PSYCHO DIET, THE

For those of you unfamiliar with the analogy of the frog in the saucepan, let me fill you in. If you take a frog and place it into a saucepan of boiling water it will jump straight out. However, if you put the same frog in a lukewarm saucepan increasing the temperature slowly, its neurology does not notice the change and the frog remains in the pot until it boils to death. Basically, the analogy demonstrates that gradual changes happening over time make it difficult for us to notice. This can be positive and negative depending on whether that change has developed habits within our best interests or not. This explains why when we examine our weight over time we don’t notice it being a problem, however when presented with a photo of us at a younger age we notice the significant change straight away. This is something that occurs commonly, people tend to let their dietary habits slip over many years. For those of us that have fallen into the trap of indulging in (high calorie) foods, the problem is not with the foods chosen but more so the timing. To be more specific, people tend to eat these particular foods whilst having a break from stressors in the workplace. In other words, we fall into the trap of ‘comfort eating’.