By David Schipper, Men's Health
In prehistoric times, you would have emerged from a cave to survey the landscape for food. For survival, your brain would have urged devouring anything you could kill or uproot. Yet, when you weren't out hunting sloths, you would have become one for similar reasons. "When we didn't need to get food, we saved energy," says Paul M. Thompson, M.D., director of the preventive-cardiology program and of cardiovascular research at Hartford Hospital, in Connecticut. "That was how you survived — you didn't waste energy.See how that survival hardwiring would be a one-way ticket to a blubber belly today? Whether you're in a supermarket or a restaurant, your brain still tells you to eat whatever you can lay your hands on. Once you've filled your stomach, it still seduces you into kicking back, a decision made easier by Barcaloungers and big-screen TVs. So in the deepest recesses of your noggin, dieting and burning off pounds will need to override 40,000 years of evolutionary programming.What will your brain do when you ask it to betray itself? Here are the five dieting traps most likely to trip you — and ways to avoid themPitfall: Eating Because You Hate To Be A Drag In Social Situations "Our patients talk about people pressuring them to eat because they think they're not enjoying themselves," says Martin Binks, Ph.D., director of behavioral health at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center. Plus, men are expected to eat up, having been raised to equate manhood with a big appetite, adds Lisa Dorfman, Ph.D., R.D., a licensed psychotherapist and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
How to avoid it: Have your comeback ready: "I can't eat because I had a big meal an hour or so before I got here." Or, "After I leave here, I have a date with an amazing woman I just met, so I don't want to fill up here first."
Bonus tip:Nibble on appetizers like you'd sip a cocktail. Others will see that you're holding something, derailing the "Why aren't you eating?" issue. Plus, you'll feel fuller.Pitfall 2: Sabotage By Your Wife Or Girlfriend When you shape up, your better half suddenly has a choice: undertake a transformation of her own, or inadvertently sabotage yours. Many times she'll choose the latter, often subconsciously. After all, the better you look, the more other women will be checking you out. "'Sabotage' is a very strong word, but she really will ask you to go to the store more often for cookies and other things she wants," says Valerie Berkowitz, M.S., R.D., a nutritionist at the Center for Balanced Health, in Manhattan. "It's a sign that she misses your old life, the one where you always ate bad food together and had fun doing so."
Total 4 Pages: [1] [2] [3] [4] Next
04-02Think Your Way To Thin
04-02Shape Up Faster—with Food
04-02Think Portion Control
04-02The Cellulite Cure?
04-02Shed Stubborn Pounds at 35
04-02Lose 10, 20, 30 Pounds
04-0235 One-Minute Weight Loss Secrets
04-02Drink Away 10 Pounds
