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Many people have tried one diet after another and after losing weight and gaining it back, they admonish themselves because, “Something is wrong with me, because I gained the weight back.”As you have probably noticed some people are naturally slim. There is a secret.Humans are born with the most important effective weight management tool—a hypothalamus, which is a biological system to regulate the amount of food required for maintaining optimum health and weight. The main function of the hypothalamus is homeostasis, or maintaining the body's status quo. Factors such as blood pressure, body temperature, fluid and electrolyte balance, and body weight are held to a precise value called the set-point. Although this set-point can migrate over time, from day to day it is remarkably fixed.If you have cared for or observed infants and young children, you know that it is difficult to make them eat when they are not hungry—and it is almost impossible to deal with them when they are hungry. Toddlers in perpetual motion sometimes eat only small amounts of food, but they eat frequently enough to meet their needs, because at this juncture their natural weight management tool has not been overridden or indoctrinated with poor nutrition habits and eating practices.Unfortunately, well-intentioned parents sometimes play games and praise their child to encourage them to eat the food they think the child needs. They may say, “Good boy, you ate all your dinner!” or “What a good eater you are!” This is a wonderful time for creating positive feelings about mealtime, but this praising activity also teaches the child that when they eat, it makes mommy and daddy happy. Some parents urge an older child to eat everything they are served by saying, “There are starving children in (insert name of country).” The child then ignores the physical discomfort of being full in order to comply with the parent’s expectations and win their approval. Sometimes parent’s insistence to eat certain types and amounts of food backfires, and mealtime becomes a battleground of intense power struggles.Another well-meaning parental tactic to encourage eating is “Clean your plate or you don’t get dessert.” Children may realize that since their parents are bribing them to eat, the food must be “less than desirable” and that dessert is the reward for eating ‘less than desirable food’ and more than their body is hungry for. The result is a potential lifetime membership in the ‘Clean Plate and Obese Club.’Food often is a huge part of almost every family gathering or event, thus food becomes associated with socializing and having a good time. With this association, later in life one continues to use food to socialize, have a good time; as well as relieve boredom and stress.The secret is that naturally slim people usually only eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full. Food is logically categorized as nutrition only and is seldom connected with socializing, having a good time, or to relieve boredom and stress.Diets do not work to permanently resolve overeating because diets only tell you what and how much to eat, making you more food-focused, rather than nutrition focused. When certain foods are forbidden, they gain more power over you. You experience deprivation and that leads to more cravings. When you eventually give in to the feeling of deprivation, you feel guilty, which can drive you to use food as a way to soothe yourself. Thus, the vicious cycle repeats again and again.To make matters worse, diets teach you to use exercise to earn the right to eat and punish yourself for eating something bad. It is no wonder many people say they hate to exercise.The real solution for managing your weight effectively comes from understanding why you want to eat other than for nutrition. Resolving these emotional issues is imperative and then you will eat only when you are nutritionally depleted.You need to stop dieting and relearn to listen to your innate hunger cues. If you eat the healthy foods for your body and blood type and eat only when your hunger cues signal that you are truly hungry; you will win the battle of the bulge. See my article: Picky Eater Syndrome.
Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com
Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD, Life Coach, Hypnotherapist, Author, "101 Great Ways To Improve Your Life." Mind, Body, Spirit healing and Physical/Sexual Abuse Prevention and Recovery. As an inspirational leader, Dr. Neddermeyer empowers people to view life's challenges as an opportunity for Personal/Professional Growth and Spiritual Awakening. www.drdorothy.net
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