The stop diet: the secret to eat less and lose 5 kilos in 1 month

The solution is not in the fridge

When you open the refrigerator after hours looking for whatever it is that satisfies your hunger, what is driving you to eat? Is it really the need to feed yourself or is it the need to appease feelings that do not come from your stomach, such as stress, grief …? Or maybe it's sleepy or tired or bored or…? Whatever it is, the solution is not in the fridge, even if you look for it there, but in making a STOP. Because what leads us to eat and gain weight (or prevents us from losing weight) is much more than what we put on the plate, although we always look at our diet. It is the lack of Sleep , it is Sadness , it is the excess of Obligations and Haste . That is why you have to do STOP .

All roads lead to snacking and overeating. Sleep, sadness, excess of obligations and rush are usually involved in that discomfort that leads to cravings and being overweight. And they provide feedback to each other: lack of sleep is often related to excess obligations, stress, rush and overwhelm. And this makes us feel sad, tired, overcome …
When you feel bad, food is your refuge. When we need comfort as babies, our mother's breast gives it to us. As children, a candy calms our sadness. Therefore, when we feel bad, the mechanisms of hunger are activated, because the subconscious relates food with well-being and protection. In addition, physiologically, eating activates an area of the brain - the parasympathetic system - responsible for relaxing and making us feel good.
Look inside yourself and find out if you should STOP. The endocrine Deepak Chopra has described the most frequent triggers that lead us to overeat without real hunger, that is, due to “emotional” hunger. Consider whether, as Chopra points out, you rush to eat when you're depressed, lonely, distressed, unattractive, stressed, or in need of comfort.
A plan that changes your life, not just your menus. If you suffer the effects of these triggers of emotional hunger, we propose a plan to ensure that food is not your only source of well-being. We are going to tell you which foods help you well-being (and finally a downloadable weekly menu to make your task easier), but also what change in habits will lead you to feel good about your skin and lose weight.

Reconcile SLEEP (and rest better) with SEROTONIN

If we increase our serotonin levels we will be able to sleep better and neutralize one of the triggers of hunger. There are many studies that show the relationship between lack of sleep and being overweight. For example, according to an American research, women who sleep less than five hours have a 32% greater chance of gaining weight because appetite hormones are altered.

And what does serotonin have to do with all this? Serotonin turns into melatonin in the afternoon, the hormone responsible for making us sleepy. So the higher your serotonin levels during the day, the more melatonin you'll have at night and the better your rest.
How do we increase their levels? Following a Mediterranean diet, rich in fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and fish, is ideal for increasing serotonin. Also, according to the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, exercising increases serotonin in the brain. And it is recommended to combine exercises, for example, walking, running, swimming or cycling, with others such as yoga, tai chi, Pilates or stretching. You should also go to bed early, to give you enough time to sleep, and an hour before going to bed avoid mobile, tablet … The blue light they emit cuts the secretion of melatonin, even if you are only exposed to it for 10 minutes, time to review the latest messages.

Ideas to gain serotonin

Get out in the sun. Serotonin levels increase when exposed to sunlight.
Abdominal breathing Take all the air out of your lungs and refill them by puffing up your belly. You will stimulate the production of serotonin.
Self-massage. To release serotonin, massage yourself in a clockwise direction.

Fight SADNESS (and cheer up) smiling with TRYPTOPHAN

You feel bad, you eat a bun, your mood drops more and you want another … With tryptophan you will overcome this vicious circle. There are foods that make your spirits down. They are those that have a high percentage of sugars and refined flours (fruit juices, breakfast cereals, sauces, fried tomatoes, etc.), as well as processed foods rich in saturated or trans fats (in pre-cooked meals and industrial pastries).

Go to "mood food", feed your good mood. Mood food is a movement that promotes eating with nutritional awareness to get the body to secrete well-being substances (endorphins, oxytocin, etc.). For this, eating foods rich in tryptophan is key, since this is the precursor of these substances.
Fortify it with lots of "vitamin S". The "vitamin S", the "social vitamin", does not appear in the nutritional tables, but it is very important. It helps you deal with negative emotions that lead you to eat badly. So take care of your circle of friends and expand it with new people by signing up for activities that you like: dance classes, cooking classes, reading clubs …
Practice conscious substitution. When you get upset, your urge to eat skyrockets uncontrollably. It is time to practice mindful substitution. Eat, you're going to eat, face it, but instead of jumping in for a bun or a cut of pizza have healthy treats at your fingertips. You'll know what you like: pickled gherkins; fresh cheese with honey; whole wheat sticks with seeds; an ounce of dark chocolate …

Tryptophan is in cereals, nuts, legumes, dairy, chicken, salmon, avocado …

Change the OBLIGATION by ORGANIZATION

Work, home, children, partner … We love them, but they fill us with "I have to", "I can't get to" and "I can't with" … And we feel overwhelmed. The scale may not reflect it, but wanting to get to organize the child's birthday with his class while you do the shopping for the week during lunch time of your eight-hour day is what leads you to gain weight, because instead eating sitting down, chewing well and eating a nutritious meal, you peck at anything - greasy and / or sugary, not to say ultra- processed, for sure - in one plis.

The effect of "I deserve a tribute." And if you do not peck, you reward yourself for having managed to get to everything, "you deserve" that bun or those sweets with which you try to hide that you are overwhelmed. But that is not the answer, but to organize yourself better and make your schedule more rational and that all the weight of the world does not fall on your shoulders.
Change the chip, because it only depends on you. We can tell you to delegate at home and at work, not to try to cover so much, we can even propose time organization systems as recognized as Bullet journal, Kanban or Time Blocking, but it is useless if you do not stop feel responsible for everything and everyone. The problem is that you feel guilty if you don't …
Face guilt. Guilt informs us that we have transgressed some of the rules that govern us. But that's how it is? When you realize that not everything is your responsibility and you know how to put everything in its place, you will feel liberated (and you will need less sweets). Because no, you are not the one who has to remind your adolescent to prepare the soccer bag, or ask your partner for an appointment at the doctor …
The timing of meals is "sacred." Respecting the 20 minutes that each meal takes represents only one hour of the 24 hours of the day. So take your time to calmly eat your three meals a day, sitting at the table, chewing slowly.

Replace HURRY with PAUSE to avoid stress

It is more than proven that living under a constant state of nerves makes us fat, especially women. When we rush, we are tense, nervous and … the body releases more cortisol, the "stress hormone". This causes fat cells in the abdomen to increase in size.

Don't feed your "stress hormones." Every time we consume caffeine - in coffee, but also in tea and certain soft drinks, in chocolate … - our adrenal glands produce adrenaline and cortisol, stress hormones. Try to limit caffeine, because if you overdo it, your body will consume more serotonin to counteract cortisol. And therefore, at night, there will be less available and you will have less melatonin, so your sleep will be affected and you will feel more stressed.

Adopt habits that calm you down

Don't jump out of bed when the alarm goes off. Take your time and stretch your arms and legs while you breathe deeply to oxygenate yourself.
Go over your schedule for the day by stopping on pleasant dates: coffee with a friend, playing with your child …
Exercise first thing in the morning. At 8 in the morning we have the maximum peak of cortisol secretion, which you will counteract with the endorphins that you release with sports.
Put on music. Take the songs that put you in a good mood on your mobile and listen to them when you feel very tense.

Tricks for hunger attacks

Tense your muscles. Contract the pelvic floor, the buttocks … It is a mechanism that helps maintain self-control, because it forces the brain to focus on it.
Imagine devouring. According to an American study, the urge to eat is reduced more when we imagine ourselves eating.
Massage your ear. Massaging the earlobe increases your level of well-being immediately.

And what can you eat?

In addition to changing habits and knowing which foods contribute to your well-being, here is a downloadable weekly menu to make it easier for you to follow the STOP diet based on Serotonin, Tryptophan, Organization and Pause.

Download the weekly menu of the STOP diet