Wrong food habit may damage diet plan

New York: Many diet plans are doomed from the start --
The reason being that dieters tend to adopt the wrong strategies, often
planning to ditch their favourite foods and replace them with less-desirable
options, new research has revealed.

A study published in the journal
Psychology & Marketing says successful dieters focus on adding healthy
foods and reveals that health-plan successes are determined by approach or
avoidance strategies.

“Our research shows that instead
of creating rules to avoid one’s favourite treats, dieters should focus on
eating healthy foods that they enjoy,” said Meredith David, Assistant
Professor at Baylor University in the US.

Dieters who restrict themselves from
consuming the foods they love most may be setting themselves up for failure.
Instead, they may be better off by allowing occasional “treats” and
focusing attention on healthy foods, revealed the study.

The research conducted upon 542
participants hinged on a person’s level of self-control.

“Our data reveals that
individuals who are generally more successful at reaching their goals tend to
develop more motivating plans regarding the inclusion of healthy, well-liked
items and the exclusion of unhealthy items that are not one’s favourites,”
added David.

The researchers found that the
participants when asked to list specific rules that they might use to guide
their food consumption, a large percentage of them listed restricting and
avoiding certain foods.

This was particularly the case among
low self-control individuals - those who generally have less success in
reaching their goals.

When thinking of unhealthy foods to
avoid as a part of a diet, low self-control individuals think of foods that
they really like -- their favourite snacks, and most tempting items. High
self-control individuals think of foods that they like but could reasonably
forgo.

When thinking of healthy foods to eat
as a part of a diet, low self-control individuals think of foods they do not
like, such as those that they find highly unpalatable while high self-control
individuals think of foods they enjoy eating.

IANS