Oh diets. They've got to be on a lot of our minds at the moment (probably not Adriana Lima's, hopefully she allowed her poor self a sanger or two after all that hardship) in the run up to Christmas and one interesting thing I've been reading about is the Amen Solution.
No, not the, "sure I'll have another bag of Tayto and a litre of Chardonnay and pray to the Baby Jesus this lot doesn't go straight to my thighs," type.
In a very condensed nutshell, Dr Daniel Amen, an American neuroscientist who specialises in customised brain-coaching, has identified that certain brain types respond better to different diets. He's got a book on the subject available on Amazon.co.uk*, The Amen Solution: The Brain Healthy Way to Lose Weight and Keep It Off, and all.
So to start, you take the brain test on his website and it helps you identify what type you are. As an example, if you're an emotional type, prone to eating when stressed due to learned behaviour or if something upsetting happens that leads you directly by the nose to the biscuit cupboard, then he reckons controlled plans like Weightwatchers or Unislim are the ones that will be the most successful for you.
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Why? Apparently because you can still have healthy carbs on these diets, that helps raise serotonin levels, which it wouldn't if you were doing a high protein approach like Dukan or particularly Atkins. I'd imagine the treat aspect is important as well - knowing you can have a little of what you fancy if you keep some points reserved would help to make the sacrifices more bearable.
What do you think? Neuroscience or pseudoscience? Is Dr Amen onto something or not? To the comments!
*affiliate link
