Guide: where to start proper nutrition and don’t break

Everyone knows that you should follow a balanced diet, to lose weight and maintain a figure for many years, but only a few in fact adhere to the principles of healthy consumption food. This manual is intended to reveal the results. scientific study of the reasons why we are not able to eat healthy food and share how to get started eat right and overcome the reasons why it’s often not it turns out.

You do not have to stick to a strict diet. On the based on his research in behavioral psychologists and forming habits I managed to develop several simple methods to make yourself eat right consolidate the habit of eating only wholesome food without much effort.

You can go to any of the links below directly to section you are interested in, or just read everything in order.

• 1. The transition to PP from a scientific point of view
  • Why do we love junk food
  • How scientists manage our eating habits
• 2. How to switch to proper nutrition easily and without torment
  • The value of your environment for starting PP
  • How to eat healthy without the hassle
  • What to eat?
  • Two simple techniques for switching to PP
  • As is what you want and not feel guilty
• 3. Maintaining healthy eating habits without disruption
  • Solving the underlying problem of unhealthy nutrition
  • How to say temptations: “No”
  • The phrase helps to eat right
  • What’s next?

1. The transition to PP from a scientific point of view

Almost all experts in the field of nutrition and nutrition gurus give advice on what exactly to eat and prescribe a menu, which is difficult to adhere to in ordinary life. I would like to discuss why we eat exactly how we eat, and how you can adjust it, without drastic changes and at the same time get the desired result, whether it is reducing body weight or just maintaining healthy lifestyles in all its respects. This guide is aimed at implementing the scientific evidence and strategies needed to achieve desired results at home.

So, the benefits of good nutrition are obvious to most of us. Thanks to him, we are more energetic, our health is stronger and productivity on top. A rational approach to diet will help stop overeating and maintain normal weight, and therefore reduce risk of type II diabetes, certain varieties cancer, heart problems, high blood pressure and many other diseases.

But since we have so many reasons to stick balanced diet, why is it so hard to do? For the answer to this question, first we’ll figure out what attracts us so much in junk food.

Before you start talking about where to start proper nutrition, we will figure out what makes us eat harmful, overeating, neglecting health and quality of life.

Why do we love junk food

Steven Wheaterley spent about 20 years figuring out the reasons why one food is more desirable for us than another. Most of the data on this topic contained in his excellent report, “What attracts people to junk food “(Why Humans Like Junk Food).

In his opinion, when eating delicious food, there are 2 factors affecting the enjoyment of the process.

The first factor is the feeling of eating food. These include its taste characteristics (salty, sweet, etc.), its aromas and sensations in the mouth arising from her. Last property commonly known as “perception of the mouth” and perhaps it is the most important. Food Companies Invest in search of the most seductive consumers of potato crunch chips millions of dollars. Nutrition scientists are trying to find ideal number of bubbles in soda. Combination of all these elements creates in the brain a sensation that it attaches to a certain food or drink.

The second factor is the direct composition of macronutrients in food – a combination of proteins, carbohydrates and fats contained in it. To make our brain demand a harmful product over and over again, food companies find the perfect salt balance, sugars and fats, which will kindle this desire in him.

And here is how they do it …

How scientists manage our eating habits

There are a number of factors that scientists and manufacturing companies in order to increase dependence on food.

Dynamic contrast. This union several different qualities in one product. Wheaterley writes that food with dynamic contrast combines the “crispy shell, following which appears something tender or creamy filled with taste. This is characteristic of many of our favorite products – caramel crust brulee crust, pizza or Oreo cookies – the brain perceives a crunch like something very original and exciting. ”

Isolation of saliva. Salivation is part process of nutrition, and the greater amount of saliva is excreted from eating the product, the more it washes your taste receptors throughout the oral cavity. Take for example emulsion products like ice cream, mayonnaise, butter, chocolate and salad dressings provoke strong salivation, lavishly washing taste buds. This is one of the explanations why are products with added sauces or coated with glaze so loved by many people. Saliva-stimulating foods practically makes the brain dance joyfully and it is perceived by him much tastier than other products.

Fast-melting food and fading calorie content. Those products that dissolve quickly or “melt in your mouth,” send a signal to the brain that you supposedly ate less than in reality. These products literally convince him that you haven’t eaten even if you already eaten a decent amount of calories.

In his famous book, Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss) Michael Moss talks about his conversation with Wheaterley which perfectly explains the “evaporating calorie content” …

He concentrated immediately on Chitos. “This is one of the most the most wonderful products on the planet in terms of true enjoyment, “said Wheaterley.

“I brought him two full bags with different different chips tastes. He immediately concentrated on Chitos. “This is one of the most the most wonderful products on the planet in terms of true enjoyment, “said Wheaterley. He noted with a dozen attributes of Chitos, which provoke the brain to say: “More!”. More he focused on the wand’s amazing ability dissolve in the mouth. “This is called volatile calories.” said Wheaterley. “When something quickly melts, the brain believes that in this no calories … you can continue to eat it just infinitely”.

A specific sensory reaction. The brain loves diversity. If you eat the same food over and over again, pleasure from her begins to diminish. In other words susceptibility specifically to this food will decrease over time. This can happen in literally seconds.

However, harmful products are created in such a way that avoid this reaction. They provide enough flavor to be interesting (your brain does not get tired of eating them), but stimulate sensory perception is not so strong that it dulled. That’s why swallowing a whole bag of potato chips you may still be able to eat the next one. For the brain, the crunch and perception of Doritos every time new and cause interest.

Saturation of calories. Unhealthy foods designed to convince you that you get food, without feelings of fullness. The receptors in your stomach and mouth tell the brain how certain foods are satisfying for your body and what complex of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is included in its composition. Unhealthy foods provide enough calories for so that your brain decides, “Yes, it will give me some energy,” but not so much that he said: “That’s enough, I’m full.” As a result, you primarily want the food itself, but in order to it will take quite a while to eat.

Memories of a previous meal experience. In that In the case of the psychobiology of junk food, it works directly against you. When you eat something tasty (say a bag of chips) brain remembers this feeling. And at the sight of this product next time, or when you smell it or just read about it, your brain will begin to evoke memories of the sensations that you experienced by eating this food.

Such memories can cause real physiological reactions such as salivation and provoke appetizing cravings, that we experience when we think about our favorite foods.

The combination of all these factors makes processed foods for the human brain is delicious and desirable. Due to the combination of science in these products with their incredible prevalence (cheap fast food is everywhere), abide by the rules of healthy eating becomes very difficult.

2. How to switch to proper nutrition easily and without torment

Most of humanity is confident that behavior change and the introduction of good habits is completely dependent on motivational mood and willpower. But still, the more I study this topic, the I am more convinced that, first of all, changes in behavior driven by the environment.

What is around you can provide incredible impact on your behavior. There is no area where it is more fair than in nutrition. What we eat daily is often stems from what surrounds us.

Before you tell where to start proper nutrition, let me tell you about one interesting experiment to illustrate what I mean …

The value of your environment for starting PP

Anne Thorndike is a primary care physician in Massachusetts Boston Hospital. Thorndike with his colleagues organized a study that lasted six months and was published in the American Journal of Public Health.

With the help of this study, secretly conducted in a hospital the canteen of thousands of people, have been able to develop healthy eating habits, without the slightest attraction of their willpower or influence on their motivation. Thorndike and her team took advantage of the concept known in as the “architecture of choice.” This is a fancy phrase which is used to indicate changes in placement food and drink, but as it turned out, it has a lot value.

At first, the architecture of choice was applied to drinks in the dining room. Before the study, there were 3 main refrigerators in which there was soda. Researchers made sure that the water was added to each of the three, and also placed throughout the room baskets with bottles of water.

The image below shows the arrangement of the room “before” (figure A) and how she began to look after the changes made (figure B) Black shaded areas in which the bottles were located water.

Image taken from American Journal of Public Health, April. 2012.

What happened? Over the next quarter, carbonated sales drinks fell by 11.4%. At the same time, water purchases increased by 25.8%. Similar adjustments have been made with nutrition options. No one said a word to the visitors who ate in the dining room. Researchers have simply changed the environment, and people quite naturally reacted after her.

The architecture of choice is especially important when you are overtaken stress, tiredness or distraction. If you are already exhausted, you’re probably not going to spend a lot of effort on preparing a healthy dinner or training. You just grab or cook what is the easiest.

This means that, with little time spent on organization of your room, office, kitchen and other areas, these changes in the architecture of choice can help you do more the right choice, even when your willpower weakens.

How to eat healthy without the hassle

Cornell University professor, Brian Wansink, conducted a lot of research on how the environment forms the decisions we make regarding nutrition. Many of the ideas below are contained in his popular book The Mindless food “(Mindless Eating). Here are some of his best practical strategies for applying choice architecture to simplify the process healthy eating.

1. Use smaller plates. Than the larger the plate, the larger the serving. Therefore you eat more food. According to the data obtained during research Vansink and his team if you commit slight change, and start using the plate with with a diameter of 25.4 cm instead of 30.5 cm, then over the next year you reduce the amount of food eaten by 22%.

In this regard, it should be noted that if you thought: “I just I’ll put less food on my plate “… not so everything is simple. The figure below clearly shows why. If you eat a smaller portion from a large plate, your mind remains unsatisfied. Same thing at the same time the amount of food eaten from a smaller plate will be feel more satisfying. The black circles in the image below are absolutely identical, but your brain and stomach don’t think so.

This picture shows how small portions can look like. hearty on a small plate, but meager on a large.

2. Want to cut down on alcohol or sugary foods? soda? Use replace low and wide glasses with narrow and high. Take a look at the image below. Which of the lines longer, horizontal or vertical?

Like these two lines in the picture, an elongated glass will be seem bigger than low, and this will naturally help you drink less.

As it turned out, the lengths of both lines are identical, but our brain is inclined exaggerate the vertical lines. In other words, drinks in more tall dishes seem more voluminous than in round low cups. And since height increases objects much more than width, you will drink less using taller glasses. In fact, if you drink from a tall glass, the amount you drink typically 20% less than when using low and wide utensils. (Hats off to Daria Pino, the first to share this image and idea).

3. Choose a plate color contrasting with your color food. I already mentioned in another article that, in the case of matches the color of the plate with the food on it, we eat more because the brain finds it difficult to determine the real serving size. It is for this reason that the dishes are dark green or dark blue perfect, it will contrast with light food shades, for example, pasta or potatoes (which means you eat fewer of these products), but will not shade much with greens and vegetables (therefore, you most likely put them on a plate more).
4. Place healthy foods in a conspicuous place. For example, you can put a cup with nuts or fruits near the front door, or in the place through which you will definitely pass, leaving home. Being hungry in a hurry you are likely to grab the first thing that catches your eye.
5. Wrap junk food in thin foil, and healthy foods in cling film. In this case it works old saying “Out of sight – out of mind.” Eating is not only a physical, but also an emotional process. Our brain often determines what we want to eat based on what we we see in front of us. Therefore, if junk food is wrapped or hidden in less visible places the likelihood that you will prefer its much smaller.
6. Choose large packages for healthy food. containers, and for harmful – small. Big boxes and containers will be much more likely to attract the eye, take a place in pantry and in the kitchen, and in every possible way to get in your way. Eventually the likelihood that you notice them and eat will be higher. At the same time, small packages can hide in your kitchen for months. (Take a look around right now. What’s next to you? Possibly miniature jars and containers.)

And one more tip: if you bought a big pack of something Useless, you can repackage it in several containers or smaller zip-block packages, so chances are that you are many drink it or eat at a time will be less.

What to eat?

As I mentioned at the very beginning, this is not a guide to which it’s the foods to eat. This guide is about why we we eat just like that and what can be done about it. However i I will offer you two options how to fill your plate.

1. Eat more greens. General opinion on ideal diet does not exist, but almost all converge in one: eat more vegetables. It’s pretty hard to find at least one a diet that does not agree that a large number of vegetables in the diet – a good idea.
2. Eat varied. As already mentioned previously, the brain is obsessed with novelty. Although you may not succeed reproduce a crispy / creamy combination of oreo but you are able to make your diet diverse enough not to get bored. TO For example, you can dip a crispy carrot in a creamy hummus for receiving a new perception. In addition, the search for new spices and aromas for your dishes will help to make a balanced diet more welcome.

A healthy diet should not be tasteless. Mix foods to get different sensations, and maybe it will seem easier to you, than to eat one and the same every day. (Although perhaps in at some point, you will have to love and boredom.)

Two simple techniques for switching to PP

The main idea of ​​most quality diets is the same: there is non-processed foods that are grown or grazed fresh in the air. Variations are possible in some of them – do not eat foods animal origin, cereals, etc., but most of them consistent with the general concept of “real food”.

But, if you are like me, then you will eat all that is nearby, regardless of whether it came from mother nature or not. Therefore, the best strategy is to surround useful products.

1. Use the Outer Ring method. In the time of my shopping trips, I only move along the “outer ring. “I don’t walk between the rows. It’s usually around the perimeter The store has useful products: raw meat, fish, nuts, fruits, vegetables and eggs. It all lived or grew in nature. Exactly this is what I eat.

The shelves between the rows are filled with boxes and processed food. Not go there and then you will not buy these products. Not having bought such groceries, you will not find them nearby in order to eat. Try this method on your next trip to grocery store and try not to make exceptions.

Of course, there will be times when you need to go between in rows to buy some spices or a bottle of olive oil, but this will happen extremely rarely. During his three last visits to the grocery store I easily adhered to this strategy, and I’m sure you have it too will work out.

As is what you want and not feel guilty

2. Never break 2 times in a row. I think, that life means living with pleasure. I have no desire blame yourself for eating a piece of pizza or feel guilty of drinking a glass of beer. But I also know very well that eating healthy foods makes me feel better.

To balance these two things, I made myself a simple rule, which I try to adhere to: whenever I eat something harmful, the next meal will consist of a healthy meal.

Skipping one wholesome meal is not a problem, but I never I want to do this two times in a row. Even those who have achieved the best results make mistakes common to everyone, but they return in a rut faster than many others. I try to do the same thing with their diet. I’m not worried about having a good time and I try to enjoy life, but I also take this simple rule to get back to proper nutrition as much as possible faster.

3. Maintaining healthy eating habits without disruption

Solving the underlying problem of unhealthy nutrition

There is a reason why many people use food as a way to get rid of stress. Stressful situations trigger the release of chemicals in certain areas of the brain (in particular opiates and neuropeptide Y). These substances able to activate a mechanism similar to a craving for sweets or bold. In other words, when you are exposed to stress, in your brain there is a habitual urge to eat fatty or sweet foods and you break down on junk food.

Stressful situations occur in everyone’s life. Other learning stress management techniques can help you deal with this cravings for useless food. It can be simple respiratory techniques or short guided meditation. Or something more active, like physical exercise or creative activities.

How to say temptations: “No”

The ability to say no is one of the most useful skills in learning and developing a child, especially when it comes to about a healthy lifestyle. The results of the study indicate that minor changes can help you say no to more lightness, resisting temptation and habits healthy eating.

The Journal of Consumer Research published study in which 120 students were divided into two different groups. The difference was that the participants in one of the groups they said: “I cannot,” and the other: “I will not.”

Students in the first group were instructed each time they faced with the temptation to say to themselves: “I can not do X.” Then there, if you wanted to eat ice cream, they should have said: “I do not I can eat ice cream. ”

The second group was instructed in such cases. use the phrase “I will not do X.” Again, in the case of ice cream, they would say: “I will not eat ice cream.”

After repeating these phrases, each student was given profiles with a number of questions not related to the study. When finished answering students went to take their papers in full confidence that the study is over. But in fact, everything was just beginning.

To each subject leaving the room and passing his sheet with the answers offered a free treat. Could choose a chocolate bar or a healthy cereal bar. After their departure the researcher recorded the selected treat in the answer sheet.

Participants telling themselves; “I can not eat X” in 61% of cases preferred chocolate. At the same time, among those who were in the group with the setting “I will not eat X” only 36% chose chocolate. This slight difference in terminology greatly enhanced the likelihood that everyone will opt for a healthy product.

But why did such a trifle lead to such great differences?

The phrase helps to eat right

Choosing words helps articulate your feelings. independence and control. Moreover, the phrases you use, create a feedback loop in your brain that affects your behavior in the future.

For example, each time, saying to yourself, “I can’t”, you create a feedback loop that is a reminder of restrictions. This choice of terms indicates that you force yourself to do what you do not want.

For comparison, if you say to yourself: “I will not”, is created response that is associated with control and power over the situation. This phrase can encourage you to fight bad habits and maintaining useful.

Heidi Grant Halvorson is Director of Motivational Columbia University Science Center. This is how she explains the difference between the statements “I will not” and “I can not” …

“I will not” is perceived as a choice and therefore this wording Feels empowered. This is a confirmation of your determination and willpower. “I can’t” is not a choice. This is a limitation it is something imposed. Therefore, thinking in the key “I can not” undermines your sense of strength and personal authority.

“I will not” feel like a choice and therefore this wording Feels empowered. This is a confirmation of your determination and willpower. “I can’t” is not a choice. This is a limitation it is something imposed.

In other words, the phrase “I will not” is psychologically strong the way to say no, and the phrase “I can’t” psychologically a debilitating mode of failure.

Probably the most important thing is that changing the language leads to changes in consciousness. Now you can use your new one, enhanced way of thinking in the future, therefore insignificant change can lead to very significant results in long term.

What’s next?

I hope this short guide to healthy eating seemed useful to you. If you are looking for more ideas on how eat right, check out the list of all my articles on this topic below.