A few weeks ago, I was having tea with my friend, student, and excellent personal trainer, Mike MacKinnon, and he had brought something to my attention that Id actually been using already, but never heard it broken down this way, so I thought Id share it with you as well.
There are 3 types of eaters, who struggle with their weight (if you dont struggle with your weight, this likely doesnt apply to you). And just as nutrition should be tailored to your body, it should also be tailored to your mind.
Ready to discover which type you are?
The I Dont Know What to Eat Type
This person is the one that the majority of diet books are written for. All this person needs is information. Not motivation, not any psychological techniques, or any other strategies. This person truly just doesnt know:
- What are the right portion sizes?
- Whats the right balance of protein to carbs, to fats?
- What time of the day to eat?
- What to drink and not drink
Which is understandable. Theres so much conflicting information, it can get overwhelming.
This person really just needs information, implements it, and s/he loses weight easily. Just work out a few logistical issues, like new grocery shopping strategies, a conversation with the spouse, and weight is lost. No cravings, no regressing into old habits, not even missing the food that they ate before.
Very often, people like accountants, engineers and executives fit into this category, and there are more men than women in this category. Case in point: my client, Daniel. He didnt know what to do, and once I taught him, 27 pounds vanished quickly and easily.
Life is simple for this type. If thats you, and all you need is information, and a little support to get started until youre on the right track, we can set up a nutrition consultation to help with that. Just email me with the words Type 1 in the subject line.
The Emotional Eater
The second type of person eats with their feelings. When theyre happy, they eat chocolate. When theyre sad, they drink wine. When theyre bored, they eat nuts, chips, or popcorn.
For this person, information is not enough. She might already know all about portion control, as well as how much protein and fibre to get. She might have even been on different diets, like keto, intermittent fasting, and others. She keeps seeking motivation, but heres the problem with motivation: it runs out, and its not constant.
This person needs to break her emotional connection to food, so that food choices arent made with emotions.
The diet books all assume that emotions arent a problem, so they give information. Its needed, but for the vast majority of people trying to lose weight, information isnt enough. This person requires deliberate psychological strategies to break the emotional connection to food.
How do you know if youre this type of person? Here are a few signs:
- The most obvious you eat when you feel certain emotions
- You feel guilty when you eat something that you shouldnt
- You eat to relieve stress
- If, when you were a child, your parents used food to reward you for good behavior
- Eating is entertainment for you, not just fuel. So you go to different food festivals (pizza fest, poutine fest, ribfest, etc.), you follow people on social media who post about food, you love trying new restaurants (as a hobby, not just occasionally), and you love discussing recipes
If you find yourself saying yes to a lot of these, then you dont need information (at least not by itself). You need psychological and behavioral exercises to change the way you think and feel about food. You need ongoing support, and feedback for those times when your emotions hijack you. We can offer that, because we have a special nutrition coaching program, specifically designed for emotional eaters. If you want help with that, just email me with the words Emotional Eating Program in the subject line.
The Food Addict
The third type of person who struggles with their weight is the food addict. And I use the word addict very much like someone addicted to drugs or alcohol is an addict. Thats not to put that person down, rather to categorize that behavior for what it is, and use the appropriate approach to solve it. After all, if you use the strategies from the other 2 categories, it wont work with these folks.
Here are some signs that someone is a food addict:
- They have one or more trigger foods (and it aint broccoli ). In other words, once they have their trigger food, they just cant stop, and they go way past the point of fullness. For one person, it may be chocolate, for someone else, it might be chips (remember the taglines once you pop, the fun dont stop and betcha cant eat just one?), etc.
- You crave that food, even if youre already full from other foods
- You eat that food in isolation you hide that eating behavior from others
- Feeling guilty after eating it, but continuing to eat it
- Justifying it in your head. Telling yourself things like just a little piece it wont matter
For someone who has food addiction, complete abstinence from the trigger food is required. Whereas the previous 2 types can have any food in moderation, the food addict cant. Just like you wouldnt tell a recovering alcoholic that they can have a drink once in a while, you wouldnt tell a food addict that they can have their trigger food once in a while. Complete abstinence is necessary.
Another treatment option includes a group called Overeaters Anonymous, and they use a very similar approach to the tried-tested-and-true Alcoholics Anonymous. And yet another one includes cognitive behavioral therapy.
