Willpower and diet. Two words that carry a lot of weight. I quite often hear these two words together in the same sentence from people trying to manage their weight unsuccessfully. When I looked up willpower in the internet dictionary, I found the strength of will to carry out one's decision. Keep in mind that willpower is not a muscle that gets stronger with use. In fact, if you are depending on willpower to lose more than a few pounds it is a sure step to failure.
In The Plant Powerful Diet, Sharon Palmer writes about a diet as a way of life. It might be the Mediterranean diet that is full of whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables( and not a lot of any of that) or the Japanese diet that includes a lot of fish or the Western diet that is fast, easy, and cheap. You probably won't find people that live in the Mediterranean saying "Oh, I'm on the Mediterranean diet". They are just doing it. It is a way of life for them. So whatever you are eating is your diet. We have been programed to think of diet in terms of deprivation to lose weight. That's not working. Deprivation is good for a few days and maybe a couple of pounds, but most of us are not into self- inflicted pain. In order to successfully lose weight, I believe it is necessary to find a way to eat that which sustains us and supports good health throughout a lifetime. If your diet needs changing, changing your diet can change how you feel. Like all good things, it takes effort! Finding a diet that meets an individuals needs comes with trial and error and time.
