If there is a 'secret' involved the effortless weight loss program, it's not the supplements, or even the isolating of the cravings, it's this: Psychological struggle is not only the primary cause of excessive weight gain, it's the reason diets fail and the reason the weight is usually regained after the diet. In spite of my insistence that this was not to be about weight loss, some members of our team got excited about the weight they were losing and then started counting calories and trying to help it along. This increased attention on food intake and weight loss is exactly what I was hoping to avoid, and in some cases it led to struggle and excessive eating, even without an appetite or any physical need. It's a bit subtle and it's critical, and it may be helpful to bring some clarity about how this works.

What actually differentiates a migraine from a regular headache that can usually be relieved with a common pain medication? The apparent causes of migraines are too numerous to list, but they include stress, sunlight, eyestrain, shoulder, neck and facial tension, metabolic imbalance, in other words, anything that may result in vascular constriction or spasm of the blood vessels to the brain; the same thing that causes any headache. So why is a migraine different? The one suffering a headache begins a self reinforcing cycle of psychological struggle. The more struggle, the more tension, and the more vascular constriction and the more pain, resulting in more psychological struggle, and the cycle continues until it is broken, typically by a very powerful central nervous system suppressant.

Many such examples can be found, and the relationship of struggle to dieting is no different. We want to lose weight faster or we resent the absence of the 'pleasure factor', and start counting calories and feeling guilty and failing to meet goals and judging ourselves physically and perhaps even finding others to blame, and all of this increases tension and the drive to 'make something happen' until you may find yourself thinking about food all the time and actually gaining weight instead of losing it.

This sort of love/hate relationship with food must be broken, and it can't be severed by applying more attention rather than less. This is so important that my suggestion for most would be to go on eating as you always have and simply begin to notice there's no real need experienced, either physical or psychological. Essentially, food simply becomes an occasional necessity, but otherwise irrelevant. This recognition may permanently change eating habits.