TIPS:

1. Guidelines over rules

There are very few end goals that require strict restrictions. The majority of individuals will benefit more from guidelines than rules. Think about your daily or weekly actions in a more and less rather than all and none. For example, aim to eat more vegetables, more often and less ice-cream, less often. This doesn’t mean no ice cream, it just means that it shouldn’t be a staple of your diet.

2. Practice 80/20 eating

Aim to consume 80% or more of your diet from whole foods. When the majority of your diet comes from nutrient dense foods, the 20% isn’t going to “ruin” your progress. The 20% shouldn’t be mindless eating, if you’re going to eat energy dense foods they should be foods that you love.

3. Move away from all or nothing thinking

Expecting perfection is unrealistic. See your journey from where you are now to where you want to be as a learning process. Every obstacle along the way is there to teach and allow you to develop skills to handle them better in the future.

4. Reduce energy dense food cues

Dietary restraint relies a lot on psychological processes that are cognitively demanding. Trying to fight the urge to eat that packet of Tim Tams in the cupboard day after day will drain you. Help your brain out and reduce the cues and situations that force you to choose between eating or not eating energy dense foods. Either remove them from the house or make them less visible and less accessible.

5. Avoid food avoidance

Having “off-limit” or foods that you can’t eat (for reasons other than allergies and intolerances) is increasing the risk of you craving and then binging on that food. Instead focus on having an inclusive mindset (eat more of X foods), and setting up your food environment so it doesn’t trigger you.