Chocolate and Beyond

Chocolate Obsession

Chocolate Obsession looks like a really scrummy blog to get your teeth into. Devoted to all things chocolate, its owner William Kinder clearly has good taste - and puts it to work by reviewing chocolate bars, chocolate booze and whatever other chocolaty foodstuffs may take his fancy.

Food doesn't have a personality

One of the threads in Beyond Chocolate is very much that food doesn't have a personality - it is only food. And to realise this is key to quitting the behaviours that arise from being in 'deprivation mode' and improving your relationship with food.

I'm up to week 4 on the multi-media course, and some of the material I've received says "Food is ONLY food. When we realise that we can eat whatever food we like, nothing is forbidden, we will no longer feel the need and desire to have them all the time. If we truly give ourselves permission to eat our ‘forbidden foods’ whenever we are hungry for them, they lose their power and become ordinary."

10 non-diet discoveries that I have had...

I've been on the path to 'non-dieting' for almost 3 months now so thought it was time for an update, acknowledging both how things have changed positively for me, and some of the challenges.

I've had a lot of fun. I mean, when does that happen on a diet? This has been an experiment, learning new things about myself, allowing myself to eat things I used to regard as forbidden. My fridge has never seen such an abundance of full-fat diary produce, taramasalata, egg custards and other scrummy foods. Here are some of my discoveries so far since beginning my journey:

Waiting for Godiva...

I've just finished reading Judy Gruen's fantastically funny book, ‘Till We Eat Again: Confessions of a Diet Dropout' and intend to review it on here shortly. In the meantime, Judy has kindly donated one of her columns, which reminds me of a battle I know well.

If you've ever been in a position where you've struggled not to eat or drink the present you bought for someone else (admit, you know you only bought in the hope they'd share it anyway) then read on:

The myth of the low-fat diet

I am walking, talking, eating proof that introducing fat back into your diet will not mean that you'll need to book two seats on the aircraft on your next trip abroad.

Eating a very low-fat diet is (quite bluntly) a fabulous way to bollocks-up your metabolism and ensure it is very hard to adjust to 'normal eating', if you ever again have the inclination or capacity to do so. Other than that, there is so much stuff around now to say that it is a very poor choice of diet for those wishing to slim, such as reported by FOXNews.

Changing your diet-mentality

The Diet Survivors web group has been a great source of support, as there are always the wise words of other diet-dumpers to turn to for help in breaking away from that mentality which keeps us trapped in a love-hate relationship with food.

There was a post recently which struck a chord with me, because it's something I've said to myself on many occasions and I asked the poster's permission to share it here:

Well look here, I've started the Beyond Chocolate Multi-Media Course

It's all very well reading a book and deciding that your life is going to change, but putting it into practice is another matter. When I devoured (oh the pun of it) Beyond Chocolate, it inspired me incredibly, but I knew making changes would not be an easy ride.

First and foremost, I thought I'd turn into a big bloater if I let go of some of those old ways - if I'm not keeping an eye on fat content, who will?