The “Why the Heck?” Diet
This is my first non-mathematical entry. But I invented this diet myself two days ago and I wanted to share it with you. It is a variation on my son Alexey’s “Am I hungry?” diet.
The only restriction for my diet is that you are not allowed to eat while your brain is busy with something else, like watching TV or playing sudoku.
If you are driving to your office while reading a newspaper and talking on the phone, you are allowed to have your morning donut, but only if you stop the car and put away your newspaper and phone. This diet is based on having an undistracted dialogue with your food.
Here how this diet works. Each time you open your mouth to take a bite, you should look at your food and ask yourself, “Why the heck do I need this bite?” This is it. Just look and ask. Nothing more.
It is better if you say it aloud. But if you are on a first date you are allowed to pronounce it in your head.
Here is what happened to my cake yesterday. On the first “Why the heck do I need this piece of cake?” I just ate one bite. On the second “Why the heck do I need this piece of cake?” my inner voice told me, “Shut up. I just want it.” On the third “Why the heck do I need this piece of cake?” my inner voice said: “Well, I am stressed out and I really crave some sugar. Besides, today is my last day at work, so I am allowed to celebrate.” On the fourth “Why the heck do I need this piece of cake?” I just put the piece of cake back in the fridge. I didn’t want it anymore. Altogether, I ate a third of my usual portion of cake. It works.
Try it. This diet is free. It is easy to remember. You do not need to change your lifestyle, go to the store to buy fresh vegetables or adopt new recipes. It might increase your morning commute time by one minute. But you can recover this minute by cutting down on exercise, since you won’t need it quite as much.
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