The 20/20 Diet (12 page)

to fol ow. Your job is to prepare your child for the next level of life, so let’s not trick them into liking foods that could harm them.

continues


Set the Right Goal | 65

So while you’re changing your own decisions about food, take

steps to get your kids on the healthy bandwagon too. I know, I

know—taking away all the junk at once might lead to a meltdown

of epic proportions. It’s OK to keep a few snacks in a “kid cup-

board” that is only for them, but limit their intake to one serving

per day. And work with them to stock the kitchen with healthy

alternatives they’ll eat and enjoy the rest of the time. Of cou
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rse, your

kids are going to have cake and ice cream at birthday parties and

some candy on Hal oween—I’m not suggesting you go to extremes

here. But just like you, once healthy eating becomes the status quo,

you’ll find that they’ll stop constantly begging for junk food and

start craving and asking for healthier foods before you know it.

Claim What’s Yours

As you begin this diet, I want you to
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step way out of your comfort

zone and audaciously claim what can and should be yours. Maybe you

feel like you’ve spent your entire life focusing your attention on the

needs of others, taking care of everybody else, and as a result, you’ve

ended up with a list of priorities that doesn’t include your own health

or well-being.

I want you t
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o claim your goal weight, your renewed health, and

your brand new life right now. Know, and I mean really know, that

you are capable of this, that you deserve it, that you’re up to this challenge (and it
will
be challenging at times). If you get on task about this and you make this your top priority, your weight will no longer be a

problem. You’ve got to name it to claim it.

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66 | The 20/20 Diet

20/20 Preparatory Exercises

Here are some quick steps you can take to ensure that you’re all

set and ready to start attaining your weight loss goal. These should

take about 30 seconds each to complete:

Environmental Audit:
Perform a mental audit of al
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l your

various environments. Have you adequately transformed them

into “no-fail” environments?

Realistic Role Model:
Think of a role model in the health/

wellness realm you wish to emulate. Pick someone who is

realistic and who promotes healthy philosophies. This person

can help inspire you through your journey.

Make a Date with the Grocer BOOKS,

y Store:
Pull out your calendar

and schedule a trip to the grocery store to purchase the 20/20

Foods before you begin Phase 1. Important: Go to the store

after
a meal so you’re not hungry and drooling over the junk

food.

Contract with Y
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ourself

You have already identified someone to whom you can be accountable

for staying on the course toward your goal. But the most important

person to whom you are accountable is
you
.

All I’m asking you to do right now is to set it in stone with the

con
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tract found on the next page. This is a visual symbol of the com-

mitment you are making.

Set the Right Goal | 67

My Commitment Contract

I, ______________________________ (your name), commit

to follow the steps and timeline I have laid out in

order to achieve my realistic weight loss goals. Just as

in life, this diet is not going to be a success-onl
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y jour-

ney. Therefore, if I deviate along the way, I promise

not to beat myself up or use it as an excuse to fail.

Instead, I will get right back on track. I promise not

to make excuses or to sabotage myself or allow oth-

ers to sabotage my efforts. I recognize that I am in

control of my decisions. I believe in my ability to use

20/20 foresight to achieve m
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y goals, and I believe I

deserve better for myself.

Signed,

_________________________________________ __________________

(signature) (date)

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BIRD

68 | The 20/20 Diet

5

EXTINGUISH YOUR

FAKE HUNGER

Statistics show that of those who contract the habit of eating, ver
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y few survive.

—
George Bernard Shaw

Hunger is a gift. That’s right; hunger, defined as the sensation you

get when your empty stomac
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h alerts your brain that you need

food, is a gift. Hunger helps you stay alive. The need for food, which

is our source of energy, is one of our basic survival needs, and it is the gift of hunger that tells us when we
need
food.

You get into trouble when you ignore your body’s signals or

start putting food in your mouth when the hunger sirens haven’t yet

sounded. I want to show you how to tune back in and stop misusing

(and abusing) food.

I used to carry around a pocketknife all the time. Someone would ask

me to borrow it a
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nd my first question was, “What do you plan to use it

for?” I wanted to know because if they wanted to use it as a screwdriver, to pry at something, or for anything
other
than cutting, then the answer was “no.” That blade is meant for one thing and one thing only: cutting.

If you do something else with it, you’ll break the blade right off. Like my poc
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ketknife, you can’t use food for anything other than its intended pur-

pose. (Well, you can, obviously, but you will have to pay the consequences if you do.) Instead, we need to work together to change your behaviors.

Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the taste, texture, and

sensation of eating. You can still appreciate food. But ultimately the

purpose of eating needs to be for nourishing your body, not fulfilling

69

another need or desire. If I can get you to stop misusing food, then

we’re good. But your mind has likely learned that food is its go-to

salve. Think about it. Feeling sad? Let’s eat. Lonely? Got to eat. Time

to celebrate? Bring on the food. No date tonight? That’s OK, order a

pizza. It’s pretty outrageous when you think about how practically

everything we do and every emotion we feel leads to some form of eat-

ing. I mean, we’re like horses walking around with feedbag
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s attached

to our faces—it seems like we, as a society, are constantly
eating!
Heck, we’ve even trained our pets to go against their instincts and misuse

food—just look at all the fat dogs and cats these days.

In order to “stop the madness,” control your habits, and overcome

impulses, you have to relearn how to identify your hunger signals

and recognize the different types of hunger you’re experiencing. We

touched upon this earlier, but let’s dig in a bit more.

First, there’s physical hunger, which brings about physiological

symptoms, like a growling stomach, o
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r if you’ve real y gone too long

without eating, you might get headaches, dizziness, or become light-

headed. And, of course, there are levels of this physical hunger, a range between a tad “peckish” and ravenous enough to swal ow a cow whole.

Then there’s what I refer to as “mind hunger,” which is that feeling

you get when you experience an emotion that you’ve been fixing with

food. That’s the one you’ve probably been responding to without even

realizing it. For example, if you typically eat when you’re stressed at

work, then the next time the boss yells at you, you might experience

a twinge of hunge
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r, urging you to stop by the vending machine on

the way back to your desk. It’s not that your body actually
needs
food in order to continue functioning in that moment; instead, you have

inadvertently trained your brain to signal you to eat under certain cir-

cumstances. It’s a physical response to an emotional need. Sometimes

you might even convince yourself that you’re experiencing hunger,

whe
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n you’re really experiencing a trigger-induced craving.

Finally, there is also what I refer to as “habit hunger,” which is an

environmental or situational hunger response. You might eat because

it’s “time to eat,” or because you’re in a place where you typically eat, or you’re doing something you have often paired with food, such as

watching a movie or the Super Bowl, or taking a long drive.

70 | The 20/20 Diet

To help you regain a normal, healthy perspective on when and

how much to eat, I have developed my 20/20 Hunger and Fullness

Scale. I want you to study this scale and start using it before you

eat so that you can determine if you’re physically hungry or if you’re

experiencing mind hunger or habit hunger. As I said, there are true,

physical symptoms associated with hunger. It might have been a long

time since you actually went long enough without f

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ood to feel this

way. This is an incredibly useful tool that I want you to use every day

until you really get it down.

Dr. Phil’s 20/20 Hunger and Ful ness Scale

1—Weak, unable to concentrate, hunger headache.

2—Extremely hungry, stomach growling nonstop.

3— Normal hunger, a little stomach growling, need to

eat soon, but not ravenous.

Idea

ange 4— Food sounds good, but not experiencing physical

l R

signs of needing food like growling stomach.

an

eal R

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Id

e

5—Not hungry but not full either—neutral.

6—Satisfied but not too full. Pleasant.

7— Full, a little too full. You know you could have eaten

less.

8—Too f
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ull, feeling stuffed, a little uncomfortable.

9— Experiencing more physical signs of eating too much:

bloated stomach, sleepy, quite uncomfortable.

10—So full you’re sick, nauseated, miserable.

Ho
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w to Use the Hunger and Ful ness Scale

Before you start each meal, you should be right at a 3. And you shouldn’t let yourself fall beneath a 3 under any circumstances. Going too low on

the scale could put you in danger of a major binge session. I’m talking

double meat, double cheese, with a heaping helping of diet failure.

Extinguish Your Fake Hunger | 71

That’s one of the biggest mistakes folks make when they’re diet-

ing—they think that they have to starve themselves, so they walk

around with their stomach going, “Hey, dummy, I’m running on ‘E’

down here! Fill ’er up!” until finally they just give in and eat anything (and everything) in sight. When you deprive yourself of nutrition,

your body will switch into “survival mode” and begin holding on to

fat deposits. It’s your body’s way of keeping you alive whe
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n there’s no

fuel coming in. That’s great if you’re lost out in the wilderness and

starving, but not if you’re trying to lose weight.

In the first few days of Phase 1, if you find yourself dropping below a 3

an hour or two before mealtime, you can snack on a handful of almonds,

walnuts, or pistachios to get you over the hump. The goal here is to eat only enough to take the edge off so that you’re still at a 3 when it’s time for your next meal. Keep a stash of these three types of nuts with you so you’re not tempted by fast food or vending machines when you’re away

from home. Just don’t overdo it—a handf
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ul of nuts (not a one-pound bag)

has enough fat, protein, and calories to satiate your hunger for a while.

On the other end of the scale, instead of getting all the way to a

9 or 10 at mealtime, put the fork down when you reach a 6, even if

there’s still food on your plate. Now, maybe you were raised in a time

or a home where food was scarce and you developed the mindset of

“eat it when you’ve got it,” or the directive to “clean your plate” is so ingrained in you from childhood that you can practically hear your

mother’s voice when you sit down at the table.

I wanted som
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e insight into just how your upbringing might have

shaped your current eating habits and relationship with food, so I

asked about it in our national survey. Go ahead and answer this ques-

tion, and then I’ll show you how you compare to the national sample.

When you were growing up, did your family (check all that apply):

  

H
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ave healthy eating habits (encouraged fresh fruits, vegetables,

lean protein sources)

  

Have unhealthy eating habits (served primarily junk food, fried

most foods, had little or no emphasis on fresh, whole foods)

72 | The 20/20 Diet

  

Equate food with love (e.g., “I cooked your favorite meal.”)

  

Keep the kitchen stocked with processed or junk food (e.g., soda,

chips, cookies, pastries)

