A litle more discussion about keeping a food diary

We normally think of food diaries as tracking devices of what we eat (and that is what tracking devices are referred to as). Yet, we could think of a food diary as our personal diary - pages of our thoughts and feelings, what happened in our day, what we wish for, etc. For example,

Dear Diary,
Today was actually a great day. I didn't fall prey to all the sweet treats around the office. And you know why? Because as I looked at the M&Ms on Susie's desk and the doughnuts that were left out in the breakout room, I knew that I would have to tell you about them later if I ate them. I couldn't come up with an excuse that I would write here that I wouldn't later read and tell myself, "you've got to be kidding me!". You've become my conscience.

Besides, I knew that when I logged those sweet treats in on my food tracking system, I would pretty much wipe out a lot of my calorie allowance for the day. I had to decide if they were really worth it. I didn't want to lie on the sheet, nor did I want to see that at the end of the day I had overeaten and the only excuse I could use was that "I wanted them." If I can't answer to myself, there is no one who is holding an axe over my head, making me eat one way or the other.

That gave me a great feeling to know I was in control. Let me just hope I'm as good tomorrow.

Visit www.advantagediets.com for more information on
personality typing.

Copyright 2008 - Advantage Diets

What do food diaries and personality typing have to do with each other?

The National Weight Control Registry was put together in an attempt to show that people can successfully lose weight and keep it off. They have been keeping track of successful losers for many years in hopes of finding out what are their secrets.

Anyone who has lost weight will tell you that losing the weight is easy compared to maintaining the loss. Yet, some people have greater success losing weight than others. What is it that they figured out to make it possible to reach their goals? The National Weight Registry asked their members to share what they found to be the greatest help to them in losing weight. It seems that the majority of the losers kept a food diary. They said that by having to write down what they ate, they were kept connected to the process. It acted somewhat like their conscience, always there reminding them of what they should be doing and reflecting what it is they were doing.

From an MBTI or personality typing perspective, people with a strong Judging preference, a preference that wants organization, enjoys keeping lists, being structured, would find keeping a food diary very motivating. (By the way, if you're not familiar with personality typing, visit my website at http://www.advantagediets.com/ and click on the link "About personality typing.") If part of your type name includes the letter "J", then consider keeping a food diary to lose weight.

That's not to say that Perceivers can't keep food diaries. They can and will, but may not keep to it as long as the Judgers will. With their need for spontaneity and flexibility (What if Sally wants to go out for an unplanned afternoon latte?), too much structure scares them off. So food diaries may not be as appropriate a tool for Perceivers as it is for Judgers.

I hope one day that someone will run a study on the members of the National Weight Registry to see what the types are of the people who have relied on food diaries to lose weight. If you are a researcher and decide to do so, please fill me in on the results. I would be delighted to see if my suspicions are correct.

There is a great tool for Perceivers that is a food diary and is fun. Check out "Drawing the Line on Calories, Carbs, and Fat" on my website. Drawing the Line caters to the characteristics of both Judging and Perceiving. There is structure involved in looking foods up and connecting-the-dots in this system, something Judgers would enjoy. But there is also the element of fun, something Perceivers would want. They love to see at the end of the day what type of picture they've drawn of the foods they've eaten.

Visit www.advantagediets.com for more information on
personality typing.

Copyright 2008 - Advantage Diets

Personality Typing and Cake

You must be wondering what does personality typing and cake have to do with each other. I'm going to share a scenario with you and would like you to think about how you would handle this situation. We're dealing with the Thinking and Feeling preferences here. If you're new to type, visit my website at www.advantagediets.com and click on the link "About personality typing."

Scenario: A friend of yours has made you a cake for your birthday. You're trying to lose weight and have tried to stay clear of sweets and extra calories. Do you eat the cake?

If your strong preference is Feeling, you probably will eat the cake. You wouldn't want to hurt your friend's feelings, even if it meant sabotaging your diet. This is a subjective call where you bring to bear your opinions about how you should treat your friends. In this case, you're more worried with how your friend will feel if you don't eat her cake than what effect it will have on you. As you can see, someone with a strong Feeling preference really runs the risk of letting others and situations determine their decisions. This is especially true if someone with a strong Feeling preference also has a strong Extraverting preference.

If your strong preference is Thinking, you probably won't eat the cake. If you have decided that this diet you're going on won't allow you the extra calories of a piece of cake, you'll probably tell your friend how nice it was of her to make it for you, but to please understand that it doesn't fit into your weight-loss efforts. You'd be taking an objective point-of-view with the situation, analyzing what effect it would have on your day's caloric intake. Now, had you known your friend was going to make you a cake and you have iNtuition as your strong preference, you could have planned the day so that the other foods you ate were less caloric to allow room for these extra calories.

Visit http://www.advantagediets.com/ for more information on
personality typing, nutrition, health and wellness.

Copyright 2008 - Advantage Diets

MBTI and cartoon, "Between Friends"

In my last posting, I shared with you a cartoon from "Between Friends". I asked you if you could figure out what personality type the restaurant customer has and what type the waitress has. Any thoughts? The following is one way to look at the cartoon through type:

The customer is exhibiting the Feeling and Judging preferences. First, the Feeling preference is stating what she'd really like to have - Bacon Cheeseburger and a Chocolate Shake. The Feeling preference reveals a subjective decision-making process (this is what "I" want). Compare that to the Thinking preference that makes decisions more from an objective point-of-view (this is what "society, my boss, the rules, etc." require).

Then there's the Judging preference that is trying to adhere to a set of guidelines that she has either been told to follow or that she believes must be the right approach to eating healthy (even though she isn't behind it willingly).

It's her end comment "Some people just insist on sucking all the joys out of live" that reconfirm her strong preference is Feeling. I also would say that it shows she favors Extraversion since Extraverts look outside of themselves for their energy. That's what she'd like to do - experience the "little joys of life" which come from outside of herself.

If you have a story you'd like to share and have me see if I can figure out what preferences are being used, please do submit them but clicking on "Comments".

Visit http://www.advantagediets.com/ for more information on personality typing, nutrition, health and wellness..

Copyright 2008 - Advantage Diets

Cute Cartoon - "Between Friends"

Let's see if you can use the information I posted last time (so far, one characteristic of each preference) and apply it to the following cartoon I saw in the Seattle Times last Sunday. The cartoon is "Between Friends" by Sandra Bell Lundy.

As a lady is ordering lunch, she gives her order to the waitress as follows:
"I'll have the bacon cheeseburger without the bacon, the cheese or the bun."
" - and a chocolate shake, skip the ice cream and no chocolate."

The waitress reconfirms with the customer what she's heard as the order:
"Got it - one plain hamburger patty and a glass of milk."

The customer says to her friend:
"Some people just insist on sucking all the little joys out of life."

Okay, now tell me what personality preferences the customer probably has or is using. How about the waitress? You'll have to wait until my next post since I don't want to take the fun out of your guessing by giving you the answer right now.

Visit http://www.advantagediets.com/ for more information on personality typing, nutrition, health and wellness.

Copyright 2008 - Advantage Diets

MBTI (Personality Typing) Basics

The usual thought when people hear the words "personality type" is that we're talking about a person with either a Type A or Type B personality type. Type A is more out-there, energetic, vocal (you know the people I'm talking about). Compare that to Type B personalities that are more laid-back, easy-going, and more restrained.

That's not what the MBTI is about. However, that's not to say that those characteristics aren't experienced by people with one of the 16 types set down by the MBTI. According to the creators of the MBTI (Myers and Briggs), as well as Carl Jung, the psychologist that established psychological type in the early6 1920s, we all possess the eight preferences that make up the MBTI. However, we favor four of the eight.

The eight preferences consist of:
Extravert - Introvert
Sensor - iNtuitive
Thinker - Feeler
Judger - Perceiver

I've intentionally listed them this way for you to see that these eight preferences group themselves into 4 categories, each set being the other one's opposite. For example, Extravert - Introvert are both part of the category "Where you get your energy". For the Extravert, he gets it from outside of himself, whereas as the Introvert gets her energy from inside. Since you can't be extraverting and introverting at the same time, one of these preferences you use more often. Because of that, it becomes part of your type name.

I've made bold the letters of each preference that can appear in a type name. For those who are curious, the "N" is bolded in iNtuitive instead of the "I" because Jung had alreaded assigned the "I" to the preference "Introversion". An example of a type name (which, by the way, is my type name) is ENFJ. That means that while I possess all of the preferences, which I'll be telling you more about along the way, my favorite ones are Extraversion, iNtuition, Feeling, and Judging.

Just to set the record straight from the beginning. There are no good or bad types. In fact, we'd have a pretty boring world if everyone had the same type name. It's the fact that with 16 different types, we have much more diversity and interest.

For now, to get you started, I'm going to give you just one characteristic for each of the preferences so you start to get an idea of what personality typing is all about. For each pair, think about which one applies most closely to you. But don't forget what I told you about last time. You really need an in-depth questionnaire such as the MBTI to be sure of your type description. But let's have some fun with this and get you started.

Category: What energizes you?
Are you an Extravert or an Introvert?
As I shared above, an Extravert is energized by a group of people. So, if you have an Extravert and an Introvert going to a party, the Extravert will probably be there until the party is over, receiving a lot of energy from the others. On the other hand, the Introvert goes to the same party and then leaves early because she needs to go home and recharge her batteries. She found the big group situation an energy drainer. See the difference? Which one do you think you are so far?

Category: What type of information do you need?
Are you a Sensor or an iNtuitive?
The Sensor is a person who lives in the here-and-now. Compare that to the iNtuitive who lives in the what-might-be. We're talking here of someone living in the present moment while the other is living in the future.
Which one do you think you are?

Category: How do you make your decisions?
Are you a Thinker or a Feeler?
If you're a thinker, you make your decisions in a logical and analytical way. If you're a Feeler, you tend to use your emotions, your gut.
Which do you think you are?

Category: How do you deal with life?
Are you a Judger or a Perceiver?
If you're a Judger, you're organized and scheduled. Whereas, it you're a Perceiver, you're spontaneous and flexible.
Which do you think you are?

For this first look at type, put your type name together with the letters from the 4 pairs that you think sounds like you. We'll be adding more characteristics in the days to come. So stay tuned.

For those of you who want to share your type name now, leave a comment. It'll be interesting to see just what types tend to join in the conversation online.

Visit http://www.advantagediets.com/ for more information on personality typing, nutrition, health and wellness.

Copyright 2008 Advantage Diets

Getting to Know You

Hi,
Let me introduce myself. My name is Roberta Schwartz Wennik and I'm a registered dietitian. I've been a consulting nutritionist for almost 17 years. During these past 17 years, I've counseled people like yourself, have written numerous books, have been a newspaper columnist, appeared on television, been a speaker, a brand spokesperson and a specialist in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

The MBTI is an approach to personality typing that a mother-daughter team (Isabel Myers and Katherine Briggs) created based on the work of the psychologist, Carl Jung. I was reading a book about the MBTI and personality typing just for the fun of it. I think it was one of Otto Kroeger's books. He was sharing in his book that the MBTI is most often used in industry for career development, team building and improving communications. As I continued to read the book, a lightbulb went off in my head. I could see a perfect marriage between the MBTI and nutrition counseling. What better way to help people than to understand why they do what they do based on their personality type? And, in turn, what better way to instruct them on making changes than in ways comfortable to their type.

Too often nutritionists use a cookie-cutter approach to helping people make changes. That means everyone is dealt with in the same way. Yet, how can that work when we're all not the same? The MBTI encompasses 16 different personality types. If I were to ask you to make changes that weren't comfortable with your type, you'd have to use willpower to succeed. And while willpower will work for awhile, it doesn't work indefinitely. And guess what? Whatever changes you might have made using willpower will probably be quickly erased when your old, established habits come roaring back.

Yet, when I use the MBTI and truly understand the people I'm working with, as they learn to truly understand themselves, success is actually inevitable. Finding the right approach is basically finding what works for you. Of course, you do need to find out what your personality type is, learn its strengths and weaknesses, and then go after making changes based on what is comfortable for you to do.

In the coming weeks, I'll be sharing different aspects of the MBTI to help you identify your type. After that, it's time to make some healthy changes and we'll be getting into that, as well. If you're really curious about the MBTI and want to learn more about it right now, visit my website at http://www.advantagediets.com/ and click on the link (on the right handside of the page) "About Personality Typing." That link will lead you to a slideshow that does a good job of introducing you to the MBTI and getting you to think what type you might be. Please just appreciate that it takes a more in-depth questionnaire to feel secure in your identification of your type. But, the slideshow will certainly get you started.

Visit http://www.advantagediets.com/ for more information on personality typing, nutrition, health and wellness.

Copyright 2008 Advantage Diets