Dieting With Pleasure

     Oh dear. Have you put on a few more pounds? Have the celebrations taken their toll on your body shape? Considering dieting, but can't find the right one for you?

It's an all too familiar story of gluttonous orgy. Large meals, irresistible cakes and pies all washed down with copious amounts of alcohol. Why should we blame you though eh? The packaging of foodstuff is designed to make you buy as much as you can carry.

A fat you = A fat profit for the company.

That's business.

Many people will use the old excuse of having a slow metabolism. Your brain wants more food than your body needs. It's good to know that the power of advertising works.

Then there's the countless number of diets. How many have you tried? How many lasted more than a week? Very often with a lot of commercial diets, the only weight you lose and keep off is the weight in your wallet.

The problem with most diets is that they are just not an enjoyable experience. The prospect of replacing cakes with carrots is enough to send some people into shock. You also need to be dieting for the right reason, which is for you alone - not for anyone else. If you don't want to lose weight for yourself then you shouldn't even start a diet. Perhaps you are happy being fat. If not, how could you lose weight and enjoy it? With a little bit of psychology, that's how. You continue eating all the same foods you enjoy, but you'll find that you tend to eat less. The only sacrifice with this method is that you have to say goodbye to quick meals.

We rush around so much in this world, fitting in a snack or a meal when we have a spare five minutes. This has to stop. Eating is a pleasurable experience and a very important one. The speed eating culture has resulted in us forgetting to taste our food. I'm pretty sure the tongue misses all the action from childhood and the jaw is virtually redundant. One hand doesn't seem to be quick enough so we shovel with both hands.

Very simply, you need to learn to taste your food again. Savour each mouthful. Examine the flavours. You'll be surprised at what you've been missing. Have a good long chew so that you experience the textures as well as tastes. Some flavours need to warm in the mouth before they are evident to our senses and some flavours require sustained chewing for them to be released. Does it taste as it smells? Do you want to sip a little wine and chew? Mix the flavours? Become an expert in the subtle differences in taste. You'd be surprised just how many people don't do this. What an absolute waste of the human senses.

This method has the effect of extending meal times. You are also likely to feel full up with less food. Remember that eating is what keeps us alive and it would be such a shame to pass through life without seriously enjoying all the flavours and textures that the world's food has to offer. How many top level chefs do you know who are obese?

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