I will start with a question today which may sound easy, but actually may entail important thoughts and emotions behind your diet that are in direct relation to what potentially stands in your way to achieve your health goals.

Please take a moment and ask yourself what are the genuine reasons you want to improve your diet and fitness levels and what is the meaning behind it , because it may actually effect how successful you are, especially in the long term.






To illustrate this, let me give you two different examples.
Let's say one person wants to slim down to feel more accepted and to achieve more appeal in the environment. This type of motivation is called extrinsic, and research shows that it often doesn't result in long term success.

On the other hand, think of somebody who engages in a fitness routine because it is a form of expression (for example dancing as exercise), which would feed a basic psychological need, in this case self-actualisation. Moreover, he or she develops a healthy eating plan by reading a lot of healthy recipes and books about nutrition, which gives him or her a feeling of competence and accomplishment, so it would serve the person's need for personal growth.

But most importantly, the person feels that he or she does all these things deliberately and thus experiences autonomy, a very important internal goal when it comes to effective behaviour change. Having a choice without feeling obliged or even forced to stick to healthy behaviours leads to intrinsic motivation, which is optimal for persevering new habits.So now think about what this implemented change means to you and make use of personal resources to increase the connection to personal values and needs. 

See acquiring knowledge or learning a new exercise as a competence and a form of personal growth, so you have a positive and crucial personal connection to health behaviours (opposed to seeing it as a chore that you have to do but would rather lie on the couch and eat candy). Use these habits to connect with other people by cooking meals together or joining group yoga classes.

If you want your motivation to be intrinsic and thus persistent and long lasting, it is important to change your approach on how you see healthy habits. It has been shown that it is much easier and enjoyable and hence much more effective if people focus on the process (as a source of enjoyment, personal growth and connectedness to other people) instead of a number on a scale (the outcome).

If you want to read more about the scientific background of these findings, the so-called self-determination theory, go to this link: http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/9/1/22
Next week I will be focusing on ways to increase your intrinsic motivation with healthy eating based on these ideas.

ARE YOU ON A NEW YEAR'S DIET? RETHINK ...

If you are about, or already have jumped on the annual band wagon of embarking on a fad diet, think again...

You probably have started any form of crazy, fad diet regime for several years by now.
Think of how long you have been able to stick to it. Mid  January? February? The more determined ones among you maybe till March. But after this? It is likely you have blown the diet and binged on cakes or indulgent treats, which resulted in gaining everything back, in some cases leaving you with more weight then pre diet.

You think you lack in willpower and discipline. And you think "This time it will be different. I will be determined and stick to the Gwyneth Paltrow Detox /Dukan Diet etc because it is new and innovative... this will definitely work for me."

Don't fool yourself. And don't think a new diet, which basically includes similar calories and rules as the previous ones at the end of the day, will miraculously turn your life around and make you a healthy, perfect human being over night.

First of all, don't panic if you have overindulged over the holidays and gained a few pounds. Remind yourself that you are not doing this everyday and your body is smart enough to naturally gravitate to your previous weight by itself. You don't need a detox to cleanse your body. If you eat the right balance of nutrition without restricting. Your body is amazing and you should not discount that fact. It is able to rid itself of toxins and redundant fat storages if you just give it some time.
Respect your body by being gentle to it and giving it what it craves - overall you will find that without dieting you will probably even crave healthier foods than on a diet. 
Ironic, right? This phenomena is called Reverse Psychology. Basically your mind tricks you by thinking or making you do the opposite of what you 'should'. 

Use this knowledge and nourish yourself properly. Of course, your meals should focus on balanced, filling meals that cover most nutrient groups, so that ideally you don't get massive sugar cravings. Usually, those are a sign that your body is missing particular food groups or vitamins.
So if you think you are craving this bar of chocolate or this slice of pizza, think about what nutritients you didn't have enough of lately. Did you drink enough water and eat enough fruit, vegetables and starches? In many cases, sugar cravings indicate a lack of chromium (found in broccoli, potatoes and bananas), carbon phosphorous (found in animal products such as fish and pork), sulfur (found in leafy green vegetables and nuts or poultry)  and tryptophan (found in seafood and dairy products)These nutrients stabilise your blood sugar levels, so when you consume enough you shouldn't have any unnormal cravings. ( Source: livestrong.com)


For example yesterday, I hadn't had fruit all day because I ran out of my regular fresh stock and had no opportunity to repurchase anything. I had eaten about 3 portions of vegetable over the day, which was okay, but at about 8 o'clock I suddenly felt depleted of energy and not really myself.
I had a piece of chocolate and found I felt even worse. Suddenly I saw an image of blueberries on a television show about health and sensed an powerful craving to have as many berries as possible. In this case I was clearly lacking in Vitamin C and the sugary chocolate made my blood levels spike up and down, leaving me tired and weak. 
So I whipped up a berry spinach smoothie and afterwards I felt amazing.

Give your body what it wants and craves for, and you cannot go wrong really, as long as you keep a good balance between healthy and indulgent foods. The ratio where I feel the best is usually 80:20.

So think again, before starting any crazy regime , but focus on wholesome and fulfilling meals instead. On a low calorie diet, you get in danger of messing up your efficient metabolism because you basically make your body think it will not get enough food so it starts storing everything it gets. You will miss out on important nutrients and if you indulge (which is sure to happen after a while on an unrealistic plan that doesn't provide sufficient energy), your body will hold onto these extra calories even more, thinking it will go into starvation mode again.

An important question to ask yourself about your current diet is, "Can I see myself eating exactly this way in a year's time, in two years, longer?"
Many people make the mistake of focusing on a short-term fix instead of finding something they are able to do long-term. So if you think this applies to you, don't waste your time and ditch that diet!

WHAT WE EAT IS NO COINCIDENCE : THE CHOMP MODEL

The last few decades have been a battle between competing diet and nutrition concepts - each of them holding the promise they will be the answer to the obesity problem. Ten years ago it was low carb, now it is the plant based approach that is finding increasing appeal in society.
But how come, if these diets are supposed to solve weight problems, people are becoming bigger and statically only about 20 % succeed in keeping their weight off long term?

I certainly believe the problem doesn't lie in the lack of the diets' effectiveness, but in the fact that nutrionists and doctors often ignore the part other factors play when it comes to eating or in that case overeating. More directly said, knowledge about adequate and healthy nutrition is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for actually transferring this knowledge into our behaviour.
Thus, it is not simply the capacity that makes us successful in changing this behaviour, but also four more main factors that can be summed up. These are habit, opportunity, motivation and personality. To make it more understandable, I am going to elaborate each single one. Altogether they can be easily remembered as the C-H-O-M-P model (which has quite an obvious thematic parallel). It is important to note that all factors should not be considered as isolated, but more as a transactional process. For example, a lack in opportunity can be compensated by strong motivation.


1. CAPACITY


Capacity includes all knowledge about eating methods that control or change our weight or have a positive overall influence on our health (depending on our goals). This could for example be the notion that by reducing the amount of energy that we put into our body we should experience weight reduction (most of us know that these can be measured in calories), or that eating more vegetables than meat or cakes has a positive influence on our health and wellbeing because it contains far more vitamins and antioxidants.
Knowledge about these things are important, however eating intuitively by what your body craves should usually turn you to foods and nutrients we are missing naturally if our eating pattern and behaviours are not disturbed. A certain broad knowledge can be effective to monitor and modifying  our eating habits, though.
__________________________________________

2. HABIT


This influence is often overlooked and vastly underestimated but we have to acknowledge the fact that human beings are in so many of their behaviours controlled by the power of a formed habit subconsciously, not only in our eating habits.
Research and several studies repeatedly show how difficult it is to let go of an internalised habit that we have carried out for a long time, often over years.
So if for example somebody has grown up in a family that has used food as a reward, this person is used to overeating on cakes or other junk food in conjunction with an emotional attachment, which is nothing more than conditioning, a very effecting learning mechanism.
However, it is by any means possible to change and erase habits, but this will take a lot of time and effort to finally alter all relevant brain connections. This is most effective by simple replacing harmful behaviour with desirable behaviour.


_______________________________________________________________

3. OPPORTUNITY

The best and most accurate knowledge about healthy nutrition can be useless if your environment gives you little opportunity. Examples for external obstacles are when people in your household refuse to eat and cook healthily and you have a week support system, or if there are only fast food shops in your neighbourhood instead of farmers markets or health stores.
_______________________________________________________________

4. MOTIVATION

Motivation is considered as one of the crucial factors in this model, since it may maintain healthy habits despite adverse conditions. It is most benefitial if the type of motivation is intrinsic, which means it isn't driven from exteriour sources (such as attention and increased acceptance through slimmer appearance), but it comes from within and the behaviour itself becomes the incentive. It may happen that people start with extrinsic motivation , which gradually turns into intrinsic motivation, once the habit is formed and internalised.
_______________________________________________________________

5. PERSONALITY


This factor has compared to the other ones only subordinate influence, but it can be crucial when the person faces obstacles or has a relapse.
To illustrate this, imagine a person with an optimistic and flexible personality style. He or she attributes failure and negative experiences to sources that are outside their control. So if the person experiences a relapse of eating unhealthy foods for a week, he or she sees the reason in the fact that the diet was not suitable for their lifestyle. 
The person will probably seek advise to change their diet and move on.
Imagine, on the contrary, a pessimistic person that will immediately feel accountable and blame himself thinking he or she is a failure and will never be able to lose weight. This person will probably give up dieting thinking he or she will never be able to lose weight and accept their 'fate'.

__________________________________________

There are of course other factors that have an influence on what we eat or how we behave. It is never possible to narrow down such a complex process as a simple model. The point was to illustrate that we cannot simple become healthy and adopt a completely different lifestyle if we are just given a diet plan. It is important to examine and identify impairing factors that may keep the person from implementing new behaviours.
On the other hand, this technique gives the opportunity to discover resources (e.g. dedication or a health-conscious friend) that give the person potential and scope to develop and change.

ABOUT ME

Thank you for finding your way to my health blog and welcome if this is your first visit!

I am a Health Psychologist with a specialisation in nutrition.
My passion is to help others to develop healthier habits, mainly though cognitive techniques derived from CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy).

I believe that common approaches for improving health-realted habits underestimate generally underestimate the power our minds have on our behaviour.
My goal is to work on inhibiting psychological factors that keep us from eating and living well.

For business inquiries and consultation requests please feel free to contact me.

helenawehling@gmail.com

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13429329/?claim=w9cvk3sndxs">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>