To talk about the roller-coaster ride that most dieters endure is a subject bordering on the cliché:  First you’re up! Then you’re down! The sad truth is that for many–if not most–people, maintaining a levelheaded strategy of sensible food intake is really hard to sustain.

Some people can master it through sheer self-discipline. Others cannot. How many times have you gone on a diet only to fall off of it, feeling disappointed in yourself? How many turns have you had up-and-down on that roller coaster cycling between excess and deprivation?

Dieting Roller Coaster

Here are two important questions: If you were at an amusement park and the roller coaster made you sick, would you keep riding it? Then why do most people stay on this frustrating on/off diet roller coaster? The answer to both questions is pretty simple: Most people never learned the skills required to make a better choice.

So much of our eating habits and desires are formed by our relationships with different types of food. For example, if someone had told me that I shouldn’t eat some treat that I really wanted to eat, well then, I’d probably want that treat even more! And based on experience, many people would respond in much the same way to similar circumstances.

How Would YOU React?

Before you respond, let’s tweak the scenario just a little bit. What if you could stop for a moment, and tell yourself that you could have the treat if you want it, and that you get to decide if you want to have it now, or perhaps sometime later. What if you could remind yourself that avoiding certain types of food doesn’t necessarily mean you can never have that treat ever-ever-ever again. That’s ok to want it, it’s okay to have it at any time, and the mindful choice to not have the treat right now lies completely with you and what is best for your body at this moment.

The Driver’s Seat

Using nutrition education and self soothing skills, you can be taught to drive your own food car, without feeling like you’re being judged or permanently deprived by the food police.

So once and for all, you can get off the roller coaster… and choose yourself a better ride!