What is a Diet Reset Program?

By Eileen Sherman PhD, MBA, BS, RN

If you Google the term “diet reset program,” you will be bombarded with an overwhelming number of diet programs, metabolic reset programs, some branded programs and some not branded, some well-known and some new to the market, some rapid weight loss programs, some programs that only take five days to accomplish, some that take 30 days to accomplish, but in none of these links will you actually see exactly what a diet reset program is.

From my own perspective as a health coach, life coach, and years of experience working with hundreds of clients on this issue of changing their diets—the best successes have been not on denying yourself foods, but on making sure you have an abundance of healthy “real” foods—preferably organic.  So a diet reset is really an eating or body reset—no focus on deprivation, rather focus on abundance. Now doesn’t this sound better already?

Changing Your Food Habits with a Diet Reset Program

An eating reset is really focusing on habit change.  Over time we all build up many not so great habits around food and eating; we binge eat when we are stressed, we eat too late at night, we often practice the “grab n’ go” approach to eating, and we don’t exercise enough.  None of this leads to an increase in our metabolism, a decrease in fatigue, feeling lighter, healthier, and more energetic.

Research tells us that it takes about 90 days to change a habit—we go through five stages of change. 

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5 Stages of Change 

The 5 Stages of Change are based on the Prosci Change Management Maturity Model.

1. Awareness to change the habit
2. desire to change the habit
3. Knowledge on why and how to change the habit
4. Acceptance which is actually when the life change takes place 
5. Reinforcement of the change daily through the practice of different behaviors that reinforce the change in eating  

How to Hit the Reset Clock and Successfully Make a Habit Change

Let me give you a simple example of how this happens.  I had a client who came to me wanting to really change her evening eating habits.  She would often sit down in front of the TV, with a glass of wine and a bag of chips, crackers, pretzels and eat—sometimes getting that second glass of wine and finishing the entire bag of whatever snack she decided on for that evening.  This actually was her nightly ritual; a habit that she had created.  

Identify and Use an “Anchor”

We went to work over 12 weeks to help her change that behavior very slowly—she downloaded an app on her phone that was a reminder that she needed to get up from the TV and go into another room to read, or take a walk etc.  This is called an “anchor”-something that anchors you to realizing you are about to make a less than desirable decision around eating and the anchor is meaningful to you so that you pay attention to it. Often people have photos on their refrigerator of them when they felt as though they were in better shape and had a handle on healthier eating, some download a favorite song on their phones as a reminder, some set their alarm on their phone, some journal their behavior.  Whatever works for the individual is what we go with in terms of the anchor.  

Over 12 weeks, my client stopped her nightly binge eating completely, was cooking more simple meals at home at a reasonable time, and felt much more energetic as well as sleeping better at night.  

This in one very simple example, but as you can see and appreciate, it is just not about “RESETTING YOUR DIET.”  It is a series of baby steps taken that WILL lead to life-long habit change. This is also not a ‘canned’ approach like you often find on the internet.  A diet reset program should be different for every individual. 

Take the Leap to Break Old Habits

You will benefit from a diet reset program delivered by a certified health coach and life coach that will provide you with the right system, approach, and accountability to help guide you to being successful.   Visit my diet reset programs page for more information on how I can help you reboot your system or contact me today for a free initial consultation.

Coaching can be done by phone, in person, Skype, Facetime or Zoom.