[How About This Book] Determined to Diet? ... The Mistake Starts from the Beginning

Judson Brewer's "Freedom from Food Cravings"
Addiction Psychologist and Neuroscientist Author
Analyzing the Reasons Behind Dieting Failure
Emphasizing Willpower Alone Makes Success Difficult
Suggesting "Mindfulness" to Relieve Guilt

After losing family members, Mr. A tried to soothe his depression with food. Through binge eating large quantities at once, he was able to temporarily forget the pain of reality. However, food alone could not fill the emptiness, and eventually he turned to cigarettes and alcohol as well. Over time, he attempted strict calorie restriction to return to his normal weight, but excessive limitation only led to obsession, and he found himself thinking about food all day long. In an effort to maintain control, he meticulously followed a detailed meal plan, but whenever his resolve broke, it resulted in even more severe binge eating than before. Each time this happened, feelings of failure and shame overwhelmed both his body and mind. The cycle of restriction and binge eating repeated, with the intervals shrinking from a year to several months, then to weeks, and eventually to just a day.

[How About This Book] Determined to Diet? ... The Mistake Starts from the Beginning

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The author, an addiction psychologist and neuroscientist, states that diets relying on willpower to "eat less" are difficult to sustain. Medically, "eating less and increasing activity" is considered the standard approach to dieting, but in reality, things are not that simple. On the contrary, he points out that "knowing exactly what to do" often leads to feelings of shame and defeat, perpetuating a vicious cycle.

So, what is the real problem? The author argues that "the cause lies in the system we have built." Instead of discarding the core issue?our "useless habits"?we become obsessed with willpower, control, and measurement, which leads to repeated failure.

As an alternative, the author proposes "mindfulness." For example, while quitting smoking reduces nicotine in the body and eliminates its appetite-suppressing effect, there have been cases in which a mindfulness-based smoking cessation program actually resulted in weight loss. In this way, mindfulness is also effective for dieting.

The core of mindfulness lies in how one deals with cravings. Not only hunger, but also emotions such as anger, loneliness, fatigue, boredom, sadness, distress, and excitement can trigger cravings, which then lead to binge eating. Most people who struggle with this have experienced ignoring true physical hunger due to dieting and restricted eating. When one cannot distinguish between physical hunger and emotional hunger caused by stress, it often leads to binge eating.

Willpower alone is not enough to succeed in dieting. A representative example of this is the "white bear effect." Just as being told not to think of a white bear makes you think of it even more, the more you try to suppress a specific desire, the more you become obsessed with it. The more you attempt to suppress, the longer and stronger the craving is stimulated, and when you finally give in to temptation, overwhelming guilt sets in.

For sustainable weight management, what is needed is not "restraint" but "awareness." Medically, breaking an addiction requires stages of asking, advising, assessing, helping, and adjusting. The author advised those attempting to quit smoking to continue smoking, but to pay close attention to the taste and smell. This method increased the success rate of quitting smoking by up to five times. He argues that this approach is also effective for weight management.

The benefit of awareness is that it allows you to distinguish between true hunger and emotional hunger. The key is to check how you feel before, during, and after a meal, confirm whether you are truly hungry, and then prepare an appropriate amount of food. What matters is "not calculating how much I should eat in my head, but observing my body and listening carefully to the signals it sends."

During the hunter-gatherer era, people would overeat to store energy because they never knew when the next meal would come. In contrast, modern people often binge eat simply to feel stimulation. The author explains that by delicately noticing the taste, aroma, texture, appearance, anticipated flavor, and actual flavor of food during a meal, one can find the "pleasure plateau." The pleasure plateau is a signal that "the value of the next bite is decreasing." By training yourself to ask, "Is this next bite tastier than the last, the same, or less enjoyable?" you can better understand your body's state.

A specific method for managing cravings is the "RAIN" practice. This stands for Recognize, Accept, Investigate, and Non-identification. In particular, non-identification means observing emotions, thoughts, and sensations as separate from oneself. Naming the voice in your head is also a useful technique, as it helps you recognize thoughts as distinct from yourself.

Additionally, taking advantage of the brain's sensitivity to language can be helpful. Although "satiation" and "satisfaction" sound similar, the phrase "satisfying a craving is different from feeling satisfied" highlights the difference. Fulfilling a craving through binge eating only leaves you feeling bloated and defeated, rather than truly satisfied.

This book offers a balanced presentation of practical methods and theoretical background for weight management and dietary restraint. Its scientific explanations of the challenges of dieting are also intriguing. Of course, it is uncertain whether theoretical knowledge alone can provide enough strength to overcome stress. However, readers who are interested and motivated enough to pick up this book will likely experience its benefits firsthand.