What losing weight and brushing your teeth have in common

If you’ve been struggling with weight your entire life, you’ll be happy to know that sticking with a plan of eating can actually be as easy as brushing your teeth. Really.

It might sound strange, but slimming down triumphantly isn’t about how much willpower you have, but how automated you make your food choices, explains Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson, New York Times best-selling author and founder of Bright Line Eating.

Think of how second nature the practice of brushing your teeth is. According to Dr. Thompson, 95% of people brush their teeth each and every day without fail—even when facing illnesses, crazy schedules and unexpected family crises.

“You’re executing that behavior not as a matter of choice, but a matter of habit,” she says. Here lies the strategy that Bright Line Eating uses to get its participants to lose weight at a mind-bogglingly successful rate—taking willpower out of the equation.

“The first thing you must realize is that pretty much all diets out there rely on willpower,” Dr. Thompson explains. “They don’t mean to, but they give you a plan and leave the long-term execution in your hands, expecting that your willpower is just going to show up for you. Unfortunately, the brain just doesn’t work that way.”

The seat of willpower in your brain, the anterior cingulate cortex, also governs all kinds of other decision-making, like choosing which email to read first or what route to take to work. Emotional regulation is controlled here as well, like dealing with unruly kids or sitting in frustrating traffic.

Source: usatoday