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Show ifsiil too Entra feafls 15 Why is it thousands of people go through the agony of dieting, only to gain back the weight they tried so hard to lose? CLINICAL psychologists at the New Clinic for Behavior Therapy and Research in Montreal, Que., say it's because they have not changed their eating habits permanently. According to E. Ann Sutherland and Zalman Amit, who write about their weight-loss weight-loss system in the May Reader's Digest, successful dieting is not so much a matter mat-ter of what you eat but how-and how-and what your attitudes toward food are. THE APPROACH at the clinic is to change these habits and attitudes; Sutherland and Amit say three quarters of the hundreds of men and women who have completed their program have kept their lost weight off for at least two years. "The best way to learn any new partem of behavior is io break it down into small manageable parts and work through them step by step," they write. AS THE first step in their program, participants write down every morsel they put in their mouth-with times, places (as at the table or on the run), with whom and under what circumstances -within 15 minutes of eating or drinking. Only after this record-keeping has been successfully suc-cessfully mastered for a full week do you go on to step two. The second phase-a shock to people accustomed to rigorous diets-calls for three full meals and two snack periods a day. During this time you continue to keep notes on what you consume. THE PLRPOSE is to regulate eating times and eliminate constant snacking. including tasting food as you cook or munching during your pre-dinner cocktail. The cocktail is okay, providing you have it with your meal. Again, you must stick to this schedule for seven consecutive con-secutive days before you proceed to the next step. NEXT, you regulate your shopping and storage. Shop on a full stomach; shop with a list (you can make substitutions, substitu-tions, but you can't add to the list in the store); cut out junk foods and pass up easy-to-get at items such as sliced cold cuts. When you get home, tuck the groceries out of sight; use opaque wrappings, so you won't be tempted when you look in the refrigerator. "THE POINT," write Sutherland and Amit, "is to build in a delay between your first feeling of 'wanting' food and the actual getting of it, and to give yourself a chance to decide if it fits into your new pattern." Final stages include struc turing your mealtime to avoid distractions, slowing down your eating time so that you won't overeat, and learning not to finish everything on your plate. ALL THE while, and even hree weeks a!;f, v lost the we.gh, '-,. You continue ! records. By ,1 ' '; i ' "5 hab's ,; . ! 'd be aim? ".:. ture to you. ' ; j |