Healthcare | Wednesday 7 December, 2016 3:01 pm |

You know the term, “midnight cravings”, well forget all about it, because experts now believe that 3.33pm is the precise time of day when dieters are most likely to give into temptation and ditch their diet.

 

Researchers for the New Atkins Lifestyle insist this is the time when dieters are most at risk of straying from their healthy eating regime because of a number of different factors, including stress, boredom and a mid-afternoon dip in energy.

The diet and lifestyle experts, who promote a low-carb, low sugar, safe lifetime eating plan, interviewed over 750 failed slimmers in the UAE in order to understand why they have been unable to stick to their diets in the past. 

They discovered, among other things, that the majority of people (51%) broke their diets mid-afternoon, compared to 18% in the morning and 31% late at night.

 

There were number of reasons given for breaking their diet. With over 29% blaming temptation from their friends, colleagues and family as the leading reason for their failure.  While emotional distress, hunger and busy lifestyles lead to comfort eating.

 

Atkins nutritionist, Linda O’Byrne, who oversaw the research, said: “We were keen to discover why people have failed at dieting in the past, in order for us to be able to highlight and advise against the various pitfalls.

“One of the things we were keen to establish was a pattern of failure and so we asked people if they could recall the time of day when they had previously ditched their diet. We soon discovered that mid-afternoon, more specifically between 3.30pm and 4pm was the most precarious time for the majority of slimmers. We were then able to work out, via our responses, the mean time of failure and it came up as precisely 3.33pm.

“This is the time when most dieters are susceptible to failure because of a number of different factors, namely a dip in energy mid-afternoon and the use of food as an emotional clutch, which could be down to either stress, boredom or the many other ranges of emotion that we go through on any given day.

“So as well as advising people to watch their sugar and carbs intake, we also advise them to watch their clock, because being aware of the time of day when you are most susceptible to diet failure can go a long way to helping you stay on track.” 

The New Atkins Lifestyle has drawn up a five-point plan to help people stick to their diet plan throughout the day. Key points include eating the right kind of lunch, with meals that contain lean proteins, such as chicken, eggs and fish, along with complex carbs such as vegetables and healthy fats from avocado, nuts, flax and oil. It also contains a reminder to stop using food as an emotional crutch, whether that is to counteract stress, boredom or any other emotion.

Linda O’Byrne, author of the five-point plan, added: “Sticking to any diet takes a certain level of discipline and we advise anybody who has struggled to maintain a diet in the past to take on board our five-point plan. Along with our plan we always advise dieters to eat a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner and allow themselves a small mid morning and mid afternoon snack to stabilise blood sugar levels and keep hunger pangs at bay. “

 

Five Point Plan
1.   Eat a healthy breakfast
2.   Spread your calorie intake across the day
3.   Avoid sugary snacks during a dip in energy
4.   Stop using food as an emotional crutch
5.   Eat the right kind of lunch, one high in protein and complex carbs