The compromise between never eating and eating freely: The smart approach is to impose no restrictions.

A compromise between never eating and eating freely

In an attempt to control their diet, people often start by completely abstaining from certain foods, only to fall into a cycle of complete abstinence and uncontrollable overeating. Finding a sustainable compromise between these two extremes is key to controlling your diet. For optimal health, whatever you do must be entirely sustainable; trying to do too much at once will only make things worse.

The New York Times interviewed Danny Cahill, a contestant on the reality show "The Weight Loss Guru." The reporter wrote, "Mr. Cahill, 46, said he's had weight problems since third grade. He started gaining weight in third grade and kept getting fatter. He tried to lose weight by not eating, but eventually couldn't resist eating an entire jar of cake frosting with a spoon, then hiding in the kitchen, filled with shame." This cycle of shame and scarcity not only makes people feel bad but also leads to a terrible strategy of binge eating, causing the waistline to swell like a startled pufferfish. Generally speaking, the more directly one suppresses their desires for food and life, the stronger those desires become.

Trying to abstain from cake but ending up overeating it is more likely to cause weight gain than not dieting at all. On the other hand, consistently choosing to reduce the frequency of cake consumption, or eating smaller portions each time, can bring about significant, lasting, and positive changes, leading to continuous progress. Moreover, if you eat cake mindfully and consciously, you might reflect on it afterwards and realize that the cake wasn't worth it, which will motivate you to make different choices next time. For someone who consistently eats unhealthy foods to become someone who allows themselves to eat unhealthy foods but often chooses not to, the first step is to make conscious choices, followed by cultivating new habits.

A major "side effect" of micro-habits is that they increase your awareness of your daily food choices and exercise. Taking conscious action means having better control over your behavior, knowing what triggers various behaviors, and what else needs to be done.

Even running for just one minute a day will increase your awareness of exercise. Drinking only one glass of water at a specific time each day will make you more conscious of your subsequent beverage choices. A small habit regarding breakfast can make you more conscious of your other meals. If a person could only make one change to lose weight, it would be increased awareness. Increased awareness allows us to make more informed decisions about unconscious bad habits and continuously seek opportunities for improvement.

By combining conscious food choices with the effort to eat real food, you'll be making small, consistent changes in the right direction. The power of this change is far greater than it appears, because unlike temporary changes, sustainable change is compounded over time.

The smart thing to do is to leave it unrestricted.

I allow myself to eat as much junk food as I want, but I rarely choose to eat it intentionally because I've gradually changed my eating habits. Nowadays, I mostly prefer healthy, unprocessed, natural foods.

Once, I was eating at a Greek restaurant, and the side dish choice was fries or salad. This is a typical scenario for someone trying to lose weight: one food is healthy, the other is unhealthy (I don't need to lose weight, but my desire to maintain a healthy mindset is the same as someone trying to lose weight, so the situation is similar). I've always eaten healthily, so I decided to indulge and have some fries. But then all I could think about was salad, and I'm not kidding, it's true. I initially decided on fries, but ended up ordering salad instead. I do this all the time now (you know, I used to be addicted to candy and fast food).

This is the exact opposite of people with unhealthy eating habits, isn't it? They try to force themselves to eat salad, but all they can think about are fries, so they end up eating fries anyway. Their ordering of fries is essentially the same as my ordering of salad-it's just that the habits that lead us to make that decision are reversed.

If I had told myself I couldn't eat any fries because they're unhealthy, my craving for them would have become incredibly strong. I would have had to choose between "the boring salad I should eat" and "the delicious fries I can't eat." Now do you understand how this attitude can lead us in the wrong direction?

Never underestimate the power of habits to change preferences. In my salad story, I didn't suppress my intense craving for fries and heroically choose salad. I'm telling the truth when I say I'm lazier and have weaker willpower than most people. I didn't overcome any difficulties, and I'm not a hero; I just prefer salad. This illustrates why losing weight isn't a battle of willpower.

You too can make the shift from intending to eat junk food to craving healthier options. If people understand and realize that changing preferences through habit is far easier and more effective than fighting against themselves, they will abandon diets and fruit and vegetable juices, placing greater emphasis on habit formation. I hope this book will guide people to achieve this.

Habits are our preferences. If we're smart, we'll use habits to our advantage, not against them. Compare those who lose weight effortlessly through habits to those who force themselves to choose certain foods and constantly calculate calories through willpower. Those who try to lose weight by force work harder, while those who utilize habits are smarter and go further.

Take full responsibility for yourself

We are now so reliant on various systems that we are becoming increasingly unaccustomed to taking responsibility for ourselves. The food we eat is produced by the food industry, and if we want to lose weight, we will eat things labeled "weight loss food."

These systems take away our control and diminish our sense of responsibility. If a system brings good results, there's nothing wrong with following it; if it doesn't, then we must break away from the system, reclaim control, and take responsibility for ourselves.

Ideally, we would like to take full responsibility for everything, but taking responsibility for one thing requires time and energy (two limited resources), so we can only selectively focus on certain things.

Many people are overweight because of their reliance on the food industry, which makes it extremely easy to gain weight. Dieting and weight loss systems are supposed to solve this problem, but they are even more broken and useless. Faced with two ineffective systems, we need to take full responsibility for ourselves to become healthy and slim.

Taking responsibility for yourself means questioning everything. Is food coloring safe? What are the effects of potassium sorbate on the human body? What changes occur when oil is heated at high temperatures? Will this slimming food really help me lose weight, or is it just a short-term fix, giving me false hope? Is this fruit smoothie really made with 100% fresh fruit and contains no food additives? Most people don't ask these questions, are too lazy to ask them, or don't have the time, energy, or expertise to ask them, but these questions are important. They not only concern maintaining a normal weight but also how to maintain good health and minimize the risk of illness.

Many people believe that health is the most important factor in a high-quality life. Healthy people may not think so, but those who are not in good health understand how crucial health is. I want to say that regardless of whether you are fat or thin, healthy or unhealthy, you should take full responsibility for your own health.

Consider this: dieting forces people to follow a set of rules, effectively training them to no longer take responsibility for themselves. This book will teach you strategies to take full responsibility for your micro-habits and food choices. Those who take responsibility for themselves, stop forcing themselves to eat perfectly healthy, and make small, sustainable, and rational changes are the ones who will ultimately succeed in losing weight.

From this moment forward, you take full responsibility for your weight and health, and never again relinquish control to others. If we could trust products labeled "low-calorie," "slimming," "low-fat," or "zero-calorie," we wouldn't need to consider food factors at all, and everyone would be slim. The next section, "How They've Deceived You," will explain why people who trust food companies often end up getting sick and gaining weight.

Some people see "slimming food" on food packaging and assume it will help them lose weight, immediately abandoning any sense of responsibility towards their health. This won't lead to weight loss. There are no restrictions on whether a product can be labeled "slimming," and even if there are, it's likely based on the food's calorie content, not its overall impact on weight.