PHOTOGRAPH: LAURA DOHERTY. *Meredith David et al, Say ing ‘No’ to Cake or ‘Yes ‘ to Kale, ‘psychology & marketing’, 2016
When I’ve dieted in the past, throwing myself into deprivation and punishment (only to inevitability give in after a couple of weeks, by champing down junk food after a tough day at work), I can only say I ever focused on what I was not allowed to eat. My attention was never on the food that I could enjoy. Chocolate became the pink elephant – tell yourself you can’t have even one piece, and it’ll be all you think about.
Research* shows that we set ourselves up for failure by placing our focus on the wrong things. People with less willpower will think about banning foods, which will often be their favourite treats, and force themselves to start eating the foods they hate. Whereas people with higher self-control will do the opposite. When they want to eat more healthily, they focus on the healthy foods that they look forward to eating, therefore putting their attention on what they can eat. And when they select foods to cut down on, they choose the things that they don’t mind eating less of.