Recently talking to an officer in Texas the topic of diet came up. He wanted to drop some extra pounds but didn’t know how to do it. ‘I feel like it’s some magic formula.’ I asked him, ‘You ever keep a diet longer than 3 months?’ He looked at the ground and laughed out a ‘negative’.

It isn’t magic and in this three part series we will work through the formula together.

Most diets fail for one reason: they are diets. Face it: food is addictive. If you don’t think it is, stop cold turkey. Like any drug, if it’s near you, around you, or convenient to you…you will get it. The difference food and drugs is that food kills you long term and usually isn’t illegal (sorry NYC). Outside of that, they are very similar, effecting brain chemistry…even your DNA.

We aren’t going to give you a ‘diet’ book. Instead we’ll give you three keys that work:

– Substitute
– Replace
– Cut-back

Officer H, this is for you because I didn’t have time to explain.

These keys are a matter of time frame to get your body used the chemical changes. Cold turkey doesn’t work, and in this 3 week series we will get to how to get to the end result. But, first, we have to look at time. When we discuss food, we look at good, bad, and the ugly. Some foods are good for us – no one is looking to cut back on those salads. But, like a drug addict, we have to get a fix of the things that aren’t good for us to please our brain chemistry.

So, here is the exercise in time.

1. Take something you like that you know is bad for you (bag of chips).
2. Today, substitute something for it that is healthier (rice cakes) when you crave chips.
3. Do this tomorrow, the next day, anytime you want a bag of chips – rice cakes.
4. When you notice you are eating rice cakes all of the time, you have replaced the chips.

Replacement is long term substitution.

But, the problem is – you may be overeating them. When you substitute you are working with chemistry. Your brain has become wired to the chemicals of the chips and the way your brain and stomach communicate is based upon the 1) craving for chips; 2) consumption of the chemicals in chips; 3) how long it takes for your stomach to tell your brain you are full.

When you replace chips with rice cakes you may end up with over-eating due to the new chemistry.

This is when we come to cut back. Look at how much you are eating and make a determination based on calories, or how you feel (bloated, sluggish, etc) to cut back.

This is how you break a food addiction. The only other way to do it is cold turkey – which is hard on the body and usually ends up in a relapse because it doesn’t take into account you are addicted to the food.

In next week’s article we’ll look at how to put SRC into affect with your life and lifestyle eating for a police diet.