Better FoodIn the Better Food section, health journalist Tijn Elferink writes about what strikes him about food and drink. With these tips from psychologists you can keep your good intentions longer than until Quitters Day. And the reward is great.
If you’re like most people, the New Year’s resolutions you made earlier this year aren’t going so well. The fact that you’re not the only one is perhaps little consolation. Most people abandon their New Year’s resolutions on the second Friday of January. This day has been appropriately named: Quitters Day. So the day you drop out.
“Strava saw that the second Friday of the new year is Sjaak Afhaak day,” says sports coach and behavioral psychologist Johnny Buivenga. The popular sports app bases this on data from millions of users. Sportswear gets stuck in the closet, bags of chips open and bottles of wine suddenly have no cork anymore.
“All diets work and in the end no diet works,” concludes television maker Teun van de Keuken after he tried seven diets. Daan Remarque, behavioral scientist and author of the book The yo-yo effecttherefore considers writing diet books to be a fairly cynical revenue model.
Buivenga cites Sandra Bekkari as an example. She wrote a book with the apt title Never diet again. “Then followed Never diet again parts 2, 3, 4 and 5. There is no better proof that diets don’t work.” How is it possible that we fall back so quickly into old habits that we wanted to get rid of so badly? “Because the drastic turnaround doesn’t work,” says Remarque.
Such a radical crash diet sounds great, says Bernadette Kooijman of food company No Fairytales. But it doesn’t work in the long run. Kooijman introduced the Slowest Diet in the World this month.
“We help people to adjust their eating habits little by little.” The Netherlands Nutrition Center recommends eating 250 grams of vegetables every day. “The Dutch eat only 130 grams.” Kooijman believes in the principle of ‘bite less, snack more’. ,,Start your day with one bite less granola and add one bite of carrot. And then exchange an extra bite every day.”
Don’t say I want to lose 10 kilos, but: I don’t want to snack between meals anymore
Is that still a diet? “Good question,” admits Kooijman. “It’s more about behavioral change.” According to behavioral psychologist Buivenga, the key to sustainable behavioral change is: make a plan. “This greatly increases the chance of success.”
According to Buivenga, a plan contains a number of essential components.
– Set a realistic, achievable and concrete goal.
– Go for small steps, they are easier to achieve. “That gives confidence.”
– Do not opt for an outcome goal, but for a process goal. “So not I want to lose 10 kilos, but: I no longer want to snack between meals.”
– Track your progress. “Keep a food diary and use an app to record your workouts.”
– Inform people and ask them for support and understanding. And adjust your environment. “If you don’t have candy in the house, you can’t eat it.”
Unhealthy snack on the street
The challenge is that we don’t always have an influence on our environment. Outside the door, the unhealthy snack dominates, Maartje Poelman sees. According to the Wageningen scientist, there should be more healthy alternatives. Kooijman: “We therefore bring products to the supermarket that are one step healthier than the existing range.”
Sustainable behavioral change takes time, emphasizes Buivenga. In the short term, people often think that unhealthy eating and drinking will make them happy, says Wouter Cornet, author of the book The weight between your ears. The psychologist who lost 33 kilos himself asked 100 people from 29 different countries about the secret of their weight loss. The conclusion: no diet, but behavioral change. “In the long term, you will be much happier if you learn to control your eating behavior.”
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and don’t miss a thing of the stars.