Cutting Lose From the Grip of Too Much Food

---Thank God, I'm allergic to chocolates. After my worst allergy experience when my whole body was itching, I decided to wage war against it. At least, I won't have to worry about getting addicted to it again anymore. My great chocolate days are over. 'Hope this would help keep diabetes away from me too.

The good news is you don't have to give up chocolate or all of your other favourite foods in order to lose weight.

The not-so-good news is that people still have to remove some treats from their diet in order to to prevent the onset of type two diabetes.

This is the advice from George Blair-West, an Australian doctor and psychiatrist who was in Blenheim over the weekend for the Diabetes New Zealand annual conference.

But does it sound too good to be true?

It's not, said Dr Blair-West, author of a best-selling book, Weight Loss for Food Lovers: Understanding our minds and why we sabotage our weight loss.

He said eating was often connected to other issues, and that weight loss could be achieved by cutting out fattening foods that we could part with.

"The idea is to take out the foods that people eat that they are not emotionally attached to. As soon as food is denied it becomes forbidden and therefore desired."

He referred to a woman he met in one of his workshops. When she was younger, she was given chocolate Freddo Frogs when she was hurt or unhappy to make her feel better.

Now, she always reaches for a Freddo Frog when something goes wrong.

"We see this incredible confusion between physical and emotional nurturing," Dr Blair-West said.

He said humans had an emotional attachment with food from a young age, with weddings, birthdays and other celebrations associated with food.

Type two diabetes makes up about 90 per cent of all people with diabetes. It comes later in life, and people who are obese and in the higher weight range are more likely to develop it. The condition is caused by the body not recognising the insulin being produced, and being unable to use it. About 105,000 New Zealanders had been diagnosed with type two diabetes.

Dr Blair-West said there was no doubt that staying in a healthy weight range would reduce the likelihood of developing the condition.

Even 5 per cent total body weight loss could reduce the risk of developing diabetes by 60 per cent.

By eating slowly and savouring food, people end up eating less, he said.

He advised against dieting, where weight was lost but then put back on and people often ended up weighing more than when they started.

The good news was that type two diabetes was "highly responsive" to a change in diet and lifestyle, unlike many conditions.

Article from www.stuff.co.nz