Why The Key to Diet Change is to Do it Gradually

When most people decide to go on a diet, they do it rather suddenly. They essentially try to switch from their old diet to their new diet virtually overnight. This is one of the biggest reasons why people have such a difficult time sticking to the diets they've chosen.

The key to a successful diet change that lasts a lifetime is to change it gradually, one thing at a time. In fact, even when changing any one thing, it often helps to do it in gradients rather than all at once.

Here's how using a gradual shift approach can help your overall diet goals.

Getting Used to Different Caloric Densities

One trap people often fall into when changing diets is that they underestimate the differences in caloric density.

The caloric density of a food is basically how many calories are in how much food. A steak is extremely dense in calories, while a salad is extremely light in calories.

For example, a 12oz steak might have 650 calories just on its own. A large bunch of greens, enough for a whole salad, will be under 50 calories.

That means you'd need to eat 13 salads if it were just green just to get the same amount of calories.

Of course, once you add in dressing and olive oil in the salads the calories go up a lot higher. The point is however that the volume of greens you'd need to eat to compensate for the calories lost is likely higher than you'd expect.

This difference in caloric density can often cause people to over or under estimate how much they need to eat when switching to a diet they're not used to.

Switching slowly lets your mind and body get used to the new system and get used to gauging how much to eat before switching over completely.

Handle Cravings Slowly, Not All At Once

Trying to handle all the cravings that come at you in a massive diet change is extremely, extremely difficult. On the other hand, handling one small craving at a time is much easier.

Cravings aren't just emotional obstacles to diet change. They're physical, they're emotional, they're psychological and they activate several different areas of the brain.

Trying to handle a whole bunch of large dietary shifts all at once is like slamming your brain with a barrage of hormones and chemicals. Yes, you can try to overcome it, but you're fighting the tide.

How the Slow Shift Works

Let's say your dietary shift involves removing 5 items from your diet and adding 3.

Instead of making all the shifts at once, pick one. And phase it out gradually, over the course of a week or two.

Make it a point to eat less of the given food every single day. Make sure you replace it with other food so you don't go hungry (unless you're also cutting your caloric intake.)

Get your consumption down until the point where it doesn't feel like a struggle to cut it altogether. Make the cut, then move on to the next item. Rinse and repeat.

If you take your dietary changes slow and steady, you don't need to worry about cravings or differences in caloric density nearly as much. Your chances of success are much, much higher.