Orthorexia: why a healthy lifestyle is so dangerous. consultation online Food obsession what to do

I’ll tell you about this with the example of my friend. She is blonde, tall, of normal build, very pretty. With her is always insanely interesting. But sometimes she stops in front of the mirror, gives herself a critical look and gives out: “Oh, I’m so fatter than that. Oh, you need to lose weight. "

To such self-flagellation, I sometimes pronounce weighty: "And?" By this I mean something like this: “My dear, you know your worth. Gained a couple of "extra" pounds? Nothing wrong. You feel great about your body and understand that you will soon lose weight again. These "extra" kilos never pushed anyone away from you. So why take a steam bath about this, if there is an internal feeling of one’s own attractiveness and confirmation of this from other people? ”

Spinning in front of the mirror, she goes about her business and quickly forgets about her "extra" pounds. There are more interesting things to do than self-flagellation.

In principle, if it were not for the imposed stereotype “beauty \u003d thinness”, she would not have thought about some kilograms. She already sees herself quite attractive. Men see her the same.

Sometimes she loses weight a little. Not because it is “necessary” to lose weight, but because sometimes you don’t feel hungry and she doesn’t eat. Or so many events are happening that giving food a lot of attention is simply not possible. Then comes a calmer period, and again she can cook more and add a couple of kilograms. In addition, the female body is a cyclical thing, this also must be remembered. In summer, a little more activity, in winter - a little less. How to keep the same weight here?

She is a real intuitive eater. She knows how to enjoy life and catches the moment "here and now", is in harmony with herself. This does not mean Buddhist peace 24/7. She has difficulties in life, like everyone else. She is sometimes upset. Sometimes very upset. She experiences stress, quarrels, reconciles, rejoices, suffers, has fun, and sadness. Allows himself to experience all sorts of emotions, good and bad. She just lives.

It would seem that this is natural. But for some reason, not everyone succeeds in “just living”.
  A person is so immersed in self-flagellation, so entangled in his true feelings that he does not have time to live. To survive.

Survival is already a program that triggers certain physiological and psychological mechanisms. The body is busy saving life. And they explain to him about the "importance" of losing weight ... What will the body choose?

How to learn to take your body

To start living and stop surviving, you must learn to accept yourself and your body now. This is not as scary as it might seem at first glance.

“Accept yourself” does not mean that you can calm down and stop in your development. This means that at the moment you can’t completely change yourself and become what you want, but here and now you can find something good in yourself and focus on it. Stop focusing on shortcomings and live the future, in which the body will take the necessary shape - in the present moment, too, a lot of good things. Let's look?

* First, try to find in yourself at least one trait that you really like.Try to walk the street once confidently, without feeling guilty in front of someone. Allow yourself to be beautiful at the moment, not putting off until later, when you reach the desired shape. Beauty is not only appearance, but also an internal state.

* Take the scales away, or better, throw them away.  Learn to feel your body and understand how it reacts to events in life without the prompting of external “helpers” like weights. At first it may be difficult and unusual to live without such control, but it is much easier to establish contact with your body and hear its needs.

* Observe your friends who, in your opinion, are intuitive eaters.  See how they relate to food. It is not necessary to immediately copy their behavior completely - it is difficult to change your attitude to food in a few days. Just watch them: in what mood do they eat, do they take breaks for food, do they always have the same appetite. You may notice some correlation between events in their life and their attitude to food, and after that it will be easier to understand their own eating behavior. For example, your familiar intuitive eater in a stressful situation may eat something sweet, but he will stop exactly at the moment when he is full. What if you can stop the same way?

* Arrange your personal space in the house (for example, a desk or a chair with a coffee table). Let it be exactly the way you want, and not someone else. Explain to your loved ones that this is your “corner”, that you have the right to it, and you urgently need personal space to restore strength.

* Try to imagine what life can be like without constant talking and thinking about your wrong body. Stop discussing diets with your girlfriends and surf the web for phony forums. Imagine what a shopping trip would be like if you were happy with your body. What will you focus on? On the sensations of the texture of things, on color, on a combination of clothes? But you can enjoy the color and texture right now. If at the moment there is no money to buy, then it's okay - in the store you can just try on clothes. The purpose of such a trip is not so much in choosing a new wardrobe, but in finding something new and unusual: what if the dress that you have always bypassed will suit you? It is such a meeting with oneself, an opportunity to hear one’s inner voice - often this is not enough time. And when the funds appear to buy the thing you like, you can return.

* Record during the day what good happened to you. Or in the evening before going to bed, remember the most memorable moments of the day. This is not necessarily something grandiose, let there be small bright events: at work we talked especially well with colleagues, children brought good marks from school, and there was an exciting and unexpected plot twist in the favorite series. Try to focus on such small joys. Perhaps you will soon realize that such moments in life are always present.

And maybe one day it will turn out that there is more good in life, and your “shortcomings” are actually peculiarities. What makes you unique, unlike others, including girls from fashion magazines. You have your own life, your tasks and your values.

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Spring has come, which means it's time to think about health and figure. It's no secret that most modern diseases are caused by lifestyle and overweight in particular. Therefore, in our article, we decided to consider 8 working ways of how not to think all the time about food and not pass it on.

1. Breakfast is a must on the daily routine

Many argue that they cannot bring themselves to breakfast or simply do not have time to do it in the morning. Nevertheless, for everyone who wants to be healthy and not worry about being overweight, we recommend developing a new habit, if it was ignored before. The fact is that having breakfast and eating fatter or sweeter foods in the morning, you will less want to eat in the evening, that is, evening overeating, and with it the extra calories, you will not be afraid. In order not to spend a lot of time in the morning preparing breakfast, look at simple recipes from oatmeal, yoghurts or cereals without heat treatment.

2. Eat slowly while enjoying the taste of food

No wonder the Japanese are called the healthiest nation in the world. And all because their food intake is built into a real culture. You will never meet a Japanese who eats his lunch in a hurry. Everything is quite the opposite, and there is a reason for this. It is proved that slow consumption helps not overeat. The mechanisms of our systems work in such a way that after eating, signals about saturation go to the brain. This process takes a little less than half an hour. If you eat slowly, your brain will signal in time that it is full, and you will not eat too much, loading yourself with extra calories.

3. You need to eat regularly every 4 hours

Those who have been leading a healthy lifestyle for a long time know that the secret of health and a slim figure is in the regularity of actions, including nutrition. Previously, everyone was accustomed to eating 3 times a day, but this negatively affects health and shape, as the body remains hungry for a long time, and then consumes large portions of food, overeating. Instead, nutritionists and healthy people say with one voice that you need to eat small meals every 4 hours. If you eat healthy foods like fruits, unsalted nuts, etc., the body will not be stressed and accumulate fat. In addition, frequent snacks help you stay energetic throughout the day. To forget about food and focus on fulfilling tasks, we recommend preparing food and snacks in advance (it is possible for several days in advance), laying out the food in small layers.

4. The basis of nutrition - protein

Now in society, very fashionable protein diets. It is worth remembering that any diet is an exaggerated diet, so it is not always useful. But in general, protein is the main building material in our body, so it is worthwhile to focus on it. True, there are different proteins. It is proved that those who consume protein in food do not so often feel hunger, respectively, and overeat less. If you want to lose weight so that the weight doesn’t return, eat protein each time: diet chicken, beef, eggs, fish, as well as tofu, lentils, nuts, beans, etc.

5. Cook vegetables for dinner

In order not to get better, carefully think over dinner, because this is the period of the day when the metabolism slows down, and you want to eat even more after working hours (especially if you did not eat every 4 hours). Experts advise eating vegetables for dinner: they perfectly saturate, and also do not burden the body with unnecessary calories. Before the main course, eat a vegetable salad, and then a diet fish or a piece of boiled chicken. So you satisfy your hunger with less food with low-calorie vegetables.

6. Sleep is our everything in the fight against excess weight

We will not delve into the physics of processes in the body, but it is proved that sleep has a direct effect on weight. The less you sleep, the greater the likelihood that you will get better, there is also a risk of hormonal imbalance in this regard. In order not to overeat, try to sleep at least 8 hours, and also not to overfeed before going to bed.

7. Focus on whole and uncooked foods

How to saturate the body with vitamins and nutrients? Eat fruits, vegetables, protein and whole grains in their original form, that is, without heat treatment. It's no secret that when cooking on fire, we lose more than half of the useful elements that are so necessary for the normal functioning of all body systems, and also help us to feel not hungry for a long time.

8. Keep a food diary: write down everything you ate

Eminent nutritionists claim that it is very useful for a losing weight person to write down everything that was eaten during the day, while describing well-being. Over time, you will also learn to count calories, the energy value of a dish. Seeing everything that you ate, you can definitely regulate your diet by adding useful and removing what only clogs the body. We are sure that by writing down everything you eat in a day, you can get rid of the habit of overeating much faster.

Greetings

Ufff ... what a busy week it was - started YOUR IDEAL and work in full swing.

Pupils make up your own ideal nutritional programslearn to hear their body and learn a lot about themselves and completely debunk the myths about their omnivorousness and gluttony.

Readers send interesting ideas and share their successes and achievements in terms of attitude to the body, relationships with food and weight loss.

In my personal life, changes are also coming, and this week I am one step closer to them.

In general, the week was very busy, fruitful, exciting and interesting.

I sincerely hope that for you this spring will be a real Spring and you will feel the flowering and rise and inspiration.

Today we’ll talk about this.

Another new name in the psychology of weight loss

Reference:  Michelle May is a therapist, writer and consultant. She herself left the vicious circle of diets, had been practicing for 14 years in the psychological clinic of Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Then she completely switched to private practice and founded the training “Am I hungry? What to do when diets do not work? ”.

This training at the time received the highest award from the American Academy of Family Physicians. In general, she is a prominent specialist and an important figure.

Based on this training, “Am I hungry? What to do when diets don't work ”- she wrote a book

The book is quite voluminous - in psychology only half the book, the rest is quite reasonable recommendations on nutrition and physical activity.

The book is not bad ... although not very deep.

But - one thing I really liked.

And it turned out really useful .

Although I already wrote about this topic - today we’ll talk about it from a different angle

Now I will share ...

The most important thing in life

What do you think is the most important thing in life?

Sit for a minute, sit back and ask yourself - what is the most important thing in life for you?

Only honestly ... Children, husband, family, career, money, freedom, creativity, beauty, health, sex, love, popularity ...

What is most important to you?

And now - the verification of veracity.

Allow yourself one day or half a day, or at least an hour, and watch yourself. Impartially.

So - as if   you are another person who wants to know as much as possible about you :

• what excites you
• what do you think most of the time
• what's going on in your head
• what's going on in your heart
• what's going on in your soul

And for this person, an answer like “confusion-confusion-horror-nightmare” does not fit - he needs specific data .

And here you are this person (in the role).

Today your task is to find out what do you dedicate your thoughts to, what you do and what you spend energy on .

Simply put - today your task is to watch what you devote your thoughts to.

In decreasing order.

That’s what you’ll think about most of the time and what you’ll worry most about and what will affect you the most during the day — in fact there is the most important .

Honestly - very often this is a very unpleasant test.

My clients VERY dislike him - but after him   results improve immediately . (Especially after the second part of the test - about which some other time)

Because this test is called “face it” and overestimate a lot ...

Now I will explain in more detail:

We become what we spend our thoughts, time and energy on.

... and we get it

Just look through life:

... you spend time doing homework and thinking about how to do it better - you become a wonderful hostess at home  and you get a cozy House (literally and figuratively) ...

No one is born with all the knowledge and skills of the mistress of the house

... you invest time and energy to learn a specialty, work on it and constantly improve it every day - you become an excellent specialist and Professional with a capital letter and get recognition and respect ...

No one is born an excellent lawyer, doctor, pianist or racer - they become ...

... you devote time and energy to reading, going to the theater, watching movies - you become an educated and interesting person and you get interesting leisure and depth of perception ...

No one is born an erudite person

That is, what we do day by day and what we dedicate ourselves to - that is what we become.

Three things are important here:

• constancy
• perseverance

• involvement

The irony of losing weight

And now let's move on to the topic that concerns us all - weight loss.

It doesn’t matter - in practice, when you really used it or mentally - when you just read and tried to pick up something more or less sane and applicable.

The important thing is that you yourself can give advice on nutrition, calories and physical activity - so many things you already know.

But all the same - losing weight is obtained with varying success.

Moreover - if your success in achieving weight can be very large and impressive. That in terms of obsession with food - everything is exactly the opposite.

She is growing.

Why such an injustice?

Just for this reason:

We become what we dedicate ourselves to..

You devote yourself, your thoughts, your energy, your strengths to the fight against weight, the fight against yourself, food and temptations.

And you become ... a fighter. A fighter for a figure, a fighter for weight, a fighter against mischief.

A wrestler in life does three main things:

• fights
• getting ready for battle
• recovering and preparing for a new battle

Does it remind you of your own life? Not reminiscent of “new life from Monday”?

What is important here -   a wrestler is always a wrestler .

Win, lose, draw - it does not ultimately make any difference. Indeed, in his head - there is always a struggle, there is always a play of scenarios, the development of new hits and hooks, the development of defense.

This is his life.

This is his conscious choice. He consciously grows a fighter in himself - and becomes him. And it doesn’t matter whether it is successful or not. He is a fighter.

At all levels, he becomes them - at the level of thoughts, at the level of feelings and in the physical plane.

When you struggle with weight, you also cultivate a weight fighter in yourself.

Only you do not realize it.

Although you do it every day, many times a day - thinking about losing weight, weight, food, calories, condemning yourself in the mirror, jumping on the scales - in the morning and not only in the morning, comparing yourself to others by weight, etc. .

Day after day, this leads to a result.

That result — which you want to get rid of — is obsessed with food, constant thoughts about food and calories, constant thoughts like not to eat anything superfluous, how not to get better, etc.

The situation is complicated by the fact that not only you, but the whole modern society cultivates such a struggle and sets us up to become such fighters .

How they made a fixated on food out of a normal girl

When I was not yet 15 and I was in 9th grade, although I didn’t have a hint of excess weight: 42-44 kg then my stable weight was without diets, with pasta, potatoes, bread, cereals, vegetables and completely nutritious food with vegetables and fruits.

But they started to cook me.

To prepare for the fact that all my life I will have to fight to be thin. Otherwise, my stomach and huge hips will grow.

Who began to prepare me for such an unenviable fate?

My ex-neighbor was struggling with weight and losing weight all my life, my friend who was also obsessed with being thin, my godmother who herself suffered from fatness ... magazines and programs about how to lose weight and what is possible and what is not.

And in the end - everything became as predicted - literally in 2 years I began to weigh 15-17 kg more.

Great - right?

I didn’t have a gram of excess weight, but I ALREADY started to fight . And got to the exact opposite.

But I became a fighter. It is quite full-fledged - which in my head just did what I scrolled through the most different methods of losing weight - right down to the most idiotic ones.

My whole life has become a struggle.

Whatever happens around - I reduced everything to food and excess weight. Whatever happened to me, I knew for sure that if I were thin, everything would be different.

The focus on food was growing.

And when I later lost weight using my methods of motivation and tuning myself - the problem of fixation did not dare.

Because I was still a Fighter - in my head, calories, fats and carbohydrates, grams of food and kilograms of my own weight were fighting.

I lost weight - but was I happy?

No - because I didn’t have a relaxed and NORMAL attitude to food.

The food aroused fear, anxiety, apprehension, guilt, shame - especially when I swept everything in the cabinets with food at a party.

Food has become the world, weight loss has become the point.

Endless process of struggle.

I became more and more a seasoned fighter   - I was even asked about my secret how to lose weight. But the more experienced and experienced a fighter I became, the more my focus on food grew.

And this pain from the fact that I felt abnormal, unhealthy - she also ate me.

So - what did you want to say?

What do we do of ourselves Wrestlers. Society helps us with this.

But - this is a vicious circle.

Because the wrestler is either fighting or preparing for the fight.

He is never relaxed and his thoughts are about fighting.

So - and women with food.

And to get out of this circle - you need ... just get out of it.

Getting out of focus on food is the first step

First of all, keep track of where you are directing your energy, what you spend your thoughts on and what you spend your time on.

That is, the first step is simply   track.

The second step is do something about itb  - redirect energy.
  If you notice that you are again making an irresistible attractive enemy of food, counting calories and thinking about how not to lose yourself, if you notice that you are growing and strengthening your weight fighter again, stop.

Tell yourself - i have something to spend energy on, I have something to spend my life on, I have something to spend time on my life ... and work on improving what is really important to you but to what extent your hands don't reach.

If this is health, then change the diet from a health position, always listening to your body, give it movement and rest, and sleep and fresh air.

If this is a family - work on relationships, spend time with loved ones and loved ones, make them pleasant, get pleasant from them, talk heart to heart

If this is a dream of youth - take the first step, go to courses or take lessons, start a blog on this topic, share your knowledge with others - anything just to bring you closer to your dream and bring your dream to life

Always wanted to sing, learn to sing and sing, like to dance, learn to dance, like to write a book - start.

We have as much time as we have been given. And given to us - only one life. And you need to live it for real, and not in your head and not on the TV.

In English there is such a question - it is translated into Russian, “What do you do in life?”. Translated literally, it will sound like “what do you do with your time” (What do you do with your time?)

So - our life is what we do with the time of our lives.

And it depends only on you - what you will spend it on. On unnecessary self-abasement, the struggle with food and oneself.

Or to make your life happier, fuller, brighter and more interesting.

The choice is yours.

By the way, this is exactly - that is the secret of the lucky ones who lost weight without diets and obsession with food .

They simply realized that there is a world beyond food. There are events and pleasures besides food. There is something more important than food - and plunged into it with a head.

They stopped wasting energy on the fight. And sent energy to LIFE . And the energy ceased to accumulate in their bodies. She began to spend money on LIFE.

And the weight went down automatically.

You can do that too.

Take your first step - start tracking where you spend your energy and thoughts and start redirecting to a new channel .

Over time, this flow will become powerful, and the flow of food will be reduced only to satisfy hunger and nothing more.

Just a little faith in yourself, a little awareness and a little perseverance.

And everything will work out.

I believe in you

Respectfully,
  Anastasia Dyachenko

Did you know that a fanatical desire to eat right can pose a threat to both physical and mental health? We asked Alexander Menshikov, a psychologist and psychotherapist, to explain why obsession with a healthy lifestyle has nothing to do with a healthy lifestyle.

Alexander Menshikov // Photo: Ekaterina Frolova

Alexandra Menshikova, psychologist-psychotherapist, candidate of psychological sciences.

Orthorexia (from the Greek orthos - “direct, correct” and orexis - “the urge to eat”) is called excessive enthusiasm for “healthy” nutrition. But neither in nor in such a disease you will not find. While there is insufficient evidence that this habit negatively affects human health and can harm him. There are also no clear criteria for what is considered orthorexia, and no understanding of exactly how this excessive passion affects the psyche. Nevertheless, the term itself, as well as the phenomenon itself, of course, exists. Quite often, orthorexia occurs among eating disorders, for example, as part of anorexia - in order to lose weight, a person switches to “proper” nutrition and begins to play sports intensively. But still, there is a fundamental difference between orthorexia and anorexia. With anorexia, it is important for a person how he looks and how much he weighs, so diets are just the result of the desire to bring the desired image to life, and with orthorexia, in principle, all attention is directed only to food. That is, the idea itself is important, the very fact of following the principles of “proper” nutrition.

Signs of orthorexia

Diet

With orthorexia, food quality plays a major role. Food should be natural, environmentally friendly and free from additives. Often people with orthorexia have the belief that a certain group of products can harm them, so potentially dangerous components are immediately excluded from the diet. That is, a person has a clear statement of what can and can not be eaten (an example of "black and white thinking", which is characterized by the labels "good", "bad", "harmful", "useful"), and its main task is follow the rules of this system and in no case violate them.

Rituals

For a person obsessed with proper nutrition, eating is a real ritual. Food should be prepared in a certain way and under certain conditions (for example, in a saucepan with the “correct” coating), vegetables and fruits should be sliced \u200b\u200bon a board made of environmentally friendly materials, and the act of eating should occur at a certain time - not when a person wants and when necessary. In other words, proper nutrition turns into religion, and everything connected with it - any trifle and any detail - begins to have almost decisive significance. And if, for example, such a person finds himself in a situation where he is forced to eat not what he planned, and not where he planned, he begins to experience severe stress. He develops fear, which often leads to the fact that he simply refuses to go to places where there is at least a minimal chance of eating “the wrong” food.

Avoidance behavior

Since a person very strictly monitors what he eats and what he is categorically forbidden to eat, sometimes he begins to avoid those places where “forbidden” foods can, in principle, appear. He also distances himself from those who do not share his opinion. It is important for him that his idea be supported, so he will try by all means to impose his beliefs on others. Often, such behavior can lead to isolation and severance of social ties. Nevertheless, such people quickly find like-minded people. Like-minded people with whom they share only one common interest. And this interest is food.

A person suffering from orthorexia does not eat in order to be healthy. The meaning of his life comes down to eating healthy food. And that’s it. So if you catch yourself on the fact that “proper” nutrition is becoming an obsession, and your old interests fade into the background, it's time to think.

Risk group

Orthorexia affects mainly young women under 35 years old. Young men also face this problem, but less frequently. There are many reasons for the development of orthorexia - for example, if a person had a disease in childhood, requiring a certain dietary behavior, or his parents are fixated on a healthy diet. But hmost often, people with unstable self-esteem and unformed personal identity- they have not completely decided who they are, what they want, what they like and what matters to them. Their "I" is not framed, they do not know either their interests, nor their needs, nor their capabilities. Following certain food systems becomes a way of self-realization for them.

People with increased demands on themselves also fall into the risk group - they need strict rules to follow them. Orthorexia can also be a reaction to stress - as a way to deal with it. At the same time, a person does not solve the problem, but simply briefly distracts from it. It seems to him that he neutralized his anxieties and fears, having shifted his focus to following the principles of proper nutrition, but in fact he only formed a new fear. Fear of breaking a diet, relaxing and eating something is not right. Thus, stress only increases, and guilty feelings are added to previous anxious conditions.

In any case, everything is relative and ambiguous. To draw a clear line, where the enthusiasm for proper nutrition turns into pathology, is still quite difficult. Still, it should be borne in mind that a healthy lifestyle is a social trend. The society, as it were, says: if you follow it and at the same time you are slim and fit, then you are good, and if you have excess weight and you do not want to play sports, then you are a lazy person. That is, well done are those who eat right and go in for sports, but all the rest do not. But actually it is not. Food, of course, is an important component of life, but not the main one. And she - by herself - will not make a person happy.

Despite the fact that people with orthorexia spend a lot of time thinking about food - their whole life is full of thoughts about food - they do not get any pleasure from eating at all. More precisely, this: they enjoy, but from the fact that they follow certain rules that they themselves have established. Such a person feels chosen. He is well done because he has willpower, and all the rest are weaklings. He begins to critically evaluate others and realize his superiority over them. Important remark: it is not allocated due to its affairs, but due to food. That is, he has no other tools to express his “I”.

Denis Bykovsky

David Kessler "The End of Gluttony"

David Kessler is a doctor and government official who for many years headed the US Federal Agency for Food and Drug Quality Control. And also - a former fat man who won a long battle with .

Kessler took years of research to find answers to his questions. For example, why does a cookie with chocolate have such power over him and millions of his compatriots? Why? And where does the self-preservation instinct evaporate, which should keep from overeating?

For answers, Kessler went to physiologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, and US psychologists. From them, the investigation led him straight to the heart of the food industry - in the kitchens of restaurants and in the laboratories of international food corporations. What he learned and stated in his book, frankly, is scary.

How food absorbs our brain

Our brain is programmed so that it can focus only on the most powerful stimuli. Such as delicious food. A special love for some dishes is on three pillars: fat, sugar and salt. They activate in the brain a network of opioid nerve cells that give pleasure and at the same time boost appetite, making you want more and more. In addition to pleasure, opioids relieve pain, relieve stress and soothe - that's why we are most attracted to fatty meat cuts and profiteroles in moments of sadness and irritation.

The fatter, sweeter and saltier the products, the greater the excitation of opioid neurons, the greater the pleasure and the higher the consumption. The world food industry (especially in America and Europe) has made billions of dollars in this simple “fat-sugar-salt” formula over the past decades, turning just delicious food into super-tasty, which you sit on like a drug.

Products are created so that they practically do not have to be chewed, they melt in the mouth. Moreover, food stimulates not only taste, but also other senses, enhancing pleasure: the contrast of soft cream ice cream and chocolate chips, light tingling and sweet cola, supple elasticity of fried meat to a crisp. , vibrant colors, music, a festive atmosphere and accessibility stimulate overeating even more.

In response to continuous temptations, the body adapts in its own way: many develop ,   that is, what is called gluttony in everyday life. The brain is reprogrammed to search for constant food stimulation and already automatically requires affordable food. We cease to understand how much we need to eat, and in the literal sense we get hung up on food. Hence, according to Kessler, and the current epidemic of obesity. “Soon we will be surprised that someone else knows how to eat normally,” the author predicts.

Corbis / Fotosa.ru

How to get rid of the habit of overeating

You don’t have to wait for favors from the food industry, they are vitally interested in us eating, eating and eating. In response to their efforts, Kessler proposes building his “parallel universe of food”. That is, with your own hand to erase the conditioned reflex of overeating in your brain. For this, the author offers methods of modern narcology:

1.   Develop an aversion to sugary and fatty foods, like former smokers to cigarettes. “Once I thought: a large plate of food is what I need in order to feel better. Now I see on this plate layers of fat, sugar, salt, again layers of fat that will never bring lasting pleasure and will only make me want more fat and sugar. "

2. Make a detailed list of products and situations that provoke gluttony in you. Avoid them in every possible way until control becomes a habit: do not keep them at home, change the route so as not to go past the supermarket or pastry shop, where you usually buy them. “Someone can afford to eat crackers,” Kessler says. “But the one who does not stop until he empties the whole box should not even begin.”

3. At the same time, make a list of healthy delicacies that you can eat calmly without overeating: fruit dessert, and so on.

4.   Imagine in advance how you will act in case of temptation. For example, you go the usual way to the supermarket and DO NOT buy chocolate. This will help to cope with such a real situation.

5. Do not rush, listen to your instincts. Ask yourself: here is something edible in front of me, but do I want to eat now? And if so, is it really good food? Will it be of any use?

6.   Always be on the lookout. “Learn to see a threat to yourself in advertising tricks, in huge restaurant portions, in multi-layer high-calorie dishes,” Kessler advises.

The last warning seems to me partly frighteningly prophetic. The profession of a personal nutritionist who teaches you how to eat is becoming more and more popular (one day in the life of such a New York expert is described by Kessler). I think that the day is not far off when on sneakers and stakes they will write large "kills" in the same way as they write now .   We will discuss passive obesity and its victims - children whose parents do not think they are eating. Food from the personal files of everyone gradually becomes public, as was the case with smoking.