Dieting Psychology 101

I saw a great commercial the other day. What's funny is that I forget what it was for (some restaurant chain I think). Anyway the point was brilliant and relates to intelligent dieting big time.

It starts with a semi fat guy that likes eating out. It shows him going from drive through to drive through and restaurant to restaurant. Then a narrator comes in and says what if you had 3 teenage girls follow you around and tell you when you weren't healthy.

Then it cuts to all these different scenarios where you see this middle aged frumpy looking man at all these different drive through's and every time he takes a bite into a greasy fattening piece of food the 3 girls are either sitting next to him in the restaurant or standing outside of his car and go, "ew, gross, seriously?"

Clever Stuff

diet psychologyI thought to myself this was a wildly clever idea for anyone looking to go on a diet and even beat obesity. Hire three teenage girls to follow you around whenever you're about to eat something and let them determine whether or not if it's acceptable to eat.

This really doesn't have a whole lot to do with dieting knowledge, its more about common sense. I've heard so many younger girls in my past obsess over dieting and calorie counting, and what has trans fat, poly's, and on and on and on...

I think it's safe to say we can drop a lot of that and hunker down back to the basics. Especially for those of you that are just starting out or are trying a new approach to dieting because the old one wasn't working.

Think like them...

What? You heard right. Think like a teenage girl for a second on the varsity cheer leading squad. How do most of them stay so thin and fit? True some are blessed by genetics, but others really watch what they eat and stay as active as they can on a regular basis.

Go Green

A lot of young girls go green for a while too. No I don't mean they recycle more and plant trees in their free time, but they green up their diet either a lot or altogether.

A nice dieting strategy that I've seen executed successfully is going vegetarian in spurts. They go a few weeks or even a few months vegetarian to lose weight.

I'm not saying beef and chicken or any other meat is bad for you and can deter your diet, but they do pack more punch in calories and fat than any vegetable.

A lot of grains, oats, pasta's, rice, veggies, fruits, nuts, and things like this can keep it all off. Maybe smaller portions of meat being incorporated into your diet could work like diced chicken in a salad.

But depending on what your goals are, you have to adjust your diet to them. If you want to lose a substantial amount of weight, and fast, then going on a strict vegetarian or even vegan diet might be in order.

Watch What You Eat

For maintaining your weight, you should watch what you eat, pay attention to portions, but don't be afraid to have a tiny piece of heaven here and there throughout your week.

You have to factor in how much you eat, and then of course the main influence which is what you're eating.

So with this commercial a light bulb went off in my head and made me realize I should mention it here. Look at what your eating and ask yourself, "would an OCD teenage girl be okay with eating this?"

The joke was that the guy hired them.

Almost like he had 3 personal nutritionists following him around wherever he went.

What's even stranger is that this middle aged man could potentially have more knowledge about nutrition then the 3 young girls simply because he's been around longer.

On the contrary they could be obsessed with dieting and he has disregarded smart eating his whole life.

What is Good for You?

But what I'm trying to say is how much could a teenage girl know about dieting. It's really not that hard to look at something and go "hmm well that's probably not good for me", which translates to their "gross" point of view.

So try and trick yourself into looking at food from now on in this light when your dieting or just in general. When something super fatty and obviously unhealthy but delicious presents itself to you and is there for the taking, bring this frame of mind into action and see what your better judgement will do for yourself.

Again, it doesn't take an expert (like a teenage girl) to understand what's too fattening to be eating and what's acceptable, or to be giving simple diet advice.

It's like walking on eggshells, or maybe its more of just treading softly.

For next time, think before you bite.

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