Why don’t diets work – or, if they do, why do they work only for a while? The ‘X Factor’ to dieting seems to be what’s in the mind, and especially our emotional response to food, new research has found. Virtually every diet focuses on the food we eat, and how much of it we consume, but without really addressing the emotional reasons about why we reach out for the chocolate bar or cream cake in the first place. As a result, researchers from the Temple’s Center for Obesity Research in Philadelphia have put together a programme that helps people recognise the triggers, and to “help you break that cycle of reaching for food every time you feel bored, or frustrated, or sad,” said programme participant Janet Williams. She lost 17 pounds over 22 weeks, and has learnt techniques to help her keep the weight off. One technique is the ‘conveyor belt’, where participants imagine a conveyor belt, onto which they put their emotions and watch them moving away. (Source: temple’s Center for Obesity Research. http://www.temple.edu/medicine/departments_centers/research/Center_for_Obesity_current_studies.htm#loseweight).
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