Do not just listen to what you want to hear and ignore what you do not like!

Isn't it great when a research project concludes that it is OK to eat chocolate, ice cream, pizza or anything else which is normally considered to be off limits? People who struggle to lose weight because they love to eat food seize on this type of information and repeat it to everybody that will listen.

We all do this to an extent, in that we choose to reinforce our existing beliefs by selectively picking on data which serves our purpose and at the same time ignoring other data which goes against our preconceived wisdom and self interest.

For example, there are many overweight people who go around saying that compounds in diet drinks are extremely dangerous and could cause cancer and therefore they always insist on ordering regular versions of Coke, Pepsi and other fizzy drinks. What they haven't done is look at the clear statistical evidence which shows that obesity is one of the major causes of cancer after smoking and the side effects of drinking diet drinks are not.

Another example is those people who believe that because they eat dark chocolate it is somehow much less fattening than regular milk chocolate. Research however shows that when people reckon that what they are eating is low calorie or low fat they will eat much more of it than usual therefore taking in extra calories than if they were eating the normal version.

If you are struggling to lose weight maybe what you need to do is chuck out all your preconceived ideas about eating, diet and exercise and be ruthlessly objective about the information which you take in and which you act on. At Ukmedix News we often argue that losing weight is a psychological battle and that the only person who can win it is you!

Do not just listen to what you want to hear and ignore what you do not like!