New Website—Simpler, More Details

Click Here for the Diet Details at www.thehalfhourdiet.com

TheHalfHourDiet.com website includes six pages of revised and more complete descriptions of the Half Hour Diet and its rationale. Because a blog limits how information can be presented, further development here will be quite sporadic, though any comments or suggestions here would be welcome.

After a first plate of food typically consumed in ten minutes, most of us immediately take extra food (seconds, sometimes thirds) because it is efficient—we are sitting at the table with fork and food laid out before us. With understanding of the delay between a meal and the passing of hunger, most of us can wait a half hour to see the effect. This easy, painless strategy is surprisingly effective.

To summarize, The Half Hour Diet is a free control strategy that is also simple. Because it does not change the foods you eat, the approach can be coupled with any sensible diet plan for even greater benefit, though many lose weight even eating their culturally appropriate food.

Good luck.

Weight Loss FAQs — Half Hour Diet

Basic answers to questions about the Half Hour Diet.

Click Here For The Diet Details At www.thehalfhourdiet.com

How Can I Lose Weight?

To lose weight you must eat fewer calories than you use, and because it is hard work to significantly increase calorie use, reducing intake is far more important. You should exercise for better health, but data suggests most of us are eating twice the calories we need.

The Half Hour Diet reduces calorie intake by inserting a brief pause—after a smaller meal than usual—to give your body’s natural signals time to work. Start by eating half a meal then make a small adjustment if you are still hungry after the pause. Once satiety replaces hunger, it takes less willpower to resist eating more.

And How To Lose Weight Fast?

Many diets achieve quick weight loss, but the weight comes back when the diet ends. The goal is a sustainable diet without undue pain and expense.

The Half Hour Diet may not be as quick as others, but it can yield good results. Recent examples of weight loss on the Half Hour Diet include an 18 year old girl who lost 15 pounds in six weeks (partly by eating more regular meals and eliminating constant snacking), a 250 pound woman who dropped 12 pounds in one month, and the author, who trimmed 17 pounds over ten months. All three lost weight without going to the gym, and all describe the Half Hour Diet as painless.

What Is The Best Weight Loss Program?

To weigh less for the rest of your life, the best diet is one you can begin and then continue for a lifetime.

The Half Hour Diet is easy to begin—you already have all the equipment—and once you learn to expect satiety, it can help you moderate calorie intake for life. Try it at your next meal.

What Is Weight Management?

Weight management means weighing yourself every day. Your weight is a useful measure of your diet, and the goal is a stable or declining weight. On the Half Hour Diet, you should only worry if your weight is climbing. Some lose weight quickly, but the goal for most is losing one half to one pound per week—a loss so gradual that typical home scales may show no change for a few weeks. Do not be discouraged if your weight at first appears stable. Persevere.

Weight management means bloat management. At three meals per day, there are 21 meals per week. Many patients report feeling bloated two to seven times per week, and in the last month, four patients reported feeling bloated 21 meals per week. (Ouch!) The Half Hour Diet can reduce bloating by offering an alternative to eating till full. Wait for satiety, avoid the full stomach, and eliminate bloating.

Weight management means wait management. Eating fast and eliminating mealtime social conversation only appears to save time if it leads instead to excessive calorie intake, weight gain, and new costs to control weight. Around the world, calorie intake and weight are increasing. Overweight people spend money and time on fancy diets and solitary exercises, often without lasting results. Go ahead and eat fast, but having the courage to invest a half hour pause at mealtime may, paradoxically, save time (and money) by reducing food intake and weight. For weight management, make time for the Half Hour Diet.

Where Can I Find The Half Hour Diet?
Read about this simple, free diet in the June post or in bite-sized pages at www.thehalfhourdiet.com

How Much Does The Half Hour Diet Cost?
It's free. And if you lose weight and save money on the Half Hour Diet, consider a small donation to one of the Half Hour Distractions listed on the sidebar.

Some are saving money on the Half Hour Diet. One family cut their regular chicken dinner from three pieces to just one piece per family member, and another family cut from two pieces to one. A third family now ends the month with food stamps left over. One man recently stopped his wife from buying two pounds of fish for a dinner for three. Another man now eats half of his dinner the next day as a free lunch. Most participants describe the diet as painless, noting the nearly complete lack of restrictions.

Will The Half Hour Diet Help Me Lose Weight?

Nothing works for everyone, and the Half Hour Diet is no exception, but in our practice it works pretty well. It is unclear to what extent that success depends on the enthusiasm of the briefing physician, the strength of the physician-patient relationship, or the motivation of patients seeking help. Some never try the diet.

Finally, the Half Hour Diet is not a diet at all but a control strategy that allows natural feedback to assist your own motivation. Some need a new diet, because poor food choices do matter. But for most of our patients, drastic dietary change appears unnecessary because most are simply eating too much of a good thing.

Good luck.

Read more about this simple, free diet in the June post or in bite-sized pages at www.thehalfhourdiet.com

You are welcome to Comment On Your Diet Experience at the link below.

Copyright © 2010-11 Cyril O. Burke III, MD. All rights reserved.

The Half Hour Diet

Click Here For The Diet Details At www.thehalfhourdiet.com

Nothing To Buy.  Just 3 Steps: Eat, Pause, Reflect...

1. Eat half the food you usually do.
2. Distract yourself for half an hour.
3. Then, if you are still hungry, have more.

But you probably won't be hungry, and here is why:

How often do you finish a 10-minute meal feeling full only to experience bloating a half hour later? If you are over forty, you will probably remember putting less food on your plate, rarely having seconds, feeling bloated only one meal per year (Thanksgiving dinner), yet never leaving the table hungry.

Fifty years ago, people prepared less food, put less food on their plates, and ate less, yet most left the table satisfied because meals were family events that generally lasted forty-five minutes to an hour. Meals used to be the high point of the day. We may not have eaten our food any slower, years ago, but we did linger around the table.

Today, families are smaller and we have many more entertainment options. It is no surprise that we seem to eat faster and savor our food less. And because we cannot feel satisfied in ten minutes, we have substituted a sense of fullness in our stomach for the satiety that comes later.

Why the Half-Hour Diet may work for you

It takes perhaps forty minutes for the brain to receive the stomach’s hormonal signals after a meal begins (actually, hormonal signals from the intestines influence the brain’s hunger and satiety centers in the hypothalamus). Once they have experienced satiety, people can learn to expect it and to wait for it.

There are several problems with using fullness to signal adequate food intake. First, the stomach is a muscular pouch, which can stretch to accommodate more food, so a full stomach can mean different amounts of food. Second, many foods pack a lot of calories into a small volume (high caloric density) so a full stomach might hold more calories than we need in a day. Third, after eating till we are full, the arrival of satiety a half hour later transforms feeling full into an uncomfortable sense of feeling bloated. 
 

Worldwide, many people are eating twice the calories they need, so eating about half before the pause is a simple way to start the diet. A recent patient described the 10-minute lunch he enjoys four days per week: a double cheeseburger, a chicken sandwich, a large order of fries, and a large diet soda, totaling 1380 calories. Well, he only needs 1800 calories per day.

Why other diets may not work

Long-term weight loss requires a sustainable lifestyle change. Most diets are restrictive, limiting foods, calories, or mealtimes, and while many people can follow restrictions for months (often losing weight to wear the outfit to that special occasion), most appear unwilling or unable to endure such restrictions for a lifetime. Calorie counting is one of the most effective dieting programs, and those who have tried it generally lose weight and become well aware of the caloric density of foods, yet eventually, some lose interest in calorie counting. The sale of expensive dietary supplements suggests either that overweight poor people will be denied the chance to trim down, or they will need financial assistance to lose weight, or perhaps food supplements are not necessary. Public humiliation motivates some but eventually loses its power or people otherwise avoid it. Stomach surgery may give that full sensation earlier in the meal, but instead, perhaps people could learn the transience of fullness as a goal and become reacquainted with satiety as the opposite of hunger.

The Half-Hour Diet sets no limits, and you may eat as fast as you like. It only requires a half-hour pause after eating a portion of food that might, at first pause, feel insufficient—your stomach will not be full. See how you feel thereafter, and eat more if you must. By de-emphasizing that full sensation and allowing time for satiety, you may feel better after each meal. You may eventually save money by buying and preparing less food. You may save on health costs.

And if you lose and save on the Half Hour Diet, consider a modest donation to one of the Half Hour Distractions listed on the sidebar. Pay it forward. Thank you.

Read more about this simple, free diet in bite-sized pages at www.thehalfhourdiet.com

You are welcome to Comment On The Half Hour Diet at the link below.

Copyright © 2010-11 Cyril O. Burke III, MD. All rights reserved.