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POINT 1: TIME YOURSELF

      WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

      Time how long it takes you to eat your meals. Time each meal separately – your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. You may find you wolf down your breakfast and lunch, but have a more leisurely dinner. Alternatively, dinner may be a hurried affair as you try to eat your main meal while simultaneously feeding the kids, or you simply race through it so you can collapse on the sofa and have a rest.

      Once you have recorded your times, try to give yourself longer to complete each meal. Start off by aiming to increase the amount of time it takes to eat each meal by 50 per cent. Try to do this for each meal for one whole week. In the following week, try to add a further 50 per cent of time to complete each meal.

      THE LOGIC

      It takes 20 minutes for the stretch receptors in your stomach lining to send a message to the brain registering there is any food inside. As a result, when you are full there is a gap before the brain actually receives a message to that effect – by that time you may well have eaten more calories than you actually need.

      Eating too quickly is itself unwise. It can cause digestive problems and has been acknowledged as a factor in irritable bowel syndrome. In reality, your life may not allow you to devote more time to all your meals, but even the process of doing it sometimes will make you more aware not just of what you are eating, but how much you are eating. Eating will become more of a conscious process rather than an unconscious motion that happens as life rushes on around you.

      ACTION POINT 2: EAT UNTIL YOU ARE

      80 PER CENT FULL

      WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

      You know what 100 per cent full feels like, so back off before you reach that point. At first, eating until you’re about 80 per cent full may feel an alien thing to do – perhaps you were always told to finish everything on your plate as a child, or your body just really likes that feeling of being very full – but persevere with this, it has multiple benefits.

      THE LOGIC

      Your schedule may not allow you to always take as much time as you would like over each meal or snack, so learning to eat until you are 80 per cent full is a back-up plan that works hand-in-hand with taking more time over your food. This allows your brain to become aware of the food entering your body, which stops you from over-eating and actually energizes you more. Eating too much food decreases your immediate energy levels, as your body has to work harder through a process called the ‘thermic effect of feeding’ to digest your food. This can leave you devoid of energy and feeling as if you need to reach for that chocolate bar for an instant energy fix. In addition, you should start to feel empowered as you feel more in control of your food volume. Saying no can be very powerful.

      ACTION POINT 3: EAT WITHOUT DISTRACTIONS

      WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

      Try to eat your meals without any distractions. In your lunch break, stop trying to finish off a report as you munch at a sandwich; at breakfast, avoid grabbing mouthfuls of toast in between applying your mascara and ironing your blouse for work. Okay, okay, I hear you say – where am I going to find the time to do this? Well, I do understand that you may not be able to do it for all your meals for the whole week, but do try to do it at least once for each meal during the course of your first week. Try to focus entirely on the food on your plate – look at the colours before you start to eat, feel the texture of the food in your mouth and chew your food completely before you swallow.

      THE LOGIC

      Today’s fast-paced lifestyles mean that eating meals gets put on the ‘to do’ list as we multi-task with other aspects of our busy day. However, eating should not be a task – it should be an enjoyable experience that you share with friends or take time over. Sadly, it has become so rushed that we no longer seem to appreciate what we are eating or the actual sensual pleasure eating can give us. Eating can be sexy! Taking the time to really concentrate on and relish your food will heighten your awareness and sensuality of food. Focus on both the amount you are eating and the way it feels as it enters your body.

      ACTION POINT 4: BELT UP!

      WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

      Stop wearing elasticated waistbands. Replace them with fitted waistbands or belts. Do this straightaway, not tomorrow, not next week, but straightaway. You need a reference point that tells you how much space your body takes up and this will help your brain to become aware of this.

      THE LOGIC

      Elasticated waistbands lull you into a false sense of security. They encourage your abdominal muscles to become lazy, as there is no reference point for your tummy muscles to press against. Although it sounds rather insignificant, changing to inflexible waistbands is a very effective act. Firstly, by changing to a rigid belt you are able to mark your progress on your belt notches. Secondly, the act of changing to a rigid belt is a positive step towards getting to know your body better.

      If your clothes only have elasticated waistbands, tie a thick piece of ribbon around your midriff under your clothes. Fix it firmly so you can feel it around your waist without it digging into you – this will give you a reference point of where your body ends and the belt begins. If you are a man, your task is to stop lowering your waistband so it lies under your beer belly. This only further lulls you into a false sense of security that your belly really isn’t that big. You don’t have to wear your trousers under your ribcage but you do need to start accepting the ‘real waist’ situation. And, as a bonus, doing this will improve your posture.

      THE BOTTOM LINE

      Like any relationship worth sustaining, the brain-body link needs attention and care in order to remain strong. Don’t become lazy in maintaining mind-body awareness. Once you have fostered a closer relationship between your brain and body, you are ready for step two.

       Case Study: Rebecca’s Story

      ‘Although I was desperate to lose weight, all the diets I had read about involved cutting out all the foods that I enjoyed the most: chocolate, biscuits, pies, chips, lasagne, cheese, mayonnaise, quiche etc. To have to consider giving them all up was just too daunting. Then I read the Drop a Size plan. First of all I increased my water intake – that alone gave me energy. I didn’t feel so groggy all the time and was able to think more clearly. Within a couple of weeks my body began to ask for water – it had become automatic. I made up my mind that, while I would make healthier choices, if I needed a chocolate fix I would have one, but a small one. By Christmas I was close to being ready to start dieting. January 2nd was ‘D’ Day – Diet Day. But I didn’t go all out. I wanted to be kind to myself and ease myself into the process in a way considerate to my needs. I knew myself, and my limitations, and I wanted to succeed, so I made it challenging but not scary.

      For the first couple of weeks of following the Carb Curfew I went to bed in the evening with a light feeling in my stomach that was alien to me. Before, my usual evening meal was meat, sometimes vegetables (not always) and potatoes or rice or pasta. I was so accustomed to feeling heavy, lethargic and sometimes bloated that I thought it was normal. The extra energy I had in the evenings gave me the motivation to exercise. It was all beginning to snowball and I was feeling really good. Only when I began to feel some of my clothes a little looser did I venture on to the scales. I had lost 4lbs. It was the incentive I needed to carry on.’

       STEP TWO:

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