Step 5: The Controlled Trade Technique

This week (week seven!) I was more diligent about recording my consumption, even when I forgot to bring my notebook to work a couple of times.  I also tried harder to focus on the Thin Gourmet technique when eating and succeeded most of the time.  It was a pretty good week; I even survived going to the mall and eating only the food I brought with me to snack on.  And I got some walking in, too!

But I feel like it's time to move on to the next step, which is Step 5: The Controlled Trade Technique (127).  In this step, the dieter must start to tackle those eating challenges that have heretofore proved impossible to master.  For instance, when I say I can't eat just five potato chips, or a 1/2 cup serving of ice cream, or a small slice of pie or cake or one small doughnut or one chocolate, I'm saying that with those foods, I'm either all in or I'm all out.  There's no hope of ever eating those foods normally. 

So to say that these foods, too, will be conquered is like whistling in the dark.  I fear those foods, and I'm not altogether sure I can conquer them, but I can certainly have that as my goal and take steps toward it, however tentative.  Shirley offers us a path toward normalcy, one which other diet plans purport to offer, but don't provide realistic help to achieve.

I'm thinking specifically of Weight Watchers and their system of "points" or some other method where you can choose a tiny brownie instead of an apple.  That sounds good--you get to eat the foods you love, right?  But what they don't seem to recognize is how very difficult it is to eat only one tiny brownie and not go on to eat the whole box.  Or maybe they do, and their real goal is to get you to eat their pricey brownies instead of the ones you could get at the day-old bread store for much less.  They know you're going to eat the whole box, and they don't care because it's more money for them.  And that's in addition to the money you've already paid for "dues" to the Weight Watchers organization. I could be wrong, but it sounds like a scam to me.

Shirley Simon doesn't sell you any special low calorie food to keep you on her eating program.  In fact, she wants you to be able to eat the regular, high calorie treats that everyone else eats (although these days, "everyone else" seems to be the fatties), but in the normal serving size and quantity.  When was the last time you ate 100 calories worth of potato chips and felt satisfied with that?  Well, that's the ultimate goal for Shirley and those who follow her plan.  And it's not at all easy getting to that point.

So, Shirley introduces the Controlled Trade Technique as a method to move slowly toward the realm of normal eating behavior.  As Shirley states, "You can learn how to enjoy only a half cup of ice cream and even how to eat just ten salted peanuts" (127).  But Shirley warns that it's "a technique.  It's not an attitude of 'Whoopee, now I get all those good things.'  It's true that you do get to eat many good things, and that's fine because the happier you are the more successful you will be as a dieter.  But this step goes beyond making you a happy eater.  It's a learning technique."

Through this technique, you learn to conquer your "food fears," as Shirley calls them (128).  Those foods that are hard to control become foods that the dieter either avoids completely, or gives into completely.  This works out to a disadvantage when the person finally loses weight and must now cope with the forbidden foods.  Usually the encounter leads right back to bad eating behaviors and weight gain.

As Shirley puts it, "The lack of practice in coping with these foods, combined with the fears and the feelings of inadequacy, account for many of the failures during maintenance and for much of the perennial weight seesawing."  How does the typical dieter go from eating a whole pie, to months of eating no pie at all, to having just one small slice?  He can't, says Shirley: "The vast multitudes of dieters just can't go from the great buildup to that great letdown.  So they eat more than they should and they get fat all over again."

To change that result, says Shirley, you have to learn to gradually get more control over those foods.  When dieting is separated from not-dieting so completely, it becomes almost impossible for an out-of-control eater to step over the line and succeed in being a controlled eater.  So what to do?  Take away the abrupt change by making change incremental over the weeks of being on the eating program.  By the time you've lost all the weight you want to lose, you're already eating like a thin person (129).

The technique is simple: Shirley has lists of foods that can be exchanged for basic program foods to be eaten in controlled quantities and situations.  She also has Weekend Specials, where you can eat special foods, also in controlled quantities.  I've already been doing some of this by substituting a few foods that were forbidden on the starter diet with ones I think I can handle, like lunchmeat and peanut butter.  But other foods, like ice-cream, have strictly been barred (except for that one day when I had a slice of pizza). 

So, this week, I'm going to try the Controlled Trade Technique.  I'm going to start with foods I'm not sure I can handle, and use the Thin Gourmet and other techniques to eat them in small quantities and slowly, with enjoyment.  I don't know yet what those foods will be, but I'll keep you posted.