About the Book

Let your brain change your body

The world is drowning in information on health, nutrition and exercise yet 95 percent of people who
try to lose weight put it all back on, plus more, within 12 months of starting any sort of weight loss
regime. Even diets that incorporate mind-set and motivation lead to short-term results at best. Why?
Because the key factor in successful weight management has been ignored: the brain.
NeuroSlimming brings the latest discoveries in brain science to the field of weight management. Dr
Helena Popovic, leading authority on improving brain function, shares the science and the stories
behind the success of her groundbreaking program. Her deep understanding of what drives self-
sabotaging behaviours will show you how to overcome them.
NeuroSlimming provides the missing piece in the weight loss puzzle. You will gain a deep
understanding of how the brain and body work together to create vibrant health and lasting vitality –
and lifelong transformation.
 Contents
Dedication
Foreword
About the author
Two critical definitions
PART I: A New Paradigm
Warning to readers
Does the world really need another book on weight loss?
Consider this
Weight loss does not equal fat loss
Not all fat loss is equal
How this book works
How do you eat an elephant?
Lose the word ‘lose’
A parable about a river
Smooth sailing
What is NeuroSlimming?
What NeuroSlimming is not
How can you change your own brain?
The five factors that change our brains
Everything is interconnected
What’s happening in the world every day?
Summary of the New Paradigm
PART 2: A New Solution
VAT are you measuring?
What is the cause of excess VAT?
Focus on fitness, not fatness
What’s the real problem?
What’s the real solution?
Who is this book for?
Who is this book not for?
The elephant on the page
The science of success
The Five Freedoms
The structure of each Mission
Summary of the New Solution
PART 3: Preparing for Mission SlimPossible
Freedom 1: LIVING NOT DIETING — The Secrets
Why Living not dieting?
A case study: Chris’s story
Mission 1: Eat when you’re hungry. Don’t eat when you’re not hungry
Mission 2: Eat what you like. Don’t eat what you don’t like
Mission 3: When you eat, eat
Mission 4: Enjoy what you eat. Don’t eat if you’re not enjoying it
Mission 5: Stop eating when you’re satisfied. Don’t wait until you’re full
Mission 6: Get real about your meal
Mission 7: Think before you drink
Summary of Living not dieting
PART 4: On Mission
Freedom 2: BEING YOU, NOT NEW — The Skills
Why Being You, not new?
Mission 8: Values not virtues
Mission 9: Clarity not confusion
Mission 10: Want-power not willpower
Mission 11: Results not regrets
Mission 12: Imagination sparks creation
Mission 13: Commitment creates capacity
Mission 14: Can-do not candy
Summary of Being You, not new
Freedom 3: LOVE NOT WAR — The Strengths
Why Love not war?
Mission 15: Feeling not fleeing
Mission 16: Gratitude is the best attitude
Mission 17: Clap not slap
Mission 18: Forgive to live
Mission 19: Trick or treat?
Mission 20: Feedback not failure
Mission 21: Connection not isolation
Summary of Love not war
Freedom 4: FUN NOT FORCE — The Habits
Why Fun not force?
Mission 22: Stand it off
Mission 23: Move it off
Mission 24: Sleep it off
Mission 25: Shrug it off
Mission 26: Breathe it off
Mission 27: Laugh it off
 Mission 28: Turn it off
Summary of Fun not force
PART 5: Staying On Mission
Freedom 5: DIRECTION NOT PERFECTION — The Formula
Why Direction not perfection?
The Ultimate Mission: Choice not chance
What did Einstein know about slimming?
Appendix
What’s the difference between Calories, calories and kilojoules?
Hunger and Satiation Scale
The Missions
The Winning Formula
Acronyms
Winning at Slimming
References
Invitation to readers
 Dedication
This book is dedicated to all the women and men I have had the privilege of meeting at my retreats.
Thank you for your openness, inspiration and sense of humour. The weekends I’ve shared with you
have been the most fun and fulfilling days of my life.

I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the centre of your

being.
Confucius

NeuroSlimming has been awarded the Bronze Medal in the international Living Now Awards.
These awards celebrate the innovation and creativity of books that enhance the quality of our lives.
The 2016 winners are recognised as the year’s best books for better living. NeuroSlimming is
honoured for its contribution to positive global change in the health and wellness category.
 Foreword
Since meeting Helena and embarking on Mission SlimPossible over 12 months ago, I have released
40 kilograms (88 pounds) of excess fat! But what is more important is that for the first time in my life
I feel free. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on great food, and I’ve actually come to enjoy exercise.
In the past when I’d tried dieting I experienced a lot of anxiety around food and eating. What if I get
hungry? When’s the next meal? What if I don’t like it and I want something ‘bad’ to compensate? I’d
binge because I was anxious about never being allowed to eat nice food again. And the fear would
eventually break me down and I’d lose control again. And that’s exactly what I’ve now regained:
control. I look forward to feeling hungry because I look forward to the food I’m going to eat. It feels
amazing that nothing is really off limits; it just requires a little thought before I eat, and a little thought
while I eat it.
Was it easy to change and maintain change? Yes and no. I got Off Mission after the first three weeks
but all it took was rereading a few of Helena’s key emails (which now form the chapters of this book)
and it got me back On Mission. There will always be challenges in life but I now genuinely feel I can
live like this forever.
How did Mission SlimPossible enable me to change? Partly it was timing. I had gained a lot of
excess fat over a few years and was headed into dangerously unhealthy territory. But do you think I
could help myself? Nope! I felt trapped. After years of compulsive eating, self-sabotaging behaviour
and obsessive thoughts about food, I knew what had to change was my thinking — my brain.
I’d read it all and tried it all; I knew what I was supposed to be eating to be healthy and to shed fat,
and I knew how much of it I should be eating. But for some reason I could never stick with it. That
was the first of many aha moments with Helena: an understanding of why diets don’t work . . . how
the brain responds to language . . . the science behind building habits . . . the pivotal role emotions
play.
For me, that’s the overall reason it has been easy to take on board Mission SlimPossible and run
with it: it makes sense. The science behind it just clicked. It was simple and logical. I remember
saying to my partner after the first day of the workshop that the three Freedoms we’d learnt about that
day — and practised at lunchtime — were all very basic, simple things, sensible things, but for
whatever reason, I had never been able to see it that way.
Helena changed my perspective. Think of your brain like a computer — you’re about to reboot and
have a new operating system installed. I just see things differently now, I think about food differently
and I approach eating differently.
Who am I, and can you trust what I’m saying?
I’m no skinny Minnie! I was overweight as a child and this continued into adulthood. I don’t think I
have ever had a healthy BMI and I have never been able to shop for what I’d consider ‘normal’
clothing sizes. I am very tall, around six foot, so I am a naturally big person, but that’s no excuse for
being fat.
I’ve always been a binge eater, a secret eater, an overeater. And I’m also a fussy eater. There are lots
of foods I just don’t like and won’t eat — something that has also contributed to me failing at diets.
As for exercise — yuk! I am not one of those people who takes naturally to exercise; I’m not good at
sport, I don’t even like watching sport, so exercising has been something of a chore in the past. I used
to HATE it with a passion. So for me, having this control and freedom over what I now eat, and
finding that I enjoy exercise, is a HUGE deal — an incredible transformation for the better.
Something I never thought would be possible. Mission SlimPossible was so life-changing for me that
I want as many people as possible to know how it can do the same for them.
If this can work for me, I’m confident it can work for you. Until I met Helena I was you.

Christchurch, New Zealand

 About the author
Dr Helena Popovic is a medical doctor, leading authority on how to improve brain function,
international speaker and best-selling author. She graduated from the University of Sydney in 1995
and is the founder and CEO of Winning at Slimming — thinking the light way. Winning at Slimming
shows people how to achieve vibrant health, lasting vitality and a body they love. Helena is unique in
bringing the latest discoveries in brain science to the field of weight management. She is also unique
in that promoting optimal physical and mental health is not only her profession, it is her passion, her
purpose and her personal way of life.
Helena’s philosophy is that education is more powerful than medication and she believes in slow
ageing despite fast living. Helena is also the author of the inspiring book In Search of My Father:
Dementia is no match for a daughter’s determination. Her story is a warm and humorous account of
how we can build a better brain at any age or stage of life.
Helena is a regular presenter for the Australian College of Weight Management, the Australian &
New Zealand Eating Disorders & Obesity Conference, Filex Fitness Industry Convention, Mind & Its
Potential Conference and the Happiness Conference. She was also a keynote speaker at the inaugural
Global Weight Management Congress in Brisbane in 2015.
Helena regularly appears on TV and radio and has been interviewed on programs such as Channel 7
Mornings and The Daily Edition, Channel 9 Today Extra, Channel 10 The Project and The Circle,
ABC Radio National Life Matters, ABC radio Nightlife with Tony Delroy, Afternoons with James
Valentine and Qantas inflight radio Talking Business with Alan Kohler.
Helena was a guest at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival in May 2013 where she spoke
alongside Kate De Goldi, and she was the key speaker for the Neurological Foundation of New
Zealand during Brain Awareness Week in March 2014. Helena has been interviewed by Kim Hill on
Radio NZ and has appeared on TV3 Firstline, TVNZ and Television Hawkes Bay Chatroom.
In the USA, Helena has presented on The Health & Wellness Entrepreneur, Power Women Radio
and Lessons in Joyful Living.
For further information, please visit Helena’s websites:
www.winningatslimming.com
www.drhelenapopovic.com
 Two critical definitions
I. NeuroSlimming
NeuroSlimming means applying the latest discoveries in neuroscience to achieve healthy,
sustainable body fat reduction.
It derives from two words:
1. neuron: brain cell
2. slimming: becoming leaner.
The term NeuroSlimming was coined by medical doctor Helena Popovic to indicate that the brain is
the control centre that determines how, where and why body fat is stored or released.
NeuroSlimming addresses the underlying cause of carrying excess body fat so you can release the fat
you don’t need.
NeuroSlimming shows how you can use your brain to bring about desired changes in your body.
NeuroSlimming provides the missing piece in the weight loss puzzle.

II. Mission SlimPossible

Mission SlimPossible is a set of 28 Missions that constitute the action steps of NeuroSlimming —
should you choose to accept them.
Mission SlimPossible derives from three words:
1. mission: an important assignment, involving excitement and adventure
2. slim: lean or slender
3. possible: able to be done or achieved.
Embarking on Mission SlimPossible will bring you vibrant health, lasting vitality and a body you
love.
Mission SlimPossible is your licence to live.
 Warning to readers

What you get by achieving your goals is not as

important as who you become.
Henry David Thoreau

Be careful what you want — reading this book will enable you to achieve it.
As the title suggests, this book will change your thinking, your brain and your body. Because once you
know something, you will not be able to un-know it. And if it strikes a deep emotional chord, you
will not forget it.
Of course, knowing something doesn’t necessarily change anything. Most people know that a packet
of chips and a can of soft drink aren’t a top nutritional choice. But it doesn’t stop chips and soft drinks
being the biggest selling items in the supermarket.
So why will reading this book change anything for you?
Because when you discover something that turns your world inside out and challenges existing
paradigms, current medical dogma, societal norms and cultural standards, it will automatically
generate questions in your mind. And as you’ll soon learn, whenever you ask a question — whether it
is out loud or silently inside your head — you will be prompted to view your life differently and, as a
result, to act differently. Nobel Prize-winning scientist Eric Kandel demonstrated that when we learn
something new, the connections between our brain cells are increased. Learning can even influence
gene expression, which in turn can influence the way the body works.
So before you read on, let me rephrase my warning as a series of questions:

Are you ready to achieve vibrant health, lasting vitality and a body you’re truly happy with?
Are you ready to enjoy food more than you’ve ever enjoyed it before — while attaining a healthy
body weight?
Are you ready to stop struggling against your body and allow it to flourish at its natural weight?
Are you ready to be at peace with yourself and your body?
Are you ready to trust yourself?
Are you ready to stop dieting and start living?

Most people’s automatic response to these questions is a resounding ‘Yes! Why even ask questions
with such an obvious answer?’
I ask these questions because, on deeper reflection, many people discover that they fear ‘success’
more than they fear ‘failure’. I use quotation marks for these words because if you fear what you’ve
defined as ‘success’, then it’s not a true definition of success. And ‘failure’ is merely an arbitrary
label assigned to something that did not turn out as planned. Therefore it’s a personal choice to name
something ‘failure’. Failure is success if you learn from it — more on the meaning of success and
failure later.
One of the reasons that people are apprehensive of ‘success’ is that they’ve spent so much of their
lives in a state of struggle (particularly if they’ve been trying to lose weight) that they fear they won’t
know themselves — and that others won’t know them — if they finally succeed (especially if it
relates to something that is very visible like a change in body size). People also fear that ‘success’
will be a hard slog and ‘cost’ them something they don’t want to give up. Or that ‘success’ will have
a disquieting ripple effect on everyone and everything else in their lives.
Success might mean living out of your comfort zone — for a while, anyway. But is your comfort zone
really that comfortable?
Get in touch with how you’re feeling right now: excited, apprehensive, skeptical, curious, ready? You
don’t need to label the feeling, just get in touch with it. You don’t have to do anything with the feeling;
just be aware of it. Awareness is an important theme of NeuroSlimming.
If you’ve picked up this book, then you are ready for success — true success that is not tinged with
fear. Having said that, fear is not a bad thing because it can be an exhilarating opportunity for
exploration and growth. Welcome to the world of NeuroSlimming.
 Does the world really need another book on
weight loss?

If you do not change direction, you may end up where

you are heading.
Lao Tzu

The last few decades have brought a superabundance of information on health, nutrition and exercise.
New tips, tricks, books, cooks, diets and day spas are hitting the market every day.New 12-week, 10-
week and two-week ‘transformations’ are saturating the web like cheese on a pizza. There are
thousands of meal replacements, pills, powders, lotions, potions, strategies, devices, plans, personal
trainers and prayers designed to assist in weight loss. There are currently over 25 000 books about
weight loss listed on Amazon.com. Liposuction is one of the commonest of all surgical procedures,
and bariatric surgery is fast gaining ground. In the USA in 2013, dieting was a $61-billion per-year
industry — up from $30 billion in 2008 — doubling in just five years. And by the time this book is
published, these numbers will already be surpassed.
From liver cleansing to lentils, leotards to lycra, low cal to lavage, and portion size to Paleo, new
weight loss trends are popping up faster than you can sauté kale. Yet 95 percent of people who try to
lose weight put it all back on, plus more, within 12 months of starting any sort of weight loss regime.
A review of 20 research trials showed that at the end of five years, most dieters had gained 15
percent more than they originally lost!
What is going on?
Something is obviously not working. In fact, it seems that nothing is working.
Could it be that an essential piece of the weight loss puzzle is missing? Could it be that diets are
intrinsically flawed? Could it be that the goal of weight loss is itself intrinsically flawed?
Feeling pressured to lose weight for a myriad of reasons — and finding it extremely difficult to do —
is the cause of so much misery for so many people that it is important to ask: is it really necessary to
lose weight? Is being overweight, even obese, really such an enormous threat to health? Is it worth the
torture to fit into a size-too-small pair of jeans? Why is most of the developed world obsessed with
body weight?
Concern with appearance has been a theme throughout human history. In the 17th century, the fashion
was curvaceous Rubenesque figures; in the 19th century it was corsets; in the 21st century it’s the
reigning supermodel — usually on the slim side.
Body weight has also been linked to wealth and social status. Generally speaking, where food is
abundant and readily available, slim is in. Where food is scarce, a fuller figure is revered because it
indicates affluence.
As for the relationship between weight and health, this is explored in later chapters.
The bottom line is that ‘ideal body weight’ is a social construct more than it is a medical one. The
only meaning attached to body weight is the meaning you choose to give it. What do you choose to
make your body weight mean? Why make it mean anything? Would you be happier if you could let go
of judgements about your weight and allow yourself to enjoy who you are?
The world needs a book on weight loss that challenges our notions about weight loss.
This book challenges existing views and approaches to weight loss by addressing the ultimate source
— not the symptoms or intermediate pathways — of body-weight problems: your brain. Do hormones
play a role? Absolutely — but hormones follow instructions sent out by the brain, which itself
produces a multitude of hormones. Does food play a role? Absolutely — but your choices and
responses to food are determined by your brain. Does stress play a role? Absolutely — but the impact
of stress is mediated by the brain. Name any factor contributing to obesity, emotional eating or
inability to shed fat despite ‘doing all the right things’, and the brain is at the crux of the matter.
Therefore, this book will give you critical insights into how your brain works and how you can
change your brain to change your body.
You will also encounter a few parables, client narratives and stories from my own journey to food
freedom. Shared stories allow you to recognise that struggles with food are part of the current human
condition and not a person failing. Stories enable you to relate to the science and give the brain time
to consolidate new information. They allow you to make your own interpretations of the facts, and
they stimulate you to think more broadly about how to apply the concepts to your own situation.
The purpose of this book is to enable you to shed unneeded body fat if that’s what you’d like to do, if
that’s what you feel will enhance your wellbeing, your energy and your happiness. If you feel that
your weight is genuinely a physical burden and prevents you from being able to do things you’d love
to do, then use NeuroSlimming to lighten your load. If your weight is causing you health problems or
interfering with your fertility, you’ll be able to release the excess.
This book will also allow you not to lose weight if you discover that you are happy and healthy
exactly where you are.
This book will show you that great health can be achieved at any size, and that great health is its own
reward. This book will show you that how you shed weight is much more important than how much
you shed.
Most importantly, this book will give you freedom: the freedom to decide what’s right for you, the
freedom to trust your body, and the freedom to live fully (whatever that means for you), regardless of
your body weight.
 Consider this

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t

thinking.
George S Patton

You can be overweight or obese according to your BMI1 yet nonetheless healthy.
You can be overweight or obese and unhealthy.
You can be ‘normal’ weight or slim according to your BMI and healthy.
You can be ‘normal’ weight or slim and unhealthy.
You can be overweight or obese and fit.
You can be overweight or obese and unfit.
You can be slim and fit.
You can be slim and unfit.
You can be overweight or obese and feel beautiful.
You can be overweight or obese and feel ugly.
You can be slim and feel beautiful.
You can be slim and feel ugly.
You can be overweight or obese and happy.
You can be overweight or obese and miserable.
You can be slim and happy.
You can be slim and miserable.
You can be overweight or obese and have a full and fulfilling life.
You can be overweight or obese and feel empty inside.
You can be slim and have a full and fulfilling life.
You can be slim and feel empty inside.
Being overweight or obese is not the problem. Being slim is not the solution.
You can eat well and still be overweight or obese.
You can eat well and be slim.
You can eat junk and be overweight or obese.
You can eat junk and be slim.
You can eat small portions and be overweight or obese.
You can eat small portions and be slim.
You can eat large portions and be overweight or obese.
You can eat large portions and be slim.
You can exercise regularly and be overweight or obese.
You can exercise regularly and be slim.
You can be sedentary and overweight or obese.
You can be sedentary and slim.
You can be stressed and overweight or obese.
You can be stressed and slim.
You can ‘do all the right things’ and be overweight or obese.
You can ‘do all the right things’ and be slim.
Eating is not the problem. Dieting is not the solution.
So what is the problem?
Is there even a problem or have society, the media and our personal insecurities invented one?
The problem is that feeling overweight causes more problems than being overweight. In fact, the
very phrase ‘being overweight’ is itself a problem because it links identity to body weight. When a
person feels overweight it genuinely interferes with their quality of life, even if it doesn’t interfere
with their physical health.
But hang on a minute — doesn’t every medical journal, wellness book, popular magazine, fitness guru
and health professional advocate attaining a BMI in the ‘normal’ range in order to be healthy?
Doesn’t everyone claim that obesity is linked to heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, metabolic
syndrome, Type 2 diabetes, gallstones, cancer, osteoarthritis, sleep apnoea, chronic kidney disease,
asthma, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, infertility and a significant reduction in life span?
Hasn’t obesity recently been classified as a disease itself? Isn’t obesity the biggest health issue the
world is currently facing? On a global scale, doesn’t obesity cause more deaths than starvation?
Yes, it does. BUT not all people in the obese weight range have health problems. The impacts of
obesity on any individual person depend on a number of factors. There is no question that obesity can
have profoundly detrimental effects on every part of the body. Obesity can lead to high blood
pressure, strain on the heart, hormonal abnormalities and fatigue. Fat cells around the heart and liver
produce oestrogen, thus more abdominal fat means more oestrogen means more likelihood of breast
cancer. Obesity can cause dysfunction in all organs, including the brain. High levels of fat around
internal organs change the entire chemistry of the body and lead to widespread low-level chronic
inflammation (known as metaflammation) and shortening of life span.
However, 15 to 30 percent of people who are classified as obese are nonetheless metabolically
healthy, that is, they have none of the associated diseases listed above. That means 70 to 85 percent of
obese people do suffer negative health consequences but it isn’t an automatic early death sentence.
Conversely, more than 20 percent of people who are considered to be of ‘normal weight’ have Type
2 diabetes or some other metabolic abnormality.
Therefore, obesity isn’t automatically a marker for poor health or lack of physical fitness, just as
being slim isn’t necessarily associated with being fit and healthy.
There are five critical factors that mitigate the negative consequences of being overweight or obese:
1. Physical fitness — the more you engage in regular physical exercise (formal or incidental) the
healthier you are.
2. The nutritional value of the food you’re consuming — the more fibre and protein, and the less
refined sugar you eat, the healthier you are. In other words, the less processed food you eat, the
better.
3. Distribution of body fat — if you carry your fat around and within your internal organs (known
as visceral fat), it is far more damaging to your health than having fat under your skin (known as
subcutaneous fat).
4. How you feel about your body — if you feel comfortable in your own skin and you like your
body, regardless of your size, it benefits your health. If you dislike your body because it doesn’t
conform to some arbitrary ideal, it can damage your health. How you feel about yourself
influences your physical wellbeing.
5. Weight cycling — if your weight is relatively stable, regardless of the number on the scales, you
will tend to be healthier than if your weight is continually fluctuating through frequent dieting.
You will learn more about all these factors as you progress through the book. For now, the important
point is that these five factors determine whether or not being overweight is harmful to your health. If
you exercise regularly, eat unprocessed, high-fibre, whole foods, carry your fat around your hips and
thighs, feel good about your body, and maintain a constant weight, then more than likely, you are
healthy and need not be concerned about your body size.
What can you conclude from this?
Society is worshipping a false god: the god of ‘thin is in’. The creed of weight loss at any cost. The
doctrine that lower body weight is unequivocally associated with better health.
It is true that if current health trends continue, the present generation of children will die at a younger
age than their parents — the first time this has happened in recorded human history. Mainstream
medical and scientific communities have attributed the reduction in predicted life span to progressive
increases in body weight because, on the surface, this appears to be the case. In 2001, six million
American children were classified as being ‘seriously overweight’. By 2013, the figure had jumped
to 20 million children. During the same period of time, children were starting to present with chronic
diseases previously only seen in adult populations: Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, atherosclerosis
(hardening of the arteries) and full-blown cardiovascular disease. So it seemed to be a logical
conclusion that obesity causes premature death and illness. However, on closer examination of the
research, sedentary lifestyle and quality of food matter more than numbers on a scale. Fitness, rather
than fatness, is the issue. The chapter titled Focus on fitness, not fatness explains this in more
detail.
This is not a pro-obesity or pro-fat book. Nor is it a pro-slim book or a backlash against anything. My
very point is that society needs to stop fighting, judging and marginalising and, instead, start
appreciating, learning, respecting and accepting. Therefore, this is a pro-you book. A pro-health-at-
every-size book. A pro-peace book. My ultimate message is that having a healthy body weight
(whatever size that happens to be for you) is the result of being true to yourself, listening to your
needs, respecting your body and respecting diversity. Whether you have a slim figure or a full figure
is irrelevant. What is the point of being slim if it entails a life of misery, anguish, deprivation, denial
and constant vigilance?
The purpose of life is to live — fully, exuberantly and joyfully — in a body that you’re proud to live
in and want to look after. This is the gift of NeuroSlimming.

1 BMI stands for body mass index. It is the most commonly used calculation to assess whether someone’s body weight lies within a
‘healthy range’. In the chapter titled VAT are you measuring? I challenge the usefulness of the BMI.
 Weight loss does not equal fat loss

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing

that it is not fish they are after.
Henry David Thoreau

Not all kilograms are equal. What takes up more space inside your body: one kilogram (2.2 pounds)
of muscle or one kilogram of fat?
The fat takes up more room. Muscle is much denser and more compact than fat so you can pack more
of it into the same space. What this means is that if you were carrying more fat than your body needed,
and you substituted the excess fat for muscle, you would look slimmer and drop several sizes in
clothes but you’d weigh more! And you’d be fitter and healthier. This is what strength training can
achieve. Have you ever heard someone say the following?
‘I started going to the gym and I could see I was getting stronger. I also noticed I had more energy and
stamina throughout the day. But when I stepped on the scales I hadn’t lost any weight. I was so
disappointed.’
How can someone be disappointed about feeling better and improving their health? Oh that’s right —
the number on the bathroom scales hasn’t moved.
Numbers on scales can be very misleading. Bathroom scales that merely tell you how much you
weigh do not tell you what you need to know. They don’t tell you anything about your health or the
direction in which your health is going. They don’t tell you about your shape or your clothing size.
They certainly don’t tell you anything about your value as a human being.
Since when has a set of bathroom scales been given the right to dictate mood and self-esteem? Who
came up with that brainchild?
Whenever you stop eating or go on a calorie-restricted diet, you lose weight through losing water,
muscle, bone and, yes, some fat. Losing water, muscle and bone is detrimental to your health — and
yet most people cite improving their health as a major reason for wanting to lose weight.
Not only does weight loss not equal fat loss, weight loss doesn’t always equal better health.
Especially rapid weight loss.
Researchers at Rockefeller University looked at the effect of different daily caloric deficits on weight
loss and body composition. The fewer calories a person consumed, the more weight they lost in the
initial stages. However, the fewer calories they consumed, the more muscle and less fat they lost! In
subjects who ate 200 to 300 fewer Calories per day than usual, 90 percent of their loss was fat and 9
percent was muscle. However, in subjects who reduced their calories by more than 500 a day, only
45 percent of their loss was fat and 42 percent was muscle! This is the last thing anyone wants. The
percentages do not quite add up to 100 because muscle and fat are not the only tissues lost.
Muscle is more ‘metabolically active’ than fat. In other words, muscle burns more calories than fat,
even while you sleep, let alone when you move. The more muscle a person has, the faster their
metabolic rate and the more they need to eat to maintain their weight. US Olympic swimming
champion Michael Phelps was recorded as eating 12 000 Calories a day (the average person requires
about 2000 Calories). That’s 10 000 Calories more than you and me every day! How is this possible?
Yes, he exercised a lot but he didn’t burn 10 000 Calories in the pool or gym every day. It was
because he had a lot more muscle than you and me. While you’re at rest, every kilogram of skeletal
muscle burns about 13 Calories a day. In contrast, one kilogram of fat burns only 4.5 Calories a day.
Muscle burns three times as many calories as fat. Muscle also makes your organs more sensitive to
insulin so that you preferentially burn fat rather than store fat. When you lose muscle, you slow down
your metabolism, your liver and muscles are less responsive to insulin, and you need fewer calories
to stay at the same weight. Losing muscle is not a good idea. Neither is losing bone.
In December 2006, Dr Dennis T Villareal, and his team of doctors at Washington University in St
Louis, compared two ways of losing weight in both men and women with an average age of 57 years.
One group ate 20 percent fewer calories a day. The other group ate their usual diet but were made to
exercise until they burnt 20 percent more calories a day. Both groups lost weight but the dieters also
lost bone. Even more alarming was the fact that bone loss occurred in areas where older people are
most likely to experience fractures: hips, spine and upper legs. Dieting depletes bones of nutrients
required for strength and growth. Exercise, on the other hand, stimulates bone formation and repair.
What are teenagers — and even younger children — doing to their growing bones when they start
dieting their lives away?
And what about water?
As a rough guide, muscles constitute 75 percent water (as does the brain), bone constitutes 22
percent, and fat constitutes 10 percent. Therefore when you lose muscle and bone you are also losing
water — another undesirable effect of weight loss versus fat loss.
Although losing water is not conducive to improving health, there’s a lot of controversy around the
role of water in fat loss. Just about every diet and detox program recommends increasing water intake
— usually to at least eight glasses or two litres a day. Associate Professor Howard Murad, in his
book, The Water Secret, claims that as people age, their cells become leaky and lose water, putting
them in a state of chronic dehydration. He links inadequate water intake to a slower metabolism,
lower rate of fat oxidation (less efficiency in burning fat as fuel) and reduced insulin sensitivity.
While this sounds appealing, other researchers have not supported his findings in terms of an impact
on fat loss.
German scientists, led by Michael Boschmann MD from Berlin’s Franz-Volhard Clinical Research
Center, found that drinking water increased metabolic rate by up to 30 percent within 10 minutes of
consumption and peaked after 30 to 40 minutes. Interestingly, the mechanism underlying this increase
was different in men and women. In men, the rise in metabolic rate was due to burning more fat as
fuel, while in women it was due to an increase in carbohydrate breakdown. However, from the
perspective of fat loss, the effect was very minor. Extrapolating from Boschmann’s data, if you drank
a litre and a half more water every day and changed nothing else in your life, you would lose less than
two and a half kilograms (five and a half pounds) over the course of a year. But even this is not a
guarantee because the body has enormous powers of adaptation and it’s possible that after a while
your body would adjust to the increased water intake and no longer produce the same effect.
One thing all scientists agree on is that drinking water does not ‘flush fat out of your system’.
This is not to discourage you from drinking water — far from it. I simply want to alert you to the
disputations that characterise the field of weight loss and, specifically, fat loss.
It’s important to be aware that sometimes thirst can be misinterpreted as hunger. Therefore keeping
adequately hydrated with water may lead to consuming fewer calories. People also report that
drinking a glass of water 15 to 20 minutes before a meal leads to feeling full and eating less. By all
means continue this practice if it works for you. Your best guide is your own thirst and energy levels.
Do you feel thirsty or lethargic? Then drink some water! Another good goal is ‘pale pee’. If your
urine is dark and concentrated, it is more than likely an indication that you need to drink more water.
The overriding message of NeuroSlimming is that people are all different in the way they process
food, respond to exercise and distribute fat throughout their bodies. Of course, there are some
fundamental principles that underpin the functioning of the human body, and there are basic
similarities between people. However, with respect to the specific constituents of your optimal diet
and exercise regime versus someone else’s, they can be vastly different. The way to discover what is
best for you is to learn to become your own ‘body whisperer’: recognise the signals your body is
constantly sending you to let you know what it needs. By the end of this book, you’ll be your own
virtuoso ‘body whisperer’. This is the ultimate empowering freedom.
 Not all fat loss is equal

The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas

as in escaping from old ones.
John Maynard Keynes

The previous chapter explained why weight loss per se is not a healthy goal.
But there’s more to this story: not only is weight loss not equal to fat loss, not all fat loss is equal
either!
This is the ‘heaviest’ section of the book in terms of biology, physiology and chemistry. Many of the
terms may be new to you. If this is the case, you might start to feel a sense of information overload,
particularly during the discussion on leptin (the satiety hormone). Just do the best you can to grasp the
essential concepts. I include this chapter to provide you with a deeper understanding of how the body
works and why diets are so damaging. For those who just want to know the ‘punchlines’, here are the
seven essential points. Those who want the detail can read beyond the list below.
1. The medical term for fat is adipose tissue (AT).
2. There are two main types of AT in the body: white (WAT) and brown (BAT).
3. BAT is healthy — it keeps you warm and increases your metabolic rate. More is better.
4. WAT can lead to health problems if there is too much of it in and around internal organs. Fat in
this location is known as visceral fat. I refer to it as VAT. Less is better.
5. WAT on hips, thighs and arms is known as subcutaneous fat (SWAT) and is NOT detrimental to
health. You might not like it for your own personal reasons, but it is not damaging to your
physical health. More or less is a matter of personal preference.
6. Therefore health is not determined by body weight, but by the location and amount of VAT in
the body.
7. Even though ‘losing weight’ is not the focus of this book, you can still drop as many dress sizes
(or pants sizes) as you want — it will be a natural consequence of understanding the principles
of NeuroSlimming.
Make sure you also read the Conclusion at the end of this chapter.

•••••

The medical term for body fat is adipose tissue (AT). It is composed mainly of fat cells (adipocytes)
but also contains a small number of other cells, including immune cells, collectively known as
stromal vascular fraction (SVF). Fat cells are also sometimes called lipocytes.
Two main types of adipose tissue have been identified:
1. white adipose tissue (WAT) — commonly referred to as ‘white fat’
2. brown adipose tissue (BAT) — commonly referred to as ‘brown fat’.
Recently two more types of fat cells have been discovered (‘beige’ or ‘brite’ — BRown in whITE —
and ‘pink’); however, there are far fewer of these cells in the body than WAT or BAT, and their roles
are still being determined.
Depending on its location, AT behaves in different ways. When it wraps around internal organs, AT
is not an inert storage depot for excess calories. AT behaves like an endocrine organ: it secretes
hormones into the bloodstream that are carried to other organs to influence their behaviour. Scientists
have so far discovered 80 different proteins produced by fat cells, and they are still unravelling all of
their functions. Examples of endocrine organs are the pancreas, pituitary gland, thyroid, adrenals and
gastrointestinal tract.

White adipose tissue

WAT is what most people think of when they hear the word ‘body fat’. It is much more plentiful in the
body than BAT and it has two main roles:
1. to safely store excess calories as energy that can be used (mobilised) when needed, for example,
to run away from a lion
2. to produce hormones that are released into the bloodstream and which play a major role in
regulating metabolism, hunger and urge to exercise.
Two hormones produced by WAT that have a significant impact on health and also on health-related
behaviours are adiponectin and leptin. These hormones are briefly discussed so that you have a
deeper understanding of the multi-faceted role of fat in relation to health.
Adiponectin makes the liver and muscles sensitive to insulin. Insulin, a hormone produced by the
pancreas, stimulates glucose (sugar) uptake from the blood into the muscles, liver and AT itself. If the
liver and muscles become resistant to insulin, glucose levels remain elevated in the blood,
contributing to widespread damage throughout the body. Therefore adiponectin, by promoting insulin
sensitivity, protects us from developing diabetes and heart disease. Recently there has been research
to suggest that when fat cells enlarge, their production of adiponectin slows down — and in some
cases shuts off altogether — and this predisposes a person to insulin resistance and chronic disease.
Leptin was only discovered in 1994 and the name derives from the Greek word leptos, meaning
‘thin’. It is commonly referred to as ‘the satiety hormone’ and is also involved in regulating
inflammation. The rest of this book could be spent discussing leptin because it is one of the biggest
buzz words among scientists working in the field of obesity. Leptin has many complex and
interrelated functions so here is a simplified overview. Even though leptin is primarily produced and
released by AT, it is also made in the stomach, liver, skeletal muscle, placenta, ovaries and bone
marrow.
Leptin is produced by both WAT and BAT after a meal when fat stores reach a certain level. It
travels to a region of the brain known as the hypothalamus, where it reduces the sensation of hunger
and increases the urge to expend energy. This is why doctors want to bottle it — leptin not only
decreases hunger, it makes us want to exercise!
In addition to being produced in response to food consumption, leptin levels follow a daily cycle,
being highest in the blood between midnight and six am — probably to allow us to sleep through the
night without getting hungry. Eating at odd hours can modify the timing of leptin production.
Because leptin is produced by AT, people who are obese tend to have higher levels of leptin. More
production plants (adipose tissue) means more product (leptin). This should switch off a person’s
hunger so they decrease their food intake and release their fat stores. However, three factors can
reduce a person’s sensitivity to leptin so they’re no longer aware of feeling full, both during and after
a meal:
1. lack of physical exercise
2. consistently overriding satiety signals, for example, eating mindlessly in front of the TV
3. excessively high insulin levels as occurs in insulin-resistance and Type 2 diabetes.
Lack of exercise, mindless eating and excess insulin not only reduce sensitivity to leptin, they also
reset the processes in the brain and body that regulate WAT distribution and promote fat gain. This is
why some people find that even if they don’t eat much, their body seems to store everything as fat:
their brain and body are malfunctioning in relation to handling fat. The good news — make that great
news — is that all these processes, including leptin-resistance, can be reversed by moving more,
eating less refined sugar, and recognising the subtle signs of satiety. More on these three factors later.
A key component of NeuroSlimming is learning how to read the subtle signs your body is giving you,
and responding to them appropriately.
There are also specific circumstances that influence leptin production. They include the following:

After 12 to 72 hours of fasting, leptin levels decrease to stimulate us to eat.

Sleep deprivation reduces leptin production which increases hunger and stimulates desire for
fatty, sugary foods. Could inadequate sleep be influencing your hunger and your food choices?

Ongoing research will continue to add to the understanding of leptin.

When more food is eaten than the body requires, leptin can become chronically elevated to try and
suppress hunger so that no more food is ingested. Sustained high levels of leptin are associated with
inflammatory diseases such as high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease.
Scientists postulate that chronically elevated leptin levels cause cellular inflammation to protect the
cells from the stress of having to deal with excess calories. This has led to the terms ‘meta-
inflammation’ or ‘metaflammation’ and ‘metabolic dysregulation’, meaning that all the cells and
processes in the body become disrupted.
Dieting resulting in rapid weight loss causes an overall drop in leptin levels. This in turn decreases
thyroid activity and slows down metabolism. The result is that a person who has lost weight has a
lower basal (resting) metabolic rate than someone at the same weight who has never lost weight.
Therefore two people at the same weight can require a different number of daily calories in order to
maintain their weight. If this sounds like you, don’t panic — you will learn how to bring your
metabolic rate back up. Slow fat loss, on the other hand, that involves increasing physical activity as
well as modifying the type of food eaten, gives the body time to adjust to its new chemical
environment — and body and brain do not have the urge to rebel at the imposed changes. This is why
you need to work with your body and not against your body. This is a critical factor ignored by the
diet industry.
Leptin also acts on a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is involved in learning, memory
and navigation. This is one of the first areas of the brain to be affected in Alzheimer’s disease.
Exciting research in mice has shown that administration of leptin improves brain function and
alleviates symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
Now here’s the next catch: not all WAT is equal either! It’s all about location, location, location.
There are two distinct places where WAT is located: under the skin (subcutaneous fat or SWAT) and
around internal organs (visceral fat or VAT).

Subcutaneous fat
Subcutaneous fat (SWAT) is the layer of fat under the skin. The origins of the word subcutaneous are
‘sub’ meaning beneath and ‘cutaneous’, referring to the skin. Colloquially it is known as ‘the inch you
can pinch’ and can be measured using body fat callipers (more about these later). Subcutaneous fat is
found all over the body — hips, thighs, arms, back, belly — even on the soles of the feet. It is thickest
on the buttocks, palms and soles, and sadly — unnecessarily — it weighs heavily on the soul. I say
sadly and unnecessarily because SWAT is NOT a health hazard. SWAT functions as an energy
reserve and insulates the body from the cold. Because it is rich in blood vessels, SWAT also serves
as a useful route of administration for medications such as insulin.
A study of obese women, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2004, showed that
removal of over 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of SWAT by liposuction did NOT result in any
improvements in health — their blood pressure, triglycerides and blood sugar levels remained
unchanged.
Fat that jiggles need NOT give you niggles.

Visceral fat
VAT is found deep within the abdominal cavity and wraps around the internal organs: heart, liver,
pancreas, kidneys, intestines, ovaries and uterus. It can also lodge within internal organs. ‘Viscera’ is
the medical term for internal organs, hence the designation visceral fat. VAT is not seen by the naked
eye. A person can be classified as ‘normal’ weight but still have considerable VAT. This is where
the acronym TOFI comes from: Thin on the Outside but Fat on the Inside. Forty percent of ‘normal’
weight people have insulin resistance (pre-diabetes) and 20 percent of these individuals have fat in
their livers (demonstrated by MRI scan). Liver fat puts a person at risk of a multitude of diseases that
shorten life span — from diabetes to heart attack to cancer.
Currently, the most accurate ways of gauging a person’s VAT are by MRI, CT, DEXA or DSM-BIA
such as InBody® (discussed later). The closest approximation is waist circumference. Even though
‘belly fat’ is a mixture of SWAT and VAT, a person who carries more fat above their waist (apple
shape) than below their waist (pear shape) is more likely to have a larger percentage of VAT. I will
explain how to measure waist circumference in the chapter VAT are you measuring?
VAT resembles SWAT in structure but differs genetically and biochemically. Shedding that little bit
of wobbly tissue under your arm does not improve your health. Removing the hidden fat from around
your internal organs could add more than a decade to your life. Why?
VAT leads to cardiovascular disease, fatty liver disease, Type 2 diabetes and even Alzheimer’s
disease. A study of older women published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart
Association, found that VAT is a greater determinant of cardiovascular disease than is overall
obesity. Danish and other researchers around the globe have corroborated these findings in both
genders and in all age groups.
The reason for this is that VAT is very ‘metabolically active’. In contrast to SWAT, VAT releases
substances such as pro-inflammatory cytokines that elevate small, dense LDL cholesterol production
and cause chronic low-level inflammation throughout the entire body. This state of metaflammation is
linked to widespread organ dysfunction, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), high blood
pressure and insulin resistance. One thing leads to another until a person presents with full blown
Type 2 diabetes, stroke or heart attack.
That was the bad news. Now here’s the good news. You can start reducing your VAT — and the harm
it is doing — right now. Stand up. Have a stretch. Shift your weight from one leg to the other. Wander
around for two minutes. Then come back to this book.
Standing up for just two minutes every 20 minutes and contracting your leg muscles (no need to do
tuck jumps over your desk, just strolling around is enough) starts to improve your ‘metabolic fitness’.
I will discuss the concept of metabolic fitness in the chapter Focus on fitness, not fatness. The short
explanation is that moving your legs stimulates your circulation and helps to clear fats and sugars
from your bloodstream.
Shedding VAT does not require expensive drugs or fancy treatments. Studies have found that the four
most effective ways of reducing VAT are:
1. regular physical exercise — as little as walking 30 minutes a day makes a positive difference
2. adequate sleep — at least six hours a night, preferably seven to nine hours a night, depending on
your personal requirements
3. less stress — cortisol, the hormone of chronic stress, promotes fat deposition in the abdomen
4. a high-fibre, whole food diet (diet meaning ‘a way of eating’ not calorie restricting).
As you’ll discover, NeuroSlimming enables you to determine the most appropriate diet for your
individual needs. The reason I include the four interventions above is for you to notice the glaring
omission: there is no mention of needing to lose weight. You can stay at the same weight and still
become healthy and prolong your life. You can also shed excess WAT, if that is what your body
needs to do. My overriding message is that to improve your health, focus on improving the above four
variables in your life, not on weighing less or removing visible fat. Focus on the behaviours, and your
body weight and body fat will take care of themselves.
And now more good news about fat . . .

Brown adipose tissue

BAT is completely different to WAT, and the more of it you have, the healthier you are.
BAT is found mainly in newborns and its role is to keep them warm by generating heat
(thermogenesis). The amount of BAT decreases dramatically in adults but everyone has some around
their neck and collar bones. When exposed to cold temperatures, the body produces more BAT and
burns more calories.
Both WAT and BAT store energy, however they do so in different ways. WAT cells contain a single
large drop of oil inside them, whereas BAT cells contain many smaller droplets. BAT cells also
contain structures known as mitochondria, which are sources of energy production (calorie-burning).
The mitochondria contain iron, giving BAT its brown colour.
Interestingly, lean people tend to have more BAT than people who are classified as overweight or
obese, and when BAT is ‘stimulated’ it burns calories. Therefore scientists are excitedly trying to
figure out ways of increasing BAT and turning it on.
What does BAT do when it is stimulated?
1. BAT increases metabolic rate.
2. BAT helps control blood sugar levels by drawing glucose from the blood.
3. BAT improves insulin sensitivity.
4. BAT takes triglycerides from the bloodstream, thus reducing risk of heart disease, stroke and
diabetes.
This is exactly what needs to happen to reverse the health hazards of excessive VAT. No wonder
everyone wants more of it! To date, the only known ways to increase BAT are by subjecting yourself
to cold temperatures for prolonged periods of time, and — you guessed it — by engaging in regular
physical exercise. I know what I’d prefer!

Conclusion — please read this even if you have skipped the

science above
By now you’ll realise that your health is at risk when you have surplus VAT in and around your
internal organs, not when you have wide hips or weigh a particular number on the scales. This is a
very important distinction. You will also recognise that calorie-restricting to try and lose weight is
actually contributing to gaining VAT. Dieting exacerbates the very issue it is trying to solve.
Therefore, throughout this book I talk about carrying excess VAT, not about being overweight. I
encourage you to ‘release VAT’, not to lose weight. Although these may seem minor (and clumsy)
rewordings, they will have a major impact on your brain. For one thing, speaking about VAT creates
an entirely new emotional context around body weight. It makes the point that lowering body weight
is not the issue when it comes to improving health. We need to make a conscious and concerted effort
to take the focus off weight. Focusing on body weight is damaging on a great many levels, all of
which are explored later in this book.
I encourage you to start thinking in terms of VAT because words are the first step in rewiring the
brain. It’s essential that you keep reminding yourself that VAT, not weight, is what matters.
I will explain the mechanisms by which language affects brain function shortly. This is also why I
intentionally refer to a person as ‘carrying VAT’ as opposed to ‘being overweight’. I have already
made the point that body fat composition should not be linked to a person’s identity. Body fat
composition is a response to internal and external environments, and by changing one or both of these
environments, VAT levels can be changed. Making the distinction between ‘being’ something and
‘carrying’ something is important in terms of how the subconscious mind deals with it. This will
become self-evident by the time you have finished reading this book.

One final point

I have had people say to me: ‘Yes, I want to be healthy, but I ALSO want to be slim, even if being
slim isn’t necessary for good health. I want to look leaner and feel lighter. I want to change my shape
and like my body. I’m afraid that if I only focus on lowering my invisible VAT I won’t look any
different.’
My answer is: Don’t worry! You can have it all! You can be trim on the inside AND trim on the
outside. By knowing what is important and taking care of your health, your body will naturally adjust
itself to a size and shape you’re happy with. It takes a while to grasp the irony that by not focusing on
shedding fat, you can shed it spontaneously.
 How this book works

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a
man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
Maimonides

The diet industry is a train wreck. And instead of cleaning up the wreckage, people continue to be
sent down the same track to create more and more devastation. No diet provides long-term solutions.
One after another, dieters hop on the next great promise and for a short while, endure the ride until the
inevitable ‘return to normal eating’. The weight inexorably reinstates itself.
The majority of diets give you a prescriptive eating plan and then leave you floundering. Diets don’t
teach you what to do when the diet is over. More importantly, diets don’t teach you anything about
you.
In contrast, this book is all about you (and a bit about me). It’s about understanding how your brain
works, so that in the words of Murray Altham, founder of Peak Performance Bubble, ‘you discover
the magnificent possibilities of you at your best’.
NeuroSlimming means applying the latest discoveries in neuroscience to achieve healthy,
sustainable fat reduction (specifically VAT release). It means using your brain to change your body.
To get started, the first piece of neuroscience you need to know is that the brain seeks pleasure. In
other words, we are wired for reward. If something doesn’t trigger the brain’s reward centre, you’re
not going to stick with it — another reason diets don’t work in the long term.
So it’s very fortunate that discovering yourself at your best is an exciting, enlivening, uplifting
journey. And the journey is presented as a series of Missions, collectively referred to as Mission
SlimPossible. These Missions constitute the action steps of NeuroSlimming.
Why Missions?
Being ‘On Mission’ is completely different to being ‘on a diet’. Being On Mission evokes a sense of
fun, exploration and adventure. These are not words usually associated with fat loss, and that in itself
is a fundamental flaw of traditional approaches.
This book invites you to embark on 28 Missions that are explained in a simple, ‘brain-friendly’
manner to excite you, maximise your learning, make the messages stick, and inspire you to act. Yes,
each Mission will excite you about your magnificent potential and the prospect of letting go of excess
VAT. In most cases, the ‘action’ will involve thinking as much as doing. A key tenet of
NeuroSlimming is that when you take care of your thinking, the doing takes care of itself.
One of the elements that makes the Missions ‘brain-friendly’ is that each Mission is encapsulated in a
short, sharp, catchy rhyme or ‘soundbite’. The first five Missions are deliberately provocative and at
variance with long-established dogma. They’re designed for you to do a double take and wonder:
‘Could achieving an optimally healthy body really be that simple?’ The answer is yes. And as soon as
you start putting them into practice, you will experience profoundly positive effects.
Many of my retreat participants have adopted the Missions as guiding mantras. Some people have
commented that they serve as signposts. What do you do when you reach a signpost? You have a
choice about which direction to take. The scenic route or the fast route? The well-trodden path or the
road less travelled? The direction you’re instinctively drawn to, or the path that others insist you
should take? I like the analogy of signposts because it signifies you always have a choice. To state the
obvious, everyone is different. Each person’s body responds in its own unique way to the same foods,
the same stimuli and the same environments. No one knows what is best for you except you. You may
not be aware of your needs on a conscious level, but when you discover how to listen to your body, it
will guide you faithfully, every step of the way. Your body will show you the path that’s optimal for
you. Your body is wiser than any doctor or health professional.
However you view them, the Missions are formulated to create linguistic patterns that translate into
neural circuits. I call this kind of soundbite a ‘brain-bite’ because it leaves a mark on your brain.
Recurring patterns become the path of least resistance in your brain, and that’s how the Missions
become your new healthful habits. Choosing to be On Mission also reinforces that you are taking
control of your body’s destiny.
Even though the Missions address body weight issues, they’re based on universal principles that
make every aspect of your life better. Being On Mission doesn’t compete with your other priorities; it
complements them. You’ll become more effective in everything you do, more efficient with your time
and better at finding balance. You’ll have greater clarity of thinking, more creativity and more energy.
You’ll have greater self-awareness and more resilience to stress. And you’ll find yourself tapping
into resources you didn’t know you had. Most importantly, you’ll feel great while you’re carrying out
each Mission. You won’t have to wait for some end result in order to feel good. Feeling good is built
into the process.
The reason for everything else in your life improving with NeuroSlimming is that you’re working
with your control centre: your brain. When you boost your brain, you boost every aspect of your life.
As an analogy, if you start going to the gym and lifting weights, you’ll learn proper lifting techniques,
become stronger and lift progressively heavier weights. It follows that if you then need to move
furniture, you’ll also have better lifting techniques and more strength to move furniture. You won’t
even have to consciously think about it, you’ll just do the job better and with less risk of injury. The
same goes with NeuroSlimming. The skills you learn for dealing with body weight issues are skills
you’ll apply to the rest of your life. In NeuroSlimming you acquire tools, not rules.
Each Mission in NeuroSlimming is a simple, self-contained Call to action. Each Mission is easy to
implement into the busiest of lives. All you need to do is work through each Mission, one at a time,
and you’ll achieve your goal. And the ‘work’ is enjoyable, empowering and exhilarating.
NeuroSlimming is doable for everyone, regardless of age, current state of health or past experience
with weight loss. You are not a victim of your genes, your hormones or your past.
Your decisions are more powerful than your DNA. Your decisions determine your genetic
expression and all the intermediate pathways that govern your biology and your behaviour. I know
this is a big claim. By the end of the book you’ll experience the truth of it for yourself.
 How do you eat an elephant?

Accept the challenges so that you can feel the

exhilaration of victory.
George S Patton

There are three stages in Mission SlimPossible.

Stage I: Preparing for Mission SlimPossible

In the first stage of Mission SlimPossible, you embark on your first seven Missions — should you
choose to accept them. These Missions reveal the Seven Secrets to lifelong sustainable slimming (and
especially VAT reduction).

Stage II: Being On Mission

These are your core 21 Missions — should you choose to accept them. This is where you’ll acquire
the Seven Skills, Seven Strengths and Seven Habits to achieve vibrant health, lasting vitality and a
body you love.

Stage III: Staying On Mission

This provides you with the final piece in the slimming puzzle. You will receive the formula that
underpins every Mission and keeps you on track to maintain your optimal state of health for life.
Yes, there are 28 Missions in total. Don’t panic! How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
How do you accomplish Mission SlimPossible? One Mission at a time. That’s why Mission
SlimPossible is broken down into individual, ‘bite-sized’ Missions. Don’t be concerned by the
number of Missions you ‘need to get through’ in order to achieve your goal.
For a start, each Mission is enjoyable and life-enriching — you won’t feel you need to ‘get it over
with’. Each Mission brings about a change in your brain leading to better health and increased
vitality. Moreover, you don’t have to accomplish every Mission to reach your slimming goal!
How good is that? How extraordinary is that? It’s entirely possible that you’ll shed excess VAT and
attain optimal health purely and simply by carrying out Mission 1 and going no further.
Even more interesting is that people who have undertaken Mission SlimPossible want to accomplish
each Mission even after they’re happy with their body because being On Mission gives them a new
lease on life.
Avoid the temptation of tackling several Missions at once. Focus on one Mission at a time, preferably
in chronological order. Just one. Many of the Missions will present a radically different approach to
anything you’ve been told before so you will need time to absorb the concept and then put it into
practice.
Having said that, if you’re jumping out of your skin to launch into Mission 15 and you’re only up to
Mission 2, go for number 15. An important thing you’ll learn while On Mission is how to be guided
by your intuition and your internal signals. So if you feel a particular urge to throw yourself into
Mission 15, it’s likely that Mission 15 is what you need at that time.
How do you know when you’re ready to move on to the next Mission? Embark on the first Mission.
When it becomes a little easier — perhaps not yet a fully automated habit but you know you’re on
your way — take on the second Mission. Practise the second Mission along with the first. Each
Mission facilitates achieving the next Mission. There is no hurry to get through them because the
Mission you’re on might be your tipping point, when everything else falls into place and you’re
suddenly ‘there’. Change is slow until it’s fast.
Some Missions will be quicker and easier for you than others. Some will stretch you more than you
expected. Some Missions may be self-evident to you (but not to others) and you’ll fly through them.
Some Missions you might already be doing. Some will take you to the edges of your comfort zone,
and some will take you even further. Relish the variety, the celebration of your uniqueness and the
great adventure of Mission SlimPossible.
Have you ever been on a fabulous holiday and wished you didn’t have to come back to ‘reality’?
Mission SlimPossible is like a fabulous holiday — only you don’t have to come back to reality
because it becomes your new reality!
 Lose the word ‘lose’

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by

mankind.
Rudyard Kipling

A crucial aspect of NeuroSlimming is the language, the metaphors and the specific words that are
used. As you’ll soon discover, words have a significant impact on brain function and biology. As an
example, let’s examine the word ‘loss’. When you hear the word ‘loss’, what is the knee-jerk emotion
that comes up for you? Pause right now and get in touch with how you feel when you think about
‘loss’. What images come to mind? Stay with them for a minute. Do you feel energised and uplifted or
sad and wistful? Most of the time, in most contexts, loss is something people try to avoid: loss of a
loved one, loss of a job, loss of reputation. Loss goes hand in hand with grief and suffering. Even
losing keys is inconvenient and frustrating. Loss implies that something we need or want is missing
from our lives. In the vast majority of cases, whenever we lose something, we want to find it again.
Even when we know we can’t get something back — when a person passes away — it doesn’t stop us
wanting the person back.
In the same way, we resist weight loss. The resistance is not conscious; most people genuinely set
goals, start watching what they eat and commit to regular exercise. However, subconsciously it
creates tension between the brain and the body. The more weight a person loses, the greater the
tension. Eventually, the tension becomes unsustainable and the weight starts piling back on. Ninety-
five percent of people who lose weight, find it again. And they usually acquire extra weight to protect
against future losses.
Even when a person is absolutely determined to ‘lose weight’, all the emotions and associations
linked with ‘loss’ subconsciously pull them in the opposite direction. The brain equates loss with
pain; therefore loss is something to be avoided. The brain safeguards against loss by driving the
behaviours that maintain the status quo. Have you ever engaged in self-sabotage? Have you ever
wondered why? It’s your subconscious mind protecting you from anticipated pain. Loss does not
activate any reward centres in the brain, and any goal associated with loss sets us up for failure.
Therefore the very first step in NeuroSlimming is: Lose the word ‘lose’.
Yes, I deliberately use the word ‘lose’ at the start of the above sentence in order to give it more
impact. From here on, this book will no longer use the terms ‘weight loss’ or ‘losing weight’ except
in the case of needing to explain something. In your conversations, in your self-talk and in your goal-
setting, let go of the expression ‘losing weight’.
Even the word ‘weight’ is counterproductive. For one thing, you now know that weight is not the
issue and, for another thing, your reason for wanting to change your body is the real goal.
Most importantly, when you think of the word ‘weight’, how does it make you feel? Many of my
retreat participants remark that just speaking or thinking of the word ‘weight’ or ‘body weight’ makes
them feel heavy. What are all the associations you have with the words ‘weight’ and ‘body weight’?
Are they mostly positive, negative or neutral? When you think about anything in relation to body
weight, do you feel inspired or weighed down? If a word engenders negative emotions, the tendency
is to resist dealing with the matter it represents. We approach the issue with trepidation and
hesitation, even if the resistance is subconscious.
The other counterproductive effect of focusing on body weight is that it reminds you of what you
don’t want and how far you are from what you do want. It is also a reminder of past unsuccessful
attempts. We need a fresh approach to re-energise our efforts. We need to deliberately focus on what
we want, not on what we don’t want. I will elaborate on this principle throughout the book, and you
will learn specific methods of goal setting that follow NeuroSlimming principles. To get started,
focus on words that make you feel light, not heavy.
You will notice that I employed the term ‘weight loss’ in the title of the second chapter and throughout
the text so far. I also mention weight loss on my website: www.winningatslimming.com. This is to
reflect the current situation where the term ‘weight loss’ is embedded in the language everyone uses.
However, from now on in this book, you will discern a different vocabulary. How do you feel about
‘winning at slimming’ versus ‘losing weight’? Regardless of whether or not the phrase appeals to
you, the word ‘winning’ usually sets off the brain’s reward circuits, and ‘slimming’ evokes a positive
image in most people’s minds. The name of my website deliberately avoids the words ‘weight’ and
‘loss’. I use the word ‘slimming’ because that’s what most people believe will improve their health.
So let’s begin to play with new terminology. Below are some suggestions that I expect will evoke a
range of responses. The aim is to start you thinking of new ways to frame your goal. It’s your goal and
your body, so use words that inspire you.

I am releasing what my body doesn’t need.

I am letting go of excess.
I am shedding surplus.
I feel comfortable in my own skin.
I feel happy about my body.
I enjoy my shape.
I have excellent health.
I feel light and free.
I feel confident in myself and I celebrate everyone’s uniqueness.
I feel fit and fabulous.
 I love having great health.
I love feeling full of energy and vitality.
I feel great being at my best.
I am proud of looking after my body.
I allow my body to guide me to optimal health.

What phrase best describes how you want to feel and what you want to achieve? Come up with
something that really resonates with you. This will start to open your mind to the NeuroSlimming
way of thinking.

What about the word ‘slim’?

The word ‘slim’ is not without controversy either.
By using the word ‘slim’ in NeuroSlimming and Mission SlimPossible, I am not suggesting that
being slim is a requisite for health or beauty. Rather, I use the word ‘slim’ because if there wasn’t
some reference to reducing body size, many people would never pick up this book. The fact remains
that over 90 percent of Australian women under the age of 30, and 44 percent of women over age 30
have dieted at least once. Many women report going on diets several times a year. Similarly, in the
USA and other English-speaking nations, dieting has been dubbed ‘a national pastime’. The aim of
this book is to inspire you to stop dieting and start living, to shift your focus from fatness to fitness,
and to encourage you to passionately embrace a healthy life. But this book would not cross many a
dieter’s radar if it didn’t mention the word ‘slim’ or ‘loss’, and ‘slim’ is by far the better option. If
the word ‘slim’ has negative connotations for you, don’t use it. I would much prefer you to think in
terms of health, vitality and fitness. I have used the word ‘slim’ to catch the attention of those who
most need to read this book.
ASIDE: For those readers interested in etymology, the word ‘slim’ has an interesting history. It
appears to have originated from the Dutch word slim meaning ‘bad, sly, clever’ and from the German
adjectives slimp for ‘slanting, awry’ and schlimm meaning ‘bad’! Even when it made its way into
English, ‘slim’ originally denoted a person who was ‘lazy or worthless’. Today, the most common
use of the word ‘slim’ is to mean ‘lean, slender or gracefully thin’ but it also has other meanings in
different contexts. For example:

‘slimmer workforce’ means downsizing

‘slim margin’ or ‘slim chance’2 mean small or narrow
‘slim disease’ in Africa refers to AIDS.

Your first Call to action

Make a conscious effort to eliminate the words ‘weight loss’ and ‘losing weight’ from all your
conversations and even your thinking. Instead of saying or thinking ‘I’d like to lose weight’, try to
express yourself using words that make you feel lighter and happier; for example, ‘I’d like to feel
fabulous walking along the beach in a new swimsuit.’ Or ‘I’m working towards a fitter and healthier
me.’ Play with whatever phrases feel right for you. The important thing is to eliminate the words
‘lose’ and ‘weight’, and thereby to shift your focus from numbers on scales to health and vitality.

2 Interestingly, ‘fat chance’ means an even smaller likelihood of something happening than ‘slim chance’! Go figure.
 A parable about a river

It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It’s that they
can’t see the problem.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, highly technologically advanced city situated near the banks of a great river. Water
from the river was processed and distributed to all the households to provide clean drinking water, and the river was
renowned for its plentiful supply of succulent, fresh fish. Life was good and the people were healthy and happy.

One year, the city’s people started to notice that with each passing month, the river was becoming increasingly polluted — to
the point where it became a serious threat to their health. People began getting sick and developing chronic illnesses
because of the shortage of clean water. Clearly something had to be done to rectify the situation. So, both as a community
and as individuals, they embarked on a massive clean-up effort. They were very intelligent and industrious so they developed
highly sophisticated sanitation methods. They used physical means, chemical agents, natural products and all the latest
technology to remove the pollutants from the river. They employed widespread education campaigns to inform the public
about how to reduce their waste and how to dispose of it responsibly. Everyone was aware of the problem and everyone
was making a huge effort to solve it. But instead of getting better, the problem kept getting worse. Sometimes they
succeeded in cleaning up the river but even before the celebrations were over, the river became polluted again.

The lack of success and ongoing medical problems began to have a negative impact on the mental health of most of the
population. They felt like failures and started losing hope. They were putting in enormous effort, yet achieving only limited,
short-term results. Why? What was going on?

One day a group of fishermen, whose livelihood was under threat because the fish were dying, decided to follow the river
upstream to try and find uncontaminated water for fishing. Following the course of the river, they walked and walked,
kilometre after kilometre, but they couldn’t find any clean water. Just as they were about to turn back, they came to the
source of the river at the top of a mountain. To their amazement, here they found a large factory that was dumping all its
waste products into the river. The pollution was then being carried downstream to the city and contaminating the water. The
fishermen had finally discovered the source of the problem. It wasn’t their carelessness or incompetence or lack of effort —
the problem was the factory. No one had known there was a hidden source of pollution. No wonder none of their efforts were
working! It didn’t matter what measures they employed downstream, their endeavours would continue to be thwarted until
they addressed the source of the pollution upstream: the factory.

The fishermen were ecstatic! They immediately went to speak with the factory owners and explained the impact of their
waste-removal practices on the health of the city’s people. The factory owners were shocked. They had no idea about the
downstream damage they were causing, and a meeting was immediately organised between the factory owners and the city
leaders. After a series of discussions between the two parties, the factory changed its waste-disposal practices and stopped
dumping toxic substances into the water. This allowed the people to clean up the river. There was no more stress, struggle
or lack of understanding because no more pollution was being created. As the river became clean again, the physical and
mental health of the people was restored. They realised that, for years, they’d been blaming themselves for a problem that
had a hidden cause. Whipping the horse — punishing themselves — was not the answer. Addressing the source, not the
course, provided the definitive solution that had eluded them.

What is the message in this allegory?

This story sums up exactly what’s been going on with the worldwide obesity epidemic. Excess VAT
and obesity are downstream consequences of an upstream cause. Society is desperately pouring time,
money, energy and technology into downstream approaches to try and rectify the situation. Diets, meal
replacements, calorie counting, boot camp, food combining, food avoidance (meat, wheat, yeast,
dairy, etc), appetite suppressants, artificial sugars — name anything that’s out there — are all
downstream measures. That’s why people are getting short-term results, at best.
Can you relate to this story?
What downstream approaches have you tried?
What might be some of your upstream pollutants?
What’s the definite solution to releasing VAT?

Go upstream and address the source of the issue: the brain

The brain, like the factory, is the hidden cause of health issues resulting from excess VAT. The brain
is giving out neural, chemical and hormonal signals that are carried downstream to the rest of the
body, instructing it to make and store VAT. It’s time to rewire the brain to redesign the body for
optimal health and vitality.
 Smooth sailing

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking

new lands but seeing with new eyes.
Marcel Proust

This chapter has been adapted with permission from the book In Search of My Father: Dementia is
no match for a daughter’s determination, also by Dr Helena Popovic.
What is the difference between the brain and the mind?
The brain and mind are both integral to slimming. How do they operate in determining body shape
and the behaviours that support it?
Imagine for a moment a large boat, complete with captain and crew, sailing the ocean blue. The
captain makes the decisions and gives the orders, which the loyal crew follow. Without a captain, the
boat would be directionless. Without a crew, the day-to-day running of the boat would be impossible.
The crew know their role and don’t need the captain to tell them how to do their job or to remind
them of their job on a daily basis — they’re very well trained. The captain only notifies the crew
when he or she wants something to change and only takes charge whenever leadership is required. As
for the boat, it needs to be kept in good nick and fuelled on a regular basis.
The captain, the crew and the boat form an interdependent unit. If the captain and crew don’t do their
jobs properly, the boat can get damaged or end up in disrepair. If the boat is damaged it will make the
journey harder for everyone and it won’t be in optimal condition to handle rough seas. If the captain
is apathetic, indecisive or unskilled, he will have a negative impact on the running of things. And if
the captain and crew are in disagreement over things, or if there is no clear communication between
captain and crew they won’t get very far either.
How does this relate to the brain and mind?
The captain is analogous to your conscious mind, the crew is like your subconscious mind, the boat is
your brain and the ocean is life.
The conscious mind is the thinking part of yourself. It sets goals, makes decisions and interprets
experiences. It’s also what you’re aware of as ‘mind chatter’ — the constant commentary going on in
your head.
The subconscious mind is the part of yourself beneath your conscious awareness that actually keeps
you alive and running. It’s what keeps your heart pumping, your lungs expanding and your hair
growing. You don’t consciously say to yourself: ‘pump, breathe, grow!’ All these actions are handled
subconsciously through what’s known as the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The number one
priority of the subconscious mind is survival — physical, emotional and psychological. And because
survival is instinctively our primary objective, the subconscious is much more powerful than the
conscious. So if there’s ever a conflict between our conscious wants and our subconscious needs, the
subconscious always wins. It’s a case of essential versus desirable.
That’s why the subconscious mind plays a powerful role in dictating our behaviour: it protects our
psychological and emotional wellbeing. That’s why sometimes you consciously think you want one
thing, but still end up doing something else. Wanting to ‘lose weight’ is a classic example. You set a
clear goal for yourself and for the first three weeks you eat well and exercise regularly. Then
something happens or life seems to throw you a curved ball and you find you’re simply not able to
keep up the eating and exercise regime. The reason for this is that the subconscious mind isn’t in
agreement with the conscious mind. The subconscious pay-offs for maintaining the status quo override
your conscious desire to be slim. And that’s yet another reason why diets don’t work — they don’t
address subconscious issues. The captain wants one thing but the crew know that it will be a threat to
your emotional survival so they actively ignore the captain’s commands.
How can you get captain and crew working together towards the same goal: attaining an optimally
healthy body? By applying the principles of NeuroSlimming.
 What is NeuroSlimming?

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so

a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To
make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To
make a deep mental path, we must think over and over
the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
Henry David Thoreau

NeuroSlimming brings the latest discoveries in brain science to the field of weight management.
NeuroSlimming means using your brain to heal your body.
In the last few decades, neuroscientists have discovered more about the human brain than in all the
centuries of brain research that have taken place in human history. Knowledge of the brain has
exploded and the information is transforming our approach to everything in our lives. In fact, the
greatest discovery of the 20th century was that the brain can change itself.
Prior to that, it was believed that the brain was like a hard-wired computer. The brain you were born
with, you were stuck with. And with age, your brain function gradually declined — or not so
gradually if you abused it with excessive alcohol, blows to the head or party drugs.
As recently as three decades ago, neuroscientists made a startling discovery: the human brain is not
hard-wired at all. It is constantly changing in response to our actions, thoughts, feelings and
behaviour. We can grow new cells (neurons) in the brain and create new circuits between them. We
are not passive victims of our genes.
We actually influence our gene expression through the way we live and interact with our environment.
You play an active role in how your brain develops throughout your life. Your thoughts, emotions,
beliefs and actions determine the types of signals your brain sends out to the rest of your body. Even
if certain parts of your brain are not functioning, it can reorganise itself so that cells from other parts
of the brain reinstate the lost function. This extensive ability of the brain to change is known as
‘neuroplasticity’. The word is coined from ‘neuron’ meaning ‘brain cell’ and ‘plastic’ meaning
‘malleable’ or ‘able to be moulded’. It is the most far-reaching discovery in over 1000 years.
However, most people are yet to realise the enormous personal power this gives them.
Even fewer people know how to use this knowledge to attain optimal health and a body they love —
easily, effectively and permanently.
Therefore, in more technical terms, NeuroSlimming is the application of neuroplasticity to
releasing visceral adipose tissue (VAT). In other words, by changing the signals that your brain is
sending to your body, you can speed up your metabolism and reverse your tendency to store VAT.
You can rewire your brain to process food differently and create the body you want. You can turn
subconscious behaviours that have made you unhappy about your body into habits that lead to
lightening your load — and keeping it off for good.
Neuroplasticity has opened avenues for change that were previously not known to exist.
Change your brain and you’ll change your body.
Rewire your brain and you’ll reshape your body.
 What NeuroSlimming is not

If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to

collect wood, and don’t assign them tasks and work, but
rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of
the sea.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

NeuroSlimming is not about calorie restriction, exercise, motivation, mindset, willpower or positive
psychology. These things all play a role but NeuroSlimming goes much deeper into the very essence
of how brain cells communicate with each other and with the rest of the body to influence appetite,
assimilation of food, metabolism, weight set-point and body fat distribution. NeuroSlimming
examines how thoughts and emotions drive the choices, behaviours and bodily functions that influence
health and body weight. NeuroSlimming uses specific ways of thinking to stimulate brain circuits
that lead to slimming.
No amount of willpower or meal planning will result in sustainable slimming unless the signals your
brain is sending to your body to maintain your current weight are changed. There has been an
emphasis on diet and exercise for decades but obesity is still on the rise.
The brain is the body’s control centre. Every part of the body follows the instructions, directions and
signals sent out by the brain. It doesn’t matter if you have a slow metabolism, a genetic predisposition
to retaining fat, or a frenetic lifestyle that lends itself to VAT gain. It doesn’t matter if you have no
idea why you haven’t achieved your desired body because NeuroSlimming addresses the underlying
source of the issue and provides you with a Mind Plan not a meal plan.
Just as the brain is the largest sexual organ, it is also the largest slimming organ — and it has been
ignored by the entire weight loss industry. That’s why nothing to date has led to long-term success.
NeuroSlimming is about brain, not brawn.
NeuroSlimming is about exploring inner space, not outer space.
NeuroSlimming is about feeding your spirit, not starving your body.
 How can you change your own brain?

Things do not change, we change.

Henry David Thoreau

There has been a profusion of sophisticated experiments and ground-breaking research directed
towards answering this question. Electroencephalography (EEG) and brain-imaging techniques such
as MRI and CT have revealed several ways in which the brain is able to change.
To understand how to change your brain, you need to start with some basic neuroanatomy.
The brain is a conglomerate of neurons (brain cells) that are connected to other neurons. Each neuron
has a series of short, branched projections called dendrites, and a long, tail-like structure called an
axon. The dendrites receive information into the cell while the axon transmits electrical signals out of
the cell. Dendrites and axons are collectively known as neurites.
Each axon is surrounded by an insulating sheath of protein and fatty tissue called myelin. One of the
main purposes of myelin is to allow impulses to transmit quickly and efficiently along the axon.
When an electrical signal reaches the end of the axon, it triggers the release of a chemical called a
neurotransmitter into a microscopic gap called the synaptic space. The neurotransmitter floats across
the gap to the dendrite of the adjacent neuron, instructing the neuron what to do. There are two main
types of signals transmitted from an axon to its target dendrites: excitatory and inhibitory. As the
words suggest, an excitatory signal stimulates the receiving neuron to fire off its own signal in order
to enable you to perform a particular action or behave in a certain way. An inhibitory signal dampens
down or switches off the firing of the receiving cell. I refer to these two types of signals as neurON
and neurOFF.
When neuroscientists talk about the brain rewiring, they mean that changes occur in the transmission
of impulses between neurons to bring about new ways of being and behaving. These changes can
occur in several ways:

The brain grows more cells to perform a particular task. This is one way you get good at
something. The growth of new cells is known as neurogenesis. The phenomenon was first
observed in the brains of London taxi drivers. In learning their way around 25 000 streets
(before the advent of GPS), the area of their brains responsible for spacial navigation (the
hippocampus) grew considerably larger than is seen in the rest of us. Highly skilled violinists
experience an increase in the size and activity of areas of the brain responsible for fine finger
movements. Whatever you train in, you gain brain in. The opposite is also true: use it or lose
it. But if you train it, you can regain it! Phew.
The myelin sheath surrounding the axon becomes thicker, allowing for smoother, faster, more
effective electrical signalling between brain cells. This is another mechanism by which ‘practice
makes perfect’.
Alterations occur at the synapse through the growth and branching of neurites (dendrites and
axons). This leads to an increase or decrease in connections between brain cells, which in turn
influences the strength and type of signalling between cells. This is how you can create new
pathways and circuits in the brain.
The brain produces different neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) that influence the function
of brain cells. These brain cells then influence the function of other cells in the body.
All these changes are highly responsive to our thoughts, emotions, actions and environment.

A new thought can begin the growth of new dendritic branches.

Changing how you feel changes the neurotransmitters that you produce.
A new behaviour can start to sculpt new patterns of synaptic connections.
An action repeated over and over leads to thickening of the myelin sheath involved in that
behaviour.
Immersing yourself in a new environment affects brain function at different levels.

In summary, your brain is constantly changing in response to five factors. Change any one of these and
you change your brain. The five factors are:
1. your actions
2. your thoughts
3. your emotions
4. your physical environment
5. your social and cultural environment.
 The five factors that change our brains

If we did all the things we are capable of, we would

literally astound ourselves.
Thomas A. Edison

Actions
The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do.
Amelia Earhart

Actions refer to the things you do and how you behave. This includes eating, exercising, sleeping,
working, and all the routines and habits that make up your daily life. When you change one of these
variables — for example, you start getting more sleep — it not only affects your body (you have more
physical energy and your immune system works better), it also affects your brain (you produce a
different cocktail of chemicals that influence your appetite and your capacity for decision-making).
Short-term changes in behaviour produce short-term changes in the brain. Sustained changes in
behaviour produce sustained changes in the brain.
Actions — and a limited set of actions at that — are what existing weight loss regimes have targeted,
with minimal or short-term results. The reason that actions are the least effective target for bringing
about change is that actions are driven by the other four factors. Actions are always a response to
either thoughts, emotions or environment. When you appear to act without thinking, you have acted in
response to an emotion or to a cue in your environment. Therefore NeuroSlimming targets the other
four factors FIRST, since the other four factors dictate actions. Think back to the parable of the river:
address the source, not the course. When you take care of the other four factors, your actions take care
of themselves.

Thoughts
You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realise this and you will
find strength . . . The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.
Marcus Aurelius

Your thoughts include your beliefs, attitudes, intentions, aspirations, daydreams, memories, self-talk
and mind chatter. Your thoughts formulate your worldview, your interpretation of experiences and
your self-image.
Every thought has a physical ‘signature’ in the brain. What this means is that thoughts have a physical
effect, even though they cannot be seen with the naked eye. Thoughts are analogous to radiation. The
human eye is not able to detect radiation but the effects of radiation can be measured and
experienced. The same goes for thoughts. Even Einstein acknowledged, ‘I admit that thoughts
influence the body.’
Different thoughts produce different chemicals in the brain and different hormones in the body.
Different thoughts lead to the growth or suppression of brain cells and neurites. Repeated thoughts
thicken the myelin sheath encircling specific axons. These are very real and measurable biological
outcomes.
When you think differently, you respond to your environment differently, you react to situations
differently and you process food differently. Your thoughts affect your energy levels, your immune
system, your endocrine system and your metabolism. Your thoughts play a major role in
NeuroSlimming.

Emotions
Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.
Aristotle

Emotions are the full spectrum of human feelings from abject misery to exuberance. Extensive
research across diverse scientific disciplines has demonstrated the critical role of emotions in every
aspect of health, including a person’s relationship with food. Emotions are the core drivers of all our
decisions and actions, and emotions are even more powerful in changing the brain than are
thoughts.
Our emotional wiring is deeper than our cognitive wiring. Thoughts and emotions are intricately
linked. As will be discussed in the next chapter, our thoughts influence our emotions and our emotions
influence our thoughts. Unless you tap into your emotional wiring and create new emotional circuits,
change is not likely to last.
Emotions are reflected in specific, identifiable brain circuits that can be measured using objective
scientific methods. Different emotions cause the release of different brain chemicals that affect
biology and behaviour. ‘Feel good’ chemicals include serotonin, endorphins, oxytocin, dopamine,
noradrenaline and prolactin. All of these chemicals have widespread effects on various systems in the
body. Different emotional states also activate different regions of the brain. For instance, strong
positive emotions cause the left prefrontal cortex to light up; terrifying emotions activate the right
prefrontal cortex.
Whether we are aware of it or not, our emotions influence so much of our eating behaviour that it’s
critical we understand how to deal with them. NeuroSlimming enables you to use your emotions to
serve you rather than rule you. This goes way beyond learning how to manage emotional eating, an
issue that will also be covered later.
Well-publicised research revealing how positive emotions enhance health, and negative emotions
erode health, has led to the belief that you need to ‘force yourself’ to be positive even (or especially)
when you feel the opposite. ‘Fake it till you make it’ has become a well-meaning but misguided
adage. This is not a healthy way to deal with emotions. Emotions are essential for our physical and
psychological survival. They inform us when something is ‘not right’, when our boundaries have been
transgressed, when there has been an injustice and when we’re not being true to ourselves. Our
emotions also tell us when we’re on track — we feel great, we have boundless energy and we feel
connected to those we love. Our emotions can teach us everything we need to know about how to live
in the most authentic way — if we pause to listen and allow them to guide us.

Physical environment
A ship in the harbour is safe. But that is not what ships are built for.
William Shedd

Fast food, fast cars, fast living. Elevators, escalators, travelators. Desk jobs, sedentary leisure
activities, safety concerns about children playing in the streets. Labour-saving devices, washing
machines, clothes dryers, food blenders, seated lawnmowers, remote controls. Online banking, online
shopping, online chatrooms, online movies, online dating, online games. The overabundance of
inexpensive, easily accessible, energy-dense, nutrient-poor, highly processed food. Large fridges,
large pantries, large plates, large portions. Junk-food advertising on TV, billboards and public
transport. Soft-drink sponsorship of sports events. Welcome to the ‘obesogenic’ environment: an
environment where food policy is driven by economic issues, not health issues, and where marketing
is about selling something, not making us healthy.
In the 1970s and 1980s, a series of studies were conducted on groups of Aboriginal people from the
Mowanjum community in Western Australia. For varying lengths of time, ranging from a few weeks to
three months, they were returned to their traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and had their health and
body weight closely monitored. After only two weeks in the bush, they had substantially better health
and fitness, and by seven weeks, they had shed up to 12 kilograms (26 pounds) and dramatically
improved their diabetes.
I am not suggesting society goes back to washing clothes in the river, grinding grains to make flour
and chasing kangaroos for dinner. However, modernisation has made physical inactivity the default
state, and calorie-rich, fibre-poor food the staple diet. This marriage has obvious repercussions.
Obesity has become so widespread throughout the world that the term ‘globesity’ has entered the
human lexicon. Given that worldwide obesity has almost doubled since 1980 and more than 40
million children under the age of five were classified as overweight or obese in 2012, there must be
something other than ‘personal irresponsibility’ at play.
In September 2011, the United Nations recognised ‘the critical importance of reducing the level of
exposure of individuals and populations to unhealthy diet and physical inactivity’.
Inarguably, the modern environment has an enormous impact on health. Yet the fact that not everyone
in the 21st century is carrying excess VAT means that despite external pressures it is still possible to
have excellent health and vitality. It is possible to live in a way that does not succumb to
environmental forces. Yes, some people gain VAT more easily than others due to genetic factors, but
they are nonetheless able to make healthy choices. The same circumstances can evoke different
responses in different people, but it is possible to learn to choose the responses that serve you best.
The human brain is influenced by its environment through what is taken in via all the senses.
Pollution, toxins and foods all impact on brain function. However, our internal environment —
thoughts and emotions — is more powerful than our external environment.
The effect of our external environment is modulated by our thoughts and emotions. When you change
your internal environment, you are able to change your external environment. You see new
opportunities and find new ways of overcoming obstacles to achieve your goals.

Social and cultural environment

No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of
the main.
John Donne

Our social and cultural environment profoundly influences our beliefs about food, eating and body
image.
Were you lovingly called a ‘good eater’ when you were a child? Or were you the ‘fussy, difficult
one’? Did you come from a large family where you had to eat quickly or you would miss out? Were
particular foods associated with special occasions? Was food your mother’s way of expressing love?
Was eating your way of showing love in return? If you didn’t have seconds, did your granny get upset
that you didn’t like her cooking? Were meal times tense and formal or were they fun and festive
occasions? Did you have to eat your greens before you were allowed to have dessert? Were certain
foods used as reward for ‘good’ behaviour? Were ‘treats’ withheld to punish ‘bad’ behaviour? Did
you self-comfort with food when you felt sad and lonely? Did you feel ‘safe’ when you were carrying
more weight? Was your mother concerned about her weight? Was your mother a dieter? Were you
teased about your weight at school? Were you praised when you finished everything on your plate?
Were you told it was a sin to waste food? Are you still hoping to save the starving children in Africa?
Food is fuel. It is essential for physical survival. Yet food has been overlaid with so much additional
meaning that, for many people, the nutritional value of food is secondary to its emotional, social and
cultural value. From the time we are born, we are fed beliefs about food in addition to the food.
Depending on a person’s upbringing and other significant social experiences while growing up, food
may represent reward, punishment, comfort, distraction, protection, love, rejection, belonging,
celebration . . . the list is as varied as our personalities. The way we eat is also tied to value
judgements: ‘she eats like a bird’ or ‘he eats like a pig’ are very potent analogies that bleed into our
self-image and influence how we feel about ourselves, particularly when we eat.
Did your body weight play a role in how you were treated at school? What were the messages you
received from your family, friends and media about your self-worth in relation to your body? Did you
feel loved and accepted irrespective of your weight? Where did you see yourself in your family
structure? Were you the ‘pretty one’, ‘smart one’, ‘sporty one’, ‘chubby one’? What were you directly
or indirectly taught was the ‘ideal’ figure? All of these social and cultural constructs have established
the foundations of your relationship with food and with your body.
The way you think about food and how you relate to food has a pivotal effect on what you eat, how
you eat, when you eat and why you eat. Is food a natural pleasure or a guilty indulgence? Or does it
depend on the circumstance? There is no right or wrong way to view food and eating. What’s
important is becoming aware of the meaning you attach to food and the role it plays in your social and
cultural life. Awareness gives you power to change if you want to.
There is nothing quite like food. It can bring people together to celebrate their most joyous occasions
(such as weddings) and to mourn their deepest losses (funerals). Sharing a meal conveys unspoken
messages between individuals and groups. Feeding oneself and others carries deep-seated personal
meaning. Food is linked to the extremes of pleasure and pain.
We are wired to enjoy things that are essential to survival so that we keep doing them to survive.
Where we come unravelled is when two things that are required for survival come into apparent
conflict; for example, eating and belonging. ‘If I don’t have a piece of all the different cakes my
granny made, it will upset her and make me feel like a bad, ungrateful granddaughter.’ I’ve been there
with my Viennese cake-baking grandmother. We all need food, friends, and connection with others.
Therefore it’s necessary to learn ways to manage these incongruities so that neither health nor
relationships are compromised.

•••••

By consciously choosing your thoughts and actions you can rewire your brain. By creating an
emotional, social and physical environment that supports your slimming success, you can stimulate
changes in your brain that expedite slimming success. The Missions in NeuroSlimming guide your
thoughts and emotions, and in turn your actions, so that you turn your slimming signals ON and your
sabotaging signals OFF. They also enable you to create a robust, healthy and supportive
environment.
 Everything is interconnected

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain

or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky.
Rabindranath Tagore

By now it will be apparent that everything in your life is interconnected through the neural networks
that constitute your brain.
Your health and body weight are not isolated, separate parts of your existence. They are in constant
dynamic interplay with the physical, psychological, emotional, environmental and social aspects of
your life. Mind, brain and body do not function independently. Your body weight is the outward
expression of the combined effect of the five factors working together.
The fact that everything is interconnected is another reason that focusing on diet and exercise alone is
futile.
A good way of understanding how the five factors operate is to consider the analogy of an iceberg.
Our actions are represented by the tip or protruding part of the iceberg. As with the tip of the iceberg,
actions are what is visible.
Our thoughts are represented by the submerged part of the iceberg. They are not visible but, just like
the iceberg, they form a much larger contribution to the whole than the tip. In fact, the tip (actions) are
the outward manifestation of our thoughts.
Our emotions are represented by the water. Like water, our emotions wash over and around
everything. The water molecules are in exchange with the iceberg molecules. After all, ice and water
are simply water in different states: one is solid and one is liquid. In the same way, our thoughts
influence our emotions and our emotions influence our thoughts. The word ‘emotion’ derives from the
Latin emovere meaning outward movement. Emotions are an energy you feel in your body that moves
you to action or inaction.
Our physical environment is represented by the air around the iceberg. Air is a mixture of nitrogen,
oxygen, water vapour, argon and carbon dioxide. Also present in the air is pollution, pollen, dust and
radiation. Air quality affects the iceberg in the same way that your physical environment affects you.
Our social and cultural environment is represented by the weather: sunshine, cloud, rain, wind,
storms, thunder, lightning and rainbows. The weather influences the state of the iceberg just as your
relationships affect your state of being.
The purpose of this analogy is to illustrate how changing one of the five factors automatically changes
the others. All the various facets of your life are related and interwoven. When you feel good about
yourself (emotion), you think positively about your life (thoughts), you give more in your relationships
(social environment) and you’re more motivated to look after yourself (actions). This is why I said
earlier that you don’t have to accomplish every single Mission in order to attain a healthy body that
you’re happy with. As in the example just given, there is a cascading effect every time you take on a
Mission. When one thing improves, so does everything else. Changing your brain isn’t as difficult as
it seems.
 What’s happening in the world every day?

We cannot teach people anything; we can only help

them discover it within themselves.
Galileo Galilei

Every day, people are discovering how to live an inspired life of freedom, fulfilment and fabulous
food.
Every day, people are attaining and maintaining their optimal, healthy body — without dieting.
Every day, people are increasing their energy and vitality — without pills or supplements.
Every day, people are finding that choosing to be healthy is much simpler and more achievable than
they ever imagined.
Every day, people are learning that great health is a daily choice and not a distant destination.
Every day, people are seeing how small things can make a big difference to their health and vitality.
Every day, people are experiencing the relief of not having to count calories or resist temptation.
Every day, people are enjoying guilt-free eating.
Every day, people are realising that having vibrant health is its own reward.
Every day, people are feeling the joy of loving, respecting and nurturing their body.
Every day, people are feeling good in their clothes — and great out of them!
Every day, people are thriving rather than merely surviving.
Every day, ordinary people are living extraordinary lives.
Every day, people are discovering NeuroSlimming.
 Summary of the New Paradigm

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the

ability to start over.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Regardless of your past experiences or any diagnosis you might have been given, you can
achieve vibrant health, lasting vitality and a body you love through joy, fulfilment and fabulous
food. Attaining your optimal, healthy body is NOT meant to be a struggle.
Just as the brain is the largest sexual organ, it is also the largest slimming organ. This critical
fact has been ignored by the entire weight loss industry, as well as by many health professionals.
NeuroSlimming teaches you how to change your brain to change your body.
Weight loss is NOT a healthy goal. Shedding fat around your abdominal organs (visceral fat or
VAT) is what improves health, not lowering the number on your scales.
When you lose weight by dieting, you lose muscle, bone and water, all of which lead to rebound
weight gain and poorer health.
You haven’t failed diets, diets have failed you because they have an inbuilt failure mechanism.
Diets actually make us fat rather than enable us to release fat.
The amount of VAT you carry is not only influenced by what you eat and how much you
exercise, but by what you think and how you feel.
Eliminate the words ‘weight loss’ from your vocabulary. Focusing on ‘weight’ and ‘loss’ keeps
you stuck where you are because language affects your subconscious mind. Instead, express what
you want using words that inspire and excite you.
NeuroSlimming presents you with 28 Missions that enable you to shed visceral fat, enjoy your
body and improve your health for life. Welcome to Mission SlimPossible!
 VAT are you measuring?

Re-examine all that you have been told . . . dismiss that

which insults your soul.
Walt Whitman

You’ve picked up this book because you’d like to shed body fat.
Or you have a love–hate relationship with food.
Or you’re struggling to maintain what you’ve been told is a ‘healthy weight’.
Or you aren’t happy with your eating habits.
Or you’ve realised that diets do not lead to lasting results.
Or you’re simply curious.
What constitutes a ‘healthy body weight’ in the first place?
There are several answers to this question. The first answer is that health is not necessarily related
to body weight. Good health is associated with many factors, one of which is the amount of VAT you
are carrying, not the amount of SWAT you have. In fact, in some circumstances, having more SWAT
can improve health and prolong life.
In every category of body weight, there are healthy and unhealthy individuals. Being more physically
active, eating less refined sugar and increasing the amount of fibre in your diet will improve your
health, regardless of any changes in your weight. This has led to the terms ‘metabolically healthy
obese’ and ‘the obesity paradox’; that is, you can be fit regardless of your size.
The second answer is that each person has a unique physiology and can be healthy within a broad
range of body fat measurements. What feels comfortable for one person can feel heavy for another.
Therefore no one can tell you what your optimal weight should be. At what size do you feel the most
comfortable and energetic? Your own positive feelings about yourself are your best guide to what is
healthy for you.
The purpose of this chapter is to enable you to determine what you really need to measure and what
will really make a difference to your health and happiness.
The first question to ask yourself is whether or not reducing body fat is necessary to improve your
health. You will learn how to assess this below. If the answer is ‘no’, then you can stop focusing on
fat and start focusing on things that will make a positive difference to your wellbeing and vitality.
‘But,’ I hear many people say, ‘regardless of health, I want to be slimmer because I believe I’ll look
and feel better.’ Fine, go for it. But the answer is still the same: focus on fitness, not fatness, and
you’ll create a body you love. I will define ‘fitness’ in a later chapter — it doesn’t mean becoming a
marathon runner. The Missions enable you to achieve whatever you want in relation to your body.
If the answer is ‘yes, I need to remove excess VAT in order to cure Type 2 diabetes’, then ironically,
the approach is the same as above: stop focusing on fat and start focusing on things that make a lasting
positive difference to your wellbeing and vitality. Your VAT will then disappear of its own accord.
Note that I deliberately use the word ‘cure’ in relation to Type 2 diabetes. If you’ve been told that
Type 2 diabetes can only be controlled but not cured, you have been misinformed. Type 2 diabetes
can be cured and prevented through lifestyle changes, particularly when coupled with
NeuroSlimming. Type 1 diabetes has a different origin to Type 2 diabetes and it can also be
improved through NeuroSlimming. However, to date, Type 1 diabetes requires insulin injections
several times a day for life.
Numerous different methods and measurements have been used to assess body weight and body fat.
The most useful and accessible are waist circumference, DEXA and machines employing DSM-BIA
such as InBody®. BMI should be discarded other than for research purposes by scientists and
epidemiologists. As for other methods such as bathroom scales, I include them so you can see why
they are misleading or simply not useful, and to broaden your overall understanding of the issues
around weight and health. My goal is to enable you to make your own decisions about what is a
comfortable, healthy size and shape for you. It is for you to determine whether shedding body fat is a
necessary or desirable goal.

Bathroom scales (with the apt acronym BS)

Throw them out. They don’t tell you anything about your health. On second thoughts, keep the scales
in the back of the cupboard in case you need to weigh your luggage before leaving for the airport.
Body weight can fluctuate several kilograms throughout the day depending on your level of hydration,
how many hours you’ve slept, how long you’ve been out of bed, when you ate your last meal, where
you are in your hormonal cycle, how much salt you’ve consumed recently and when you had your last
bowel motion!
When people rely purely on numbers to motivate them to eat well and exercise, what happens when
they reach their goal number? Their motivation is in danger of dissipating. Love the fact that you are
making daily choices that support your optimal health. Don’t let the scales rule your mood or your
life.

Bathroom scales with whizz-bang features

There are now inexpensive bathroom scales that use bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to
measure:

body fat percentage

body water percentage
 muscle mass
bone mass.

BIA measures the opposition of your tissues to the flow of an electric current sent up through your
body while you stand on the scales. This is used to estimate your total body water, which in turn can
be used to calculate your body fat.
The accuracy of home scales that use BIA is highly variable and influenced by when you take a
reading. For instance, your body fat composition will be underestimated shortly after a meal or
immediately following exercise. Also, it does not tell you where your fat is located — visceral or
subcutaneous — and therefore it doesn’t reveal whether your body fat percentage is putting you at risk
of disease.
On the plus side, if you take a reading at the same time once a month or fortnight, and observe a
consistent increase in your muscle mass along with a decrease in your fat percentage, without a
reduction in water and bone, you can be pretty confident that you’re heading in the right direction.

Direct segmental multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance

analysis (DSM-BIA)
This method of body composition analysis uses purpose-built machines that emit three to six different
frequencies to test five body segments and provide sectional fat, muscle and water data. It allows you
to see exactly where your fat is located and whether or not it poses a health risk. It also provides all
the information listed under DEXA scanning. To date I am aware of one company known as InBody®
that offers this service in an easy and affordable way. Comparative studies indicate that InBody® is
98.4% as accurate as DEXA.

Body mass index (BMI)

BMI is the most commonly used calculation by health professionals to determine whether someone is
overweight or obese. The formula is: weight in kilograms (or pounds) divided by height in metres (or
inches) squared.3

For example, if a Caucasian adult weighs 100 kilograms (220 pounds) and is two metres (78.7
inches) tall, their BMI would be 100 divided by 4 = 25. What does this number mean?
The classifications for Caucasian adults are as follows:
Therefore the two-metre tall, 100-kilogram Caucasian person would be classified by most health
professionals as borderline between healthy and slightly overweight. However, the number obtained
through the BMI formula does not take into account muscularity, bone structure or body shape. Two
people can have the same BMI but one could be muscular and athletic, and the other could have fat
around their abdomen. Different racial groups have different cut-off points because of variations in
body frame and bone structure. Several studies have shown that Asians have an increased risk of
diabetes at a BMI of around 25 and above, while African-Americans can be healthy up to a BMI of
35.
If you start exercising on a regular basis and your muscle mass increases, your health will improve
yet your BMI may go up. This illustrates the misleading potential of measurements that do not take
healthy behaviours into account.
Conversely, if we don’t continue to engage in physical exercise as we age, muscle mass declines and
BMI may decrease. In this instance, a lower BMI is not a sign of better health.
The classifications for children also take into account age and gender and are given as percentiles that
show how the child compares to others of the same age and gender. A discussion about this could fill
another book!
I have discussed BMI at length because most health professionals use it despite its limitations. I do
not recommend calculating your BMI because it has serious shortcomings and does not tell you if you
are healthy.

Body volume index (BVI)

BVI uses a computer software program to create a 3D image of a person’s body in order to identify
where they are carrying white adipose tissue (WAT). As I have emphasised already, VAT is what
determines health risks, not total amount of body fat. VAT may be present even without visible fat
around the abdomen.
Waist circumference (WC)
WC is measured by placing a tape measure around the narrowest part of your waist over minimal or
no clothing. The World Health Organization stipulates that the accurate way to measure WC is to
align the tape measure halfway between the bottom of your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone.
Waist measurements should be taken while relaxed (not contracting your abdominal muscles) and
breathing out.
According to correlations with computerised tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI), WC is the most accurate anthropometrical indicator of VAT. In other words, waist
circumference is a far better target than body weight or BMI.
The Nurses’ Health Study, published in the journal Circulation in 2009, involved 44 000 volunteers
who had their waist sizes recorded and their health status tracked for 16 years. Over that period of
time, women who had the highest WC (89 centimetres/35 inches or more) had nearly twice the risk of
dying from heart disease as those with the smallest waists (under 71 centimetres/28 inches). The risk
of death from any cause steadily increased with every added centimetre (or inch) around the waist.
Research from around the world suggests that the relationship between WC and risk of chronic illness
such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes is as follows:

WC is not usually used to identify risk in children and adolescents due to lack of data to indicate
appropriate cut-offs.
If you would like a number to guide you to better health, I recommended measuring your WC and
aiming for less than 94 centimetres if you are a man and less than 80 centimetres if you are a woman.
The cut-offs differ slightly for different ethnic groups.

Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR)

Hip circumference (HC) is measured by placing a tape measure around the widest part of your hip
area over minimal or no clothing. WHR is closely related to WC but WC is thought to be slightly
more reliable because of variations in people’s hip sizes. According to the World Health
Organization, WHR denotes an increased risk of chronic disease if:

WHR in men > 0.9

WHR in women > 0.85

In other words, more belly fat relative to hip fat is detrimental to health. This is supported by a 14-
year Mayo Clinic study of 13 000 Americans that found people who had a WHR higher than the cut-
off numbers above had double the overall risk of death, and almost three times the risk of death from
heart disease or stroke. This was regardless of whether or not they were classified as being a healthy
weight according to their BMI.

Skinfold thickness
Skinfold callipers are used to pinch the skin (ouch!) at several specific points on the body so that the
thickness of the fold held by the callipers can be measured. A formula is then used to convert the
measurements into your percentage of body fat. You will recall that fat under the skin is known as
subcutaneous and is not associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke or Type 2
diabetes. Therefore this measurement is mainly used by bodybuilders or people who are trying to
achieve a particular level of muscle definition and want to chart their progress. The accuracy of the
test depends on a variety of factors, including the skill of the person doing the pinching!

Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA or DXA)

DEXA scans were originally used to evaluate bone mineral density (BMD) and diagnose
osteoporosis but are now increasingly also used to determine body composition and fat percentage.
The method involves passing two X-ray beams with different energy levels through the tissues of the
body. Bone, muscle and fat absorb the rays at different levels because of their different densities. The
amount absorbed by different parts of the body is then used to calculate how much bone, muscle and
fat a person has. The actual scan takes less than five minutes while the person lies flat and fully
clothed on a padded table. It is painless and the level of radiation is very low but I don’t advise you
to have this done if you are pregnant.
Interpreting a total body DEXA scan requires specialised training. An experienced professional can
obtain the following information within a gram of accuracy:

total BMD
total body muscle mass
total body fat mass
total body fat percentage
muscle and fat mass of the trunk, arms and legs
central abdominal fat measurement (VAT)
 basal metabolic rate (BMR) — how fast or slow your metabolism is, that is, how many calories
you burn per minute at rest.

To date, I believe DEXA and InBody® yield the most useful information in relation to body weight
and whether or not you have associated health risks because they allow you to see exactly where your
fat is located. If you are interested in having a scan or analysis, google DEXA or InBody® in your
nearest town and see if there is a dedicated clinic. Alternatively, mobile DEXA and InBody® vans
are becoming increasingly popular and they visit medical centres, gyms, fitness centres, yoga and
pilates studios, offices, health stores, wellness centres and many other locations. Ask your workplace
or health centre if they can organise a DEXA or InBody® day!

Hydrostatic weighing
Also known as ‘underwater weighing’ or ‘hydrodensitometry’, this method of determining body fat
and lean muscle mass was previously the gold standard used in research. It involves weighing a
person while they are submerged in a tank of water. The person is asked to expel all the air from their
lungs and to stand motionless for three consecutive measurements of their underwater weight.
Specific calculations are then used to determine body composition. It is now being displaced by
newer, simpler methods such as DEXA and DSM-BIA.

So what calculation or measurement should you use?

The simplest cost-free measurement to guide you towards better health is your WC, regardless of your
overall weight. The most comprehensive and instructive methods are DEXA scanning or InBody®
analysis, which can provide you with your precise body composition and fat distribution. You can
measure your waist to check your progress any time you want. In contrast, DEXA and InBody® are
more time-consuming and obviously involve a cost but they offer an excellent snapshot of your
internal anatomy.
However, it is equally important to ask yourself how you feel inside your own skin.
Right now, put down this book, take a deep breath, and become aware of how you feel about your
body. Do you feel heavy and sluggish? Do you feel light and energetic? Do you feel comfortable and
at peace? I appreciate that you feel differently at different times, so try to get a general sense of what
your overall perception of your body might be. Put out of your mind what other people, including
health professionals, have told you about your weight and where it ‘should be’. And forget numbers
on scales. If you didn’t compare yourself to anyone else or to photoshopped images on a screen or
magazine, would you feel OK about your body? Some of my retreat participants have said this simple
exercise brings them to tears because it’s the first time they’ve been given permission to like and
accept their body, even if it doesn’t conform to some external standard of attractiveness.
What would happen if the criteria for fat loss were the following self-assessment? (Assuming you are
not suffering from anorexia nervosa.)
 I feel heavier than what I am personally comfortable with, and I feel I am carrying
more than I need. This excess load is interfering with my health or my enjoyment
of life.
This is deliberately unscientific and highly subjective and bound to engender debate among the
medical community. Debate is constructive and I welcome it.
By the end of this book, you’ll see that this is by far the healthiest perspective you can adopt, and the
most advantageous starting point for attaining a body you’re happy with. Isn’t the goal to restore your
capacity to enjoy life to the full?
Does this mean if you’re active and happy in your body, even if it’s larger than what society deems
‘normal’, you needn’t try to shed fat? Yes, it does. If your waist circumference, blood pressure,
blood sugar and triglyceride levels fall within a healthy range, you have no illnesses and you have
plenty of energy and feel great, why should you change your body?

3 If you are using the formula with kilograms you must use metres for the height. If you are using the formula with pounds, you must use
inches for the height.
 What is the cause of excess VAT?

The eyes of others are our prisons; their thoughts our

cages.
Virginia Woolf

What causes a person to accumulate fat above their personal level of comfort? What causes unhealthy
deposition of fat around internal organs?
There is enormous debate and controversy surrounding the causes of VAT. Nature, nurture, genes or
jelly beans?
Throughout my 20 years of medical practice, a long list of culprits have been proposed as causing or
contributing to producing VAT. To name a few:

genetic predisposition
specific illnesses such as Cushing’s syndrome or thyroid disease
side-effects of certain medications
iron deficiency or other mineral deficiencies in the diet
hormonal imbalances
adenovirus infection
slow metabolism
environmental toxins, specifically obesogens4 such as BPA (bisphenol A) and phthalates
living in an obesogenic environment
genetic modification of food
excessive consumption of sugar
food cravings, addictions, allergies or intolerances
eating too much, too little, too fast, too often or not often enough
eating the ‘wrong’ foods
eating for the ‘wrong’ reasons, for example, emotional eating
constant snacking
binge eating
mindless eating
exercising too little and sitting too much
chronic stress
sleep deprivation
suppressing our needs or feelings
too much screen time
low self-esteem
weak willpower
depression
response to past trauma such as child abuse or bullying
 fear of unwanted attention from the opposite sex
negative belief systems
unresolved pain from the past.

All of these factors can contribute to having excess VAT. However none of these factors address the
real problem or point to the real solution. Moreover, it is not necessary to know all the mechanisms
involved in producing VAT in order to shed VAT. Counterintuitive as it sounds, you can change your
brain without knowing all the details of how you got to where you are.

4 Obesogens are natural and artificial chemicals in the environment that can disrupt hormonal processes and lead to increased VAT.
 Focus on fitness, not fatness

Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer

despair for the future of the human race.
H. G. Wells

In 2008, scientists at Cambridge University completed an 11-year study that revealed how we could
add 14 years to our life expectancy. They studied tens of thousands of people and discovered that
making four small, simple choices every day could extend our lives by 14 years.
Can you guess what those four daily choices might be?
1. Don’t light up a cigarette.
2. Eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
3. Keep alcohol to less than two standard drinks a day for men and one and a half drinks a day for
women. (A standard drink contains 10 grams of alcohol = 100 millilitres of wine.)
4. Move for at least 30 minutes a day.
That’s it. It’s so straightforward, it’s an anticlimax. Here I was expecting something like ‘Drink 500
millilitres of fresh unpasteurised ox milk infused with crushed goji berries and organic chia seeds,
while sitting cross-legged under a waterfall.’ But no. Don’t smoke, eat more fruit and vegetables, go
for a walk and don’t go out on the booze every night. Eleven years of research to come up with a list
of things we already knew! But here’s the thing. How many people actually do all four of those things
on a regular basis? Not just one or two of the four, but all four of the four, every day. And not just for
the six months leading up to the wedding, but all the time. It turns out that less than 10 percent of
Australians, Americans and people from other English-speaking nations manage all four, every day,
year in and year out. The rest of the world fares a little better and the Okinawans in Northern Japan
take first prize with 99 percent of their population scoring four out of four!
Why is it that so few people throughout the Western world engage in these simple habits? One reason
is that people seem to have lost sight of what constitutes good health. Everyone is focused on fatness
rather than fitness, and are hellbent on fast weight loss rather than lasting vitality.
In the chapter titled Not all fat loss is equal, I explained that disease is linked to VAT not SWAT,
and that getting fit is the best ‘treatment’ for VAT.
What exactly does ‘getting fit’ mean? What is the definition of the word ‘fitness’?
The word ‘fitness’ is used in several different contexts, all of which are relevant to being in good
health. In the broadest sense, fitness means ‘general physical and mental wellbeing’. In the context of
physical activity, fitness refers to the capacity of the body to distribute inhaled oxygen to muscles
during increased physical exertion. Efficient delivery of oxygen to muscles is what enables you to
perform the activity in question for as long as you need. Poor physical fitness means you run out of
breath quickly and have to stop and rest.
Scientifically speaking, fitness refers to ‘metabolic fitness’ or being in chemical balance. Metabolism
can be viewed as the sum of all the trillions of chemical reactions that take place in every cell of the
body every second. It aptly originates from the Greek word metabole meaning ‘change’ because the
body is in a state of constant change. Being ‘metabolically fit’ means that the chemical processes in
the body are all working to maximise vitality and minimise risk of disease. Being metabolically unfit
means the chemical reactions in the body are not operating as well as they could be — they may be
slower, less efficient or not producing the substances we need to stay in good health. Excessive VAT
disrupts these chemical reactions. One way it does this, which I touched upon earlier, is by interfering
with the hormone insulin.
Insulin is a key player in keeping us metabolically fit. Insulin is produced by beta cells in the
pancreas in response to elevated blood glucose levels (which occurs every time we eat, particularly
carbohydrate-rich meals). At the most fundamental level, the role of insulin is to enable the body to
use the food we eat in a way that keeps us functioning and feeling at our best. Insulin has many
specific actions but its most important jobs in relation to metabolic fitness include the following:

Insulin instructs muscle and liver cells to take up blood glucose and store it as glycogen until the
body needs the glucose for energy. In other words, insulin enables us to store energy.
Insulin instructs adipocytes (fat cells) to take in blood lipids (fats) and to make triglycerides.
Insulin decreases the breakdown of both protein and fat. Hence insulin promotes fat storage.
Too much insulin can block the leptin signal to the brain so we don’t feel full despite having
eaten enough.

Another side-effect of too much insulin in the blood (as is seen in insulin resistance and Type 2
diabetes) is the development of thick, darkened areas of skin at the back of the neck, armpits, navel
area and groin. The medical term for this is acanthosis nigricans (AN). Insulin resistance is not the
only cause but it is the most common cause. Acanthosis nigricans can take years to disappear after
insulin resistance resolves. I mention AN because it is a more accurate indicator of poor metabolic
fitness and risk of disease than is having a high BMI.
Metabolic fitness also influences the functioning of the immune system and the amount of
inflammation going on in the body — significant factors in determining overall health and longevity.
Why all this biochemistry? Because when this biochemistry is not functioning properly, for example,
you develop insulin-resistant cells, you increase your risk of developing chronic diseases and dying
prematurely.
On the other hand, when you are physically and metabolically fit, you are free of disease, have lots of
energy, think clearly and feel great.
The two major determinants of both physical and metabolic fitness are how much you move and what
you eat. Move more and eat nutritious, high-fibre food, and your physical and metabolic fitness go up
and your risk of disease goes down.
The critical point is this: it is poor physical and metabolic fitness — not necessarily obesity — that is
directly linked to poor health. If you want to improve your health, energy, quality of life and
longevity, your focus needs to be on increasing fitness, not reducing fatness. Increasing your physical
and metabolic fitness is guaranteed to improve your quality of life on every level — physical,
psychological and emotional. You can probably now recognise why shedding weight at any cost does
not guarantee better health. Fortunately, increasing physical and metabolic fitness will also reduce
VAT, so it’s a win-win situation. The most important consideration in terms of good health is how
you live, not how much you weigh.
 What’s the real problem?

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange

for it.
Henry David Thoreau

The real problem is allowing a number on the scales to dictate your self-worth.
The real problem is forgetting what it feels like to be truly alive and vibrantly healthy.
The real problem is forgetting that it’s even possible to feel truly alive and vibrantly healthy.
The real problem is holding back from living your dreams.
The real problem is feeling tired all the time.
The real problem is allowing a number on the scales to influence your mood.
The real problem is forgetting that it’s possible to feel great regardless of body size.
The real problem is feeling like a failure when the weight comes back on after a diet.
The real problem is losing touch with your true needs.
The real problem is making food a moral issue.
The real problem is allowing a number on the scales to determine the kind of day you’ll have.
If the number is down from yesterday, it’ll be a good day. If the number is up, the day is off to a bad
start and nothing has even happened!
The real problem is the self-loathing that comes from not conforming to an arbitrary, culturally
determined, ‘ideal’ body size and shape.
The real problem is equating body size with health and beauty.
The real problem is feeling dissatisfied with your body for whatever reason.
The real problem is eating with guilt and self-hatred.
The real problem is forgetting that your health is your greatest asset.
The real problem is being too busy to take care of yourself.
The real problem is being too worn out at the end of the day to care.
The real problem is believing that great health requires hard work and sacrifice.
The real problem is forgetting that prioritising your health does not compete with any of your other
goals; on the contrary, great health catapults you towards your goals and enables you to enjoy them
more fully when you achieve them.
The real problem is forgetting how incredible the human body is.
The real problem is confusing self-care with being selfish.
The real problem is forgetting that your zest, your life force, your enthusiasm and your joy are the
greatest gifts you can give to the people and the causes you care about.
The real problem is forgetting that looking after yourself is what enables you to look after others.
The real problem is not trusting yourself to know what is best for you.
The real problem is feeling fat, not carrying fat.
The real problem is focusing on losing weight instead of reclaiming life.
The real problem is not celebrating your uniqueness.
The real problem is being afraid to express your true self.
The real problem is feeling that it’s all too hard.
It sounds like a lot of problems.
Fortunately — at the risk of sounding glib — there is one real solution.
 What’s the real solution?

There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and

good, and we must hunger after them.
George Eliot

The real solution is to feed your spirit, not starve your body.
What does this statement mean?
Starving your body means dieting, calorie counting, restricting certain foods, imposing external
‘food rules’ and denying yourself what you really feel like eating.
Starving your body means not giving your body all the nutrients it needs for optimal functioning.
Starving your body means starving your bones of weight-bearing exercise, like walking and lifting.
Starving your body means starving your muscles of movement, stretching and strength training.
Starving your body means starving your skin of physical touch — hugging, hand-holding, stroking an
animal or placing a reassuring hand on someone’s shoulder.
Starving your body means denying your body its daily requirement of fresh air, sunshine, nature and
novelty.
Starving your body means starving your brain of lifelong learning and mental stimulation.
Starving your body means starving yourself of sleep and stillness.

•••••

Feeding your spirit means doing what you love with people you love.
Feeding your spirit means stepping back from your life and asking yourself what’s really important to
you — not what mass culture deems is important, but what you feel is important.
Feeding your spirit means pausing to feel gratitude for all the good things in your life.
Feeding your spirit means discovering what restores you and giving yourself permission to do it.
Feeding your spirit means exploring what exhilarates you and allowing yourself to go for it.
Feeding your spirit means doing what makes you smile.
Feeding your spirit means doing what makes you feel alive.
Feeding your spirit means allowing yourself to feel what you feel and want what you want.
Feeding your spirit means trusting your intuition, your inner guidance and your gut instinct.
Feeding your spirit means recognising that your uniqueness is your gift to the world.
Feeding your spirit means allowing yourself to have dreams and aspirations.
Feeding your spirit means allowing yourself to be who you are.
Feeding your spirit means allowing yourself to just be.
Feeding your spirit means living in a way that sustains you, not drains you.
Feeding your spirit means accepting compliments.
Feeding your spirit means recognising and experiencing yourself as whole and complete.
Feeding your spirit means accepting and embracing every part of yourself — unconditionally.
Feeding your spirit means using your so-called ‘mistakes’ to learn and grow.
Feeding your spirit means connecting with others in a way that is meaningful and uplifting.
Feeding your spirit means contributing to others while being true to yourself.
Feeding your spirit means knowing that your happiness is a gift to others and that it makes a positive
difference to those around you.
Feeding your spirit means being in the moment.
Feeding your spirit means taking pleasure in the life-sustaining act of eating.
Feeding your spirit, not starving your body, is the essence of each Mission.

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
 Who is this book for?

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to

make you something else is the greatest
accomplishment.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The words of Ralph Waldo Emerson constitute the core of NeuroSlimming. Each Mission is about
bringing you more joy and life satisfaction. As a result, you will naturally attain an optimally healthy
body that you love and feel at peace with.
This book is for people who are sick of ‘battling’ with their weight and who want to live a vibrant
life of freedom, fulfilment and fabulous food.
This book is for people who don’t just want to remove excess fat but want to keep it off without rigid,
restrictive, gruelling regimes; without pills, powders, lotions or potions.
This book is for people who want to take control of their health, their weight, their eating and their
life.
This book is for people who are happy and confident in other areas of their lives, who have
successful careers and great relationships, but their body fat is the one area they don’t seem to be able
to control.
This book is also for people who are not happy and confident in other areas of their lives, and for
whom body fat is yet another sign of their lives feeling out of control.
This book is for people who want to live in a way that feels natural, enjoyable and true to themselves.
This book is for people who want to eat with gratitude, not guilt.
This book is for people who want a body they are genuinely happy and comfortable with.
This book is for people who want to enrich their lives and to thrive rather than merely survive.
This book is for people who aren’t even sure if the above is possible for them.
 Who is this book not for?

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of

small things brought together.
George Eliot

This book is not for you if you want to ‘lose’ the most amount of weight in the shortest amount of
time.
This book is not for you if you’re looking for a ‘quick fix’ that will allow you to get back to your
‘normal’ life as soon as possible.
This book is not for you if you’re looking for a prescriptive eating plan or punishing push-ups.
This book is not for you if you want food rules or shopping lists.
This book is not for you if want recipes that are low in fat, low in carbs or low in anything.
The only recipes in this book are for how to think, not how to cook.
 The elephant on the page

Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I suspect that by now, you’re probably wondering about my story? By ‘my’, I’m referring to me, the
author, Helena Popovic.
What do I know about the struggles of a person who feels overweight? Have I ever had my own
weight issues? Can I empathise with you, the reader? What is my formal training and expertise? How
qualified am I to be writing about this subject?
My formal qualification is a medical degree from the University of Sydney. My specialty areas are
lifestyle-based diseases, how to improve brain function, and weight management. My clinical
experience is that of a general practitioner for over 20 years.
The seeds of NeuroSlimming were probably sewn when my parents and I migrated to Australia as
refugees from the former Yugoslavia. I was four and a half years old when we touched down in
Sydney. I must have been a real handful because, a year later, my grandparents were brought out to
look after me, and my parents never had any more children.
I grew up eating bone marrow on toast for breakfast, prepared lovingly by my grandmother. My
school lunch box staple was smoked, pressed ox tongue, and for years I couldn’t work out why the
kids never did lunch box exchanges with me. On festive occasions, the delicacy was pigs’ ears sliced
off the animal while it was still on the spit. Chewing gum was an expensive luxury so cartilage was
the next best thing — and you not only could swallow, you had to swallow because coming from a
war-torn country, you never wasted any food.
I took up ice skating when I was seven years old, and a few years later, at the eager encouragement of
my figure-skating teacher, I switched to tennis.
I started my dieting career at the age of 13 with the Israeli Army Diet. An excerpt from a journal I
started writing reveals how it all began:

I was madly in love. Totally, utterly, completely. His initials were scrawled over my pencil case, the inside of my tennis
racquet cover, the back page of Jane Eyre and the inner soles of my sandshoes. Everything I had to memorise at school, I
related to him: the six Australian birds that cannot fly — Please End My Long Tormented Cries (Penguin, Emu, Mallee fowl,
Lord Howe Island woodhen, Tasmanian native hen, Cassowary). He was 16 years old and he was my mixed doubles
partner at tennis comp every Saturday afternoon. He was tall, tanned and had a great forehand. He had blonde hair that fell
over his eye every time I tried to catch it. His favourite colour was blue. One of the best days of my life was when our team
won the comp because the two of us had won the deciding set. One of the worst days of my life was when I found out he
was madly in love with my tennis coach’s girlfriend.
I was 13 years old. I couldn’t do any homework for the rest of the weekend. I spent hours on the phone with my best friend,
Kathy, but even that didn’t seem to cheer me up. What could I do to win Jason’s heart? I was leafing through Dolly magazine
when it dawned on me. I walked apprehensively to the mirror and took a long hard look. How could I have never noticed it
before? How could I possibly have expected him to like me? Just look at me. I’m fat.

I ran to the bathroom scales. Fifty-four kilograms (119 pounds). How much was I supposed to weigh? I had no idea, but
obviously less than 54. A lot less. The main problem was my hips. No, wait a minute, my side profile was even worse.
Everything was the wrong shape. How was I going to get rid of my protruding belly?

That evening I announced to my family I was going on a diet. Tiny helpings and no dessert, thank you. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’
scoffed my mother as she piled even more mashed potato onto my plate.

‘No!’ I started to protest.

There was no correspondence entered into. I cried myself to sleep.

The following day, I found out about the Israeli Army Diet. I was ecstatic! I had a plan. I was on my way.

The Israeli Army Diet was my first trip down purgatory lane. The diet has no connection whatsoever
with the Israeli Army and consisted of two days of eating nothing but apples, followed by two days of
nothing but cheese, followed by two days of nothing but eggs, followed by two days of nothing but
chicken, followed by 20 days of binging on everything in sight because I was so hungry and
nutritionally depleted. Except, of course, I couldn’t stomach apples, cheese, eggs or chicken for about
two years afterwards. To this day, I still struggle with apples because I had a tendency to fall off the
diet at about day five — the egg day. And because I had to get it perfectly right or it wouldn’t work,
the next day instead of continuing where I’d left off, I’d go back to day one — apples. And if it was a
really ‘bad’ week, I’d stuff up as early as day three. So I’d be eating apples, day after day after day.
The Israeli Army Diet launched a decade of eating mayhem. I under​ate, overate, fasted and feasted. I
flirted with anorexia, aerobics, binging and bulimia. My high school and university years were spent
oscillating between unrequited love and unavailing diets.
One day, at the age of 20, while loitering in a hallway at the University of Sydney, I overheard a life-
changing revelation: that aerobic exercise instructors (that’s what they were called in the days of
lycra) earned $25 per hour. At the time, I was earning $6 per hour as a waitress and constantly being
tempted by French cuisine. Luckily I’d passed the exam in biomathematics and was able to calculate
that my trim fellow student was earning more than four times my waitress wage. By the end of the
week, I had contacted Fitness Australia about how to become a gym instructor. Within a month
(having only participated in a handful of aerobic exercise classes at that stage) I had enrolled in the
Ten-day Intensive Fitness Leader Course taking place during my university holidays. At the end of it,
I could hardly hold a toothbrush but I was officially allowed to wear fluorescent tights and lead a
roomful of enthusiasts in star jumps. It was just what I needed to further my weight loss cause.
At medical school, eating disorders were my best subject — I was praised for the depth of my insight
into the tortured, food-obsessed mind. When I finally graduated, I was keen on becoming a
psychiatrist — probably to try and work through my childhood ox tongue trauma.
Three months into my psychiatry career, I realised I’d end up being a patient myself if I stayed with it,
so I switched to sexual health — a logical choice since I knew nothing about sex and figured I might
learn a few useful things. My work in sexual health actually sparked my fascination for the brain
because it turned out that the brain was the largest sexual organ. If your brain wasn’t in the game,
neither was your body. I wondered if the brain might also be the largest slimming organ?
My social life revolved around Over-eaters Anonymous (OA) gatherings. After faithfully attending
group meetings for a few months, I’d find myself on the straight and narrow. Then I’d fall off the rails
— way off the rails — and feel too embarrassed to go back. Eventually I’d summon up the courage to
find another OA group in another suburb and start all over again. And again. And again. Just as I was
about to run out of geographically accessible OA groups, I had a moment that changed my life. One
moment. One death. One decision.
A friend of the same age was diagnosed with a rare cancer — and a year later, he died. A previously
healthy, happy, vibrant, inspiring, life-loving individual. No rhyme or reason. Just gone.
Sitting by his bed in the hospice, just a few days before he passed away, I had a simple realisation. I
was watching someone dying from the outside, while I was dying from the inside. It struck me that the
word ‘dieting’ had DIE as the first syllable. I have never dieted since.
From that day forward, I stopped starving my body and started feeding my spirit. From that day, I
began living everything I’ve written in this book, and everything I teach at my retreats. Not everyone
experiences an obvious ‘moment’ that changes their life. Nor would I have had my own moment if I
hadn’t done all the reading, research, questioning, contemplating, counselling and crying that
preceded it. Nothing happens in a vacuum. We don’t always see progress because externally things
may look the same. But suddenly — with or without a trigger — the penny drops, or we master a
skill, or break a habit. It seems to happen out of the blue or overnight. But in most cases, the brain has
been working on the problem without our conscious awareness. Then when everything comes
together, our neurons deliver the fait accompli. When the student is ready, the teacher appears.
This book will get you ready for success and then deliver success — whatever success means for
you. This book will give you Missions for your neurons to work on as you go about your daily life.
You may or may not see immediate results but you’ll experience tangible progress along the way and
you’ll get there if you simply keep going. That’s why the process — each Mission — is intrinsically
rewarding and life-affirming.
This book is a map of my own journey. My medical background has enabled me to explain the
Missions in terms of neuroscience. My indescribable joy at finding freedom is what compels me to
share the Missions with you.
 The science of success

How you think when you lose determines how long it will
be until you win.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

The key to lasting success is learning to focus on how you want to feel.
That is the fundamental purpose of each Mission: to make you feel better. To take you from feeling
OW (onomatopoeic for pain as well as an acronym for OverWeight) to feeling WOW (great!). Of
course the Missions deliver more than good feelings. But if being On Mission didn’t make you feel
better than you currently feel, you would soon quit.
It’s a simple, straightforward trajectory: OW to WOW!
Take a sheet of paper and write down all the positive feeling-words that come to mind when you
think ‘WOW! I feel great!’ — happy, inspired, motivated, energised, enthusiastic, confident, amazed,
excited, free, alive, and so on. These words are just examples. Set the stopwatch on your phone to
one minute. Close this book and write as quickly as you can for 60 seconds. Don’t censor or judge
anything, just write whatever words come up for you. There is no right or wrong. It’s about getting a
sense of what WOW! feels like for you. This exercise is one example of focusing on how you want to
feel. Focus doesn’t involve force, it simply means choosing where you put your attention. Choose to
think about, talk about, read about and daydream about things that make you feel great. Choose to go
to places that make you feel great. Choose to do things that make you feel great. Choose to spend time
with people who make you feel great. Of course you’ll still have to do those mundane chores, but start
to explore where you can inject more WOW into your daily life.
How close are your words to describing your life, your health and your feelings about your body?
This is your starting point. My promise is that no matter how far you are from feeling the words you
wrote today, each Mission in NeuroSlimming will bring you progressively closer to feeling great.
And one day you’ll wake up and realise ‘WOW! I really feel WOW about myself, my health and my
life!’
Why does how you feel matter? What’s the science behind feeling WOW?
By focusing on the positive feelings you associate with having a body you’re happy with, you activate
your left pre-frontal cortex and release chemicals in your brain that start to change your body. These
changes drive the metabolic processes and behaviours that bring you closer to your goal. For
example, you will find that you actually crave exercise rather than sugar!
Focusing on numbers, facts or logic does not motivate us or activate reward pathways in the brain.
Focusing on feelings does.
Put very simply:
1. You experience a feeling.
2. The feeling produces corresponding chemicals in your brain and activates specific neural
pathways.
3. The chemicals and neural circuits influence your behaviour and your bodily functions.
If the feeling is one you associate with attaining your goal, for example, joy, it will bring about
changes that move you towards your goal. If the feeling is one you associate with not having your
goal, for example, disappointment, it will move you away from your goal.
Some of my patients and retreat participants have argued that feeling ‘overweight’ and feeling ‘bad’
motivates them to do something about it. Research on motivation and human behaviour has revealed
that moving away from pain can initiate change but not sustain change. The brain is more
powerfully wired to seek pleasure than to avoid pain. People want to feel good more than they want
not to feel bad. Joy is a more powerful motivator than fear.
At the 2005 Global Medical Forum, Dr Edward Miller, dean of the medical school and CEO of the
hospital at Johns Hopkins University, delivered a report on 600 000 patients who had undergone
coronary bypass surgery within the preceding 12 months. Their condition was so severe that after the
operation they were informed that if they didn’t change they would die within a year. A pretty
straightforward choice: change or die.
Given such a dire ultimatum, would you change your lifestyle in order to stay alive?
Of course you would?
Then you’d be the exception. Repeated studies have found that 90 percent of people told to ‘change or
die’ do NOT change. They say they simply can’t. It’s too hard. It’s not worth the effort. Not worth the
effort to stay alive.
If staying alive isn’t enough motivation to change, then what is? The greatest motivator is feeling
WOW! John Kotter, a Harvard Business School professor who has spent decades studying what
makes people change, concludes that to modify people’s behaviour, we need to appeal to their
emotions, not to their logic.
Everything we do and every decision we make is driven by the desire to feel better. For all our
sophistication as a species, that’s what we’re about: feeling better. We would rather feel better than
live longer. And we would rather feel better now than later. This is one of the reasons we seem to
sabotage our health.
Even when we believe we’re making a decision based on ‘hard fact’, we actually make the emotional
decision (via our limbic system) before the rational part of the brain (the neocortex) has time to
respond. We then look for facts that support our emotional decision. We aren’t aware that this goes on
because limbic-system processes happen too quickly to follow. We simply arrive at a decision and
assume it was logic that got us there.
Dr Dean Ornish, professor of medicine at the University of California in San Francisco, put this to the
test with 333 patients who had severely clogged arteries. He told them they needed to quit smoking,
start exercising and learn how to meditate. They also had to switch to a vegetarian diet with less than
10 percent of their calories coming from fat. It was an intimidating regime. When they were followed
up three years later, 77 percent of people had stuck to the program, maintained their lifestyle changes
and avoided heart surgery! How?
There were three factors that contributed to Dr Ornish’s success in enabling his patients to change.
Factor Number 1: Dr Ornish gave them a powerful positive emotional reason to change. He didn’t
tell them they would die an early death if they kept doing what they were doing. Instead, he inspired
them with the vision of a more fulfilling life. He excited his patients with the prospect of feeling
better and experiencing more joy in every aspect of their lives. He spoke in terms of feelings, not
facts. He painted a life that made them feel WOW!
OW to WOW is the journey from fear to joy, from restriction to freedom, and from pain to pleasure.
OW to WOW takes you from starving your body to feeding your spirit. OW to WOW underpins every
Mission. The guiding philosophy of NeuroSlimming is to focus on what you want, not on what you
don’t want. You will be taken through this process, step by step.
Factor Number 2: Dr Ornish clearly outlined the steps his patients needed to take. They knew
precisely what they needed to do and how to do it. This book gives you a series of Missions that
explain exactly what to do, while keeping you focused on feeling WOW.
Factor Number 3: The steps they took produced immediate improvements in their quality of life.
Their focus was not on the distant goal of alleviating their heart condition, but on the daily advances
they were making: having more energy, sleeping better and feeling more confident. This keeps people
on track because they feel ‘the changes are worth it’. Similarly, each Mission is intrinsically
rewarding; each Mission will improve your health, vitality and overall wellbeing. Each Mission will
increase the WOW factor in your life. In the process, your body will find its optimal healthy size and
shape, without struggle or force.
 The Five Freedoms

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on

fighting the old but on building the new.
Socrates

There are five guiding principles on which Mission SlimPossible is built. Each set of seven
Missions is designed to put one of the first four principles into action. The fifth principle underpins
all the others and keeps you On Mission when times get tough. These principles are:
1. Living not dieting
2. Being You, not new
3. Love not war
4. Fun not force
5. Direction not perfection.
What do they mean?
Living not dieting means attaining and maintaining your optimal, healthy body through living a full
and fulfilling life, not depriving yourself on a diet. No pills, powders, lotions or potions. No denial,
disappointment, disempowerment or discipline. Just the fit, healthy, vibrant you — appreciating life,
food, your body and your uniqueness.
The first seven Missions show you how to put into daily practice the principle of Living not dieting.
These Missions give you the Seven Secrets to lifelong, sustainable slimming (and especially VAT
release).
Being You, not new means knowing your values and being true to yourself, not trying to conform to
others’ expectations. Having your optimal, healthy body is not about becoming a ‘new’ person or
needing to ‘fix’ something. It’s about setting goals that are meaningful to you and discovering that you
already have everything you need to succeed.
The second set of seven Missions show you how Being You, not new will guide you to eat, move
and behave in ways that bring you vibrant health and lasting vitality. These Missions give you the
Seven Skills to attain your desired body.
Love not war means treating your body like a temple, not a battleground. Love not war means
working with your body, not against your body. Love not war means working with life, not against
life. Mission SlimPossible is a peace Mission, not a war. Forget ‘punishing’ regimes and ‘fighting’
fat. Achieving a healthy body comes from having a profound respect for your body, not from ‘beating
your body into submission’.
The seven Missions under Love not war teach you how to nourish your body, not punish your body.
These Missions give you the Seven Strengths to achieve vibrant health, lasting vitality and a body you
love.
Fun not force utilises the fact that fun is a much more powerful motivator than force. Your brain is
wired to seek pleasure, not endure pain. You will not continue with any course of action long term if
you don’t enjoy it. Fun triggers the release of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, which drives you to
continue with what you are doing and therefore makes the activity self-sustaining. Fun energises us
and makes us feel good about ourselves.
The seven Missions under Fun not force show you that a healthy lifestyle is meant to be enjoyable.
These Missions give you the Seven Habits to achieve vibrant health, lasting vitality and a body you
love.
Direction not perfection means that health and happiness are not a destination but a daily choice.
Having a body you love is not about reaching some pre-determined state of perfection. It’s about
taking one step at a time in the direction you want to go. And continuing to take one step after another
because each step is intrinsically rewarding.
The last principle reminds you that ‘sometimes you win, and sometimes you learn’. Either way, you
are moving in the right direction. The Formula you acquire will guide your journey at every step. It
will be your beacon of flourishing health for the rest of your life.
I have called these five guiding principles The Five Freedoms — because that’s what they are.

They free you from ever going on another diet.

They free you to be who you want to be.
They free you from limited thinking.
They free you to enjoy life.
They free you to spontaneously engage in health-promoting behaviours.

Freedom is not a word that’s generally associated with shedding fat. The prevailing view is that
successful slimming entails the opposite of freedom. You don’t have the freedom to choose what you
eat. You don’t determine the amount you eat. Instead, you follow a prescriptive plan determined by
someone else. This simply doesn’t work.
Nonetheless, some people have told me that freedom scares them. They fear they won’t know what to
do. They want to follow rules and guidelines because they don’t know where to start. Relax. The
Missions will give you all the guidance you need. The Missions give you specific steps without
compromising your freedom to choose how you live.
 The structure of each Mission

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do

not stop.
Confucius

Each Mission is set out in the format shown below.

Mission title — phrased as Your Mission, should you choose to accept it, is . . .
Memorise this. Your aim is to have each of the 28 Missions operate like song lyrics that you can’t get
out of your head. This is a good thing because it means you’ll start carrying out the Missions
spontaneously, and before you know it you’ll think it’s what you’ve always done and how you’ve
always been.
Quote — the quote encapsulates the essence of the Mission. Allow it to inspire you.
The neuroscience behind the Mission — this explains why and how the Mission will bring about
the body you want.
Call to action — these are the precise steps you need to take.
Recommended reading — for some Missions, I provide a recommended reading list if you wish to
explore a particular issue in more detail.
Reminder — this is exactly the same for every Mission. It is to remind you that your goal with each
Mission is not to get an immediate result. Your goal is to learn a new way of thinking or a different
way of doing something. Your goal is to think the thought or perform the action, depending on the
Mission in question. Repeatedly thinking in a particular way builds new circuits in the brain and
weakens old patterns of behaviour. Your thoughts actually change the way your body operates. The
mental effort you exert in carrying out each Mission — whether or not it brings immediate results —
is what matters. The mental effort is what brings long-term, truly incredible results. Every time you
take the action steps listed at the end of each Mission, remind yourself you are creating new
connections in your brain that will bring about healing in your mind and body. Repetition is the key to
rewiring your brain.
What you will find happening over time is that your body will spontaneously change in a way you
may never have thought possible. Your metabolic rate will increase, you will burn excess fat and
you’ll feel more energetic. You will actually want to exercise. Junk food cravings will disappear,
you’ll feel like eating nutritious food and you’ll find yourself naturally doing whatever is necessary to
achieve your goal. You will no longer turn to food when you’re sad, angry, bored or lonely.
When you plant a seed in the soil, you don’t see a shoot rising from the ground the very next day. You
need to spend time watering and fertilising and waiting. You are not able to see what’s going on
beneath the ground. Then, one day, a sprout suddenly appears. Your patience is rewarded. And as you
continue to water, fertilise and watch, it grows into something magnificent.
 Summary of the New Solution

Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The

good news is that you don’t know how great you can be!
How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And
what your potential is!
Anne Frank

The most important health parameters to aim for are:

1. feeling good in your own skin

2. having plenty of energy throughout the day
3. having a resting blood pressure reading of below 140/90
4. having normal blood sugar levels (your doctor can do blood tests to ascertain this)
5. having normal blood triglyceride levels (your doctor can do blood tests to ascertain this).

If you want to have a number to track your progress, replace your bathroom scales with a tape
measure. As a rough guide for men, aim for a waist circumference of less than 94 centimetres
(37 inches) and, for women, less than 80 centimetres (32 inches).
If you want to know your body composition and to definitively track your VAT levels, invest in
having a DEXA scan or InBody® analysis.
The four daily habits that will add 14 years to your life are:

1. not smoking
2. moving for 30 minutes every day — a brisk walk is adequate
3. drinking less than two standard drinks of alcohol per day for men, and less than one and a
half drinks a day for women
4. eating more than five serves of whole fresh fruit and vegetables a day (not juices).

There are five guiding principles, called The Five Freedoms, that underpin Mission
SlimPossible. They are:

1. Living not dieting

2. Being You, not new
3. Love not war
4. Fun not force
5. Direction not perfection.

You will put each of the first four principles into practice through a set of seven Missions. The
fifth principle gives you an overarching Formula to keep you healthy for life.
Your decisions are more powerful than your DNA. You can start improving your health and
vitality right now. Read on.
 Why Living not dieting?

Adventure is not outside a person. It is within.

George Eliot

The First Freedom is Living not dieting.

Diets make us fat! Going on a diet is more likely to make you gain fat than shed fat. Diets work
against our biology, psychology and survival instinct. Living, on the other hand, is about eating great
food, feeling full of energy, enjoying what you do, and loving who you are.
Let’s begin with a definition of the word ‘diet’. ‘Diet’ is currently used in three ways:
1. Diet is simply the food that a person or animal usually consumes. This was the original meaning
of the word ‘diet’. For example, the diet of an emu includes leaves, seeds, grass shoots,
grasshoppers, ladybirds, caterpillars, ants and moths. The diet of a human usually includes fruit,
vegetables, grains, dairy, meat, fish or a subset of these.
2. The second use of the word ‘diet’ is to mean a controlled intake of food and drink for specific
medical, religious or ethical reasons. The best-known example is Coeliac disease — an
intestinal intolerance to gluten, which is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and oats. The
lining of the small intestine is damaged by gluten and this can interfere with the absorption of
nutrients and cause widespread organ dysfunction. A gluten-free diet is the only successful
treatment known at this point in time. Other examples are Hindus not eating cows, Jews not
eating pork, and people choosing to be vegan or vegetarian. The latter are often based on a
personal philosophy or attitude towards animals. These diets are linked to a person’s values or
culture and therefore constitute Living not dieting.
3. The third use of the word ‘diet’ is to refer to a restrictive eating plan that promises weight loss.
This is the way I am using the terms ‘diet’ and ‘dieting’.
There are thousands of different weight loss diets on the market but they all have four ingredients in
common:
1. Cutting out certain types of food — sometimes it’s a whole food group, for example
carbohydrates or fats, or sometimes it’s a list of particular foods.
2. Regulating the amount of food consumed. Some foods, like radishes or celery, may be ‘freely
eaten’ but portion restriction is the main modus operandi.
3. Dictating how or when or in which combinations to eat the food.
4. And often — but not always — a recently discovered, amazing substance claimed to melt away
fat or speed up metabolism.
If followed faithfully, most diets produce short-term weight loss. However, not a single diet has been
found to produce long-term weight loss and ALL diets produce rebound weight gain. Below is a
summary of the negative impacts of dieting. I have touched on some of these already; here they are in
one long, offputting list.
How do diets make us fat and miserable?
As soon as you reduce your food intake by more than 25 percent, for example going from 2000
Calories a day to 1500 Calories, you slow down your metabolic rate so that you need less food
just to maintain your weight. That means as soon as you stop the diet, your previous food intake
will cause you to gain weight, not maintain weight.
A loss of more than one kilogram (2.2 pounds) per week will trigger your body’s starvation
response so that it works overtime to store fat instead of burn fat. These numbers are rough
averages because everyone processes food slightly differently. Some people are able to drop
several kilograms per week before their metabolism slows down. This is also influenced by the
amount of physical activity a person is doing.
Rapid weight loss changes your body composition resulting in less lean muscle mass and more
body fat in the long run. When you shed weight on a diet, you lose water, muscle, bone and fat.
When you regain weight after a diet, you regain the weight as fat and water, not muscle — unless
you’re regularly pumping weights at the gym. The result is a higher fat-to-muscle ratio than you
started with, even if you only put on as much weight as you lost. As noted in the chapter Weight
loss does not equal fat loss, fat has a slower metabolic rate than muscle. This means you need
fewer calories to maintain your previous weight. This puts you on the path of yoyo dieting.
All dieters hit a plateau at some stage. This is the most common time for people to give up
because if their focus is numbers on scales, they feel, ‘What’s the point of depriving myself if
I’m not getting results?’
Any time we deny ourselves something, it becomes all the more appealing. We are able to resist
things for a finite period of time but eventually we give in to the ever-increasing drive to have
the foods that are on the forbidden list. Willpower is a finite resource; it isn’t a personal failing
when you give in. You get worn down by constant restraint until you simply run out of
willpower. Studies have found that if you find yourself exercising restraint in your job (for
instance, you feel like yelling at someone but instead you respond politely), it is then harder to
exercise restraint in other areas of your life because your quota of willpower has been used up
for the day.
Diets create a phenomenon that psychologists have termed ‘the what the hell effect’. When
people are on a diet and they happen to break their diet at one meal, there is a tendency to say
‘What the hell! I’ve ruined my diet so I may as well have extra helpings of everything.’ The
person ends up eating more than if they had not been on a diet in the first place.
There is a tendency for dieters to start a diet only on the first day of the week or month, or on a
day that has personal significance for them. Never on a plain old Wednesday or Thursday. So if
today you decide to go on a diet but it’s only Tuesday, you have five days before the restrictions
begin. So what do you do? Research has revealed (and I have personally verified this) that
people have a tendency to say to themselves, ‘Well since I’m starting a diet on Monday, I had
better eat all the chocolate in the house before I begin so I won’t get tempted while I’m on my
diet.’ This means you put on more fat and feel worse about yourself before you even start the
diet. Even if you decide you’ll embark on a diet tomorrow, people either knowingly or
unknowingly eat a bigger meal the night before because they are thinking along the lines of ‘My
whole life will change as of my next meal.’ This is known as ‘the last supper effect’. I kid you
not — all these behaviours have been documented in thousands of dieters. And you thought it
was just a personal quirk of yours.
 Calorie restriction reduces leptin levels (the satiety hormone), which increases hunger and
makes you feel lethargic. So you move less and burn fewer calories while on the diet.
When you’re on a diet, you override your body’s hunger signals and lose touch with your body’s
needs. You disconnect from your body because you’re following external rules rather than tuning
in and asking yourself ‘Am I hungry?’ ‘What does my body need right now?’ ‘What do I feel like
eating?’ ‘Am I satisfied yet?’ All of this reduces your in-built capacity to know what and how
much to eat when the diet is over.
The more times a person has been on a diet, the less they believe it is possible for them to shed
excess fat. Whether you believe that your dieting failures are a sign of personal weakness,
genetic misfortune or the fault of the diet itself, you lay down neural pathways that strengthen a
negative self-image and drive self-sabotaging behaviours. To create new pathways that override
your old patterns of thinking and behaving, you need to do something completely different that
doesn’t remind you of being on a diet.
Women who start dieting before the age of 15 (that was me) have a higher incidence of binge
eating, vomiting, fatigue, low self-esteem, anaemia, irregular periods, and depression. They are
also more likely to have premature osteoporosis (thinning of the bones). Not a great start in life.
School-age girls who go on diets dramatically increase their risk of developing an eating
disorder. The more strictly and frequently they diet, the greater their risk of anorexia or bulimia.
I was both strict and frequent. I had both.
All in all, diets are physically, psychologically and emotionally damaging. Diets are denying,
depriving, discouraging, disappointing, disempowering, demoralising, depressing and defeating.
Diets are something we want to get over with. Diets make us wish our lives away. Diets are not
a way to live.

The Minnesota Starvation Experiment

The most frightening exposition of the drastic effects of dieting was the Minnesota Starvation
Experiment conducted during the first six months of 1945. The purpose of the study, led by biologist
Ancel Keyes, was to investigate the physical and psychological effects of prolonged dietary
restriction, and to determine the most effective way to re-nourish people. Four hundred healthy young
men volunteered for the study and were given tests of mental and physical endurance. They selected
the 36 top scorers — the best of the best.
For 24 weeks, the men were given approximately 1560 Calories every day — more than the average
weight loss diet allows — and on average they lost about 25 percent of their starting weight; for
example, from 100 kilograms to 75 kilograms (220 pounds to 165 pounds).
The accompanying physical and psychological effects were terrifying. The men became anxious,
irritable, depressed and severely emotionally distressed, including one case of self-mutilation. They
showed signs of hypochondriasis and social withdrawal. Their metabolic rate, body temperature and
libido plummeted. They reported difficulty with concentration and judgement. They became overly
preoccupied with food, and when allowed to eat ‘normally’ again, they ate much larger quantities
than they had before the study. Many of their psychological symptoms persisted long after they were
re-fed and some developed signs of anorexia and bulimia nervosa.
Why have we not learnt from this?
When you live by the first seven Missions, three things will happen:

Your body will find its natural healthy weight, size and shape — without struggle or deprivation.
Your own physiology will guide you to a way of eating that works best for you.
You will feel a tremendous sense of relief, confidence and freedom. You won’t be able to wipe
the smile off your face!
 Step 1
Read the entries in the following table and really get a sense of what living, as opposed to
dieting, means to you. Add your own thoughts and feelings to each column.

What does living versus dieting mean to you?

Step 2
Let the following question guide all your health-related decisions:

‘Will choosing this course of action make me feel like I’m living or dieting?’
 A case study: Chris’s story

I like to try new things and challenge the rules a little. I spent my earlier years watching my calories, eating well, exercising
and seeing great results. However by my mid-twenties, I’d let myself get out of shape. I can blame time, stress, metabolism
and a myriad of other factors, but really I was lacking in motivation. I started searching for answers on how I might shortcut
my way to a leaner physique. I was impatient and didn’t want to spend the rest of the year at my current size. I thought I’d
found the answer when I discovered a method called ‘Water Fasting’. This entailed consuming nothing — and I mean
NOTHING — but water for 30 days. Although it went against conventional medical advice, countless Water Fasting websites
promised easy fat loss, effective detoxification, preservation of muscle and healing of many ailments. Elsewhere I had read
that dropping calories too rapidly would lead to a slower metabolism and loss of hard-earned muscle, but supporters of
Water Fasting were adamant that this would not happen. I would maintain my muscle and chew through my fat stores
instead. So I began the experiment. The thought of losing several kilograms of pure fat every week was too enticing to resist.
I dismissed all my nutritional knowledge (attained from years of reading fitness and nutrition books) and decided to go for a
month with nothing but water!

The day before the experiment I had a DEXA scan so I’d have an accurate record of my body composition before and after
the Water Fast. My weight was 123.5 kilograms (272 pounds) and my body fat percentage was 29.8 percent. I wanted to
bring these numbers down as quickly as possible and I stuck my scan on the wall at home for motivation.

The fast was not as difficult as I anticipated. For the first three days it was hard not to think about food but after that it was
smooth sailing. Each day I looked at the image from my DEXA scan on the wall and imagined the layer of fat melting off my
body. I was absolutely determined to make it through the whole month.

During those four weeks I spent a lot of time convincing my colleagues and friends that Water Fasting was not as harmful as
they thought and that my DEXA scan would prove them all wrong.

When the day of reckoning finally arrived, I took a deep breath, stepped on the scales at home and WOW! I had definitely
lost a lot of weight! I then had some fruit and a fresh juice to replenish some muscle glycogen so that my muscles would
have a little more weight during the scan. When I arrived at MeasureUp DEXA Scanning, Luke, the exercise physiologist who
did my scan, seemed quite surprised at how I had managed to function over the last month. I’d become accustomed to
people instantly giving me a lecture about how you need a certain amount of food to stay healthy and maintain muscle etc,
but I did not get this from Luke. He was as interested to see the results as I was! So here they are:

My body fat percentage actually went up!!

So what did I learn from all this? The internet is full of information about anything and everything, right or wrong. The fitness
industry speaks from generations of research and experience, and in this case they have it right. We must be patient with
ourselves and kind to our bodies or else we lose mostly muscle, as I have experienced. I lost more than 10 kilograms (22
pounds) of body tissue I did not want to lose in just one month!

Do I regret it? Not at all — for I now know in my mind more firmly than ever that what I need is good, nutritious, real food and
quality exercise. I now have my new DEXA scan stuck on my wall, and will use it as motivation to do things properly! When I
visit Luke again in the coming months, I will bring home scans that show increased lean muscle and decreased VAT!

Chris, Sydney

This case study was kindly provided by MeasureUp DEXA Scanning, Sydney.
Thank you to Chris for sharing his story, and to the team at MeasureUp for their great work and
support.
  Mission 1 
Eat when you’re hungry. Don’t eat when
you’re not hungry

Sometimes we’ve been doing something for so long,

we’ve forgotten there might be another way.
Dr Gloria S. Wright

M IS S IO N 1
Your First Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Eat when you’re hungry. Don’t eat when you’re not hungry.
This is the First Secret of NeuroSlimming.
Before every meal, snack or trip to the fridge, ask yourself: ‘Am I hungry?’ If the answer is ‘yes’, eat.
If the answer is ‘no’, don’t eat. Your body is your best guide with respect to what, when and how
much to eat. When you learn to tune in and listen to your body’s signals, you will effortlessly make
healthy choices that lead to attaining and maintaining a body you love.
Could it really be that simple? Yes, and no.
It would be simple if we always knew when we were hungry.
So many people have been overriding their hunger for so many years, that they no longer trust
themselves to know when they’re actually hungry. When I announce this Mission to my retreat
participants, the response is often panic or self-doubt:

‘What if I don’t even know what hunger feels like?’ (True hunger is known as physiological
hunger.)
‘I can’t remember the last time I actually felt hungry. I eat to ensure I never get hungry because
I’m afraid of feeling hungry.’
‘I’m scared that if I give in to my hunger I will eat more than I should.’
‘Isn’t my hunger what got me into this mess in the first place?’

No, your hunger did not get you into ‘this mess’. Ignoring your hunger is the problem. Not eating when
you’re hungry lowers your leptin levels and slows down your metabolism. Eating when you’re hungry
assists in kicking your metabolism back into gear. So the key is knowing when you are truly hungry.
What is hunger?
Hunger is a natural, life-sustaining bodily sensation designed to motivate us to eat. This is your first
clue: hunger is a sensation, not a thought. Your body is signalling that it needs to top up on energy and
nutrients. Hunger is mediated by neural and hormonal signals from your brain, gut and fat cells, as
well as the level of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in your blood. Animals in the wild eat in
response to hunger, and they’ve managed to avoid an obesity epidemic.

I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.

D H Lawrence

So how do you know when you’re hungry? How do you differentiate between physiological hunger
and psychological or emotional hunger? How do you know if you’re hungry or hANGRY? There are a
myriad of external cues that drive people to eat when they don’t need to eat. How do you tell the
difference? Naturally healthy people eat in response to internal bodily cues, not external situational
cues. Here are several pointers to recognising true physiological hunger.

Apart from an obvious growling stomach, you might experience a sense of physical emptiness or
a faint rumbling in your tummy.
Physiological hunger comes on gradually, while emotional or psychological hunger tends to hit
suddenly. If you are uncertain, ask yourself: ‘Did anything just happen (either positive or
negative) to trigger my anxiety or to bring on an emotion?’
If the sensation is accompanied by tiredness, weakness, mental fogginess, generalised irritability
or grumpiness, it is often a sign of true hunger.
If you are having a debate with yourself about whether or not you are hungry, you probably
aren’t. Go and do something else and see if you start to receive stronger signals from your body.
If you become distracted from your ‘hunger’ by doing something else, you weren’t
physiologically hungry in the first place.
Physiological hunger can often be satisfied with a range of foods. Sometimes we want something
specific, but generally any number of items within a food group will ‘hit the spot’. An appetite
or craving for something is much more specific and will not be satisfied by an alternative or
‘healthier’ substitute.
When we are physiologically hungry, our sense of smell is heightened. After eating, our smell
sensitivity decreases.
Food tastes better when we’re hungry! If you are not enjoying your meal, you are either not
hungry or not eating what your body needs. Stop and ask yourself ‘Which is it?’ Mission 2
teaches you how to recognise what food you need to eat.

Learning any new skill takes time and practice. If you are not in the habit of feeding yourself when
you’re hungry, be patient with yourself and enjoy the process. The more you tune in, the easier it will
get. Rediscovering your hunger and making it your friend is liberating and empowering. I say
‘rediscovering’ because we are all born knowing when we are hungry. Somewhere between alphabet
soup and calorie counting, it often gets lost.
Eating in response to physiological hunger has been shown to reduce calorie intake by about one-
third, without subjects feeling any sense of deprivation or hunger between meals. It also leads to
lower blood glucose levels, improved insulin sensitivity and visceral fat reduction.

Warning about food porn

In June 2012, a study in the journal Obesity examined the effect of pictures of food on the hunger
hormone, ghrelin. Ghrelin is a neuropeptide produced by cells of the gastrointestinal tract when the
stomach is empty. The role of ghrelin is to act on brain cells in the hypothalamus to stimulate hunger.
Ghrelin also causes the secretion of gastric acid to prepare the stomach for food. Ghrelin makes the
stomach growl.
During the first week of the study, healthy young men were shown 50 random pictures, followed by
blood tests to measure their ghrelin levels. One week later, the same blood tests were repeated after
the men were shown food pictures. Ghrelin levels and perceived hunger increased significantly after
the men were shown food pictures versus non-food pictures. What this research suggests is that our
hunger is constantly being stimulated by the sight of food in our environment: billboards, bus stops,
supermarket posters, TV advertisements and glossy magazines. Wherever you look, you are likely to
see food. As the saying goes, ‘A picture paints a thousand . . . calories.’ Food porn — those
gorgeous, mouthwatering, close-up, oozing, intimate, airbrushed food photos — are particularly
potent in triggering the release of hormones that stimulate both hunger and pleasure. (Especially in
dieters — another reason not to diet, as if you needed one.) This does not mean you are doomed to be
in a constant state of hunger. There are several antidotes to being enticed to eat by images of beguiling
bagels.

Awareness. Once you know that looking at images of food, even more than looking at actual
food, will make you feel like eating, you can tell yourself that you won’t be influenced and you
can turn your gaze to something else. When it comes to TV ads, simply leave the room; when it
comes to magazines, don’t buy food porn! ‘Surely just looking won’t hurt my waistline,’ I’ve
heard people say. Actually it will.
Every time you see an image of luscious food, bring to mind someone or something you love,
other than food: your child, spouse, pet, dream home or scene from your last holiday — anything
that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. This activates pathways in your brain that are not related to
food but that also release pleasure chemicals (serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin). You will find that
you no longer feel like food because you’ve satisfied the urge to make yourself feel good. The
more you employ this technique, the more effective it will become.
Get moving. In the Journal of Applied Physiology May 2012, researchers discovered that after
physical exercise, there was less activation of the food reward regions in the brain. After being
shown glossy images of food, people who had been resting experienced stimulation of hunger;
those who had been exercising did not.
Get a regular good night’s sleep. Sleep deprivation enhances brain activation in response to
food images. A study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism March 2012
demonstrated that people are more strongly induced to eat in response to food porn when they
 are sleep-deprived.
How can you use images of food to your advantage? Look at pictures of brussels sprouts!

Does the cover of this book make you feel like eating
chocolate?
Use the cover of this book to learn about your individual response to images of food and to practise
the above antidotes to food porn. When you look at the cover, do you find yourself wanting to eat
chocolate? Are you able to observe what is going on for you? Are you more responsive to the image
when you are sleep-deprived? Are you immune to it after physical exercise? The more vigorous the
exercise, the less you will feel like chocolate in response to looking at images of chocolate. What
happens when you bring to mind someone you love or a pleasant image immediately after looking at
the chocolate? Does the craving subside? If all else fails, put the book face down whenever you take
a break from reading it!

What hunger is not

Hunger is not the same as appetite or craving. A craving is an intense desire for a specific substance,
usually NOT a real food. I will discuss cravings and real food in Mission 6 and later Missions.
Appetite is the desire for a particular taste or culinary experience. Appetite may accompany hunger,
as in the case of ‘I feel hungry and I’d love a good steak’ or it can exist in the absence of hunger. In
the case of the latter, appetite can have many triggers, including the sight, smell or taste of food.
Examples of things that stimulate appetite are watching someone else eat, smelling freshly baked
bread, or having a spoonful of your partner’s dessert and thinking you want more. Your safeguard is
the same five steps as above, particularly awareness.
Appetite is not a bad thing when it accompanies hunger because it can guide you to what nutrients
your body needs at a particular time. I will elaborate on this in Mission 2.
Do you have a family for whom you have to prepare meals? How can you take their needs and
preferences into account? This will be addressed in Mission 21: Connection not isolation. For the
time being, focus on yourself whenever you can.

What reasons are there for eating, other than hunger?

The entire spectrum of human emotions and situations! We eat because we feel sad, angry, bored,
lonely, tired, miserable, stressed, depressed, impatient, irritated, annoyed, anxious, aggrieved,
relieved, worried, agitated, excited, alarmed, upset, fearful, disappointed, distressed, hurt or
harassed. We eat because we are out of love, in love, out of luck, in luck, on medication, off
medication, sleep-deprived or sex-deprived. We eat out of politeness, rebellion, convention or habit.
We eat because we are celebrating, commiserating, deliberating or procrastinating. We eat for
reward, comfort, no reason or every reason. I’m sure you can add to this list. These reasons will be
covered in subsequent Missions.
In the late 1960s, American social psychologist Stanley Schachter (1922–1997) conducted a series of
experiments demonstrating that obese people were more likely to eat in response to external cues than
internal hunger signals. In a landmark study, Columbia University dormitory students were placed in
one of two windowless rooms in which the clocks had been manipulated to run either faster or slower
than normal. Participants were told they could help themselves to a bowl of crackers. The researchers
observed that obese people ate in response to the time shown on the clock: they ate more when they
thought it was past their dinner time and less when they thought it was earlier. The time on the clock
had no bearing on how many crackers the lean students ate. They ate when they were hungry. Do you
eat when your stomach tells you or when the clock tells you?
We are trained from an early age to eat and sleep at socially convenient times. It makes the lives of
our well-meaning parents much easier if we eat when it is expedient to feed us. As a result, many
people now need to re-train themselves to take their eating cues from their body rather than the clock.
The time to eat is when you’re hungry.
Obviously there are times when we have a commitment to eat with others and we are not in a position
to choose exactly when to eat. Even in these circumstances, ask yourself if you are hungry. Become
aware of what you are feeling. If you are not hungry and you feel you need to eat to be polite, knowing
that you are eating for social rather than physiological reasons will lead you to eat more slowly and
consume less food than you otherwise would. Over time, your body will learn to adjust to the time
constraints that govern your life and you’ll find yourself getting hungry at convenient times. Giving
yourself permission to eat when you’re hungry sends positive messages to yourself. It communicates
self-reliance, self-respect and self-worth. The more you practise pausing and questioning, the better
you will become at recognising what is going on for you and what you need.
Certain medications can also stimulate hunger. If you are prescribed a medication by your doctor, ask
if it has an effect on hunger. If the answer is yes, and there is no alternative, don’t worry. Drugs affect
each of us differently and it doesn’t mean you will automatically gain body fat. There are 27 other
Missions to get you to your goal! Regardless of all the apparent barriers in your way, there is a
Mission that addresses every one of them!
So what do you do if you realise you are not physiologically hungry but you nonetheless feel like
eating? You know the trigger is emotional but it doesn’t reduce your desire to eat. In some cases,
emotional hunger can actually be stronger than physiological hunger. How do you deal with this
situation? I discuss this at length in Mission 3: When you eat, eat and Mission 15: Feeling not
fleeing. If this is a significant issue for you, jump ahead and read the relevant Missions now.
Otherwise, simply be aware of when you are eating for reasons other than physiological hunger.
Awareness in itself may lead you to find more appropriate ways of managing your emotions.
 Step 1
Get into the habit of asking yourself the following four questions before every meal or
whenever you find yourself reaching for food:
1. ‘Am I really hungry?’
2. ‘Or could it be that I’m thirsty?’ If you ignore your thirst, it will masquerade as hunger, so
keep adequately hydrated.
3. ‘Or is it that I want to change how I’m feeling?’
4. ‘Or do I simply need a break from what I’m doing?’

Step 2
After asking yourself the questions, pause and become aware of any signals from your body —
familiarise yourself with the attributes of physiological hunger described above. Asking
yourself these questions begins to retrain your brain and body to send you stronger indications
about what you need in any given moment.

Step 3
If you aren’t sure if you’re hungry, drink a glass of water, wait 10 minutes and ask yourself the
question again. If you’re still uncertain, wait another 15 minutes and then check in again. In the
early stages of hunger, the signs can be very subtle. Continue to check in with yourself at 15-
minute intervals until you’re confident that you’re hungry. Relax and reassure yourself that it
will all come together in good time. Be patient with yourself and trust your body to guide you
faithfully. There is no hurry to ‘get it right’ on the first attempt. It may seem tedious and
laborious for a few weeks, but suddenly you will come to an inner knowing about your hunger,
and it will feel fabulous!

Step 4
When you’ve determined that you’re hungry, assess your level of hunger by the following scale:
The best time to eat is at around Level 3 or 4. You will soon discover your preferred level. If
you leave it until Level 5, you may find yourself eating more quickly and more than your body
needs. Mission 5: Stop eating when you’re satisfied teaches you when to stop eating.

Step 5
Visit the website www.winningatslimming.com/resources and download the pdf titled
Mission 1 — Hunger and Satiation Scale. This is also part of Mission 5: Stop eating when
you’re satisfied. Print it out and stick it on your fridge as a daily reminder. I have also
included the Hunger and Satiation Scale in the Appendix of this book.

Step 6
Don’t be afraid of feeling hungry. Welcome it. Some of my retreat participants report feeling
elated when they learn to recognise their hunger because it’s a new experience for them. It
signifies they’ve developed a better understanding of their body and it empowers them to take
appropriate action. If you can’t satisfy your hunger straight away, for example you’re driving or
in a meeting, that’s okay. Your hunger will simply get stronger. Be aware of this, and when you
finally get to eat, do so more slowly to avoid overeating.
Mastering Mission 1 will bring you a new sense of appreciation for and acceptance of your
body. You will feel a sense of gratitude and relief that you are finally working with your body,
not against your body. Enjoy your newfound freedom.

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 2 
Eat what you like. Don’t eat what you don’t
like

The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. I

can resist everything but temptation.
Oscar Wilde

M IS S IO N 2
Your Second Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Eat what you like. Don’t eat what you don’t like.
This is the Second Secret of NeuroSlimming.
Once you’ve established that you’re hungry, ask yourself the next important question: ‘What do I feel
like eating?’ Then tune in to your body for the answer.
This question often terrifies my retreat participants even more than asking themselves if they’re
hungry.
Many people are afraid that if they remove the food rules they’ve laid down for themselves, they’ll
eat all the ‘wrong’ foods and put on even more fat. Professor Brian Wansink and his team of
researchers at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab demonstrated that this is not the case. Three-year-old
toddlers were given access to an extensive array of foods from beans to biscuits to broccoli, every
hour of the day for 30 days. They were allowed to eat whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted,
while scientists recorded everything they ate. At the end of 30 days, the toddlers’ self-directed eating
resulted in every child consuming a well-balanced and nutritious diet. Their instincts told them what
to eat. If they ate more of one food on one day, they self-corrected and ate less of it the next day.
Everyone has this instinct when they are three years old. However, by the time they are five, many
people have lost touch with their nutritional needs because they’ve been socialised to eat what they
are given or what they’ve been told is good for them. Or their parents insisted that they eat their
greens before being allowed dessert. Suddenly, greens became the enemy. Therefore you need to
retrain yourself to know what you need.
How do you do this?
After asking yourself, ‘What do I feel like eating?’ wait for a few moments. Tune in to your body and
become aware of any sensations that guide you to a particular type of food. If you’re not sure, guess!
Then start eating what you’ve chosen, slowly and consciously — not while doing something else —
and focus on the taste and texture. How does it feel in your mouth? How does it feel in your stomach?
Is it ‘hitting the spot’? If not, is there something else available? Sometimes the answer is ‘no’ and
that’s okay. The fact that you’re eating with awareness is a critical first step. The more you eat what
you like, the more the meal will satisfy you and the less likely you are to go looking for food between
meals. How often have you denied yourself something only to find yourself foraging around for
something else soon after because what you ate didn’t really satisfy you?
The question ‘What do I feel like eating?’ trains your brain to give you clear signals about what your
body needs at any given time. Trust that your body will guide you. Your body is constantly trying to
direct you to do what’s best for your health. You simply need to learn how to listen. The good news is
that the message becomes louder and clearer the more you practise.
Everyone is unique and has different nutritional requirements at different times. Everyone needs to
consume proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and water to stay alive. But in terms of
which specific foods will best provide you with those nutrients, allow your body to tell you.
You may not always have a wide variety of foods to choose from when you ask yourself what you
feel like eating. Do the best you can in the circumstances you are in.
When nothing is forbidden, you have nothing to rebel against. You can take or leave any food because
you have the option to eat it any time you want. This mindset naturally reduces your cravings and need
for comfort foods. The fact that you know you can have them any time you want is comforting in itself.
Don’t be afraid that you’ll reach for a family-size block of chocolate every day. You won’t.
The process of asking yourself questions at every meal may seem laborious when you first start. With
a little practice, it will become second nature and you’ll soon find yourself knowing the answers
instantly.
If you are at a complete loss about what you feel like eating, ask yourself ‘What would I eat if I really
wanted to nourish my body with the best possible food?’ Or ‘What would an Olympic gymnast eat?’
You don’t have to know the answer and you don’t have to eat the answer you come up with! Merely
asking the question and contemplating the answer will subconsciously lead you to make healthier food
choices, a phenomenon known as ‘priming’. The other advantage of asking questions before you eat is
that it stops you from automatically reaching for the nearest available option. Even a momentary
pause can help you make better food choices.
Another example of priming is to have bowls of fresh fruit and vegetables visible on your kitchen
benchtop. If the weather makes refrigeration necessary, place the fruit and vegetables where you will
immediately see them in your fridge, not hidden in the crisper. You will unconsciously eat more fruit
and vegetables when you see them more often. Researchers at Cornell Food and Brand Lab found that
people ate three times more fruit and vegetables when they moved their fruit and veggies to the top
shelf of the fridge instead of keeping them in the bottom drawer. If you are concerned about freshness,
simply place them in see-through containers.
Conversely, don’t have biscuit tins, lolly jars, cereal boxes, muesli bars and chocolates within sight. I
am not saying don’t eat them, I am simply saying keep them where you have to make an effort to get to
them (for example, the back of the cupboard) and where they aren’t in your direct line of sight or even
in your peripheral vision. Wrapping aluminium foil around the ice cream container in your freezer
makes it less likely you will feel like ice cream after dinner. When you take the meat out of your
freezer you won’t see the ice cream and it won’t leave an impression on your subconscious mind,
whether you are aware of seeing the ice cream or not. Your eyes have a direct link to your brain and
they can seduce you into thinking you want something. Out of sight, out of mouth.
Many people express concerns about shopping for food ahead of time. ‘How will I know what I feel
like eating tomorrow when I am doing the shopping today?’ Ask yourself the same question as above
before you go shopping: ‘What do I think I’ll want to eat over the next few days or throughout this
week?’ Then make a shopping list based on your gut feeling (pun intended) — and only buy things you
enjoy eating, not what you think you ‘should’ eat. You will naturally start to want more healthful
foods as you progress through the Missions. Remember the Fourth Freedom: Fun not force. At no
stage do you need to force yourself to eat anything you don’t enjoy. You will find yourself drawn to
nutrient-rich foods as a result of rewiring your brain through each successive Mission. Be patient
with yourself and watch the magic happen. The more you trust yourself, the more you’ll get it right.
You’ll be amazed that you always seem to have the necessary ingredients to prepare the meals you
want.
By all means use recipes and cookbooks to get ideas. For some people, this is a good way to get
started if you don’t think you know what to eat. Sit down with your favourite cookbook and leaf
through it before you do the grocery shopping. If a recipe grabs you, plan to use it during the week.
No doubt you’ve heard the advice: ‘Don’t go shopping on an empty stomach’ or ‘Don’t go shopping
when you’re hungry.’ The reason for this is not that you necessarily buy more, but you tend to buy
worse. When people are hungry they look for quick fixes rather than ingredients for satisfying meals.
As with Mission 1, you may be wondering how to apply Mission 2 in the context of feeding a family.
This will also be discussed in Mission 21: Connection not isolation. For the time being, prepare
the same meals for them as for you (or modified to accommodate their tastes as you were probably
already doing) and observe their responses. Share with them what you’re learning as you progress
through each Mission. Ask for their feedback and work with their preferences as best you can.
Once you know you are following your own body intelligence, and that what you eat balances out
over time, your relationship with food becomes nourishing, not punishing. Food becomes just food. It
loses any additional attributes such as comfort, reward, punishment or blackmail. You will drop the
damaging labels you give yourself and stop judging yourself for eating certain foods.
‘I am being naughty.’
‘I am being virtuous.’
 ‘I have no self-discipline.’
‘I feel guilty for eating this.’
Let these judgements go. Food is essential to survival — it is not a moral issue.
When you win back your confidence in your innate ability to make your own food choices, you’ll feel
exhilarated! You could do it as a three-year-old, so you can do it again now.
 Step 1
When you’ve established that you are a Level 3 or 4 on the Hunger Scale, ask yourself: ‘What
do I feel like eating?’ Wait a few moments and let your body give you a sense of what it needs;
something fresh and light, hot and spicy or somewhere in between?

Step 2
If you are at a real loss about what you feel like eating, ask yourself: ‘What would I eat if I
regarded my body as a temple?’ You don’t have to eat your answer, just ask the question. Then
tune in to your body again.

Step 3
Continue this practice with every meal and do the best you can with the choices that are
available to you.

Step 4
Display fresh fruit and vegetables where everyone in your household will see them (on kitchen
benchtops, the dining room table and directly in your line of sight when you open the fridge)
and place junk food at the back of the cupboard. You are not making it forbidden; you are
simply making it less visible.

Step 5
Before doing the week’s grocery shopping, ask yourself: ‘What will I feel like eating this
week?’ Then follow your intuition to create your list.

Step 6
Don’t be afraid of ‘getting it wrong’. The process of asking the questions is what rewires your
brain to yield healthful results in the long term. You are in the training stages of understanding
your nutritional needs.
Tennis players serve many balls into the net before they start serving aces. Learning about your
body is the same. Each attempt will increase your self-awareness and self-mastery. Enjoy the
sense of empowerment that comes with self-discovery.
As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 3 
When you eat, eat

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has
not dined well.
Virginia Woolf

M IS S IO N 3
Your Third Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
When you eat, eat.
This is the Third Secret of NeuroSlimming.
Don’t be doing anything else at the same time as eating.
Don’t be walking, driving, Facebooking, watching TV, playing computer games, reading the
newspaper, checking emails, sending an SMS, speaking on the phone, signing a document,
considering a contract, composing a speech, writing Christmas cards, typing an apology, thinking
about the argument you had with your mother, reminiscing about your ex-boyfriend, berating yourself
for your food choices or contemplating the diameter of your thighs. Just eat. And smell. And chew.
And taste each mouthful. Discover the art of savouring.
I know this is an enormous challenge in our current over-stimulated, speed-obsessed, multi-tasking
world. Yet multi-tasking is contributing to the obesity epidemic. Many people are over-fed and
undernourished because they aren’t paying enough attention to what they’re eating.
Try this life-changing experiment. Choose one food item from the following list: a raisin, dried
apricot, raw unsalted nut, slice of apple (or other fresh fruit), small celery or carrot stick, piece of
cheese or thumbnail-size square of chocolate. It doesn’t matter which one you choose. Find a quiet
place where you won’t be disturbed for about 10 minutes.
Start by looking at your morsel of food as though you have never seen it before. Let your eyes take in
every tiny detail: size, shape, colour and any other visual features. When you have looked at it closely
for at least one minute, become aware of how it feels in your hand. What is its texture? Is it hard or
soft? Dry or juicy? Firm or compressible? Then bring it to your nose and smell it. Does it have a
strong or subtle aroma? Is it pleasant or pungent? Does it remind you of anything? Take another
minute to absorb the scent.
You are now ready to put it in your mouth — but don’t chew or swallow. How does it feel on your
tongue? What do you notice about its temperature? Is it hot, warm, neutral, cool or icy? Describe to
yourself the texture of the food in your mouth: hard, soft, sticky, smooth or sharp? Roll it around in
your mouth before slowly starting to chew. Bring your attention to the process of chewing. What is the
sound of chewing? What is the feel of chewing? Is your food crisp, crunchy or noisy? Does it have a
melt-in-your-mouth feel or does it require work to grind it down? Now become aware of the taste.
What is the initial sensation that strikes you? Sweet, salty, bitter or sour? Is it bland or flavoursome?
Delicate or tangy? Simple or complex? Continue to pay attention to your chewing until you are ready
to swallow. Keep your attention on the particle of food as it travels through the back of your throat,
down your oesophagus and into your stomach. If there is any more left in your mouth, continue to
chew it slowly and consciously. Keep your full attention on the piece of food until it arrives in your
stomach.
Welcome to the practice of mindful eating: eating with your mind fully engaged in the interaction
between food and body. Eating with your full attention. Eating consciously. Eating without guilt or
judgement. Eating without having a conversation in your head about whether or not you should be
eating. When you eat mindfully, you automatically know whether or not you need to be eating.
Repeat this process any time you like with any food you want.
The purpose of the exercise is to give you the experience of quietening your mind so you become
aware of what’s going on in your body. When you eat mindfully, you notice the subtle feedback your
body is constantly giving you about what and how much to eat. You turn up the volume on your
intuition and your inner knowing.
I am not suggesting you need to eat every item of food in such an elaborate manner. What I’m
suggesting is that you stop eating on autopilot and focus your attention on the food in front of you. And
by extension on what is happening in your body as you eat. It doesn’t have to take 10 minutes to get
through each mouthful. You can become aware of sights, sounds, smells, textures and tastes very
quickly when you make it your intention to do so. What you are doing is training yourself to eat with
greater awareness and appreciation.
Paying attention can be life-changing. You will become aware of things you had never noticed before.
Your senses will be heightened and your experiences more fulfilling. People often mistake
mindfulness for being devoid of all thought. This is not necessarily the case. Mindfulness is being
aware of what is happening in the here and now, in your body and mind. This awareness brings
understanding and choice. Awareness allows you to recognise all the layers of meaning you pile onto
your food. ‘I’ve let myself down again . . . I know this is bad for me . . . This is so fattening . . .’
Observe your thoughts and simply let them be without buying into them. This will take the emotion out
of eating and you will eat more calmly and stop eating sooner. There won’t be the added urgency that
comes with feeling guilty or wanting to get the binge over with. You will notice whether or not
something really agrees with you. Awareness is a huge first step so don’t worry if you don’t know
what to do with it yet. Awareness in and of itself can bring about change without any conscious effort.
Or it can enable you to make conscious choices you didn’t realise were available to you.
The brain is only able to focus on one thing at a time. We are not able to pay attention to hunger cues,
how much we’re eating and what is happening on our computer screens all at the same time. Multi-
tasking increases the tension in your body and contributes to feeling stressed and fatigued.
Conversely, mindfulness puts you in a non-stressful state that allows you to optimally digest your
food. Eating in a state of peace and gratitude improves how the body utilises food.
Mindfulness enables us to know when to stop eating. If you are not paying attention to what you are
eating, how do you know if you’ve had enough? When you eat in a distracted state you don’t notice
when you start feeling full. Have you ever sat in front of the TV with a packet of chips and suddenly
looked down to find the packet empty? Mindful eating prevents this from happening. There is actually
no point in eating and watching TV at the same time. Since you are not able to simultaneously focus
on both activities, you miss out on the pleasure of eating. On the other hand, if you are trying to get
your children to eat broccoli, give it to them while they play their favourite computer game and they
might eat it without noticing!
People are amazed that when they eat mindfully, they find their food has much more taste. They
discover a lot more flavour in everything they eat and are satisfied with less because they enjoy it
more. What? If I’m enjoying something, won’t I eat more of it? Paradoxically, no you won’t. We don’t
overeat because something tastes ‘too good’; we overeat because we are not tasting it fully and need
more to feel satisfied. Taste more and you’ll eat less. A double win.
Many people have forgotten how to give food the appreciation it deserves because it is in such
plentiful supply and they take it for granted. Often they rush through a meal without even tasting it or
noticing how much they’ve eaten. There are no tastebuds in the stomach so why rush to get the food in
there?
If ever you feel like a binge or have a strong craving for something (but you realise you are not
actually hungry) go through the mindful eating experiment described above. Do not judge yourself for
having the craving or wanting to binge. Simply do it mindfully. You will be astonished at how quickly
the craving or binge is satisfied without having to eat nearly as much as you anticipated. Try the
experiment with anything you have labelled your ‘danger’ food or ‘weakness’. ALWAYS eat
mindfully when you are eating fast food or junk food.
All my patients and retreat participants come back to me and say, ‘I couldn’t get through a whole iced
donut when I ate mindfully. I got a third of the way through and thought, “This is too rich. I don’t want
any more of it, and it isn’t as enjoyable as I used to think it was.”’
Sometimes it is the idea of having something rich and sweet that drives us to eat junk, not the intrinsic
pleasure the food gives us. Mindfulness enables us to discern the difference. Mindfulness brings the
realisation that one mouthful will do; we don’t need to have the whole serving or the entire packet at
once.
In time, many of my retreat participants discover that ‘Fatty fast food doesn’t actually agree with me
but I never noticed before. How weird!’
Every time you reach for junk food, go through the mindfulness experiment. You’ll soon observe that
it doesn’t appeal to you nearly as much as you thought it did.
Mindfulness will transform your relationship with food. Make it a daily practice whenever you eat, as
outlined in the steps below.
 Step 1
Become aware of the various contexts in which you eat. At your desk? In bed? While reading,
checking email, watching TV, cooking for the family, tidying up, putting away leftovers, driving
between meetings or sitting at the dinner table? Make the decision that from now on, when you
eat, you won’t do anything else at the same time. This may cause upheaval in your family if it’s
the custom in your household to eat in front of the TV. Speak to your partner and children about
mindful eating and see how you might enlist their support.
Repeated studies have shown that children who eat with their parents at a table (whether it’s in
the kitchen or dining room) more than four times a week have significantly lower rates of poor
eating habits, weight problems and alcohol or drug abuse. The National Center on Addiction
and Substance Abuse at Columbia University also reported that children who ate as a family
tended to perform better academically than their peers who ate alone or while being distracted.
Robin Fox, professor of anthropology at Rutgers University in New Jersey, explains that
‘eating as a family is about civilising children, about teaching them how to become members of
their society and culture’. Similarly, Miriam Weinstein, author of The Surprising Power of
Family Meals describes the dinner table as an opportunity for children to learn good manners,
conduct conversations, resolve conflicts and compromise. Of course there are no guarantees
about anyone’s future, but family meals can provide a good social and nutritional start in life.

Step 2
At the start of every meal — or before a snack or any time you reach for food — stop whatever
else you are doing and give yourself permission to take your time over something that is
critically important: eating. Begin by taking a slow, deep, conscious breath and bringing your
awareness to your body. Follow your breath as it enters your nostrils, flows into your lungs and
expands your chest. Follow the air as it travels back out. Do this for a few more breaths.
Then go through the steps of Missions 1 and 2. Mindfulness is the means to accomplishing the
first two Missions.

Step 3
When you have made your choice about what to eat, look at your choice and take it in with your
eyes.
Does the appearance appeal to you? Each of your senses helps to guide you to make the best
choices for yourself. Then smell your food and absorb the aroma. Does it tantalise your
tastebuds or put you off? When you take your first bite, listen for the loud crunch or soft sound
of chewing. Begin to develop a sense of appreciation on every level for the food that is
available to you. Notice the texture as you take your first mouthful and slowly continue
chewing. Then focus on the flavours and notice if they change as you proceed to swallow. How
does the food feel in your stomach? Notice all the subtle responses in your body as you eat your
meal. Eating in this way can be a source of incredible joy and peace. Continue to fully taste
every mouthful.
Although it may feel unnatural to begin with, this is in fact the natural way of eating. Once
you’ve been eating mindfully for a few weeks, it will become the way you habitually eat, even
in company. Part of your attention may be on the conversation but, at the same time, you’ll be
checking in with your body and monitoring your responses. When you are present and focused
on eating, it enhances the pleasure of food and you actually eat less.

Step 4
Eat with chopsticks if you are not used to doing so! You will soon get proficient at it but at
least in the early days it will make you pay more attention to the experience of eating.

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 4 
Enjoy what you eat. Don’t eat if you’re not
enjoying it

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and

drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as
a necessity.
Voltaire

M IS S IO N 4
Your Fourth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Enjoy what you eat. Don’t eat if you’re not enjoying it.
This is the Fourth Secret of NeuroSlimming.
Enjoying what you eat is about increasing your appreciation for the whole eating experience and
allowing yourself to receive pleasure from preparing, sharing and partaking of nourishment.
As Voltaire observed, eating is one of life’s great pleasures. Eating is meant to be enjoyable because
it is necessary for survival. And for humans, eating is far more than the ingestion of nutrients. Eating
is linked to rites of passage and cultural and religious celebrations. Eating is closely tied to identity.
People are proud of their eating heritage. Sharing a meal with someone is a way of welcoming them
into the ‘tribe’. Preparing a meal for someone can strengthen bonds and heal relationships. It is not
only okay to enjoy eating, it is natural to enjoy eating. Eating is not a guilty pleasure, it is an inborn
pleasure. Eating is an art as well as a science.
However, as a consequence of repeated attempts to shed fat through dieting, many people have tried
to dissociate themselves from the joy of eating because they fear that enjoying their food will lead to
eating too much. As explained in Mission 3, the opposite is true.
This is such a critical concept, I will restate it: we don’t overeat because we enjoy something. We
overeat for one of two reasons (or both):
1. We overeat because we are not paying enough attention to what we are eating.
2. We overeat because we are eating what we think we should eat rather than what we really feel
like eating, so it never completely satisfies us.
Conversely, the more we taste and appreciate our food, the less we need before we feel satisfied.
When we taste more, we eat less.

The more you eat, the less flavour — the less you eat, the more flavour.
Chinese Proverb

Missions 3 and 4 are closely linked. The more mindfully you eat, the more you enjoy your food. When
you appreciate something, the feeling of appreciation is itself fulfilling and reduces your drive to eat
for emotional reasons.
Great food is worth waiting for, so if you are not in a position to eat immediately when you become
hungry, enjoy anticipating the meal. Forget the notion of ‘preventative eating’ or eating ‘just in case I
get hungry at an inconvenient time’. When you practise the first seven Missions on a daily basis, you
will find that after only a week or two, you’ll get hungry at exactly the right times to suit your
schedule. This occurs because ghrelin (the hunger hormone) levels adjust to the times that you usually
eat. So holding off until your allocated lunch break will cause your ghrelin release to coincide with
that time.
There are many aspects to eating that you can enjoy, way beyond the food itself. The context,
preparation, presentation and self-discovery along the way are all potential sources of joy and
contentment, even if you are not a ‘foodie’. Enjoying how you feel about yourself is also a part of the
experience. This will be discussed in more detail in Freedom 3: Love not war.
Create a context for eating that brings you joy not guilt. Remind yourself that eating is a life-enhancing
act of self-nurture and an opportunity to set a positive example for your children.
 Step 1
Start by enjoying the sensation of being hungry. Hunger is a healthy signal that you need to
refuel. Enjoy the fact that you are able to distinguish between physiological hunger and
emotional hunger. Enjoy the body awareness you have acquired in the previous three Missions.
Enjoy trusting yourself.

Step 2
Enjoy knowing that your food choices are boosting your health and vitality. Hippocrates taught:
‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.’ Food is energy for the brain and body.
The brain constitutes less than two percent of body weight yet it uses 20 percent of the nutrients
and calories we consume. The food you eat has a significant impact on the structure and
functioning of your brain. Food enables you to think clearly and concentrate effectively. Good
food supports good vision, strong bones, clear skin and a healthy immune system. Nutrient-rich
food can prolong life. Bring this appreciation to the table. It will enhance your eating
experience.

Step 3
Enjoy sourcing and preparing food for yourself and your family. Set out to make the whole
eating experience from start to finish as enjoyable as possible. I know life is overly busy and
cooking can become a drag at the end of a draining day. Ask yourself how you can nonetheless
bring some fun to your meal preparations. Could you encourage your partner or children to
contribute to the cooking, even in a small way? Do you have a local farmers market you could
occasionally visit? Or a friendly greengrocer you like buying your fruit and vegetables from?
Enjoy learning how to know when a custard apple is ripe. Enjoy discovering how to eat a
mangosteen. Discover what a mangosteen is!
Even if you are cooking simple family meals, what about planning ahead and making Sunday
afternoons a creative cooking time and preparing enough food to last a few days? Review your
life and see what changes you can make to allow yourself pleasure in relation to meal
preparation.

Step 4
Look forward to the different foods available during different seasons of the year. Cherries,
berries and lychees in summer, pomegranates and okra in autumn, sweet potato and rhubarb in
winter and artichoke and asparagus in spring.
 Step 5
Have you ever considered taking cooking classes? The more skilled you become at something,
the more you will enjoy it. Research has also shown that people who cook have a more
positive relationship with food than those who don’t cook. When you cook, you receive more
sensory stimulation because you are handling the food before you eat it. And you tend to
consume fewer calories because you control the ingredients and portion sizes.

Step 6
Enjoy presenting your food as artistically and aesthetically as possible. Turn food preparation
into an art. When approached in this way, food preparation can become a source of self-
expression, self-nurture and relaxation, rather than a chore. Presentation can turn a simple meal
into an exciting appreciation of rich colours and pure flavours. Simply cutting up a crisp apple
into thin slices, arranging in an arc on a pretty porcelain plate and sprinkling with cinnamon
and mint leaves can turn an ordinary fruit into an elegant treat. This is a completely different
experience to chomping on an apple while sitting at the computer and absent-mindedly wiping
the spray off the screen.

Step 7
Enjoy letting go of the beliefs, rules and restrictions that have interfered with your eating in the
past. Enjoy the fact that you will never go on another diet. Enjoy engaging all your senses as
you eat mindfully. Continue to ask yourself: ‘Am I tasting my food or only swallowing it?’

Step 8
Put down your cutlery between each mouthful and enjoy how you feel as you nourish your body
and relax your mind. Give your body time to notice what is happening. Imagine you are eating
everything for the first time and assessing whether or not you like it. Above all, continue to
remind yourself that it’s okay for you to enjoy eating.

Step 9
Recognise that eating beyond comfort is not enjoyable.

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 5 
Stop eating when you’re satisfied. Don’t wait
until you’re full

He who knows that enough is enough will always have

enough.
Confucius

M IS S IO N 5
Your Fifth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Stop eating when you’re satisfied. Don’t wait until you’re full.
This is the Fifth Secret of NeuroSlimming.
When I was child, I was taught to say at the end of a meal, ‘I have had elegant sufficiency, thank you.’
Feeling a sense of ‘elegant sufficiency’ is a beautiful guide as to when to stop eating.
There is no need to measure how much food you ‘should’ eat. You have an inbuilt system that guides
you to know how much you need to eat, if you pause to notice it. Diets override this natural
mechanism and you lose touch with your body’s finely tuned instincts. Mindful eating puts you back in
touch with your inner wisdom.
When you pay attention to what you’re eating, you become more conscious of getting full. One clue is
that each successive mouthful becomes less enjoyable. This is the time to stop eating and it usually
correlates to feeling satisfied, not totally replete. The technical term for this state is ‘satiation’ or
feeling sated or satiated. It comes from the Latin satiatas meaning ‘enough’.
Confucius taught that people only need to consume food until they no longer feel hungry, not until they
can’t eat another bite. The Japanese refer to this as hara hachi bu and it translates into ‘belly 80
percent full’ or ‘eat until you feel 80 percent’. Eighty percent corresponds to ‘elegant sufficiency’ or
feeling satisfied, as opposed to feeling completely full. Why is this excellent advice?
Satiation is mediated by several interrelated hormonal and physical mechanisms. All of these factors
ultimately send messages to the hypothalamus in the brain, which controls how much you eat, drink,
sleep and a number of other behaviours. Getting a message from the digestive system to the brain
takes time — up to 20 minutes. Therefore you need to slow down your eating to allow the message to
arrive. Otherwise you overeat before you receive the signal to stop.
Regulation of food intake is still a burgeoning area of research but here is a brief description of the
process of getting sated.
Digestion of food starts with the mechanical action of chewing. This breaks the food into smaller
particles to increase its surface area and facilitate the action of salivary amylase. Amylase is an
enzyme that breaks down starch (found in wheat, rice, corn, oats, barley, potatoes) into smaller
molecules. The food then travels down the oesophagus and enters the stomach as a round ‘bolus’.
Enzymes in the stomach begin the digestion of protein and the formation of chyme. Chyme is a thick,
semifluid mass of partly digested food that passes from the stomach to the first part of the small
intestine called the duodenum. Digestion continues throughout the small intestine where 95 percent of
food is absorbed. In the large intestine, known as the colon, water and minerals are further
reabsorbed back into the blood, while waste products continue to travel along and are eliminated
through the rectum.
During this process, several signals are being sent to your brain to indicate that you are getting full
and can stop eating. The first signal is a lowering of ghrelin levels due to the presence of food in the
stomach. Low ghrelin means feeling less hungry. Ghrelin responds differently to different kinds of
food.
Proteins (meat, fish, eggs, tofu, tempeh, lentils, beans, chickpeas, nuts, seeds, yoghurt) and complex
carbohydrates (vegetables, wholegrains) lower ghrelin levels more than do fats. In addition, proteins
keep ghrelin down for a longer period of time than do carbohydrates. This means that if you eat some
protein with every meal, you will need fewer calories to feel satisfied and you will feel fuller for
longer. Protein also causes less of an insulin response and has a higher thermic effect than
carbohydrates and fats. In other words, you use more energy digesting and metabolising protein than
you do carbs and fats.
Choosing to eat protein at most meals still allows you to eat what you like and enjoy what you eat.
You don’t have to eat protein; it simply keeps your hunger at bay for a longer time. It also does not
mean removing fats and carbohydrates from your diet. Variety and balance are the key and will be
discussed in the next Mission. Therefore you don’t need a big slab of steak on your plate at every
meal. Proteins are found in a wide variety of foods and you don’t need much — as always, let your
body guide you within the context of asking yourself which source of protein you feel like eating at
any given meal. I have included a list of protein-rich foods on my website. Visit
www.winningatslimming.com/resources.
Another indication that you’ve eaten enough is the physical sensation of stretch in your stomach. It can
take up to 20 minutes for the signal from stretch receptors in the stomach to reach the brain via the
vagus nerve and prompt you to finish eating. When you stop eating at 80 percent full, within 20
minutes you will find that you are actually 100 percent full and it was just a matter of time before you
recognised that you were sated. If you continually overstretch your stomach with too much food, you
fall into the habit of equating overstretch with satiation and you eat more than you actually need. By
practising hara hachi bu you can resensitise your stomach to feel full with less.
The third — and possibly most potent — mediator of satiety is the hormone pancreatic peptide YY,
also known as peptide tyrosine-tyrosine and abbreviated to PYY. PYY is produced mainly in the
ileum (second part of the small intestine) and colon (large intestine) in response to the arrival of food,
particularly protein and fat. PYY is a strong hunger suppressant but it also takes about 20 minutes for
the brain to receive the message because the food has to travel down seven metres of intestine to
trigger the signal. PYY slows the emptying of the stomach and increases the efficiency of digestion
and absorption of nutrients. It also facilitates the arrival of the stretch signal from the stomach to the
brain. Subjects in a study who were infused with PYY, and offered a buffet lunch two hours later, ate
30 percent less than subjects who received no such infusion. The effect was the same whether the
person was lean or obese. Researchers are looking into PYY as a possible treatment for obesity but
this is still a long way off. The most effective way to stimulate more rapid production of PYY is to
eat more fibre. I have included a list of fibre-rich foods on my website. Visit
www.winningatslimming.com/resources.
Just when scientists thought they’d worked out all the players in the hunger game, researchers at
Stanford University School of Medicine discovered a new hormone which they called obestatin. As
the name suggests, obestatin is another hunger suppressant and is coded by the same gene as ghrelin.
That’s why when the ghrelin gene is removed from mice it doesn’t reduce their eating: obestatin
production has also been switched off. Obestatin slows the movement of food from the stomach to the
intestine and therefore keeps the stomach in the stretched state for longer. When mice were injected
with obestatin it halved their food intake and produced a 20 percent reduction in body weight over an
eightday period. No doubt more research will emerge on how the effect of obestatin production can
be maximised.
The purpose of this explanation is to highlight the importance of eating consciously and unhurriedly.
When you slow down and eat mindfully, you become more sensitive to all the various signals that are
telling you to stop eating and you can detect the messages sooner. You find it easier to notice changes
in your body and simply know when you’ve had enough. When you eat until you are 80 percent full, it
also enhances your enjoyment at the end of the meal. You feel comfortable because your stomach has
not been overstretched.
If you aren’t sure whether you’re satisfied or not, stop eating and wait 15 to 20 minutes. If you still
feel hungry after 20 minutes, then by all means resume eating until you feel a warm, contented
sensation just below your ribcage and above your stomach. Or you may become aware of a subtle
satisfied ‘sigh’. As with everything, this becomes increasingly easier with practice, and after a short
time, it will be second nature to you.
One way to retrain yourself to recognise satiety signals is to eat blindfolded! In the journal Obesity
Research January 2003, an experiment done by scientists from Sweden University Hospital found that
when they blindfolded people and told them to eat until they were full, the participants ate 24 percent
less food than when they were not blindfolded. The researchers noted that the blindfolded diners took
smaller bites, ate more slowly, and paused over each mouthful in order to experience non-visual
feedback about what they were eating. When quizzed about their satiation level, the diners reported
feeling just as satiated when they ate less. In fact they were not even aware they had consumed less
food than usual and they did not get hungry again sooner than expected. When you don’t see what you
are eating and you don’t have the visual prompt of a plate you believe needs finishing, you look for
internal cues to stop eating. This is an excellent exercise in behaviour modification — like learning to
ride a bicycle with training wheels. Once you become proficient in recognising internal cues, you can
take the blindfold (training wheels) off.
Try the following experiment for yourself. What is something you feel that in the past you have eaten
too much of in one sitting? Whether it is a ‘proper’ meal or a comfort food like ice cream, chocolate,
chips or biscuits, next time you eat your particular ‘blowout’ food, blindfold yourself and fully
immerse yourself in the experience of eating it. Eat the food as though it is the first time you have
tasted it and pretend that you are assessing whether or not you like it. Make a real occasion of it.
What happens for you?
If you are ever prone to binging, blindfold yourself and give yourself permission to enjoy the
experience rather than hurrying through it to get the short-lived ‘fix’ or ‘hit’ or sense of relief that
binging has brought you in the past. By blindfolding yourself for a binge, you will interrupt the neural
circuits that have developed to support the binging behaviour. Making just one change that disrupts
the usual signals in your brain during a binge will reveal invaluable insights about the meaning of
your binge. It will also raise your self-awareness and start to shift your behaviour around binge
eating. The binge will loosen its hold on you and you will feel your power returning.
Binge eating aside, by eating blindfolded for a few meals, you will begin to change your relationship
with food and start to appreciate it in a deeper, more satisfying way.

How to increase your satisfaction while lowering your

calories
NeuroSlimming is not about calorie-counting. However, consuming more calories than you expend
will lead to storing the excess as fat. As you embark on the Missions, the calories will take care of
themselves. Below are some ways you can lower your energy intake while increasing your meal
satisfaction. A win-win.
There are several factors that promote feeling satisfied sooner (satiation) and staying fuller longer
(satiety). These include:

The appearance of having eaten a large meal. What matters is perceived volume not actual
volume. This is explained in the next paragraph.
Eating fibre-rich food, in other words plant food.
Including some protein at each meal (without getting obsessive about it).
Eating what you like.
Enjoying what you eat.
Chewing each mouthful of food at least 20 times before swallowing. A century ago people used
 to chew each mouthful of food an average of 25 times. Today it’s down to about 10 times!
Chewing and slowing down your eating allows time for signals from your digestive tract to
reach your brain and let you know you have had enough.
Eating real food — discussed in Mission 6.

Larger perceived volume

Many years ago, I visited the city of savouring: Paris. One balmy afternoon at a sidewalk cafe, I made
a comment to my waiter about the exquisite presentation of my meal. He replied, ‘Our first taste of
food is through our eyes.’
Neuroscience has revealed that our first sense of satiation is also through our eyes. If your meal looks
like a large serving, you are more likely to feel satisfied sooner than if it looks like a small portion.
Have you ever been to a fine dining restaurant and received a tiny piece of meat with a few slivers of
zucchini on a huge white plate? This is a deliberate optical illusion. Your eyes tell your brain that this
is a small amount of food so that when the dessert menu arrives you think to yourself, ‘My main
course wasn’t that big so I can afford to have dessert.’ Restaurants often do this on purpose so you
spend more money by ordering another course. If the food was served on a smaller plate you would
realise that it wasn’t such a small portion after all. Observe if this is the case the next time you eat at
an elegant restaurant.
You can use this phenomenon to your advantage in several ways:

Whatever you are eating, put it in a small bowl or on a small plate so the plate looks full. Your
brain will interpret this as being a larger serving than if you put it on a large plate with empty
space around the food.
Your brain does not notice when you reduce your usual portion size by up to 20 percent. Any
more than this and you sense that something is missing. Any less than this and it escapes your
radar, especially if it is on a small plate. So try serving yourself 20 percent less food than usual
and see if it is enough to satisfy you. You can always go back for more if it isn’t enough. This is
a good way to determine how much you really need. Start by giving yourself 20 percent less and
spread it out over your plate so that it looks like your normal portion.
Bulk up your food with air and voluminous vegetables. Lettuce leaves, shredded cabbage, crisp
leafy greens and cherry tomatoes are great for bulking up your meal without adding any calories.
Yes, even the tomatoes are negligible in terms of calories but great in terms of nutrients.

Why do people tend to eat more at a buffet?

Of course we want to get value for money. But even if this is not a consideration, we tend to eat more
in a buffet situation because of the wide variety of offerings. After a plate of prawns and mussels, you
probably won’t feel like eating more seafood. This is known as ‘sensory-specific satiety’ or not
wanting more of the same. But your appetite (as opposed to your hunger) is reignited when you see
the salads. Then the pasta. Then the roast. Then the sweets. Each time you see a different category of
food you are at risk of thinking you feel like eating it. Remember that hunger is not a thought, it is a
sensation. If you eat slowly and mindfully and continue to check whether you have reached 80 percent
fullness, you will know when it is time to stop eating — even if you haven’t sampled every available
dish. But often we are distracted by conversations and carried away with other diners who are getting
up for more. If this happens a few times a year, so what? If you go straight back to following the
Missions, you will compensate for the buffet by eating less at your next meal — not because you are
practising restraint, but because you will not feel hungry until your body needs more fuel. You have
not ‘blown’ anything if you eat past 80 percent on your mother’s birthday. It only happens once a year
and you will spontaneously reduce your intake at your next meal.
Buffets are actually a great place to practise eating what you like. Relish the opportunity to put
Mission 2 to the ultimate test. Before you even pick up a plate, make a reconnaissance of everything
on offer. Enjoy the visual display and the intermingling aromas. Then confidently ask yourself: ‘What
of all the options in front of me do I feel like eating?’ Mentally taste a few items if you are unsure.
Then serve yourself degustation-size portions and take your time appreciating all your choices. You
can always return for more. However, before going up for seconds (or thirds) ask yourself: ‘Have I
had elegant sufficiency?’ In this way, buffets become the perfect training ground for self-awareness
and empowerment around food. If you learn to be mindful around a buffet, you can learn to be mindful
anywhere.

What if I always have room for dessert?

This is another example of sensory-specific satiety. You’ve had enough of the quinoa and cauliflower
risotto but you wouldn’t mind something a bit sweet. Go ahead and have that piece of rich dark
chocolate — just remember to really savour it.
If you are at a restaurant, why don’t you share one dessert between all your dining companions and
really make an occasion of it? Be especially conscious when eating sweets because research has
found that when people are taught to eat mindfully, they always experience the first mouthful of
dessert as the best. The second spoonful is slightly less satisfying and each subsequent spoonful
brings notably less pleasure. So why not order one serving of dessert for the entire family? Take it in
turns to have one spoonful before passing the plate to the next person. The feedback I’ve received
about this approach has been overwhelmingly positive. People report that they instinctively savour
the dish more because they know they’re not getting as much. Many families have told me it evokes
laughter, playfulness and a real sense of connection. Dessert is elevated to a special event.

What if I belong to the Clean Plate Club?

I also grew up with membership to the Clean Plate Club. My parents came from a poor, war-torn
country where it was ‘a sin to waste food’. My grandmother’s words still ring in my ears, and as a
result I never waste food. But I’ve learnt that it doesn’t mean I have to finish everything on my plate.
Sometimes we finish everything in front of us out of pure habit. We don’t envisage an option to do
otherwise. There are actually many options, limited only by our imaginations. The most obvious
antidote is serving yourself less to begin with. You can still cook the same amount but don’t serve it
all up. Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge and reheated or eaten cold the next day. I love having
leftovers because it is one less meal I have to prepare the following day (much as I enjoy meal
preparation). Alternatively you can freeze leftovers to eat at a later date.
Any time you serve yourself more than you need, scrape it off your plate into an airtight container and
put it to creative use at your next meal. It can become lunch at work or a side dish at dinner. Bones
can be brewed to make nutrient-rich broths, and vegetables can be added to a pasta sauce. Visit
www.winningatslimming.com/resources for tips on reducing food waste, creative use of leftovers
and how to make broth from bones.
If I ever have a lot of sauce left in a dish, rather than mopping it up with bread or rice, I put it in a
sealed container in the fridge and add steamed or stir-fried vegetables the next day (depending on the
sauce). The same goes for buying take-away, especially Indian, Pakistani, Himalayan, Chinese,
Malaysian, Thai or Vietnamese. They have wonderful sauces and usually there is a lot more sauce
than meat or vegetables. I make a point of either adding my own steamed vegetables to bulk it up in
the first place or I keep the leftover sauce and use it with meat, fish or vegetables the next day.
I never go to a cafe or restaurant without taking a container in case I don’t finish my meal. Most times
the restaurant is happy to allow you to take home your leftovers. Occasionally I have encountered a
list of health and safety regulations that concluded with being forbidden to remove food from the
premises. I respect the concerns of the restaurant but my aversion to waste gets the better of me every
time. In these instances, I wait until no one is looking and pack away my leftovers regardless. I am
confident that the food won’t spoil during the drive or the brisk walk home.

A further case for leftovers

Research has revealed that cooking, refrigerating and reheating pasta converts it into ‘resistant starch’
and halves the accompanying rise in blood glucose levels compared to eating pasta immediately after
boiling. This means that reheated pasta has a significantly lower glycaemic index (GI),5 keeps you
fuller for longer, improves insulin sensitivity and is healthier for you. A big win for leftovers! Even
simply waiting for pasta to cool down reduces the amount of insulin you release and blunts the spike
in your blood sugar level. The same applies to cooked, cooled and reheated rice and potatoes. So if
you can’t finish your serving of rice or potatoes, all the better. Hence sushi rice has a lower GI than a
bowl of white rice that has just been cooked.
The term resistant starch (RS) refers to starch that cannot be digested and which therefore passes into
the large intestine and acts like fibre. What makes the starch in pasta, rice and potatoes indigestible is
that it becomes less soluble after boiling and cooling.
At your next meal, recall the Japanese proverb: ‘Eight parts of a full stomach sustain the man; the
other two parts sustain the doctor!’
 Step 1
Start serving your soup in smaller bowls and your meals on smaller plates.

Step 2
When you cook a meal at home, experiment with serving yourself 20 percent less than usual and
see if it is enough to satisfy you. If not, you can go back for more.
If you are eating out and there is a discreet way of going about it, pack away 20 percent of your
meal in the container you brought, and take it home to have for lunch the next day. (I predict that
by the end of this book, few of my readers will be keen to go out for dinner with me.)

Step 3
Bulk up the appearance of your meal by adding any non-starchy vegetables such as leafy
greens, broccoli, fennel, mushrooms and zucchini.

Step 4
Count how many times you tend to chew each mouthful of food. If it is less than 20, try to
increase it.

Step 5
While you are eating, check in with yourself to determine how full you are getting by the
following scale:

The ideal time to stop eating is at Level 2. With practice, you will simply know when to finish.

Step 6
If you haven’t already done so, visit my website www.winningatslimming.com/resources and
 download the pdf titled Mission 1 — Hunger and Satiation Scale. Print it out and stick it on
your fridge as a daily reminder.

Step 7
Get yourself an attractive supply of clear, airtight, freezable containers of various shapes and
sizes to store leftovers.

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.

5 The glycemic index (GI) is a number that ranks carbohydrates according to how quickly they produce a rise in blood glucose levels.
The lower the number, the slower the rise in blood sugar and the longer you feel satisfied after the meal.
  Mission 6 
Get real about your meal

I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the

best.
Oscar Wilde

M ISSION 6
Your Sixth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Get real about your meal.
Or, as one of my retreat participants expressed it,
Choose real meals not happy meals.
This is the Sixth Secret of NeuroSlimming.
Mission 6 is about what to eat. Huh? If Mission 2 is Eat what you like. Don’t eat what you don’t
like, why is there a Mission discussing what to eat? Because of the overwhelming confusion,
contradictions and ever-changing advice that paralyses people from even knowing what they like! I
have had retreat participants come to me in tears saying, ‘Please just tell me what to eat! I simply
don’t know anymore.’
Get real about your meal is not about telling you what to eat. Within the context of eating what you
like, Get real about your meal is about:

recognising that much of what we eat does not comply with the definition of food
encouraging you to know what you are eating; understanding how much hidden added sugar is in
80 percent of the packaged foods on supermarket shelves
inspiring you to make food choices that support your optimal health and slimming.

Every animal on the planet instinctively knows what to eat.6 Humans are supposedly the most
intelligent of all animals and yet we’re the only species that’s in a complete spin about what to eat.
Should we be eating low fat, low carb, low salt or low calorie?
High protein, high alkaline, high fibre or high folate?
Low cholesterol, low saturated fat, low omega-6 or low trans fat?
 Low GI, non GM or rich in antioxidants?
Sugar free, wheat free, gluten free or dairy free?
Yeast free, pesticide free, additive free or preservative free?
Paleo, raw, vegan or vegetarian?
Probiotic, macrobiotic, organic or Mediterranean?
Should we be fasting, juicing, supplementing or detoxing?
Food combining, food refining, food fermenting or food lamenting?
And do we need to know our body type, blood type, biochemistry or star sign?
Are you bemused? Perhaps just a little?
Whomever you ask these questions will give you a different answer. Even among health
professionals, nutritional experts or exponents of a particular way of eating, you’ll never get the same
two answers.
Is it any wonder that many of my patients and retreat participants have no idea where to start if they
are not given some kind of eating plan? So what eating plan do I give them? First and foremost, I
remind them that the first five Missions are the underpinning of healthy eating. When the first five
Missions become your default mode of being, you will naturally gravitate towards eating real food. I
emphasise the word real because much of what passes as food these days does not actually meet the
criteria for food. So what constitutes real food?
A food is defined as an edible substance that provides nutritional support for the body in the form of
energy and raw materials for growth, repair and adequate functioning. Many so-called ‘convenience
foods’, ‘processed foods’ and ‘snack foods’ such as potato chips (which often contain so little potato
that using potato in the name is a misnomer), lollies, commercial (not home-made) biscuits and
pastries, and even many breakfast cereals, interfere with adequate functioning of the body by
wreaking havoc on insulin output, upsetting blood glucose control, promoting tooth decay and
contributing to widespread inflammation. This is not what I call ‘nutritional support for the body’.
Rather than growth and repair, these highly processed substances are causing disruption and damage.
Therefore Mission 6 offers simple guidelines to help you determine what’s real and what’s not, and
gets you started on your eating adventure.
Get real about your meal comes after Missions 1 to 5 because how you eat is more important than
what you eat. There are two critical reasons for this:
1. How you eat ultimately dictates what you eat.
2. How you eat enables you to develop a respectful, nurturing relationship with your body so that
you want to provide it with the best nutrition. You won’t need to resist junk food because you
won’t feel like it in the first place.
The how means: eat when you’re hungry, eat what you truly like, eat mindfully, enjoy what you eat
and stop eating when you’re satisfied. When you follow these Missions, you will be drawn to eat real
food that is nutritious, health-promoting and suited to your biology. You won’t need to read the
guidelines below. If you are currently hooked on high-sugar, high-fat and high-salt-containing food,
your tastes will change as you eat more slowly and mindfully and you’ll naturally wean yourself off
them. You don’t need to do a major overhaul of everything in your diet at once. You can do so if
that’s what you feel like doing. But you can also simply allow your body to naturally change its
preferences as you continue to focus on how you eat. One day you’ll suddenly notice that you no
longer crave junk that is not promoting your optimal wellbeing. It doesn’t cross your mind to eat it.
And when you have that handmade chocolate on Valentine’s Day you’ll be satisfied with one
decadent piece.
Ask any seven-year-old child to name five healthy foods and they won’t hesitate to tell you: broccoli,
beans, apples, carrots and spinach. Or ask your great-grandmother: porridge, eggs, liver, peas and
pumpkin (most of them from her garden and her chicken coop).
So why are the rest of us struggling so much? Because we aren’t thinking in terms of food anymore.
We are thinking in terms of fats, carbs, protein, gluten, antioxidants, calories and a myriad of other
nutritional components. Most of them your great-grandmother has never heard of but she nonetheless
managed to prepare nutritious meals.
Each food supplied by nature has its own unique nutritional profile and provides unique benefits. It
isn’t the individual constituents of the food that keep us healthy, it’s the food itself — the way the
nutrients within each food are packaged with each other in specific combinations and proportions.
Nature has already done the job of producing a wide variety of nutrient-rich foods for us. Look at any
traditional diet in any part of the world and you’ll see that humans are able to achieve robust health
through an extremely divergent array of foods and eating styles. Traditional Japanese, Mediterranean,
Sardinian, Ethiopian, Masai and Arctic people are all known for their low incidence of heart disease
and cancer, negligible rates of obesity and enviably long life spans.
The traditional Japanese diet (Okinawans currently hold the world record for living the longest) is
based on rice, vegetables, seaweed, soy and fish. The Mediterranean diet emphasises vegetables,
fruit, legumes, olive oil, whole grains, fish and small amounts of meat and dairy. The Sardinian diet is
characterised by fava beans, almonds, hazelnuts, wheat bread, maggot-infested cheese and very dark
red wine. (The cheese is believed to induce good gut flora.) The Ethiopian diet emphasises root
vegetables, beans and lentils with very little meat and dairy. In contrast, the Masai of Kenya subsist
on meat, cattle blood and milk, while the Inuit of the Arctic eat gallons of whale blubber! All of these
traditional diets promote excellent health and lean physiques — yes, even whale blubber!
What can we learn from this?

There is no single optimal way of eating. Your biology, values, cultural upbringing, personal
preferences and where you live all play a role and all deserve respect.
 The one thing all these groups of people have in common is they eat real food.

Real food is food that is as close to nature as possible. As fresh, local, seasonal and unprocessed as
you can find. Real food promotes health. Food that is not real damages health. So let’s take a closer
look at the criteria for real food.

Real food checklist

Food that was once alive; for example, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds and meat.
Food that can spoil; for example, all the above plus milk, yoghurt, cheese, eggs, tofu and tempeh.
Food that has natural colour, not artificial colouring.
Food that contains ingredients all of which you can pronounce.
Food that contains ingredients all of which you can visualise in your mind’s eye. Can you
imagine what allyl hexanoate7 looks like? Neither can I.
Food that contains ingredients all of which you could cook yourself.
Food that does not include a number as an ingredient; for example, emulsifier 471.8
Food that does not contain high-fructose corn syrup.
Food that does not contain trans fats, hydrogenated vegetable oils or compound chocolate.9
Food that does not have added sugar as one of the top three ingredients.
Food that does not contain artificial, chemically produced sweeteners.
Food that does not come with a toy.
Food that is not advertised by a cartoon character.
Food that is not served to you in your car.
Food that is not sold at a service/petrol/gas station.
Food that needs more than 15 chews before you can swallow it. Fast-food burgers and donuts
have been manipulated to melt in your mouth after less than 10 chews so that you eat faster and
eat more.
Food that your great-grandmother — or at least someone’s great-grandmother — would
recognise as food. Your great-grandmother might not have known what wakame (edible
seaweed) is, but a Japanese great-grandmother would.

Real food examples

Traditional home-cooked meals — when we eat a meal, we are not eating a specific food in
isolation. Traditional cultures knew how to combine their foods to get the best nutritional value
from them. For instance, fibre, dairy and acids lower the glycemic index (GI) of starches. By
combining tomato-based sauces with pasta, and adding vinegar to rice in sushi, the expected
spike in blood-glucose levels in response to the starch is significantly reduced. Pickled
vegetables are another way of lowering the GI of a meal. Pickles are a traditional
accompaniment to sushi and have been found to reduce the GI of white rice by 25 percent.
Traditional cultures knew what they were doing when it came to good nutrition.
Fresh non-starchy vegetables — for example, alfalfa, artichoke, asparagus, bamboo shoots, beet-
root, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, capsicum, celery,
eggplant, fennel, kale, lettuce, mushrooms, okra, onions, radish, rucola, spinach, squash, water
 chestnuts and zucchini. These gems are low-carb, low-cal, high-fibre, high-water content and
packed with nutrients.
Fresh starchy vegetables — for example, corn, kumera (sweet potato), parsnip, potatoes,
pumpkin, turnips and yams. Despite frequently being demonised due to their higher carbohydrate
load, these starchy vegetables are also nutrient-rich and excellent sources of vitamins, minerals
and fibre. They are more calorie-dense than non-starchy vegetables so you need less of them to
feel satiated. Eat the skins for added fibre and nutrients.
Tinned or frozen vegetables if you must — but read the labels to make sure they are not full of
added sugar, salt and preservatives.
Fresh fruit — even though fruit contains fructose, the accompanying fibre slows down
absorption and renders it harmless. Fruit is packed with vitamins, minerals and water. Your
bowels will soon tell you if you are eating too much fruit — you will feel bloated and find
yourself running to the bathroom. Real food has its own built-in mechanisms to stop us eating too
much of it. The minute it is tampered with, for example dried fruit (removing the water) or fruit
juice (removing the fibre), the probability of over-consumption is increased and its nutritional
value is decreased. If you are hiking through the forest and need a concentrated source of energy
to keep going, dried fruit is a great idea. If you are sitting at a desk for eight hours a day,
snacking on dried fruit is likely to provide you with more calories than you need.
Legumes and pulses — legumes are plants with a pod. Pulses are the name given to their edible
seeds; for example, beans, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), lentils, peanuts, peas and soy (tofu,
tempeh).
Raw, unsalted nuts and seeds.
Herbs and spices.
Whole grains — for example, (whole to preface all of the following) barley, buckwheat, burghul
(cracked wheat), farro, millet, oats, quinoa, sorghum, triticale and wheat. Also brown and wild
rice.
Fish and seafood, including seaweed. Fish and fish products in all parts of the world contain
varying amounts of heavy metals, especially mercury. In general, the larger the fish and the
longer its life span, the higher its concentration of mercury. For this reason, I limit my
consumption of shark, swordfish and king mackerel to no more than a few times a year. Fish and
seafood containing the lowest amounts of mercury include salmon, sardines, anchovies, tilapia,
squid, clams, scallops, shrimp and oysters. Until I hear evidence to the contrary, I am happy to
eat any of the latter group several times a week.
Meat that is hormone free, or better still, wild. In the case of beef, opt for grass fed.
Chicken and eggs — free range and hormone free.
Oils — for example, olive, coconut, avocado and macadamia.
Dairy — if you want to eat yoghurt, opt for natural unsweetened varieties. Add your own fresh
fruit if you want. Depending on the brand, yoghurt can range from being an excellent real food to
little better than a bag of lollies. The only ingredients necessary to produce yoghurt are milk and
bacteria (called ‘cultures’). Any other ingredients reduce its nutritional value.
Go for organic if you can afford it.

This list of real food is by no means exhaustive. Use the criteria in the previous list to make your own
decisions about what is real and what is masquerading as food. The overriding message is to avoid
processed food as much as you can. Cook as much as you can. Grow your own ingredients as much as
you can. Visit farmers markets as often as you can.

The problem with processed food

Processed foods are edible substances produced through a range of chemical and/or mechanical
operations that tend to remove fibre and add sugar, fat, salt, flavourings, preservatives, colourings
and other artificial substances. Processed foods may or may not start with real food ingredients.
However, by the time they have been packaged, boxed, canned, frozen or vacuum-sealed, much of
their nutritional value has been lost or removed. This is a broad definition and you will no doubt find
exceptions.
Not all forms of processing are damaging to health. Processing improves shelf life and removes
harmful bacteria. It is the degree to which a food is altered from its natural state, the amount of fibre
that is removed, and the quantities of added sugar, fat, salt and artificial substances that are
responsible for health problems. The key is to read labels and make informed choices based on the
Real food checklist above. The longer the list of ingredients, the more processed a food is likely to
be.
Strictly speaking, cooking could be classified as a form of processing but this is not how the term
‘processed food’ is used. Cooking can break down cellulose (which would otherwise be
indigestible) and increase the bioavailability of certain phytonutrients; for example, in tomatoes.
Many of the controversies around food disappear when highly processed foods are eliminated from
the diet.

Processed foods are the source of most of the added sugar that is causing Type 2 diabetes, fatty
liver disease, metabolic syndrome, visceral fat deposition and widespread inflammation.
Processed foods are the source of most of the unhealthy fats that clog arteries leading to heart
attack and stroke.
Processed foods are the source of most of the added salt or sodium that contributes to high blood
pressure.
Processed foods are the source of many of the chemicals and additives that make people moody
and lethargic.
Processed foods are the source of addictive combinations of sugar and fat that can hijack the
reward centres of the brain and produce cravings for more of the same product.
Processed foods tend to contain far less fibre than real food. Fibre contributes to satiety and is
essential for healthy bowel function and regulation of blood sugar levels.

When we remove processed foods from our diet, we remove many health problems in one big swoop.

Real food preparation

Now that you have a wonderful selection of real food in your pantry, what do you do with it?

Make salads, soups, stir-fries and stews. These do not have to be time-consuming.
 Learn to steam, simmer, blanch, poach, grill, bake and roast.
Learn a repertoire of ways to use eggs. Eggs are extremely versatile. They can be boiled,
poached or scrambled, and used to make omelettes, frittatas, quiches and vegetable bakes.
Make porridge from natural unadulterated oats, not ‘quick oats’.
Create your own natural muesli from whole grains, nuts and seeds. Use a sprinkling of dried fruit
or a drop of honey if you want a little sweetness.
If you have ingredients that you don’t know what to do with, google ‘recipes for carrots,
cauliflower and zucchini’ and you’ll soon be inundated with ways to create a meal from them.
Learn how to make simple salad dressings using various combinations of vinegar, oils, lemon
juice, herbs and spices. Once again, Chef Google can be a great help.

If you want to go vegetarian, go vegetarian. If you enjoy the Mediterranean way of eating, splash out
on olive oil and legumes. If you prefer meat and green leafy vegetables, try some Paleo recipes
(remembering that there are various interpretations of Paleo so even that can get confusing). If you
loved your grandmother’s home cooking, reproduce some of her favourites. If you like the idea of
fasting, incorporate days of fasting in your life. If you still don’t know where to start, follow the steps
under Call to action.
Once they get started, most people report ‘It isn’t as hard as I thought it would be to eat well and
prepare nutritious meals.’
 Step 1
Missions 1 to 5 take precedence over Mission 6 because when you have mastered the first five
Missions, the sixth will come naturally. The steps that follow help sway your preferences
towards healthier options.

Step 2
Stock your fridge and pantry with fresh fruit and vegetables that you enjoy eating and find easy
to prepare. Aim to put lots of different coloured vegetables on your plate at every meal. Each
different colour tends to reflect a different combination of nutrients. Increasing your vegetable
intake is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your health.

Step 3
Find out where your nearest growers, farmers or fresh produce markets are located. Can you
schedule a regular visit into your week or at least once a month? Are you able to start growing
some of your own herbs and vegetables? Growing even just one food item of your own can
bring enormous joy, satisfaction and a sense of self-nurture.

Step 4
Choose your preferred sources of protein and try to include some in every meal — all the
while being guided by Mission 2: Eat what you like. Don’t eat what you don’t like. Visit
www.winningatslimming.com/resources for a list of protein-rich foods.

Step 5
Eat as many different foods from the Real food examples as you enjoy eating. This is the best
way to receive the full complement of macro and micronutrients that your body needs for
optimal functioning. It also means you are less likely to overdose on anything.

Step 6
Learn basic food preparation skills — see the suggestions for Real food preparation above.
You can ask Google, learn from a book or enrol in a cooking course. Why not make it a social
activity and attend cooking classes with a friend? Or ask a friend who likes cooking to teach
you.
Real food preparation need not be time-consuming or difficult. Creating simple, delicious and
nutritious salads or cooking satisfying real meals can fit seamlessly into your day when you
establish a routine and plan ahead. Real food preparation becomes a positive habit that you get
better at with experience and practice. It will also make you more selective and appreciative of
meals you eat out.

Step 7
Read food labels whenever you go shopping. Take the Real food checklist with you until you
have memorised it. You can download the checklist at
www.winningatslimming.com/resources.

Step 8
Expand your food repertoire. Try eating and cooking foods that you’ve never eaten before.

Step 9
When you eat out, continue to follow Mission 6: Get real about your meal. There are plenty
of cafes and restaurants that provide excellent real food options.

Step 10
When you feel like your favourite dessert, ice cream or chocolate, choose the best quality, best
tasting variety you can find and take your time over it. Really savour it. You will discover that
if it is not off limits, it won’t be something you crave on a regular basis and you’ll enjoy it all
the more when you have it.

Recommended reading
Fitzgerald, Matt, Diet Cults, Pegasus Books, New York, 2014
Moss, Michael, Salt, Sugar, Fat, Random House, New York, 2013
Pollan, Michael, Food Rules, Penguin Books, New York, 2009

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
6 The only overweight animals are domesticated cats and dogs.

7 Allyl hexanoate is the chemical used to give lollies, jellies and other commercial sweets the flavour of pineapple.

8 Emulsifier 471 is a synthetic fat used to stabilise mixtures that would otherwise separate into their constituent ingredients.

9 Compound chocolate contains less cocoa, more sugar and poorer quality fats than high-quality chocolate in which cocoa is the primary
ingredient.
  Mission 7 
Think before you drink

Soft drinks are not addictive. I know because I’ve been

drinking them ever since I can remember.
Ilija Popovic

M IS S IO N 7
Your Seventh Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Think before you drink.
This is the Seventh Secret of NeuroSlimming.
Do you know what you are drinking? The hidden calories? Hidden sugars? Hidden caffeine, hidden
acids, hidden additives? Or not so hidden in the case of drinks with a nutritional label, although in
most cases the word nutritional is an irony. For instance, a 375-millilitre (12.7-ounce) can of Coca-
Cola has 10 teaspoons of sugar, 45 milligrams of caffeine, 150 Calories and the acidity of vinegar
(pH 2.53), with zero nutritional value.
When we consume calories in the form of liquids such as soft drinks and non-pulpy fruit drinks (as
opposed to hearty soups), the brain does not receive the same signal to stop consuming as when we
ingest those same calories through food. Therefore it is easier to ‘over-drink’ than it is to overeat
because we don’t feel as full from the same number of calories.
Could you be consuming over half your daily calories through beverages before you even start to
factor in food? Not possible? Think again.
Mary starts her morning with a glass of freshly squeezed (no added sugar) orange juice (375
millilitres = 170 Calories). On the way to work she has a cafe latte with full-cream milk (250
millilitres = 170 Calories, the same as the orange juice). At midmorning she buys a 500-millilitre
bottle of blackcurrant Ribena from the office vending machine (215 Calories). At lunch she has a
sweetened iced tea (500-millilitre bottle = 180 Calories) to have with her salad and to sip throughout
the afternoon. At three o’clock she needs a pick-me-up so she orders a flat white (250 millilitres =
170 Calories). When she arrives home from work she has a glass of white wine to relax (150
millilitres = 125 Calories) and then another glass (125 Calories) with dinner. Without even having
any soft drinks she has consumed 1155 Calories worth of beverages — more than half the daily
calories required by the average female non-athlete. I have given rough figures but you get the point.
Mission 7 invites you to think before you drink so that you make informed choices about your fluids.
As with food, individual responses to different drinks are highly variable and can change with age.
Some people get jittery after one cup of coffee, whereas others can drink two cups before bed and
have no trouble falling asleep. Some people get drunk very quickly, yet others are known for ‘holding
their liquor’. In the case of the latter, there is danger that people with a higher tolerance for alcohol
are actually at greater risk of dependence over time.
Below is a brief sketch of some common beverages to give you food for thought — pun intended.

Water
Water has no calories and is nature’s response to thirst.
Drink water when you’re thirsty.
Drink water if you think you might be thirsty but you’re not sure.
Drink water if you think you might be hungry but you’re not sure. Then wait 15 minutes and see if
your ‘hunger’ has subsided.
There is no scientific research that states how many litres of water to drink per day. There are
plenty of anecdotal reports about needing to drink two litres of water a day but, as with food, let
your body guide you: if you have dark, concentrated urine (and you haven’t recently eaten
beetroot) it is probably an indication to drink more water. If you have frequent pale pee (and you
don’t have undiagnosed diabetes) you are likely to be on the right track.
It is possible but rare to consume too much water.
You can make water more exciting by adding a slice of lemon, lime, cucumber or melon.
Experiment with other pieces of fresh fruit.

Regular soft drinks or sodas — not the ‘diet’ (artificially

sweetened) variety
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche insightfully wrote, ‘All things are subject to interpretation.
Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.’ The soft drink
industry is a prime example of this. Despite overwhelming evidence that soft drinks are the largest
single contributing factor to the obesity crisis, the makers of soft drinks publicly deny it. When
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, Michael Moss, interviewed executives of the world’s
largest food and beverage companies, they admitted to spending billions of dollars in marketing
unhealthy products and putting profits over people. The shocking details are carefully documented in
his brilliant page-turning book Salt Sugar Fat.
Jeffrey Dunn, one of Coca Cola’s former presidents in North and South America, resigned from the
company after a trip to Brazil where his conscience finally got the better of him. When he saw how
the company’s marketing tactics were encouraging vulnerable children to become addicted to Coke,
he was no longer able to work for them.
Coca-Cola executives don’t speak in terms of customers, they use the parlance of addiction. People
with ‘a habit’ of two or more cans a day are referred to as ‘heavy users’. Are you, your partner or
your children ‘heavy users’?
It is unfathomable that the soft-drink industry continues to claim that soft drinks are harmless when
they have been linked to VAT deposition, Type 2 diabetes, pancreatic cancer, reduced bone mineral
density, nutritional deficiencies, tooth decay, ADHD, lethargy, mood swings, foggy thinking and poor
concentration in both children and adults. Research conducted in 2003 demonstrated that children
who consumed fizzy drinks and sugary snacks for breakfast performed at the level of a 70-year-old in
tests of memory and attention at midmorning. Sweet fizzy drinks cause slow fuzzy brains.
A high level of soft-drink consumption is also associated with lower intake of Vitamins A and C,
folate, calcium and magnesium. The best use of soft drinks is for cleaning mould off wooden surfaces.
Spill some onto the surface you want to clean for about 30 seconds then rinse it off. If you leave it for
too long, it will start to erode the wood.
I would go so far as to say that soft drinks are the new cigarettes: damaging, addictive and the
subject of cover-ups by the industry producing them. There is no safe level of cigarette smoking.
Every cigarette you smoke causes harm. Soft drinks are the same. There is no safe level of soda
intake. Research published in 2013 in the European journal Diabetologia revealed that consuming
one 340-mL can of soft drink a day increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes by 22 percent compared to
drinking less than one can a month. The Journal of the American Medical Association reported in
2003 that a can of soft drink a day can lead to an annual increase of 6.75 kilograms (15 pounds) in
body fat. And just as passive smoking has adverse effects, so does consuming soft drinks in the
presence of others. Children watch adults and unconsciously imitate them. The message they receive
is that drinking soft drinks is okay. The more people who drink soft drinks, the greater the sense of
false security it gives everyone. If all those around you are doing it, then it can’t be that bad. Think
again. You can be a pebble in the pond of your sphere of influence. When you stop drinking sugary
beverages, other people may notice and ask why. Even if they don’t immediately do the same, you’ll
have started a conversation and planted a seed.

‘Diet’ or artificially sweetened soft drinks

What about artificially sweetened soft drinks? Are they better for health? No. A US study of over
9500 adults found that consumption of diet soft drinks was also associated with an increased risk of
metabolic syndrome. After the nine-year research period, almost 40 percent of participants had
developed three or more indicators of metabolic syndrome.
In April 2009, a study in Diabetes Care showed a 67 percent higher risk of Type 2 diabetes in people
who consumed diet soft drinks on a daily basis.
More recently, research published in March 2015 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
revealed a striking dose-response relationship between diet soda intake and abdominal obesity.
Seven hundred and forty-nine Mexican- and European-Americans aged 65 years and older were
followed for over nine years. In that time, the diet soda drinkers gained almost triple the abdominal
fat as the non-diet soda drinkers. Non-drinkers had an increase in waist circumference of 0.8 inches
(2 centimetres), occasional users an increase of 1.83 inches (4.7 centimetres) and daily users an
increase of 3.16 inches (8 centimetres).
Artificial sweeteners provide no calories because the body is not able to digest them. So how can
they lead to weight gain and diabetes? In 2013, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in
Israel set out to answer this question. They added saccharin, sucralose or aspartame to the drinking
water of mice. After 11 weeks the mice showed evidence of glucose intolerance and insulin
resistance. The mechanism was a change in gut bacteria. Artificial sweeteners caused an increase in
several different types of bacteria that had already been linked to obesity in previous human studies.
When the scientists transplanted gut bacteria from saccharin-consuming mice into healthy mice, the
healthy mice also developed glucose intolerance. Giving the mice antibiotics to wipe out the bacteria
cured their glucose intolerance! Gut bacteria make up more than 90 percent of the cells in the human
body — they need to be respected.
The journal Behavioural Neuroscience February 2008 published another revealing study on
saccharin and rats done at Purdue University in Indiana. Rats were fed either yoghurt sweetened with
glucose or yoghurt sweetened with saccharin. They were then given their usual food. Those given the
yoghurt laced with saccharin ate more overall and gained fat! They also had a blunted thermogenic
response to eating — in other words they expended fewer calories in the process of digestion.
In addition, diet soft drinks have been implicated in tooth decay (especially with low levels of saliva
in the mouth as is the case when we’re thirsty), gingivitis, osteoporosis and premenstrual syndrome.
Research from Britain’s University of Sheffield has also raised concerns about the safety of sodium
benzoate (E211), a commonly used preservative in drinks such as Fanta, Sprite and Pepsi Max.
Professor of molecular biology and biotechnology, Peter W Piper, found that sodium benzoate was
damaging to mitochondrial DNA and could eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver and degenerative
diseases such as Parkinson’s.
There are many more alarming studies on artificial sweeteners and countless more to come. The
bottom line is: do you really want to be drinking a strange mixture of phosphorous, phosphoric acid,
caffeine, sodium, artificial colouring, flavouring, preservatives and nutrient-depleting additives? The
good news is that people who wean themselves off super-sweet soft drinks report that after a time
they don’t miss them. In fact, they soon find them far too sweet and sickly.

Alcohol
Disclaimer: I am not able to drink any alcohol whatsoever as I was born with a deficiency of
aldehyde dehydrogenase, the liver enzyme required to break down the toxic elements in alcohol. It’s a
very uncommon condition in Europeans so I guess I’m just lucky. Or unlucky. I get nauseous and
throw up after only a few mouthfuls. Here is a dispassionate look at some of alcohol’s effects in
relation to VAT.
One gram of alcohol provides 7 calories and no nutrients. For comparison, one gram of protein
provides 4 calories, one gram of carbohydrate yields 4 calories, and one gram of fat provides 9
calories. Many alcoholic drinks also contain carbohydrates and this further increases their caloric
load. However, it isn’t only the calories in alcohol that contribute to fat gain. The body is not able to
store alcohol so it is immediately metabolised into two by-products: acetaldehyde and acetate. The
body wants to get rid of these metabolites as quickly as possible so it uses them as fuel and thereby
reduces fat-burning. This means anything you eat will be stored as fat until after the calories from
alcohol have been used up.
The other well-known effect of alcohol is to reduce the ability to think before you drink. It is
difficult to be mindful after having a few drinks. You will perform better in anything that requires
sharp mental acuity if you abstain from alcohol for 24 hours prior to the event. In the long term,
people who consume more than 14 standard10 drinks a week— an average of two per day— have
significantly smaller brain volumes than people who have less than one drink per day. And there’s a
direct, dose-dependent relationship: the more you drink, the more you shrink. Brain shrinkage is
especially extensive in the frontal lobe cortex, the site of higher cognitive functions. The vulnerability
of the frontal lobe to shrinkage increases with age.
For the equivalent intake of alcohol, women experience more brain shrinkage than men, and women
who consume just over one standard drink each day increase their risk of breast cancer by 24 percent
compared with teetotallers. In 2009 the NSW Cancer Institute attributed 12 percent of breast cancers
to excessive alcohol consumption. The safe level for women is 10 standard drinks per week.
The most significant factor determining the extent of alcohol-induced brain impairment is the
maximum amount consumed at any one time and the frequency with which such amounts are
consumed. Regular binge drinking is one of the worst things you can do for your health. Long-term
alcohol abuse accounts for more than four percent of cases of dementia in Western countries.
Many studies have described a beneficial effect of wine on blood triglyceride levels and heart health.
These observations were mostly made in people who drank red wine in conjunction with a high-fibre
Mediterranean-style diet. So by all means enjoy your glass of red with dinner and savour every sip.
I’ll be the designated driver.

Fruit juice
There is a big difference between eating fruit and drinking fruit. Firstly, we consume far more
calories when the fibre is removed and we are left with just sugar, water and some, but not all, of the
vitamins and minerals. Could you eat four apples in one sitting? Probably not. But you could easily
drink them. Secondly, the liver receives a big dose of fructose for immediate processing. This assault
on the liver increases the risk of obesity, fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome.
What about throwing the entire fruit into a blender to create a fruit smoothie? Unfortunately, as the
fruit is whizzed around and pulped, the insoluble fibre is destroyed and the fructose reaches the liver
just as quickly as if the fibre were removed. Fruit also contains soluble fibre which speeds up the
passage of food through the intestine to keep bowel motions regular. The slight advantage of blending
over juicing is that blending retains the soluble fibre and more of the vitamins and minerals.
However, eating fruit is still by far the better option. Vegetable juices contain less sugar than fruit
juices but, again, why not just eat them?

Fruit drinks
Fruit drinks are the quintessential deceptive drink because they are marketed as fruit-based or even
healthy but are usually largely sugar-based and little better than soft drinks. The key is to read the
label and know what you are drinking. Most of them have no nutritional value and we’d be better off
without them.

Sports drinks
Sports drinks are for people who play sport — a lot. Or for marathon runners who need to keep up
their energy levels over long distances. Sports drinks are usually high in sugar and high in calories
and not designed for spectators. Even a tough workout at the gym doesn’t warrant a sports drink. You
will simply find that you are replacing your sweat with sugar.
If you’re pumping iron and you want to make more muscle more quickly, the best thing to drink after
your workout is plain, unflavoured skim milk. Not soy, not almond, but cow. A 10-week study of men
in the April 2007 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that drinking two cups
of skim milk after each workout resulted in twice as much gain in muscle as drinking soy milk
containing the same amount of protein. A similar study in June 2010 in the journal Medicine and
Science in Sports and Exercise tested two groups of women who trained with weights for an hour a
day five days a week. One group drank a litre of fat-free milk after their workout while the other
group drank a sugar-containing beverage. The milk drinkers gained twice the amount of muscle mass
as the sugar drinkers and they were stronger and had shed fat.
 Step 1
Do an audit of the calories you are consuming from beverages. Are there any beverages you
would not miss if you didn’t drink them? Replace them with water.

Step 2
How could you eliminate soft drinks — both regular and artificially sweetened — from your
diet? Devise your personal plan of action. Some people like to go ‘cold turkey’ while others
prefer a gradual approach. In the case of the latter, you could decide to cut down by a very
small amount each week. It doesn’t matter if it takes you several months to reach zero soft-drink
consumption. This is one of the biggest favours you could do for your entire body and brain.
Replace any drinks you remove with water so that you are not going thirsty!

Step 3
How could you eliminate other sugary drinks, including juices and smoothies, from your diet?
Juices lend themselves to being watered down so, as a first step, you could add lots of ice.
When you get used to the slightly watered down version, you could pour a quarter of your usual
serving into a separate bottle and replace the quarter you removed with water. When you have
become accustomed to the further watered down version, replace a quarter of the diluted
version with water, and so on, until there is so little juice in the dose that you may as well have
none at all.

Step 4
Are you keeping your alcohol consumption to safe limits? That means 14 standard drinks a
week for men and 10 standard drinks a week for women — and not all saved up for Friday
night! Distribute your dose throughout the week and apply Mission 3: When you drink, drink
and Mission 4: Allow yourself to really enjoy your drink and savour each sip.

Recommended reading
Moss, Michael, Salt, Sugar, Fat, Random House, New York, 2013
I mention this book again because I strongly urge you to read it!
 As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.

10 One standard drink is 10 grams of alcohol or 100 millilitres of wine.

 Summary of Living not dieting

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it

complicated.
Confucius

Leonardo Da Vinci offers a precis of Living not dieting:

If you be healthy, heed this advice

Eat only when hungry and let light fare suffice.
Chew all your food well, and this rule always follow.
Well-cooked and simple, be all that you swallow.
On leaving the table, a good posture keep,
And after your luncheon, do not yield to sleep.
Let little and often be your rule for wine,
But not between meals or when ready to dine.
If you:

eat when you’re hungry

eat what you like
savour every mouthful
enjoy what you eat
stop eating when you’re satisfied
get real about your meal
and think before you drink,

your body fat will take care of itself and you’ll have vibrant health, lasting vitality and a body you
love.
 Why Being You, not new?

At the centre of your being you have the answer; you

know who you are and you know what you want.
Lao Tzu

The Second Freedom is Being You, not new.

What is your genius? Are you expressing it in your life?
What brings you the most fulfilment? Are you doing what fulfils you?
The words of Rumi express the power of Being You: ‘When you do things from your soul, you feel a
river moving in you, a joy . . . Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really
love.’
You are not meant to be like anyone other than you. We are all unique and individual, just like our
fingerprints. There is no human standard to which we are supposed to conform. There is nothing you
need to ‘add’ to yourself, only to uncover about yourself. When you live in alignment with your
values, and set goals that reflect what is truly important to you, you thrive and live in a way that
promotes your optimal health and wellbeing.
In 2004, Dove, a personal-care brand owned by Unilever, published market research indicating only
four percent of women considered themselves beautiful. This gave rise to the ‘Dove Campaign for
Real Beauty’ which asked thousands of women from all walks of life: ‘What makes you feel
beautiful?’ Leaving aside the controversy sparked by the campaign, the real value was in the
responses. Women affirmed that they felt beautiful when ‘fully engaged in meaningful activities’.
More than 50 percent said they felt beautiful when helping others or spending time with their children,
and 40 percent felt beautiful when they were physically active, did something artistic, achieved
success or were absorbed in a hobby. The overwhelming conclusion was that beauty comes from
‘spirit and love of life, not from looks’.
Having a vital, healthy body is about discovering that you are worthy, whole and complete exactly as
you are right now. You already have everything you need to achieve the things that give your life
meaning and purpose. When we set personally meaningful goals, our natural strengths reveal
themselves. It is when we try to conform to other people’s notions about who we should be or what
we should do that we feel dissatisfied with ourselves and with our lives. My mother confessed to me
that her greatest regrets in life were the times she tried to be who others wanted her to be rather than
being herself. Being yourself is what will lead you to an appreciation of your body so that you want
nothing less than to look after it in the best possible way.
The converse is also true. When you take care of your body, your genius reveals itself to you. Your
body is your home. How you treat your home determines the quality of your experiences and the
quality of your interactions with others.
The ultimate goal of Mission SlimPossible is self-acceptance in parallel with lifelong growth and
learning. Self-acceptance does not mean resignation to the status quo. It means recognising your
unique value and expressing your uniqueness in how you choose to live. When you accept all that you
are and all that you have, you truly enjoy the process of achieving what you want even before you get
there. Paradoxically, self-acceptance makes you feel lighter, a critical step in actually becoming
lighter.
Self-acceptance opens up new possibilities because you are not caught up in struggling against what
already exists. What exists, exists. What you do with what exists is what defines you. Use what you
have to bring you more of what you want. Strive for something meaningful and you’ll discover what
you have.
Self-acceptance means finding joy in the journey, not putting off happiness until you reach a
destination. Ongoing inspiration and motivation come from working through a goal, not to a goal.
Each destination becomes the start of another journey. Fulfilment comes from the continual pursuit of
worthwhile goals. Nothing makes us feel more alive than aspiring to achieve something we are not
100 percent certain we are able to achieve.
Being You, not new means getting in touch with parts of yourself that are already there but that you
might have buried or kept in the background of your life.
Being You, not new means moving from a state of contraction to a state of expansion.
Being You, not new means growing and learning as a way of life.
Being You, not new means moving towards greater aliveness, freedom and joy.
Being You, not new is about being more fully you — living true to your values and expressing your
uniqueness.
Being You, not new supports Living not dieting.
 Step 1
Reflect on the following questions:

Are there any areas of your life in which you feel you are holding back from being who
you really are?
Do you feel that you are living a life of meaning and purpose?
Is your day-to-day work aligned with your values — be that paid work, raising children or
organising your home renovations?

The next seven Missions address these questions. The more you express your true self in every
area of your life, the more naturally inclined you will be to live in a way that supports your
optimal health and vitality.

Step 2
Let the following question guide your day-to-day decisions: ‘Will choosing this course of
action support who I really am, or who others want me to be?’

Recommended reading
Robinson, Ken, The Element: How finding your passion changes everything, Penguin, New
York, 2009
  Mission 8 
Values not virtues

Either you think, or else others have to think for you and
take power from you.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

M IS S IO N 8
Your Eighth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Values not virtues.
Confidence is the First Skill of NeuroSlimming.
In Mission 8 you create your Values Statement.
Have you ever found yourself at a party, sitting around, feeling a bit tired and a bit over it all, and
suddenly you hear your favourite song and your tiredness seems to fly out the window and you just
have to get up and dance?
Getting up and going for it in life works the same way. What ‘songs’ — reasons and rationalisations
— are playing inside your head that either motivate you (or de-motivate you) to take the best care of
yourself? Most of the time we are well aware of what is healthy and what is not. No one has ever
said to me, ‘I had no idea that a burger and fries wasn’t a top nutritional choice. Now that you’ve told
me, I’ll never eat fast food again.’ Or ‘Thank you for informing me of the health benefits of leafy
green vegetables. I’ll make sure I eat some every day.’ We all know that exercise improves our
physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. So why aren’t we all moving every day? Why don’t we
always choose what we know is the healthiest option in any given circumstance?
Because we aren’t playing the right songs in our heads. In other words, what is it you need to say to
yourself that will really get you excited about being fit and healthy? What will make you jump up and
really feel — not think, feel — ‘My health and vitality are my most important priorities because they
are what enable me to bring the best of me to everything I do and everyone I love’? What’s the penny-
dropping realisation that strikes a deep emotional chord where it becomes crystal clear that to fulfil
your dreams and enjoy your dreams you need to be in optimal health and happy in your own skin?
Otherwise what’s the point of it all? Is it not madness to compromise our health regardless of the
reason? Yet in most Western societies, it’s the norm to compromise health for a myriad of reasons.
Just because something is ‘normal’ doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Normal doesn’t mean natural.
Normal doesn’t mean optimal. Normal doesn’t mean wise. Everyone mouths the platitude, ‘If you
don’t have your health, you don’t have anything’ but only a fraction of the population actually live as
though it were true.
An article in the Sydney Daily Telegraph newspaper on 23 June 2012 titled ‘Fat Chance of Living a
Longer Life’ addressed this very issue. The researchers interviewed thousands of Australians and
found that the vast majority knew the basic food and exercise guidelines. Yet only 50 percent of
people surveyed ate the recommended two serves of fruit a day, less than one in 10 people ate five
serves of vegetables a day, and while Australia might be a sport-loving nation, less than four in 10
people did regular exercise. What’s more, Australians spent 37 billion dollars on fast food in the
preceding 12 months knowing that it wasn’t in the interests of their health. Australians also
accumulate an average of two weeks of sleep loss a year because they prioritise work over
wellbeing. Why are we doing this to ourselves?
Eighty percent of visits to general practitioners are due to lifestyle-related illnesses. In other
words, eight out of 10 visits to the doctor could be prevented if we slept a little more, stressed a little
less, moved a little more and ate a little less. It would be so easy to improve health by tweaking
lifestyle just a little. Why don’t we do it?
While you consider the answer, I acknowledge that there are also people who eat well, exercise
regularly and make every effort to do what they can to shed VAT, but it still won’t budge or they
nonetheless have health problems. This will be addressed in later Missions. For now, think about
some of the ‘songs’ that are stopping you from prioritising your health.
The most common ‘songs’ I hear from people are:
‘I don’t have time.’
‘I’m too busy.’
‘I can’t fit everything in.’
‘I’m juggling too many other things.’
‘It’s too hard.’
‘I’m too tired.’
‘It’s too much effort.’
‘There aren’t enough hours in the day.’
I deliberately use the word ‘song’ to highlight the fact that we choose the songs we listen to. We can
change the songs that are playing in our heads whenever we want.
In my 25 years of medical practice, I’ve discovered that all the songs that stop people prioritising
their health boil down to only three. On the surface it might be the song ‘I don’t have time’ but, if you
dig deeper, one of the following is at play.
The first song
The first song is: ‘I don’t believe that being in optimal health and shedding fat is going to make
enough of a positive difference to my life.’
So many people have forgotten how it feels to be truly healthy, to be full of energy and vitality, to feel
vibrant and exuberant and to feel light and free. I’ve had people look at me as if to say ‘What planet
are you from? Nobody feels exuberant. Everyone’s always run-down, bogged down and lately also
stood down. It’s just a fact of life.’
This is a sad reflection of current values. Being tired all the time is not a fact of life. It’s a collective
choice that society has made that it’s acceptable not to feel great and to feel tired all the time. Run-
down is the new normal. The real tragedy is that after a while we forget that it’s possible to feel great
— even exuberant.
When people start experiencing better health, the most common responses I hear are:
‘Wow, I never realised it was possible to feel so good!’
‘I had no idea I could have so much energy.’
‘I’m not only physically lighter, I feel emotionally lighter.’
‘I can do so much more than I ever thought I could.’
Having a body you feel good about is liberating and empowering. Being healthy is its own intrinsic
reward, but if someone hasn’t been in great health for a long time, they forget what they’re missing out
on. Being in excellent health makes a tremendous positive difference to our outlook and quality of
life, not just to our longevity.

The second song

The second song that stops people taking care of themselves is the song: ‘I’m not important enough.’
That’s not how they usually express it, but that’s what they mean when they say:
‘I need to make personal sacrifices for my children, my partner, my work or my clients. I can’t let
them down.’ But apparently it’s OK to let yourself down. Ironically, this means that in the long run
you are letting others down because people are inspired by our vitality not our productivity. People
may be impressed by how much you’re doing but if you aren’t at your physical, mental and emotional
best, you are not giving your best, regardless of how hard you’re working. People respond to what
you exude, not how hard you work. Your life force — your zest, your passion, your enthusiasm, your
peak health — are the most valuable things you can give to the people and the causes you care about.
What people remember most about us is not what we say and not what we do. They remember how
we make them feel. Lasting impressions result from positive emotional experiences. The better you
feel, the better you make others feel.
Happiness is neither a selfish pursuit nor a personal issue because your happiness affects everyone
whose life you touch. If you feel great about yourself and your life, you give spontaneously; you
enliven others and your very presence spreads joy. You have to live to give.
Setting a vibrant, healthy example for your children is the greatest gift you can give them. By looking
after yourself you teach your children to look after themselves. You teach them the value of great
health. If you have children you will know that they are more likely to mimic what you do than do
what you say.

The third song

The third song that stops people attaining their desired body is: ‘I don’t actually believe it’s possible
for me to be any lighter than I am.’
‘I’m just made big.’
‘It’s in my genes.’
‘I’ve had four children and I can’t get my figure back.’
‘I have a slow metabolism, an under-active thyroid or some other biological predisposition.’
In all my years of medical practice, I’ve never met anyone who is unable to achieve sustainable fat
reduction. I’ve only met people who haven’t learnt how to achieve it.
It doesn’t matter what your past experience has been. Whatever you have tried before has brought you
to where you are now: reading this book and discovering how to rewire your brain to reshape your
body. By working through each Mission, you will soon discover that having a body you love is
possible for you.

What’s your song?

That leaves us with two songs to address. Which of the first two songs struck the loudest chord with
you: ‘I don’t believe that being slim will really make much difference to my life’ or ‘I’m not
important enough’?
Both of these songs relate to your values. If yours is the first song, you are not sold on the value of
being in optimal health. If yours is the second song, you are not sold on the value of you. Many of my
retreat participants relate to both songs.
Our values — what we consider to be most important in life — are what drive our decisions about
everything. Our food choices are a reflection of our values. The way we spend our time is a
reflection of our values. How we spend our money, the suburb we live in, the car we drive, who our
friends are, who we marry and whether or not we exercise are all a reflection of our values.
Whatever you most value, whatever is most important to you, you will make time for. If you stay
behind at work instead of going for the walk you promised yourself, it isn’t that you are being ‘slack’.
On the contrary, you are expressing the fact that, for whatever reason, it is more important to you to
finish what you’re working on than to get out and exercise. If you truly believed that exercising every
day would make you feel fabulous, you would find a way to get regular exercise. Somehow you
would make it happen. Everyone is busy. People who exercise are no less busy than people who
don’t exercise. People who exercise simply value exercise more than those who don’t.
This is not a judgement. It is an explanation of what is driving your choices as you go through life:
your values. People who exercise on a regular basis are no more virtuous than people who don’t
exercise. People who exercise have exercise higher up on their list of priorities than people who
don’t exercise. This is a very important distinction because we tend to speak about food and exercise
in terms of being ‘virtuous’ or ‘self-disciplined’ but this is not the case. Having a lean, healthy body
is not about being ‘good’ for not eating donuts or ‘bad’ for eating cream puffs. Food is not a moral
issue. Food is food — it is sustenance. Food choices reflect our values not our virtues.
What judgements have you unconsciously attached to eating? Have you ever thought to yourself ‘I am
being naughty for eating this’? Or ‘I’ve been good this week because I’ve gone to the gym.’ Or ‘I feel
guilty for eating fast food’? Our food and exercise choices are not a measure of our morality even
though we tend to speak about them in moral terms. Our food and exercise habits are an indication of
what is important to us.
When we have a clear understanding of our values, we understand why we make the choices we make
in our lives. We live in a culture that tends to value convenience over quality, especially in relation to
food. If we don’t stop and reflect on our own values, we unconsciously take on the values that society
dictates.
Most people in the Western world are living back to front: trying to fit healthy choices into a
busy schedule rather than fitting a busy schedule around healthy choices. Great health brings
confidence, energy and resilience so that we are able to fit more into life.

How our values directly affect our health

If being in optimal health and respecting your body is at the top of your priorities, you will organise
your life so you can commit to regular exercise, visits to the growers market, nutritious lunches or
whatever you need to stay in great shape. You will work your other commitments around your health
goals.
Do you shower in the morning? Brush your teeth every day? Make sure you have clean clothes to
wear? How do you manage to fit these activities into your busy life? ‘But they’re essential — they’re
a no-brainer!’ you protest. This is only because you deem personal hygiene to be essential. When you
feel the same way about good nutrition and physical exercise as you do about personal hygiene, they
will also become no-brainers — established fixtures in your life. You might need to shuffle a few
things around, plan ahead or watch less television, but if something is really important to you, you
will make it happen.
Conversely, if you simply aren’t sold on the value of being fit, lean and healthy (the first song) other
things will always take precedence. There is an infinite number of ways to fill each moment of the
day. We fill our moments with whatever we deem to be most important at any given time. The same
goes with the myriad of food choices we face every day. Will I have breakfast at home or on the way
to work? Will I stop for morning tea? Where will I have lunch? Will I add salt? Will I finish this meal
now or save some for later? On and on it goes. All our decisions are aligned with our underlying
values.
Even eating in response to stress or unwanted emotions suggests that whatever is causing you stress is
something you consider important enough to put up with rather than walk away from. Again, this is not
a judgement. It’s about beginning to understand how your values drive your behaviours. Being with a
sick child, partner or parent is a stress that I would not walk away from.
 Step 1
On a scale of 1 (not important at all) to 10 (at the top of your priorities) answer the following
questions:

How important is it to you to be in great health?

How important is it to you to be slim or to have a body you love?
How important is it to you to engage in regular exercise (at least every second day)?

There is no right or wrong answer. Your values are your values.

Step 2 — If you answered 7 or above to all three

questions in Step 1
Are you living in a way that reflects the importance you place on your health and your
body? In other words, are you putting in the time to achieve optimal health and vitality?
If you are putting in the time but you aren’t getting the results, read on. The other Missions
will get you there.
If you are not putting in the time — despite health and regular exercise being important to
you — why not? Are you not sold on the importance of YOU (the second song)? Freedom
3: Love not war will address this.

Step 3 — If you answered 6 or below to one or more

questions in Step 1
At this point in your life, your body and your health are simply not that important to you. This
gives you two choices:
1. You can consciously move the goal of being slim and healthy higher up on your list of
priorities by making the case for yourself that improving your health will improve other
aspects of your life that are important to you.
2. Or you can accept the fact that being slim and healthy just aren’t important enough to you.
So next time you choose to have a burger and fries, don’t beat yourself up about it. Good
nutrition simply doesn’t matter to you. Eat your burger and fries in accordance with the
first five Missions and the damage will be far less than if you reprimand yourself about it.
Show compassion to yourself. Whatever drove you to eat at a fast food outlet is currently
more important to you than what you put into your body.
Does choosing the second option mean you are doomed never to shed excess fat? No, it
doesn’t! Read Step 4.
 Step 4
Whatever your answers to the above questions, the key to achieving your goals in relation to
your body is acceptance. Recall the previous chapter Why Being You, not new? Don’t judge
yourself for not being enthused about getting into shape. Accept where you are right now.
Accept what is and what is not important to you. Acceptance of yourself and your
circumstances is a great healer. Acceptance is the basis for self-compassion. Acceptance
means realising you are always doing the best you can with the resources that you have, based
on what you think is most important in any given moment. You are doing your best, so ease up
on yourself. When you truly stop judging yourself, you will notice that you also ease up on
unhealthy habits. You won’t have to force anything. Self-acceptance leads to spontaneously
engaging in more healthful behaviours.

How our values indirectly affect our health

When we live in alignment with our values it feeds us physically, mentally, emotionally and
spiritually. We have better health and we experience less stress. The more your work aligns with
your values, the more you enjoy it and the less tired you feel, even if the job is demanding. When our
lives are not congruent with our values, it depletes our energy and erodes our health. We
unconsciously look for ways to compensate our lack of fulfilment, often with excess food or alcohol.
Have you ever been absorbed in something that really excites or enthuses you? When we involve
ourselves in activities, causes, projects or people that give us a deep sense of meaning and purpose,
we are much less likely to engage in self-sabotaging behaviours. We don’t eat out of boredom or
frustration. We naturally gravitate towards keeping ourselves in the best health because we feel at our
core that our lives are worthwhile. And by extension we come to feel that we are worthwhile.
The next set of steps assist you in recognising your highest values and how they may be impacting
your health and body fat.
Your Values Statement is a declaration of your top priorities based on your personal
principles. It is what is most important to you, deep down. It is not necessarily what your
parents or anyone else taught you, although your values are undoubtably influenced by your
upbringing and your social milieu. Follow these steps to ascertain what is truly important to
you and whether you are living in alignment with your values.
This will allow you to see what underpins your choices around food and exercise and how you
can start to choose differently if that is what you want.
Your Values Statement will bring you a new depth of understanding in relation to why you do
the things you do. It creates the foundation for attaining vibrant health, lasting vitality and a
body you love. The word ‘value’ originates from the Latin valere meaning ‘strength’. Living by
your values will give you the strength and impetus to achieve your goals.

Step 1
Buy an attractive, blank notebook (with or without lines, whichever you prefer) and label it
Mission Manual. Use it to write your answers in relation to all the Missions. Your Mission
Manual will become your diary, action plan and record of your progress. Psychologists Pam
Meuller and Daniel Oppenheimer found that students learn better and gain more insights when
they take notes by hand rather than typing them on a keyboard.

Step 2
Answer the following questions about your values. You can have more than one answer to each
question. I offer a few examples to get you started. This is a thought-provoking exercise that
may take you days or even weeks to complete. Even when you are satisfied with your answers,
review them every few months or at the start of each year to assess whether your values have
changed. At different stages of your life, different things will be important to you. Different life
experiences can also clarify and influence what is meaningful to you. Understanding your
values means understanding your strengths and using them to live a joyful and purposeful life.
When you live in alignment with your values, you will experience you at your best.

What traits do you most value in others? For example, honesty, integrity, loyalty,
generosity, kindness, reliability, diligence or respect?
When you exhibit the traits you value, you will feel good about yourself and motivated to
take care of yourself.
Write your answer as:
 I value the character traits of

If you have children, what do you most want for them?

Our children unconsciously model the way we live.
Write your answer as:
What I most want for my children is

What makes your life worth living or what gives your life meaning and purpose? Your
children, partner, friends, work, achievements, home, holidays, car or your ability to
appreciate each moment? If you are not making time for the things and the people you
listed, you will have an underlying sense of restlessness or that something is missing from
your life.
Write your answer as:
What gives my life meaning and purpose is

Who or what do you most want to be in life? A pilot, pianist, business owner,
entrepreneur, artist, philanthropist, teacher, millionaire or vibrant and healthy example for
your children?
Write your answer as:
What I most want to be is

What do you most want to do or achieve in life? Spiritual growth, wisdom, contribution to
world peace, climb Mount Everest, travel the world, provide your children with a good
education, build a great marriage or attain financial security?
Write your answer as:
What I most want to achieve is

What other things are really important to you that haven’t come up in any of your answers?
Health, fitness, sustainable living, global warming, social reform or equality for all?
Write your answer as:
Other things that I highly value are

Your answers to these six questions constitute your Values Statement.

Step 3
Look at your answers. Are you spending most of your time on the things that are most important
to you and with the people who mean the most to you? Or have you allowed the truly
meaningful things to slide into the background of your life?

Step 4
If you are not spending as much time as you’d like with the people you love, or if you are not
doing the things that bring you fulfilment, how does this make you feel? What changes could you
instigate to enable you to do more of what is truly important to you? It may entail an
impassioned conversation with your partner, adjustments to your work schedule or delegating
chores you find tedious. It may require only a few tweaks or a major career change, one thing at
a time or a massive overhaul. Only you can know what you need to do to make your life more
meaningful and fulfilling.

Step 5
How do your health, fitness and feelings about your body affect your life? Is poor health or low
self-esteem interfering with your capacity to live in alignment with your values? How relevant
is your health or body size in relation to living your life to the fullest?

Step 6
Go back to Step 1 in Part 1 of this Call to action. Answer the same three questions again.
Has an understanding of your values from Part II enabled you to give more importance to your
health and fitness? It doesn’t matter if your answer is no. Just keep progressing through each
Mission.

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 9 
Clarity not confusion

The greatest risk a person can take is not to aim too

high and miss, but to aim too low and hit.
Michelangelo

M IS S IO N 9
Your Ninth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Clarity not confusion.
Clarity is the Second Skill of NeuroSlimming.
In Mission 9 you create your Mission Statement. This is your personal Mission. From here on in this
book, whenever I refer to Mission, I am referring to what you wrote as your Mission Statement.
At the end of my freshman year of medicine I had my first experience of a broken heart. Never one to
do things by halves, I responded with Shakespearean flair and deferred my studies for a year so I
could wallow in my misery and compose self-indulgent sonnets. To my dismay, my parents did not
believe in funding my misery so I had to get a job. Unskilled and uninterested, I went to work at a
courier company as their Missing Freight-finder. This entailed spending eight hours a day receiving
angry, accusing and disparaging calls from disgruntled people whose parcels had not been delivered.
‘I knew I couldn’t trust that driver and you don’t sound much better,’ was one of the more flattering
greetings I received.
It didn’t take long to work out that the most common reason for freight not reaching its destination was
that it hadn’t been properly addressed. There was no postcode so the parcel went to Paddington in
Sydney instead of Paddington in Brisbane. Or the house number was incorrect. Or the handwriting
was illegible so the driver had misread the name of the street. How could we deliver something if we
didn’t know the destination?
The same goes with your brain. You need to have a clear objective so that your brain can send the
right signals to the relevant parts of your body to make it happen.
What do you ultimately want in relation to your health and your body? Do you have a clear goal?
It isn’t enough to have a vague notion of wanting to be ‘healthier’ or ‘slimmer’. What exactly does
being healthier or slimmer mean to you? Is it about having more energy? Curing yourself of an
illness? Being free of joint pain? Not needing to take medication? Feeling more confident? Liking
what you see in the mirror? Being able to run the City to Surf marathon? Walking the Inca Trail?
Swimming the English Channel? Participating in a triathlon? Fitting into a particular dress?
Stabilising your blood sugar levels? Lowering your blood pressure? Having a waist circumference
below a certain number? Feeling in control of your eating?
Note the obvious omission of a target weight.
Your goal doesn’t have to be complicated. It needs to be clear and significant to you. If you want your
goal simply to be a particular dress size, that’s great. If you want a longer list of achievements, that’s
also fine.
If we don’t set clear goals we mistakenly blame the method or the circumstances for not achieving
what we want. Often the issue lies with not being precise enough about what we want or where we’re
going in the first place.

Why is clarity so critical?

A man without a goal is like a boat without a rudder.
Thomas Carlyle

Recall the metaphor of the boat (brain), captain (conscious mind) and crew (subconscious mind). Re-
read the chapter Smooth sailing if you need a refresher.
The job of the captain (conscious mind) is to decide on the destination (goal). The job of the crew
(subconscious mind) is to do what needs to be done to get there. The subconscious mind acts like an
inbuilt GPS, guiding you to your destination. You don’t have to understand how a GPS works for it to
deliver you to your destination. You just need to type in the precise address. Similarly you don’t need
to understand how your subconscious mind guides you to accomplish your goal. Just be clear about
exactly what you want. Clarity cuts through to the subconscious so that both captain and crew are
working towards the same end.Clarity imbues you with confidence and courage because you know
exactly where you’re going. Clarity gives you the freedom to say no to things that don’t forward your
Mission. Clarity creates a target with a magnetic force. Clarity keeps you on track. Clarity guides
your decisions and choices because you simply have to ask yourself:

‘Will this course of action bring me closer to my goal or take me further away?’
‘Is the step I am about to take On or Off Mission?’

If you aren’t sure, take a step in the most likely direction and you’ll soon receive feedback to correct
your course if necessary.
The goals you set become the filters through which you see life. Have you ever bought a car? Do you
find that you suddenly start to see your chosen model everywhere? In the same way, when we set a
clear and definite goal, we suddenly notice opportunities all around us to help us achieve it.
If you’ve ever been taught goal-setting, you’re probably familiar with the acronym SMART: Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. This is not actually smart enough to wake up
your crew and inspire them to act. Follow the steps below to express your goal (Mission) founded on
NeuroSlimming principles. This will be your personal Mission Statement.
Your Mission Statement is a sentence or several sentences that clearly and succinctly
encapsulate your overarching goal. The steps below show you how to word your goal so that
your subconscious mind is brought into play to make it happen.

Step 1: Make a start

Open your Mission Manual to a new page and write a list of things you would like to achieve
in relation to your health and your body. Refer to some of the examples I gave above. What
would you want if you knew you couldn’t fail? If you knew that success was guaranteed? How
will you know when you have arrived? This is the free-flow stage of goal-setting so don’t
judge or censor anything. Let the words pour out onto the page. Don’t worry about how you’ll
get there. Simply decide what it is you want. You don’t need to share your goal with anyone so
don’t hold back or feel self-conscious. If you would like to show your goal to a friend or
support person, by all means do so. Who you share your goal with is entirely up to you.
When you have a list of things that inspire you, write your goal as a sentence (or several
sentences) following the guidelines below.

Step 2: Make it PERSONAL

Begin your sentence with I or My. For example:

I am . . .
I have . . .
I feel . . .
My body . . .

Own your goal.

When you read what you have written, does it resonate with you? Does it excite you? Is it truly
what you want or what someone else wants for you? Or is it what you think you should be
striving for? If necessary, rework your goal so that you feel it reflects what’s important to you.

Step 3: Write it in the PRESENT tense

To the subconscious mind there is only the present. The past is gone and the future hasn’t
happened. The only time in which we can act is now. The only time in which anything happens
is in the present. Past and future are only concepts. When the future arrives, it is the present.
This may seem like unnecessary semantics but it is critical in terms of communicating with your
crew. For your subconscious to start orchestrating the accomplishment of your goal, you need
to state your goal as though it already exists. Your body will then ‘catch up’ with your mental
construct.
Therefore if you have written ‘I will . . . ‘, ‘I want . . . ‘, ‘I hope . . .’ or ‘I’d like . . .’ simply
change it to ‘I am . . . ‘, ‘I have . . . ‘, ‘I feel . . .’ or ‘I look stunning in my blue silk suit’.

Step 4: Make it POSITIVE

Recall the chapter Lose the word ‘lose’. Describe what you are moving towards (for example,
excellent health), not what you are moving away from (for example, illness). The crew
communicate through images and emotions. If you are told not to think of a purple frog, what
image immediately springs to mind? A purple frog. Similarly, if you express your goal in terms
of not having diabetes, you are still reinforcing the image and emotion of having diabetes. Put
your mind and body in a state of relaxation rather than resistance. Rephrase your goal in terms
of having healthy blood sugar levels and plenty of energy all day long.
You would never address a letter as ‘not going to Smith Street’. Where is it that you are going?
Check your sentence for the following words: ‘I don’t . . . I won’t . . . I lose . . .’ or any
reference to a negative state such as pain or illness. Replace these words with their positive
counterparts.
Examples of positive phrases that may be relevant to your goal:

I am perfectly healthy in every part of my mind and body.

Every cell and organ of my body is in excellent working order.
All my blood test results show that I am in excellent health.
Every part of my body is functioning perfectly.
I have loads of energy.
I am able to fit into my size 12 jeans and I look hot!

Step 5: Make it PRECISE

Specify exactly what you are aiming for. The last sentence above is a good example of being
precise. What other details could you add to create a more compelling image in your mind’s
eye? What exactly does being lean, slim, trim, fit or healthy mean to you? What does ‘healthy’
look like to you? Is there anything you will be doing that you are not able to do at this point in
time? What might you be wearing? Who are you with? How will you or your circumstances be
different? You could describe a scene in your doctor’s office where he or she congratulates you
on your excellent blood test results. Are there any other details that excite you about achieving
your goal? The more explicit you are with your crew, the more easily they will bring you to
your destination.
 Step 6: Put it all together
Now put together everything you have written to form a sentence or several sentences that
accurately describe your goal. Check that what you have written is Personal, Positive, Precise
and in the Present tense. This is your Mission Statement.
Below are examples of effective Mission Statements. If some of these relate to your own goals,
feel free to incorporate them (or any of the sentences from Step 4) into your own Mission
Statement.

I look and feel great. I am proud of my strong, healthy, fit body.

I am wearing my size _________ black dress and confidently giving a speech at my boss’s
retirement dinner.
My waist measurement is less than _________
All my blood test results indicate that I am vibrantly healthy. I feel fabulous!
I have loads of energy all day long and I love going to the gym every day.
I love what I see when I look in the mirror.
I enjoy taking care of my amazing body. I feel empowered and at peace.
Every bone, cartilage, tendon, ligament, nerve fibre, blood vessel, organ, tissue and cell
of my body is in perfect working order. (That’s what I call detailed and precise!)
My body enables me to do everything and anything I want.
I am strong, fit, healthy and happy — physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Everything I eat and drink contributes to my optimal health and vitality.
I have the energy, confidence and vitality to do everything I want.
I have great muscle definition.
I love my curves. I have a great figure.
Every day my health and vitality are improving.
I participate in a fundraising triathlon.

Write your completed Mission Statement on a separate page in your Mission Manual. For some
people it is one punchy sentence. For others it’s a comprehensive paragraph. Your Mission
Statement is whatever you need it to be. Give it the importance and reverence it deserves by
dedicating one page of your Manual solely to your Mission Statement.
Your Mission Statement doesn’t have to be ‘perfect’. You can add to it or modify it at any time.
The important thing is to have something definite that you can begin to feel yourself becoming.

Step 7: Make it MEASURABLE

Now that you are clear about what you want, how will you keep track of your progress? Start a
new page in your Mission Manual and title it PROGRESS. Create two lists: one with objective
measurements and one with subjective observations of your progress. Subjective observations
will enable you to see that being On Mission is its own intrinsic reward. Below are some
examples offered by retreat participants. Select as many as appeal to you from each list or
come up with your own parameters. Seeing progress will create momentum and motivate you to
keep going during challenging times.

Objective signs of progress

Record your measurements or test results as they are today.
Every month or so, document the scores that you are able to measure yourself; for example,
waist circumference or clothing size.
Take blood tests or scans however frequently your doctor recommends.
Write down and date your results in your Mission Manual.
Examples of objective measurements used by retreat participants are:

Tape measure: I notice my waist circumference decreasing.

Clothing size: My clothes are fitting more loosely and I need to buy smaller clothes.
Physical fitness: I am walking further and faster. (Record your chosen distance and the
time it takes you.)
Pedometer: I am reaching 10 000+ steps every day with increasing ease.
My blood pressure is at a healthy level: below 140/90.
My blood sugar levels are consistently in the normal range. (There are various tests that
assess how well your body is handling glucose and how well your insulin is working. If
these are relevant to you, ask your doctor to explain them and record your target numbers.)
My blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels all indicate that I am in great health.

Subjective signs of progress

(I) General signs relating to improved quality of life

I am sleeping through the night and I wake up feeling refreshed.

I have more energy.
I am concentrating better at work.
I feel more effective in everything I do.
I am handling life’s stresses more easily.
I am feeling happier and better about myself.
I have greater self-confidence.
I trust myself more and I understand my body better than I ever have.
My sex life is a lot better!

(II) Signs relating to the first seven Missions

I only eat when I’m hungry.

I recognise what my body needs at any given time.
I enjoy focusing on my food and body when I eat.
I am enjoying my food more than ever before.
 I stop eating when I’m satisfied and I feel OK about leaving food on my plate.
I am getting very creative with using leftovers.
I am eating more vegetables.
I am satisfied by one glass of wine with my meal.

These lists are not exhaustive. They are to assist you in getting started. Perhaps your personal
trainer or exercise physiologist offers DEXA scans to assess VAT levels. Use whatever
measurements are meaningful and motivating to you.

Step 8: Make it MOTIVATING

Read your Mission Statement out loud right now. How does it feel? Are you excited and
motivated to make it happen? Is there anything else you need to add to make it more inspiring?

Step 9: MEMORISE it
Keep your Mission Manual by your bed and read your Mission Statement every morning when
you wake up and every evening before you go to sleep. You can also write it out on a piece of
paper and stick it on your fridge, mirror or anywhere you feel comfortable seeing it. If you
don’t want others to see it, you could put it in a private drawer. This is analogous to the captain
putting up a notice on the crew noticeboard to keep their destination front of mind.
Carry your Mission Statement everywhere you go. If you are waiting in a queue pull it out and
read it. Once you have memorised it, continue to repeat it to yourself every morning and
evening. The first few minutes after you wake up and the last few minutes before you fall
asleep are the times when the subconscious mind is most impressionable. Your crew are on
high alert and you will get through to them more easily at these times.

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 10 
Want-power not willpower

Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it

logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the
fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions
mercilessly.
Confucius

M IS S IO N 1 0
Your Tenth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Want-power not willpower.
Clout is the Third Skill of NeuroSlimming.
In Mission 10 you create your Passion Statement.
Losing weight is easy. Following any diet will enable you to do it. But by now you realise there are
two fundamental flaws with this approach:
1. Losing weight is a misguided goal.
2. Going on a diet leads to regaining the weight plus more within 12 months.
Finding someone who has shed more than 20 percent of their excess fat and kept it off permanently is
as rare as finding someone who has jumped off a 10-storey building and survived. It can happen, but I
wouldn’t like my chances.
In 1994, psychologist Rita Wing and paediatrician James Hill set out to uncover the secret of
successful long-term slimmers. They founded the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) in the
USA and started gathering detailed data from people who had shed more than 30 pounds (14
kilograms) and kept it off for over a year. After nine long years, they revealed the results of their
research to a packed and eager audience: there was NO secret, NO plan and NO specific way of
eating that determined success. The methods, food choices, exercise regimes and lifestyles of
successful long-term slimmers were as varied as their fingerprints.
What the?
However, there was ONE thing ALL the successful long-term slimmers shared: a compelling,
lasting, life-enhancing reason to succeed. It’s time for you to discover yours.
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche observed that, ‘He who has a powerful why can conquer
any unknown how.’ Or in the words of William James, ‘To change one’s life: Start immediately. Do
it flamboyantly.’
What will make you want to start immediately and flamboyantly?
Think about why you want to change your body. Why do you want to be slim and healthy? Why does
being lighter matter to you? Why do you want to look great? What difference will any of this make to
your life?
If you have a big enough, strong enough, compelling enough reason for wanting to attain something,
you will attain it. Even if you have no idea how you’ll get there, your brain (in particular, your crew)
will figure it out. Find your why and you’ll find your way.
When you truly want something, you don’t need willpower. Want-power is more powerful than
willpower. Want-power increases willpower because you are driven to succeed. When you’re
absolutely clear and passionate about your reasons for wanting to be vibrantly healthy, you become
unstoppable. Knowing your why is absolutely critical because it turns everything you encounter into a
stepping stone rather than a stumbling block.
The key is to uncover a personally meaningful, motivating, overriding, utterly irresistible reason for
wanting to accomplish your Mission. It won’t work if the reason is a half-hearted statement like, ‘I
need to shed visceral fat because my doctor says it’s contributing to my high blood pressure.’ By all
means, if having lower blood pressure really excites you, make that your reason. If it doesn’t excite
you, find a reason that does. Dig deep for a reason that ignites your passion.

Why passion?
Passion gives us power. Passion energises us. Passion changes our brain and body chemistry. When
we are passionate about something, we’re naturally switched on, focused and firing on all cylinders.
We don’t have to find ways to motivate ourselves because we’re intrinsically motivated.

Beauty is not in the face, beauty is a light in the heart.

Kahlil Gibran

Passion enables us to do things we never thought we were capable of doing. When I’m passionately
in love with someone I’ll do anything for him — even watch the rugby. When I’m not passionately in
love, I’d rather watch paint dry. Apologies to all rugby fans, it just doesn’t excite me.
Passion stimulates the brain to release the chemicals of success: dopamine, adrenaline and
acetylcholine. Dopamine opens our minds, expands our vision, makes us feel great and compels us to
continue with the activity. It is one of the most powerful pleasure-generating chemicals. Adrenaline
gives us a massive surge of energy to enhance our performance in whatever we undertake. It makes us
stronger, faster and more alert. Acetylcholine sharpens our focus and consolidates the changes we
make in our brains whenever we establish a new habit. In addition, brain-imaging studies have shown
that when we’re passionate about something, we turn on more brain cells so we’re more resourceful
and creative.
Deep desire to achieve our goals is what gives us the clout to make them happen — no matter what.
Passion acts like a turbocharger — it increases the power output of an engine while surviving
extreme operating conditions. Fortunately none of the Missions require you to do anything extreme.
The point is that when you crave your goal more than you crave sugar, you will kick the habit. Don’t
worry if you feel you are not a passionate person or that nothing has ever ignited your passion. As
long as you tap into a reason that has emotional significance for you, it will move you to fulfil your
Mission Statement.
Emotive reasons enable us to achieve incredible feats against all odds.
Your Passion Statement ties your Values Statement to your Mission Statement.

Step 1
Write your answers to the following questions in your Mission Manual. Give yourself up to
two minutes to answer each question. Write quickly without censoring anything and see what
emerges. If you find yourself thinking that the questions are repetitive, continue writing anyway.
Asking the same question in different ways can evoke different answers. If there is one answer
that keeps coming up for you then that is probably what is most important to you. You don’t
need to share your reasons with anyone and it doesn’t matter if your reasons don’t mean
anything to anyone else. This is about what’s important to you.

What motivated you to pick up this book? Was there a trigger or a particular incident that
made you feel ‘I have to do this’?
What does being lighter and healthier mean to you?
Why does it matter to you?
What difference will it make to your life if you are in optimal health?
What does being free look like to you?
What do you feel you will gain by releasing excess fat?
How will it feel to lighten your physical load?
How do you want to feel about your body?
What will excite you about having a body you’re happy and comfortable with?
How will you feel when you have accomplished what you wrote as your Mission
Statement?

Step 2
Review your answers. Do any of them surprise you? Would you like to elaborate on anything
you have written? Do so now.

Step 3
Do your answers relate to an upcoming event like a wedding or school reunion? Are you
focused on a specific outcome like falling pregnant? Or do your reasons apply to the rest of
your life?
If you want to feel fabulous at an upcoming event, that’s great. It will serve as a powerful
motivator to stay On Mission. It is equally important to have a reason or reasons that will keep
you On Mission after the event. What is an overriding reason for attaining what you wrote in
your Mission Statement?
 Step 4
Now that you have warmed up, set a stopwatch to five minutes. As soon as you press go, write
continuously until you come up with 50 reasons for attaining your Mission! You only have five
minutes to come up with all 50 reasons so write as quickly as you can. It is doable and you’ll
do it. You can repeat your answers from Step 1 but don’t look at them. Just write.
This exercise stimulates the production of adrenaline and thereby increases your focus,
resourcefulness and sharpness of thinking. You will discover more and different answers than
if you gave yourself an hour and laboured over each reason. It is also a way of tapping into
emotive reasons rather than rational ones. Your conscious mind has no time to step in and veto
what your subconscious mind (your crew) is throwing up. Discover what your crew knows that
your captain has been unaware of.
When your time is up, read through your answers. Mark the ones that you feel are the most
important. Or are they all important? There is no right or wrong approach.
Below is a snapshot of reasons offered by retreat participants. Some of your reasons may
overlap with your Mission Statement. That’s fine. If you keep coming back to the same point,
you have hit on what is most important to you. Repeatedly focusing on what you want rewires
your brain to bring about your desired goal.

I want to feel free.

I am sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.
I want to be in control of my life. My health issues tell me that my life is out of balance.
My excess fat is contributing to my arthritis.
I was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and the thought of being on medication for
the rest of my life terrifies me.
I am sick of feeling self-conscious about my body.
I want to feel good about myself.
I feel that my excess body fat creates a barrier between me and other people. I want to
allow people into my life.
My self-consciousness stops me from revealing my true personality.
I want to be able to run around with my children.
I want to go on a family holiday where I am not the one slowing everyone down.
I want to be able to walk up a flight of stairs without feeling puffed.
My doctor said I was a heart attack waiting to happen.
I want to experience a sense of achievement.
I want to get my ovaries working so that I can fall pregnant.
I want to know how it feels to be light and free.
I don’t want to feel that I’m holding back from life.
I want to join the police force.
I don’t want to die prematurely.
I want to live life to the fullest.
I know if I can achieve my health goals, I can achieve anything.
 I want to look great.

Step 5
Look at the reasons you have marked as the most important. If you have 10, intuitively select the
three that you feel encapsulate your deepest why. Then apply the following process to your
three top reasons.
1. Ask yourself ‘Why is this reason so important to me?’ Or ‘Why do I want to . . .’
2. In response to your answer, ask yourself why again. ‘Why is the reason for my reason
important to me?’
3. Keep drilling down on your answer by asking why a total of five times for each of your
three top reasons.
Keep asking yourself why until you start to cry! I don’t literally mean you have to cry. Crying is
a metaphor for tapping into an emotional — rather than logical — reason for wanting your goal.
Some people find that they get teary, while others feel a surge of excitement or a sense of calm
conviction.
This technique elicits the ultimate motive behind your reasons. It reveals your deepest driving
force. Perhaps you already uncovered this in one of the earlier steps. Excellent! In the event
that you didn’t, has this final exercise unearthed something you might not have realised was
deeply important to you?
When you feel you have uncovered your deepest why, sit with the feeling it gives you and
experience it fully.
Your answers to the questions above form the basis of your Passion Statement.
Your Passion Statement is a sentence or several sentences that encapsulate your deepest reason
or reasons for wanting to achieve your Mission.

Step 1
Follow the same criteria for creating your Passion Statement that you did for writing your
Mission Statement. In other words, phrase it in such a way that it is:

Personal
Present tense
Positive
Precise
Motivating and emotive.

Below are examples of effective Passion Statements based on the sample reasons listed above.

I feel free! It’s the best feeling in the world!

I am in control of my life. My great health tells me that my life is in balance.
My joints are strong and healthy. It’s such a relief to be able to move freely.
I have healthy blood sugar levels and it’s all due to my own actions. I feel incredibly
empowered.
I feel fabulous about my body. It is so liberating!
I feel closely connected with the people in my life.
I feel confident about expressing my true self.
I can run around with my children! Seeing the delight on their faces brings me to tears.
I lead the pack on our family holidays! It feels amazing!
I walk up a flight of stairs with ease. Yay!
I have a healthy heart. I feel fabulous.
I experience a profound sense of achievement.
I am able to fall pregnant and I inspire my children to live healthy lives.
I feel light and free. It is incredible.
I can do anything!
I fulfil my dream of joining the police force.
I live a long and happy life.
I am living life to the full.
I can achieve anything. It’s a wonderful feeling.
I look great.

Write your completed Passion Statement on a separate page in your Mission Manual. As with
your Mission Statement, it can be one succinct sentence or a detailed paragraph. Your Passion
Statement is whatever you need it to be.
Your Passion Statement doesn’t have to be ‘perfect’. You can add to it or modify it at any time.
The important thing is to have something that fires you up and reminds you of the importance of
achieving your goal.

Step 2: Memorise it
Keep your Mission Manual by your bed and read your Mission and Passion Statements every
morning when you wake up and every evening before you go to sleep. You can also add your
Passion Statement to the piece of paper stuck on your mirror on which you wrote your Mission
Statement. This is analogous to the captain getting the crew excited about reaching their
destination.
Take your Mission and Passion Statements everywhere you go. If you are waiting in a queue,
pull them out and read them. Once you have memorised them, continue to repeat them to
yourself every morning, evening and opportune moment.

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 11 
Results not regrets

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed

by the things you didn’t do than the things you did do. So
throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour
and catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore, dream,
discover.
Mark Twain

M IS S IO N 11
Your Eleventh Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Results not regrets.
Compassion is the Fourth Skill of NeuroSlimming.
In Mission 11 you create your Release Statement.
Now that you’ve created your Passion Statement and you’re clear about your reasons for wanting to
accomplish your Mission, what are your reasons for not wanting to succeed?
Huh? What reasons could you possibly have for not wanting vibrant health, lasting vitality and a body
you love? It doesn’t make sense, at least not to the conscious mind. But to the subconscious — the
custodian of our emotional wellbeing — it makes perfect sense.
Here is my story as an example.

For more than a decade, I struggled to overcome the entire spectrum of eating disorders I had studied during psychiatry. I
wanted nothing more than to be free of my body-loathing and food hang-ups and I would have given anything to eat without
anguish. My well-meaning boyfriend at the time cogently insisted, ‘If you really wanted to, you’d just give up your insane
behaviour around food and stop binging. You obviously don’t want to give up your chocolate feeding-frenzies.’ Needless to
say I had to stop myself from holding his head under water.

‘What do you mean, I don’t want to give up my insane relationship with food? I’ve seen umpteen therapists and attended
every support group in Sydney!’

However, one day it finally dawned on me that giving up my disordered eating would mean putting at risk something that was
even more important to me than being healthy: being liked. In my early twenties, I used to be ‘really nice’. I always ‘did the
right thing’, was never angry and avoided conflict at all costs. I never complained and nothing seemed to ruffle me because I
knew I always had my Tim Tams or Maltesers or block of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk to come home to. I could let it all build up
during the day because my chocolate friends were waiting to comfort me at night. If they were taken away from me, who
might I become? If I didn’t have an outlet, how would I hold everything together? I might actually have to assert my
boundaries or occasionally say ‘no’. If I did that, people might not like me and no longer consider me ‘nice’. Better to have an
eating disorder than to be not nice.

Illogical as this sounds, this is how the subconscious mind sometimes operates. Binge eating was
essential for my emotional survival because I didn’t know how else to manage unwanted emotions.
Even though consciously I wanted to give up binging, subconsciously I found it threatening. And since
the subconscious is far more powerful than the conscious, I didn’t stand a chance. What I needed to
do first was learn how to maintain harmonious relationships with co-workers without feeling
compromised or losing my sense of self. Reading the works of Harriet Goldhor Lerner (see
Recommended reading at the end of the chapter) went a long way to helping me.
What subconscious factors might be at play in your relationship with food or with your body? Your
situation may be very different from mine. Whatever the case, be compassionate with yourself as you
uncover your own answers. Your biggest regrets can inspire your greatest results.
American comedian and TV host Rosie O’Donnell shed 50 pounds (23 kilograms) after having gastric
bypass surgery. However, rather than feeling elated, she found that carrying less body fat made her
feel vulnerable and exposed. Rosie had been sexually abused as a child and she gained weight in an
attempt to feel protected. In her case, excess body fat created distance between herself and other
people. When this barrier was gone, she needed to learn new ways of dealing with anxiety that did
not involve numbing herself with food.
US author and university lecturer Roxane Gay talks about gaining weight as a potent form of control.
At the age of 12 years she was gang-raped and remembers how it profoundly changed her view of her
body. She talks about eating to make her body a fortress, and in her twenties she hoped to reach a size
that would make her invisible to the male gaze. When this didn’t work, she decided to change the way
she related to herself instead.
A review of 23 studies involving 112 000 participants, published in the journal Obesity Reviews in
2014, found that being abused as a child—whether it was physical, sexual, emotional or general—
was associated with a 34 percent increased risk of developing obesity as an adult. The more severe
the abuse, the greater the risk—up to 50 percent increased risk with extreme abuse. Lead researcher,
Erik Hemmingsson, explains that the mechanisms behind the process probably include a complex
interplay of stress, negative thought patterns, fragmented self-esteem, erosion of mental health, and
even physical repercussions such as increased inflammation and lowered immune function.
This is not to say that everyone who has been abused or sexually violated becomes obese or uses
food to manage their anxiety. However, if this is something that you have experienced, it’s important
to ask yourself if it might be playing a role in your relationship with food or with your body.
Obese — but not overweight — children are more likely to be bullied. This creates a whole other
cascade of psychological and emotional issues that may need to be addressed.
The point is that sometimes what appears to be a physical issue (carrying excess body fat) has its
roots in psychological or emotional traumas that occurred when we were young. We have known this
for a long time but it is not often discussed in relation to body fat. If this relates to you, I encourage
you to seek professional counselling. Making peace with your body and with food is one of the
greatest gifts you can give to yourself and to everyone whose life you touch.
 Step 1
What might be your reason or reasons for not wanting to achieve your Mission? Or not wanting
a body you love? Write your answers to the following questions in your Mission Manual. I
deliberately use the term ‘weight loss’ in some of the questions in order to trigger your feelings
around loss. The first time you do this, set a timer to go off every minute so that you only spend
60 seconds per question. Write as quickly as you can and come up with as many reasons as you
can. Feel the adrenaline kick in and don’t censor anything. Your crew will surrender the
answer.

Why don’t you want to lose weight?

What are any possible benefits or pay-offs of staying where you are and not achieving
your Mission?
What are your fears around achieving your Mission?
If you lose weight, is there anything else you stand to lose?
When you achieve your Mission, what else might change in your life that you don’t want to
change?
What do you think it might cost you to be lighter or healthier?
If you’ve answered ‘nothing’ or ‘no’ to all of the above questions, what has prevented you
from achieving the body you want?
Even if you’ve already come up with answers to the questions above, is there anything
else that has stopped you from attaining your optimal healthy body?

Step 2
If you felt irritated by the exercise or you were stuck for responses, don’t worry. These are
merely ploys thrown up by your subconscious mind when it doesn’t want to provide answers
that stir up pain or discomfort.
If you didn’t come up with any answers or you don’t feel you’ve hit the mark, read each
question again, then close your eyes and get in touch with how they make you feel. If you
experience agitation, annoyance or resistance, ask yourself what it’s about. If you’re feeling
totally at ease, move on to the next question.

Step 3
Below are some responses from retreat participants. I include them to give you an insight into
the widely divergent factors that influence our behaviour around food.
1. Why don’t you want to lose weight?
 It gives me an excuse for not having a partner. I can blame others for judging me on
my appearance rather than having to take responsibility for my own life.
I don’t want to give up eating my favourite foods. I know that Mission 2 lets me eat
what I like but I’m a long way from trusting myself and it all feels overwhelming.

2. What are any possible benefits or pay-offs of staying where you are and not achieving
your Mission?

I get to stay angry at my father.

My poor health shows people how much stress I am under. If I take charge of my life,
they might not realise how tough I am doing it. Carrying excess fat feeds my need to
be recognised.

3. What are your fears around achieving your Mission?

I’m afraid it will be too much hard work.

I’m afraid it might take some of my focus away from my job and I don’t want to slow
down my career advancement.
I’m afraid it will require massive changes in the way I live my life and I don’t have
the time or the energy to make such massive changes.
I’m afraid I wouldn’t fit in with the rest of my family. Everyone is carrying excess fat
and it might change my relationship with them. I wouldn’t feel as connected with
them. I wouldn’t ‘belong’.
I’m afraid it might change my personality. I don’t know why I think that.
I’m afraid if I become slim I’ll get unwanted male attention.
I’m afraid I’d put myself at risk of getting raped again.
I’m afraid my partner might find it threatening if I changed my body.
I’ve never been slim and I wouldn’t know myself if I was lighter than I am now.
Somehow that scares me.

4. If you lose weight, is there anything else you stand to lose?

I could lose my social life because all my socialising revolves around food and
drink.
I’d lose my identity as a great cook. My family and friends love my cooking and I
don’t want to disappoint them with a new eating regime.
I know I use food for comfort and I’m afraid of losing that.

5. When you achieve your Mission, what else might change in your life that you don’t want to
change?

The way people relate to me might change.

I’d have to ask my partner to stop filling the house with junk food and I don’t want to
make him feel bad or wrong.

6. What do you think it might cost you to be lighter or healthier?

 It might cost me my relationship with my mother. She loves cooking for me and it
would disappoint her if I didn’t eat everything she prepared.

7. If you’ve answered ‘nothing’ or ‘no’ to all of the above questions, what has prevented you
from achieving the body you want?

I haven’t known how to do it.

I have a slow metabolism.
I lack the time to ‘do the right thing’.
Stress — I eat when I’m stressed and I have a very stressful job.
I’d never get my family on-board with eating healthy food and it’s too much work to
cook something different for myself.
I’m not sporty and I hate any form of exercise.
I have a huge sweet tooth.
I can’t overcome my craving for chocolate.
Everyone always brings cakes to work and it’s hard to resist eating them.
I just can’t break my bad eating habits.

8. Even if you’ve already come up with answers to the questions above, is there anything
else that has stopped you from attaining your optimal healthy body?

It was never important to me until now.

I haven’t known where to start. There is so much contradictory advice about food that
it did my head in trying to figure out what to do.

Step 4
Now read through your answers again.
Is there anything you would like to add or elaborate on?
Have you uncovered anything that surprises you?
Are you closer to understanding what might be holding you back?
Now that you know your reasons for not wanting to accomplish your Mission, what do you do
with them? How can you let go of your reasons so they no longer sabotage your Mission? Do
you even want to let go of them?

Step 1: Seek professional help if you need it

If you realise that past trauma, abuse, bullying or distressing life events are affecting your
current state of mind and health, please seek professional help and make this your priority.
If you are ready to dismantle your reasons, follow the steps below.

Step 2: Awareness
Recognise that there is tremendous power in awareness. It can be enormously liberating simply
acknowledging that something is ‘there’. Sometimes just becoming cognisant of an issue is
enough to let it go. Bringing something from your subconscious into your conscious awareness
can shift the power in favour of your conscious mind because you know what you are really
dealing with.
For instance, the person who wrote that he’d used his weight as an excuse for not having a
partner said it was such a light-bulb moment for him that he instantly felt free. He realised his
appearance had nothing to do with his relationship status so there was no need to hang on to the
fat anymore.
Go through your own list and see if any of your reasons drop away by virtue of you now being
aware of them. Don’t worry if they don’t — simply take a minute to look over them and see if
they do.

Step 3: Acknowledgement
Acknowledge that all your reasons once served a useful purpose. Get in touch with a feeling of
gratitude for having had a survival mechanism when you needed it. Understanding that you’ve
been doing your best with the resources you had leads to self-compassion. Stay with the feeling
of self-compassion for as long as you need to. Keep coming back to this feeling whenever
you’re tempted to beat up on yourself.

Step 4: Question their validity

Now that you’ve expressed gratitude for your reasons, question their current validity. Do you
still need them or are they past their ‘use by’ date? Examine your reasons and decide whether
there’s really any substance to them. If there isn’t, cross them out because you have no more use
for them.

Step 5: Override them

If your reasons for wanting the goal — which you wrote as your Passion Statement — are more
compelling than your reasons for not wanting the goal, your Passion Statement will override
the reasons that have been holding you back. So compare your reasons for and against
accomplishing your Mission and see which side outweighs the other.

An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

If your Mission Statement and Passion Statement aren’t powerful enough, what can you add to
them that will tip the scales in their favour? What will blast your limiting reasons out of the
water? If you can find a more powerful reason to be lighter than to be heavier you’ve won.
You’ll achieve your goal more easily than you thought possible because you’ll find yourself
instinctively doing whatever you need to do to succeed.

Step 6: Break down your Mission Statement into

smaller, achievable targets
If your fears or hesitation relate to feeling overwhelmed because your Mission Statement seems
too big, can you break it down into smaller achievable targets that you can tick off along the
way? Review the objective and subjective measures of progress you listed in Mission 9.
Could you commit to just one of these to get you started? We will explore this in more detail in
Mission 13.

Step 7: Turn them into beliefs

If you have any remaining reasons for not wanting to achieve your Mission, turn them into
beliefs. In other words, write the words ‘I believe (that). . .’ in front of all your reasons. This
dramatically weakens them. It is no longer a statement of fact but an opinion that can be
overturned.
Below are some examples based on the reasons given by retreat participants:

I believe that my weight issues give me permission to stay angry at my father.

I believe that my poor health brings me respect and status for doing it tough.
I believe that I’ll have to give up eating my favourite foods.
I believe it will be too much hard work.
I believe it might take some of my focus away from my job.
 I believe it will require massive changes in the way I live my life.
I believe I don’t have the time or the energy to make the necessary changes.
I believe I wouldn’t fit in with the rest of my family. I believe it might change my
relationship with them. I believe I wouldn’t feel as connected with them. I believe I
wouldn’t ‘belong’.
I believe it might change my personality.
I believe if I become slim I’ll get unwanted male attention.
I believe I’d put myself at risk of getting raped again.
I believe that my partner might find it threatening if I changed my body.
I believe that I wouldn’t know myself if I were slim.
I believe I could lose my social life because all my socialising revolves around food and
drink.
I believe I’d lose my identity as a great cook. My family and friends love my cooking and
I believe I’d disappoint them if I changed my culinary repertoire.
I believe the way people relate to me might change.
I believe my partner would find it difficult to cope with my change.
I believe it might cost me my relationship with my mother. She loves cooking for me and I
believe it would disappoint her if I didn’t eat everything she prepared.
I believe I have a slow metabolism.
I believe I wouldn’t cope with the stress at work.
I believe lack of time has been stopping me.
I believe I’d never get my family onboard with eating healthy food.
I believe I’m not sporty and I believe I hate any form of exercise.
I believe I have a huge sweet tooth.
I believe I can’t overcome my craving for chocolate.
I believe it will be hard to resist eating the cakes at work.
I believe I can’t break my bad eating habits.

Can you see how turning ‘facts’ into beliefs immediately takes power away from them because
it introduces an element of doubt? And that’s all that needs to happen at this stage: for you to
entertain the possibility that things could be different from the way you see them. Over the next
week, review your Belief Statements and challenge the truth of them. Start to create different
explanations and beliefs that serve your Mission rather than sabotage your Mission. Ask the
people you mention in your Belief Statements if your fears about disappointing them are
justified.

Step 8: Examine the costs

Write your answers to the following questions in your Mission Manual.

What is it costing you not to be happy with your body? And I’m not referring to the money
you’ve spent on diets and anti-ageing products. What price are you paying for your
reasons?
What impact are your weight issues having on your family, your children or your partner?
How does it make you feel to see that you have sacrificed your health and happiness for
 the reasons you listed? Are your reasons worth it? Or are they simply giving you a false
sense of security?
What regrets will you have in years to come if you don’t accomplish your Mission? What
would be the consequences of giving up on your Mission? Get in touch with the impact on
your life of not accomplishing your Mission.
Do you want to continue to merely survive or is it time for you to thrive?
Do your answers to the questions above make it easier to let go of your reasons?

Step 9: Throw them overboard

If you still have some die-hard reasons left, apply the following guided visualisation. You can
ask someone to read it to you while you close your eyes and follow the instructions or you can
make a recording and play it back to yourself. (Or you can memorise it!)
Before you begin, look at your reasons and imagine them as three-dimensional coloured
objects. They can be balls, anvils, rocks or any shape you like. They can be black, grey, red or
any mix of colours that pop into your mind. Use whatever images first occur to you.

Make yourself comfortable, either sitting or lying down, and close your eyes. Bring your attention to your breathing.
Take a slow, deep, conscious breath. Notice the air as it enters your nostrils, flows into your lungs and expands your
chest. Follow the air as it travels back out. Each breath you take nourishes every cell of your body. Imagine what the
air would be like if you were at the ocean. Imagine you are breathing in cool, fresh, sea air on a warm, calm, sunny
day.

Imagine you are now standing at a dock waiting to board a glistening new yacht. Before stepping on board, you see a
tall glass of clear fluid perched on a wooden pole at chest height. It contains the most effective sea-wellness
medicine ever invented. Drink it before boarding, if you need it. The liquid is cool and refreshing.

Step onto the boat and walk to the bow — the front end of the deck. Look out across the deep blue ocean stretching
in front of you. Feel the warm sun on your skin and a gentle breeze lifting your hair as the boat pulls away from the
shore. Feel the freedom of being at sea.

As the boat picks up speed, you notice that the deck is sloping in a downward direction behind you. You turn around
and walk to the other end of the boat to find out what is weighing down the stern (the rear end of the boat). Whatever
it is, it must be heavy because of the degree to which the deck is sloping downwards as you approach it.

When you arrive at the rear of the boat you see a large pile of coloured objects. On closer inspection, you recognise
them as your reasons for not wanting to accomplish your Mission! All your reasons are piled up in a big heap at the
back of the boat weighing it down.

Next to your pile of reasons, you see a large empty sack and a thick strong rope. Look back at your reasons and
allow yourself to appreciate the role they have played in your life. Mentally thank each reason for serving you when
you needed it. Tell each of your reasons that you no longer require it because you are entering a new stage of your
life. Pick up each reason, one at a time, and bid it goodbye before placing it in the sack. When all your reasons are in
the sack, tie it up with the thick rope so that nothing can fall out. Check the knot to make sure it is tight and secure.
Pick up the ends of the rope and drag the sack to the front of the boat where you were previously standing. It feels
heavier than you imagined and your arms get tired from pulling the sack to the other end of the boat. When you reach
the bow, take a deep breath and pick up the sack. Hold it high above your head and with a surge of strength, throw
the sack as far as you can into the deep blue sea. Watch it land on the water and slowly sink out of sight. All your
reasons have now gone. They will no longer weigh you down and hold you back from moving full steam ahead.
Notice feeling physically, psychologically and emotionally lighter. Notice feeling free . . . relieved . . . playful . . .
powerful . . . excited . . . elated . . . happy . . . grateful . . . liberated . . . Notice that you have a beaming smile on your
face. Enjoy the feelings for as long as you want.

Look out across the ocean and feel the breeze against your cheeks as the boat speeds up. Take another deep
breath of invigorating sea air. Notice the air as it enters your nostrils, flows into your lungs and expands your chest.
Follow the air as it travels back out. Each breath you take nourishes every cell of your body. Continue to follow your
breath for as long as you like. When you are ready, open your eyes.

This visualisation represents your Release Statement.

Recommended reading
These are all books that have helped me dissolve my reasons. Check them out to see if they are
relevant to your situation. Some of them are decades old but still have much to offer.
Chödrön, Pema, When Things Fall Apart, Shambhala, Boston, 2000
Jeffers, Susan, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, Ballantine, New York, 2006
Lerner, Harriet Goldhor, Dance of Anger, William Morrow, New York, 2005
Lerner, Harriet Goldhor, Dance of Connection, William Morrow, New York, 2001
Lerner, Harriet Goldhor, Dance of Intimacy, William Morrow, New York, 1997
Tolle, Eckhart, A New Earth, Penguin, 2005
Tolle, Eckhart, The Power of Now, Hachette, Sydney, 2008

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 12 
Imagination sparks creation

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.

Henry David Thoreau

M IS S IO N 1 2
Your Twelfth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Imagination sparks creation.
Creativity is the Fifth Skill of NeuroSlimming.
In Mission 12 you create your Vision Statement.
Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, has demonstrated that we
can change our brains by using our imagination. He found that mental practice strengthens existing
connections between brain cells and stimulates the formation of new connections.
In the first of many groundbreaking experiments, two groups of people with no previous experience
were taught to play the piano. At the start of the study, all the participants had their brains ‘mapped’
through a method known as transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS. This established a baseline
‘photograph’ of the inside of their brains. One group engaged in standard real-life piano practice. The
other group visualised their fingers pressing the correct keys and imagined hearing the music as they
did so. They did no physical practice whatsoever. After three days, both groups played with the same
accuracy, even though the people in the second group had never actually touched a keyboard. After
five days, the real-life practice group was slightly better than the mental-practice group. However,
after a single two-hour session during which they actually played the piece, the mental-practice
students were as good as the real-life students. What was even more amazing was that both groups
showed similar changes in their brain maps. Mental practice produced the same changes in motor
signals sent out from the brain to the muscles as did physical practice.
How is this possible?
Phenomenal as it is, the brain is not able to discern the difference between what is real and what is
vividly imagined. The same neurons fire and the same parts of the brain light up whether we are
looking at a cat or whether we have our eyes closed and are imagining a cat — or whether we are
experiencing an event or imagining ourselves experiencing that event.
Read the paragraph below and then close your eyes and follow the instructions.
 Think of a lemon. See yourself slicing the lemon into four wedges and then picking up one of the pieces and taking a
bite. Feel the juice trickling down your chin and the sourness causing your face to pucker. Experience the tart, tangy
taste on your tongue and in the back of your mouth.

Imagine this now. You don’t have to be a ‘vivid visualiser’ to be able to imagine something. How do
you bring memories to mind? Use the same process for this exercise.
When you imagined biting into the lemon, the same neurons were activated as if you had actually
bitten into a lemon.
Thinking specific thoughts is a powerful way of switching on specific brain cells.
Every time you think a thought, just like every time you perform an action, you fire an electrical signal
through a neural pathway. Each signal thickens the myelin sheath that surrounds the nerve fibre (axon).
The thicker the sheath, the more efficient the transmission and the better the cells are in performing
their functions. In addition, when you use your imagination to practise doing something, you recruit all
the various parts of the brain involved in performing the task and you start to build new neural
networks. You grow new cells and new connections between them. The key is repeating the thought
over and over again, just as tennis players practise serving a ball over and over again.
How can you apply this to changing your body and improving your health?
A study published in 1992 in the Journal of Neurophysiology by Dr Guang Yue and Dr Kelly Cole
showed that when we imagine using our muscles we actually strengthen them! The study compared a
group of people who physically exercised their finger muscles five days a week for four weeks with a
group of people who only visualised themselves doing the exercises. The visualisers saw themselves
performing the exact same drills that the physical group were doing: 15 maximal contractions with a
20-second rest between each. After a month everyone’s strength was retested. The physical-practice
group were 30 percent stronger than they’d been at the start of the study. The visualisers were 22
percent stronger than they had been at the start! When we imagine performing an action, the neurons
responsible for that action fire off electrical signals that travel to the relevant muscles. This firing
strengthens both the neurons and the muscles. As a result, when we actually perform the task, it is as
though we have been practising in the physical world and we are therefore better at it.
Research done by Brouziyne and Molinaro published in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills in
August 2005 demonstrated that mental practice improved a beginner’s golf performance. Twenty-
three volunteer beginner golfers were divided into three groups. One group engaged in only physical
practice of the approach shot. A second group combined physical practice with mental practice, and a
third group engaged in sporting activities other than golf. It will come as no surprise that those
engaged in both physical and mental practice showed the greatest improvement in performing the shot.
As early as the year 1983, the journal Science published a watershed study on the power of
visualisation to affect our physiology in the minutest detail. A group of subjects were asked to make
facial expressions corresponding to six basic emotions: anger, fear, disgust, surprise, sadness and
happiness. For every emotion, the researchers recorded changes in each participant’s heart rate, hand
temperature, skin resistance and muscle tension. The result was that every emotion had a
corresponding physical signature. For example, an angry face produced a rise in heart rate and
temperature and a drop in skin resistance. Disgust produced the opposite effect, while fear raised
heart rate and lowered temperature. The subjects were then asked to close their eyes, maintain a
poker face and sequentially imagine scenarios in their mind in which they felt the same six emotions.
Once again, the same four variables of heart rate, temperature, skin resistance and muscle tension
were measured. The result was exactly the same! The same changes were recorded in their body
whether they contorted their face and visibly demonstrated the emotion or whether they merely
imagined feeling the emotion. The brain and nervous system react in the same way to an actual or
imagined experience. This gives us tremendous power to change our external reality simply by
imagining what we want. Our brains and bodies will respond accordingly. Many recent studies have
also shown that mental imagery can assist in recovering motor function after a stroke.
Every thought leaves a footprint in your brain. If you keep thinking the same thoughts, the footprints
become deeply embedded and coalesce to form a path. This is how we develop habits. If you only
have a fleeting thought about something, new thoughts will quickly obscure traces of the previous
thought. What thoughts would you like to become your habitual ways of being? Keep thinking them.
How do you want your body to look and function? Mentally rehearse how you would like to be.
When you create a mental movie of your Mission, you activate the neurons required to make it
happen. Your brain will set off a cascade of events that speed up your metabolism, release your fat
stores and raise your energy levels. Your brain will produce hormones to reduce your appetite and
influence your behaviour to improve your health. Your brain will control your bodily processes so
that you naturally move in the direction of your goal.
Read over your Mission and Passion Statements and then imagine your answers to the
following questions. Your answers constitute your Vision Statement — a mental movie of your
Mission accomplished. If you don’t know the answers to some of the questions, guess or make
them up! The answers are whatever you want them to be. Your mind is creating a reality for
your body to catch up with. Engage as many senses as you can and make your mental movie as
vivid and absorbing as possible. Don’t force anything. You are daydreaming about a new
possibility for yourself, not trying to convince yourself of anything. Relax and allow yourself to
enjoy the accompanying positive feelings. Have an interested and enquiring attitude of
‘Wouldn’t this be nice?’
It’s a good idea to make a recording of the questions and instructions in Steps 1 to 7 so you can
listen to them every day and allow them to guide you through your visualisation. After a while
you won’t need the questions anymore. You’ll simply find yourself replaying the scenes in your
mind as though you are recalling happy memories.
Setting anything up for the first time can seem laborious and time-consuming. The first time you
create your Vision Statement (or mental movie) you might struggle to see clear images and your
mind may drift to other things. This is normal. Effective visualisation is a skill that can be
learned and improved with practice. For the time being if you can only get a vague sense of
what you are ‘seeing’ in your mind’s eye, that is good enough. The process is still working to
create new neural pathways. Give yourself time to become adept at it.

Step 1: Relax
You will notice that all the visualisations/contemplations/meditative exercises throughout this
book start and end in the same way. This primes your brain to enter a hypnotic-like state more
quickly and easily each time you hear the same words. This means your crew (subconscious)
will be more receptive to the suggestions that follow. Closing with the same words signifies to
your brain that it is time to return to its usual state of consciousness.
Make yourself comfortable, either sitting or lying down, and close your eyes. Bring your attention to your breathing.
Take a slow, deep, conscious breath. Notice the air as it enters your nostrils, flows into your lungs and expands your
chest. Follow the air as it travels back out. Each breath you take nourishes every cell of your body. Continue to take
three more slow, deep, conscious breaths. When you feel relaxed and at ease, answer the following questions.

Step 2: What does your new reality look like?

1. Imagine that you’ve accomplished your SlimPossible Mission. Describe how you look.
2. What expression do you have on your face?
 3. What are you wearing?
4. What are you doing? Give yourself permission to dream and go beyond any current
limitations.
5. What else can you see in your life that signifies you’ve accomplished your Mission?
6. Are you visualising in colour or black and white? If your images are black and white,
repeat the process in colour. If you are already seeing in colour, make them as bright and
vivid as you can.

Step 3: What does your new reality allow you to do?

1. Is there much action in the scenes you have created? If your images are static, add some
movement in the form of swimming in the ocean, running along the beach, climbing a
mountain, riding a bike or entering a room and having people compliment you on how
radiant you look.
2. Pretend you are creating a movie trailer. What action scenes would make you want to
watch the movie of your own success story?

Step 4: What does your new reality sound like?

1. What are you saying to yourself?
2. What are you saying about yourself?
3. What are other people saying to you?

Step 5: How does your new reality feel?

1. How does it feel to be light and healthy?
2. How do you feel having achieved your goal?
3. How does it feel having a lifestyle that supports your optimal wellbeing and that of your
family?
Recall from The five factors that change our brains in Part 1 that our emotional wiring is
deeper than our cognitive wiring. When you experience the positive emotions associated with
your visualisation, you create new emotional circuits that propel you towards your goal more
powerfully than images alone. Really get excited about your new reality and link it to feeling
WOW!

Step 6: Are you the observer or the participant?

1. When you visualise, do you see your movie as though watching it on a screen in front of
you (observing) or are you in it, looking out from your body (participating)? Most people
have a preference for one perspective or the other. Some people switch between the two.
Which is your default or preferred mode of visualising?
2. When you are the observer, known as being ‘disassociated’, you are becoming familiar
with what you will start to see when you look in the mirror. When you are the participant
(‘associated’), you will usually get a stronger sense of the feelings associated with
accomplishing your Mission.
 3. Play with both perspectives as the two together increase the power of your visualisation.
My default is to be the observer and I had to put considerable effort into becoming the
participant. The latter enables me to have a stronger emotional connection with my
visualisation.

Step 7: Run your mental movie

Now put all your answers together to create a movie clip. Experience the images, sounds and
feelings you’ve described with all the colour, action and emotion of a scene from real life. This
is your preview of life’s coming attractions. Any habits or subconscious issues that were
holding you back will be overwritten by your new program if you continue to play it over and
over in your mind. It isn’t as arduous as it sounds. We are constantly thinking about things
anyway. You may as well think about things that will create the life you want. Visualising your
goals rewires your brain.

Step 8: Don’t replay negative experiences

Integral to the effectiveness of your visualisation is that you don’t counteract it by rehearsing
negative life experiences. I deliberately use the word ‘rehearse’ because that is what we are
doing whenever we replay mistakes or unwanted scenarios in our minds. Recognise the power
of your thoughts in dictating your behaviour and influencing your bodily functions. If you have a
bad day or wish you could take back something you said, do whatever you need to do to get it
out of your mind. Write an apology, tell yourself everyone occasionally puts their foot in it,
decide how you will do things differently, or confide in someone who will help you forgive
yourself. By all means learn from your slip-ups but don’t keep rehashing them in your mind. It
is self-sabotaging and pulls you away from your goal even if it has nothing to do with your goal
because it generates a negative emotional cloud. Bring your mind back to a clean slate so you
can create the life you want. You can experience success in your mind any time you want. In the
process you are programming yourself for success in the external world.

Step 9: Make it a daily habit

Mental practice works like physical practice. The more often you get out on the tennis court and
play tennis, the more quickly your game will improve. The more often you mentally practise
being lighter and healthier, the more quickly you become lighter and healthier.
Every morning and evening after you have read (or recited from memory) your Mission
Statement and Passion Statement, replay your Vision Statement as a mental movie. Once you get
into a routine, all three will take only a few minutes and they will create the context in which
you live each day. Consistency is the key to effective visualisation. The neural circuits will
weaken if you don’t keep reinforcing them. On the positive side, this is how to overcome
unwanted habits of thinking. How you think is as much a habit as the things you do. Start to
think differently and your old patterns of thinking will soon be superseded. Even subconscious
issues that you may have unearthed in the previous Mission will loosen their hold on you.
After you have been visualising for a few months, you will automatically start to think, feel and
behave the way you do in your Vision Statement (mental movie). Even if your body hasn’t quite
caught up, you will simply know that it will. Your self-image or inner identity will have
changed to that of a lighter and healthier person. Continue to replay your mental movie for as
long as you like. Update it with new scenes as you start achieving your initial goals.

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 13 
Commitment creates capacity

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Or, as Shakespeare put it,

Our doubts make us lose the good we oft might win, by

fearing to attempt.
M IS S IO N 1 3
Your Thirteenth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Commitment creates capacity.
Commitment is the Sixth Skill of NeuroSlimming.
In Mission 13 you make a Commitment.
Commit to be fit!
Make the decision that your health is not negotiable. That’s it! No maybes, no excuses, no conditions,
no clauses, no matter what: commit to be fit. That’s all it takes: one decision and everything else falls
into place. And commit to it now. Not tomorrow. Not next month. Not after Christmas. Not after a
scare that leaves you with no choice. Right now.
We’re great at playing the game of ‘I’ll commit to be fit when . . .’ I’ll commit to be fit when we’ve
finished building the house. I have to prioritise getting a roof over our heads. I’ll commit to be fit
when we’ve paid off the mortgage. You have no idea how crippling interest rates are. I’ll commit to
be fit when the kids have started school. I’ll commit to be fit when the kids have finished school. I’ll
commit to be fit when the kids get a job. I’ll commit to be fit when the kids have married. I’ll commit
to be fit when the grandchildren have started school. I’ll commit to be fit after I recover from triple
bypass surgery . . .
Temporary has a habit of becoming permanent. Until you hit a crisis point.
Why wait until then?
What hesitations do you have about accomplishing your Mission?
What is causing you to put off feeling on top of the world?
Why stay at OW when your life could be WOW?
What will it take for you to commit to your optimal wellbeing?
All the things you prioritise above getting into shape will be so much more rewarding when you feel
good about yourself. And the biggest reward will be that you won’t feel good, you’ll feel great!
Everything you do will have more life and exuberance about it. Everything you do, you’ll do more
enthusiastically and joyfully. Everything you do will get done more efficiently because you’ll have
more energy and self-confidence.
Some of you may already have made the commitment to be On Mission and live life to the full.
Congratulations! I have no doubt you’ll feel it’s one of the best decisions you ever made.
If you haven’t yet made the commitment to thrive rather than merely survive and to excel rather than
exist, what is still holding you back? Do you still believe that a life of great health and vitality means
giving up more than you will gain? Does the idea of commitment make you feel nervous? As a school
teacher once said to me, ‘If something makes you nervous, you’ll gain much more than you expect by
doing the thing.’
I cannot put a price on the natural high of feeling free and healthy. Nor can anyone I’ve known. I could
never have predicted how great it would feel until I was feeling it. When you commit to be fit, you’ll
discover there is so much more to life.
What will be your Mission Moment? The moment when something breaks inside you and you say to
yourself, ‘That’s it! I deserve to live life, not watch life from the sidelines.’
Are you missing out on doing things because you’re tired all the time? Do you sit at the beach and
watch your family swimming because you’re too embarrassed to wear a bathing suit? Are you fed up
with not being able to walk into a shop and buy clothes that fit? Are you turning down invitations
because you don’t want to be seen? Are you just feeling miserable and don’t know how to turn things
around?
The very first step is deciding that you’ve had enough and you want a better life. A much better life. A
life of vibrant health and lasting vitality in a body you love. The reason I have waited until now to
present the first step is that you have to be ready to take it. You need to believe that you’re worth it
and that you can do it. The first 12 Missions have been guiding you through the first two stages of
change and building up your belief that it is possible.
The stages of change are:
1. Pre-contemplation = Living not dieting
2. Contemplation = Being You, not new
3. Preparation = Love not war
4. Action = Fun not force
5. Maintenance = Direction not perfection.
The Freedoms and Missions are not strictly confined to the stages of change. They all guide your
actions as well as engender change. But it’s useful to see them in the context of these stages.
It’s natural to feel nervous when we embark on change. By the time we are five years old, we have
heard the words ‘no’ or ‘don’t’ about 40 000 times. Being the only child of migrant parents, this is
probably a conservative estimate in my case. In contrast, during the same period of time, we have
heard the word ‘yes’ only 5000 times. Being the only child of migrant parents, this is probably an
optimistic estimate in my case! That’s eight times as many negatives as positives, well-meaning
though they might be, such as, ‘No, don’t do that!’ ‘Don’t fall!’ ‘Don’t touch!’ ‘Don’t run!’ ‘Don’t
slouch!’ ‘Don’t spill that!’ ‘Don’t talk to strangers!’ ‘Don’t be rude to Granny!’
As adults we’ve internalised all those ‘don’t’s and ‘no’s so that when we strive for something, our
default is to doubt ourselves. But here’s something amazing about commitment: with commitment
comes the capacity to fulfil that commitment. As soon as we commit to something — really commit —
we experience an internal shift, and the means to fulfil that commitment present themselves. Our
excuses seem to evaporate. How? Because commitment changes our focus and our self-image, two
critical keys that open the door to success.

Commitment and focus

Commitment changes the filter through which we see our lives because we don’t see with our eyes,
we see with our brains. We are wired to see what we’re looking for. I was watching a woman in a
park walking ahead of me with two young children. The little boy obviously had a fascination with
bicycles as he was excitedly pointing to every cyclist that rode past. The little girl was oblivious to
the cyclists because she was absorbed by the butterflies hovering above the flowers. The boy didn’t
notice the butterflies and the girl didn’t notice the cyclists. Until we make a commitment to our health,
it all seems too hard. When we start looking for ways to transform our lifestyles, opportunities seem
to appear — opportunities we might otherwise have missed because we weren’t looking for them.
Your workplace starts to offer complimentary gym memberships. Your best friend asks if you’ll go to
Zumba classes with her. You see an advertisement for a home-delivery service offered by the local
growers market. Small and large miracles seem to start flowing your way.

Commitment and self-image

How do you see yourself?
Your self-image is how you see yourself; it is the mental picture you have constructed of yourself.
Whether you see yourself as strong or weak, disciplined or lazy, calm or cranky, slim or fat — all of
these characterisations form part of your self-image. It may or may not correspond to how other
people see you. Therefore your self-image is a set of beliefs about who and how you are that have
come about from your interpretation of your cumulative life experiences: your successes, mistakes,
embarrassments, tribulations and the way others respond to you. The emphasis is on the word
interpretation because your self-image is not necessarily accurate and it is definitely not fixed. It is a
result of the conclusions you have unconsciously drawn from all the occurrences in your life. Yet your
self-image wields enormous power over you.
Your self-image dictates all your actions, behaviours and abilities. It sets the boundaries of your
individual accomplishments — it defines what you can and cannot do. Everything you do and say is
always consistent with your self-image. You always act in accordance with the person you believe
yourself to be. You are simply not able to act otherwise. Because of this, your experiences seem to
constantly verify and thereby reinforce your self-image. If you have empowering beliefs about
yourself — for example, ‘Whenever I put my mind to something, I know I’ll succeed’ — you will set
yourself up for success. If you have limiting beliefs about yourself — for example, ‘I’ve always been
rotund and that’s just who I am’ or ‘I have a slow metabolism’ — they will keep you stuck where you
are. You’ll constantly gravitate back to carrying excess fat, no matter how hard you try to change.
Expand your self-image and you expand what’s possible for yourself.
Our beliefs about ourselves dictate many of the decisions and choices we make, and influence how
much effort we put into something. If I’m doing something I believe I’m good at and I come up against
an obstacle, I rise to the challenge. I enjoy the buzz of overcoming it. If I don’t believe I’m good at
something, an obstacle feels like an insurmountable problem. I groan and complain and tell myself it’s
all too hard and it wasn’t meant to be. And I soon give up. Same situation, two different attitudes, two
different outcomes. We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are. Believing is seeing as
much as seeing is believing.

From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point
that must be reached.
Franz Kafka

Your self-image also determines whether positive thinking does or doesn’t work in any given
situation. Positive thinking only works if it is consistent with your self-image. Positive thinking will
not work if it clashes with your self-image. Self-image rules. Change your self-image and you change
your life. Things that seemed impossible suddenly become possible.
How can we change our self-image? There are several ways:

We can have an experience that shatters our world view and our self-image along with it — this
is what happened to me at the bedside of my terminally ill friend. It is not something we
consciously orchestrate. It just happens.
We visualise a new reality for ourselves — this is one of the reasons you created your Vision
Statement in Mission 12. You may already have experienced a shift in your self-image in
response to repeatedly viewing your mental movie.
We consciously change our self-talk — this is what Mission 14 and several of the Missions in
Love not war guide you to do.
We make a commitment to a new way of being. This is what you are about to do if you haven’t
already done so.
Commitment cuts through any limitations you have imposed on yourself because you become the
person your commitment needs you to be.
Commitment is liberating because commitment guides your decisions and frees up your mental energy
for getting things done. When you commit to something, you no longer have internal struggles around
‘Will I or won’t I go for a run today?’ Commitment to the goal has determined the decision and you
are released to move full steam ahead.
 Step 1
Assess where you are in terms of your commitment to accomplishing your Mission. On a scale
of 1 (not at all) to 10 (totally committed), how committed are you?
Having read this chapter and understood the power of commitment, is there anything that still
needs to happen for you to make that commitment? Whatever you need to do, do it.
Some people are able to commit to being On Mission from the word go and they systematically
work through each Mission one at a time in the order I present them. If this is you, keep going
exactly as you are. Fabulous!

Step 2
If you still feel overwhelmed at the thought of making a commitment to your overarching
Mission, don’t worry. You will still get there. For you, the power lies in committing to the first
step you will take — and only the first step. That’s all you need to decide on. What is ONE
SMALL healthy change you can commit to starting right now?
Turn to the back page of your Mission Manual. Write the following heading across the top of
the page: MY STEPS. Under this heading, write the following quote from William James: ‘Act
as if what you do makes a difference. It does.’ Then write your first step and number it.
Below are examples of small steps you might like to start with:

Reduce my sugar consumption by one teaspoon per week.

Always use the stairs instead of the elevator at work.
Take a water bottle filled with water to work every day and finish it by the time I get
home.
Take a serving of fresh fruit to work every day.
Visit my local gym and see how I feel about joining.
Find out where my nearest farmers markets are located.
Eat lunch away from my desk every day.

Step 3
When you have achieved your first step, TICK it off and add another step. Once again choose
something small but significant that you can commit to starting straight away. Each time you
complete a step, TICK it off and add another step. You don’t have to know every step on your
path to great health at the start of your journey. As you complete each step, the next step will
reveal itself. If you’re standing at the bottom of a ladder, you don’t know what you’ll see when
you reach the top. With each rung you climb you will stand a little higher and see a little
further. In the same way, each step you complete will show you the next step. Remember to
TICK off each step as you accomplish it. This will give you a sense of achievement and spur
you on to keep going. You will start to get a buzz from seeing all the ticks and looking back
over all the changes you’ve made.

Step 4
Feel free to write down more than one step at a time, but only tackle as many as you can
confidently commit to in one go. You will find it very easy to come up with dozens of steps as
you continue to progress through each Mission. You will soon find that you are gathering
momentum and having fun with this!

Step 5
Commit to reviewing your Mission Statement and Passion Statement every morning and
evening, along with ‘watching’ your mental movie. The very habit of doing this is a statement
of your commitment to your long-term success.

Step 6
Commit to memory the Chinese proverb, ‘The person who moves a mountain begins by
carrying away small stones.’

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 14 
Can-do not candy

If you think you can or if you think you can’t, either way
you’re right.
Henry Ford

M IS S IO N 1 4
Your Fourteenth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Can-do not candy.
Curiosity is the Seventh Skill of NeuroSlimming.
In Mission 14 you create your Can-do Jar.
Find a large, attractive, transparent jar and attach a label to it that says Can-do Jar.
Invite your family to play a game with you. Every time someone says the word ‘can’t’ they have to put
a gold coin in the Can-do Jar. When the jar gets full of coins, you can donate the money to your
favourite charity and start again.
Why do this?
The word ‘can’t’ chokes our brains. It’s like giving the brain a restraining order or putting the brain in
a straitjacket. Neuroscientists have discovered that the human brain is highly sensitive and responsive
to language. Everything we say to ourselves — either out loud or silently inside our heads — has the
effect of giving our crew (subconscious) a command. Whenever you say ‘I can’t do this’ you dampen
down brain cell activity. This reduces your capacity to achieve the task in question and turns your
statement into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Our expectations, our conversations with others and our self-
talk create the filters through which we operate. They influence what we notice around us and what
we remember about a situation. If you pre-determine that you can’t do something, you literally close
off your ability to see how it can be done. You don’t notice when an opportunity to solve the problem
presents itself because you’ve made yourself ‘mind-blind’. Have you ever walked in on someone
who is frustrated about something and can’t see their way around it? You ask them about the situation
and you come up with a possible solution. They look at you in astonishment and exclaim, ‘How come
I didn’t think of that?’ They had worked themselves into a state of mind-blindness. This is another
example of seeing with the brain, not with the eyes. Mind-blindness can occur on a broader societal
level, not just in individual contexts. Entire organisations or communities can experience tunnel
vision if they are constantly reinforcing a pervasive limiting belief.
It isn’t only the word ‘can’t’ that affects our abilities. It’s also the euphemisms used for ‘can’t’:

It’s too hard.

It’s not happening.
It’s not possible.
I don’t have the time/energy/resources.
I’m too old.

Our brain circuitry is reconfigured by everything we think, say and do, and our neurons deliver
outcomes within the boundaries we impose on ourselves. Regard your brain as a living,
eavesdropping entity sitting inside your head that interprets everything you say as a series of
instructions.
So what should you say when things aren’t going to plan or you feel stuck or daunted by what lies
ahead?
Do you have to repeat affirmations and pump yourself up with positive self-talk? Actually, no. In the
last Mission you discovered that positive self-talk only works if it is in alignment with your self-
image. If you are facing something you have never done before and you are filled with self-doubt,
telling yourself ‘I can do this’ will not have much impact if deep down you don’t believe that you can.
It is obviously better to engage in positive thinking than negative thinking but psychologists have
discovered something more powerful than positive thinking: Possibility thinking. Positive thinking
can temporarily make us feel better. Possibility thinking also boosts our resourcefulness and
ingenuity. This was demonstrated by a series of experiments published in the journal Psychological
Science in April 2010. The first assignment required participants to solve 10 anagrams (rearranging
the letters of one word to form another, for example stressed into desserts). They were divided into
two groups. The first group was told to use positive thinking and tell themselves they would solve the
puzzles. The second group was instructed to ask themselves whether they would solve the puzzles.
Much to the dismay of the scientists, the group who asked themselves the question solved almost 50
percent more puzzles than the group who told themselves they would!
In another experiment, participants were assigned to one of four groups. The people in the first group
were asked to write ‘I will’ 20 times. The second group wrote ‘Will I?’ 20 times, the third group
wrote ‘Will’ and the fourth group wrote ‘I’. They were then asked to solve another set of anagrams.
The people who wrote ‘Will I?’ solved nearly twice as many puzzles as the people in the other three
groups. Subsequent experiments yielded similar results with one more revelation: the most powerful
question to ask is not ‘Will I?’ but ‘How will I’ or ‘How can I?’
What is going on in the brain to boost our abilities in response to a mere question? When we ask
‘How can this be done?’ we don’t just change the content of our minds, we activate more parts of the
brain and thereby increase the intelligence available to us. Switching from a statement to a question is
known as ‘shifting linguistic categories’ and it has the effect of stimulating our creativity.
Secondly, we are tapping into the power of curiosity. The Yoruba people of Nigeria live by the
principle that ‘One who asks, never loses his way.’ Neuroplasticity has revealed how curiosity
works: it increases activity in the hippocampus (the learning and memory warehouse of the brain) and
enhances long-term recall. This means that when you ask yourself a question you are activating your
long-term memory to come up with possible answers. Curiosity also sparks our imagination and shifts
our focus from problem to solution.
In short, when we ask ‘How?’ questions, the captain (conscious mind) is giving the crew
(subconscious mind) a directive to find the answer. Without being consciously aware of it, we start
scanning our internal and external environments for solutions. We are on high alert for clues that will
point us in the direction we need to go. We heighten our intuition and we tap into resources that
would otherwise remain dormant. ‘How’ is a particularly powerful word because it assumes there is
a solution and our job is simply to find it. ‘How?’ reinforces possibility not inability. Curiosity
expands your mind; complaining closes it.
From now on, every time you feel like saying ‘I can’t do this’ change the statement to a question such
as ‘How can I do this?’ Instead of saying, ‘I can’t find the time to exercise’ ask yourself, ‘How can I
find time to exercise?’ Then carry on with your day and one of several things will happen:

The solution may pop into your head seemingly out of the blue.
You will notice an article in the newspaper or hear something on the radio that provides you
with the information you need.
You will have a conversation with someone that leads you to the answer.

Change your language and you change your life.

Incidentally, curiosity did not kill the cat! The earliest printed reference to the origin of this saying is
attributed to the English playwright Ben Jonson in his 1598 play, Every Man in His Humour.
However, the word he used was care killed the cat, not curiosity, and during this period in history,
‘care’ was defined as worry or sorrow. Therefore, stress killed the cat, not curiosity. And stress
does, in fact, kill brain cells, particularly in the hippocampus. More on this in Mission 25: Shrug it
off.
Another semantic point to be aware of is: what do you really mean when you say ‘I can’t’? Do you
mean you are not capable or not interested? There is a big difference between ‘I am not able to’ and
‘I don’t want to’. If you mean ‘I don’t want to run a marathon’, then state ‘I don’t want to run a
marathon’ rather than ‘I can’t run a marathon.’ Stating ‘I don’t want something’ is empowering and
asserts your priorities. There is nothing wrong with not wanting to do something. Be honest with
yourself (even if you have to be tactful with whomever you might be speaking to) and know that you
are choosing how to spend your time and resources based on what is important to you. Avoid
reinforcing a lack of ability, especially if that is not what you mean.

Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 Step 1
Organise your Can-do Jar now. Put it in a prominent place in your house. Introduce the game to
your family during dinner tonight. Why not also have a Can-do Jar for your desk at work? Invite
your colleagues to play with you. Get into the habit of a can-do attitude in every context of your
life, not just in relation to your health and fitness.

Step 2
What is related to your wellbeing that you think about it in terms of ‘I can’t do this’ or ‘I’m not
getting anywhere with this’? Commit to cutting out the word ‘can’t’ and replacing it with the
question ‘How will I do this?’ or ‘How can I inspire the kids to eat vegetables?’ Then watch
what happens!

Don’t find fault, find a remedy.

Henry Ford

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
 Summary of Being You, not new

By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the

world that was not there before.
Edwin Elliot

Follow the instructions below to discover where you sit on the accompanying graph. Use a pencil, not
a pen.
A. How clear are you about what you want in relation to your health and your body? Circle the
number on the vertical axis that corresponds to your degree of clarity.
1 = I have no idea what I want.
5 = I am working on my Mission Statement.
10 = I know exactly what I want. I have written my Mission Statement and I am reviewing it
every day.

B. How committed are you to achieving your Mission? Circle the number on the horizontal axis that
corresponds to your degree of commitment.
1 = I know I should do something about my health but I’m just not motivated to do it.
5 = I feel motivated but I’m not sure that I will succeed in accomplishing my Mission. I’m afraid
of slipping back into my old ways if the going gets tough.
10 = I am totally committed to accomplishing my Mission. Bring it on!

C. Draw a straight line across from the number you circled on the vertical axis (Clarity). Draw
another line up from the number you circled on the horizontal axis (Commitment). Where do the
two lines intersect? Mark the point with a cross in the appropriate quadrant.

D. Which quadrant do you find yourself in: surviving, striving, depriving or thriving?

E. If you are surviving, striving or depriving you are likely to be feeling drained and depleted.
When you are thriving you feel energised and fulfilled. You have a sense of mastery over your
life and you are making empowered choices. When you are in the thriving quadrant, your
Mission is accomplished in your mind and your body is simply catching up (if it hasn’t
already). How can you propel yourself into the thriving quadrant? Increase your clarity and
commitment.

F. How do you increase your clarity?

1. Understand your values.
2. Complete your Mission Statement.

G. How do you strengthen your commitment?

1. Release your reasons for not wanting your goal.
2. Create your Can-do Jar.

H. How do you simultaneously increase clarity and commitment?

1. Complete your Passion Statement.
2. Create your Vision Statement and replay your mental movie every day.

I. Once a month return to this graph and score your clarity and commitment. Use a different
coloured pencil and include the date. Observe yourself moving into the thriving quadrant.
 Why Love not war?

It is easy enough to be pleasant, When life flows by like a

song, But the person worthwhile is one who will smile,
When everything goes dead wrong.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Third Freedom is Love not war.

Have you ever noticed that the language of Western medicine is the language of war? Modern
medicine wants to fight the infection, kill the virus, eradicate the invaders (meaning bacteria),
irradiate the tumour, cut out the cancer, defeat the disease and wage war on obesity. Drugs and
various therapies are referred to as armamentarium and you must follow doctor’s orders. A woman
falls pregnant and is informed of her expected date of confinement when she will go into labour.
Every day, millions of people are combating side effects, battling the bulge and struggling with
weight loss. The word ‘loss’, in addition to the negative implications already discussed, also feeds
the notion of war. Even outside medical settings, people are trying to whip themselves into shape and
beat their bodies into submission. And we are incessantly looking for that magic bullet.
This is major warfare we’re talking.
What’s wrong with this approach? Everything. The metaphors we use to describe our experiences
profoundly influence how we perceive and respond to those experiences. War evokes fear, and fear
is at the root of all self-destructive behaviours, including food addictions and binge eating. War
elicits images of pain and torture. War separates us from our fellow humans. War creates enemies
and teaches us to regard the enemy as less than human. War desensitises us because it is too horrific
to comprehend. The metaphor of war brings with it heavy emotional baggage that affects us in ways
we are not aware of.
For a start, in war there are always casualties, whether the battle is won or lost. In war there are no
winners. The warfare approach causes collateral damage to the mind and body. This contradicts what
I learnt on day one of medical school: primum non no cere (Latin for ‘first do no harm’).
Secondly, this kind of language makes us regard our bodies as a battleground. Whatever happened to
treating the body like a temple? The language of medicine gives mixed messages. On the one hand,
you’re told to ‘look after your body’ and the next minute you’re waging war on the body. No wonder
people find it difficult to sustain a healthy lifestyle. When you are bombarded (yet another military
metaphor) with messages of fighting the body, it creates a subconscious resistance to looking after the
body. The crew (subconscious mind) are totally confused; are we at peace with the body or are we at
war?
Thirdly, the language of war creates loathing, anxiety and stress, all of which lead to deposition of
visceral fat and weakening of the immune system. What an enormous difference it would make if we
spoke in terms of love, not war; in terms of nurture and support instead of battling and fighting.
Whether we’re aware of it or not, we automatically tense up in response to words relating to combat.
Conversely, we immediately relax when we hear the language of love. A healthy body is the result of
feeling at peace with ourselves, not the result of war. Being at war is damaging and unsustainable.
Love and respect for ourselves are what provide lifelong motivation to take care of our bodies.
Would you ever deliberately hurt someone you loved? Would you purposely spill ink on a white silk
blouse? Would you intentionally drive your car into a brick wall? The human body is more amazing
than any possession. Yet people often treat their bodies with less care than their belongings.
If you love yourself, you treat yourself with kindness and respect.
If you love your body, you listen to its needs and nourish it with real food.
If you love your food, you eat in a state of gratitude, and savour it with all your senses.
If you love your hunger, you appreciate it for the life-sustaining role it plays in your life.
If you love your work, you don’t eat out of boredom, anxiety or frustration.
If you love people, you don’t eat out of fear or loneliness.
If you love life, you live in the present and view every situation as an opportunity to learn and grow.
The more you operate from a place of Love not war in every area of your life, the more effortlessly
you will live in a way that supports your optimal health and vitality
How can you start expressing more love in your life?

The physical effects of love and war on our hearts can be

measured
On 7 March 2005, the results of a study conducted at the University of Maryland Medical Center in
Baltimore were presented at the Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology in
Orlando, Florida. The researchers measured the changes in blood flow in subjects who were shown
one of two films: either the war film Saving Private Ryan, or the comedy King Pin. They found that
brachial-artery blood flow was reduced in 14 of the 20 volunteers following viewing of war clips
that caused mental stress. In contrast, beneficial blood vessel relaxation (vasodilation) was increased
in 19 of the 20 volunteers after they watched the movie segments that generated laughter. Overall,
average blood flow increased 22 percent during laughter and decreased 35 percent during mental
stress. The magnitude of change in the endothelium was similar to the benefits of aerobic exercise.
Imagery and emotion have a profound impact on our health.
I am trained in Western medicine and by no means reject what it has to offer. If my appendix ruptures,
I want immediate surgery. But the language and imagery of modern medicine are counterproductive.
Changing the language of medicine would restructure our whole approach to treating illness and
maintaining a healthy body. Love builds up, not tears down. Love protects, not harms.
Love not war means accepting and embracing every part of yourself — unconditionally.
Love not war means moving from a state of contraction to a state of expansion.
Love not war means growing and learning as a way of life.
Love not war means moving towards greater aliveness, freedom and joy.
Love not war is about being more fully you — living true to your values and expressing your
uniqueness.
You will recall that I wrote the same thing about Being You, not new. That’s because Love not war
supports Being You, not new and Living not dieting.
When you live in the context of Love not war, three things will happen:
1. Your body will find its natural healthy weight, size and shape — without struggle or deprivation.
2. Your own physiology will guide you to a way of eating that works best for you.
3. You will feel a tremendous sense of relief, confidence and freedom. You won’t be able to wipe
the smile off your face!
You will recall that I made the same three promises about Living not dieting. That’s because the first
seven Missions show you how to treat your body with love and respect, not denial and punishment.
All the Freedoms and Missions reinforce each other as you continue to experience greater health,
vitality and fulfilment.
 Step 1
Read the entries in the following table and begin to appreciate the profound difference between
love and war in relation to your body. Add your own thoughts and feelings to each column.

What does love versus war mean to you?

Step 2
When you speak about your health, start talking in terms of strengthening your immune system,
building up resilience, enabling your organs to do their job and supporting your body for
optimal functioning. Just hearing this kind of language will make you feel better. Instead of
flogging yourself at the gym, doing a gruelling workout and having a punishing training
session, you can work hard at the gym and allow your trainer to encourage you to reach your
personal best — while employing language that creates a context of nurture, not torture. It takes
time to learn a new language so be patient with yourself.

Step 3
1. Open your Mission Manual to a new page. Write down the name of someone you love —
a child, partner, parent, friend or pet. Write it as the following sentence:
I love........................................................................

2. Write down how you want them to be treated. Phrase it in the following way:
[Name of person] deserves to be treated with

Some examples might be respect, caring, nurturing, kindness or compassion.

3. Write down what you want for them. Phrase it in the following way:
I want ........................................................................
for [name of person].
Some examples might be peace, joy, health, happiness or success.

4. Don’t hold back. Pour out your love for this person. Give them everything you have to
give.

5. Now replace the name of the person with your own name. We want for others what we
want for ourselves. If your heart is big enough to want it for someone else then you
deserve it too.

Step 4
In the First Freedom, I encouraged you to let the following question guide all your health-
related decisions: ‘Will choosing this course of action make me feel like I’m living or dieting?’
I now offer a second question to guide your decisions relating to your body: ‘Is choosing this
course of action an expression of love or war?’
  Mission 15 
Feeling not fleeing

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising

every time we fall.
Confucius

M IS S IO N 1 5
Your Fifteenth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Feeling not fleeing.
Feeling is the First Strength of NeuroSlimming.
Feel your feelings, don’t flee from your feelings. Don’t deny them, suppress them or try to run away
from them — even the difficult ones.
Be aware of the difference between feeling your feelings and acting on your feelings, dwelling on
your feelings or quashing your feelings.
As a personal example, becoming aware of the sensation of a tonne of bricks on my chest is feeling
my anger. Slapping someone across the face would be acting on my anger (which of course I would
never do). Continually replaying an anger-inducing scene in my head is dwelling on my anger (which
I have been known to do). Eating an entire block of chocolate in one sitting is suppressing my anger
(been there too). Anything other than feeling my anger is an attempt to flee from my anger.
Throughout this Mission when I talk about feeling your feelings I am referring to negative feelings
because I make the assumption that you are not actively trying to suppress positive feelings. However,
sometimes we can be in such a hurry we fail to notice when a positive emotion sweeps over us. I
address this in Mission 27: Laugh it off. Another corollary of constantly blocking negative emotions
is to lessen our experience of positive emotions. If you find that you are numb to all emotions, be they
positive or negative, please apply the principles in this Mission to your positive feelings as well as
your negative feelings. When you allow yourself to feel negative feelings you will find it easier to
connect with positive feelings. Opening yourself to one emotion deepens your experience of all
emotions. When you broaden your emotional spectrum, you enrich your life immeasurably.
Feeling not fleeing means turning your awareness inward and allowing yourself to feel the emotion
in your body or allowing the tears to flow.
Why is it important to feel your feelings? Because if you’ve ever felt your feelings, you’ll know
they’re a tangible energy. By feeling your feelings you release that energy. Feelings are like speed
humps. If you ignore them you’ll damage the vehicle, in this case your body. Not feeling your feelings
leads to binge eating, comfort-eating, stress-eating, other forms of emotional eating, excessive
drinking, drug abuse and other anaesthetising habits. Not feeling your feelings subverts Mission 1
because you are driven to eat when you’re not physiologically hungry.
Sometimes we don’t want to feel our feelings because we’re afraid we’ll be overwhelmed by them.
We’re afraid the experience will be so painful or devastating that we’ll be wiped out by it. We won’t
be. What we resist, persists — not what we enable to flow through us. Feeling our feelings enables us
to see things in a new light. Not feeling our feelings restricts our ability to experience life fully.
Give your feelings space to simply ‘be’. Focus your awareness on them and recognise they are there
for a reason — to give you feedback about something, or to guide you along a certain path. Painful
feelings grab our attention. Negative feelings are not intrinsically negative — they are signals to stop
what we’re doing and assess what is happening, or to slow down and simply feel. If something needs
to be done, it will reveal itself during the process of feeling. Oftentimes all that is needed is to feel
the feeling. We won’t know until we pause and take notice. Marcel Proust wrote that ‘We are healed
from suffering only be experiencing it to the full.’ It isn’t always necessary to know why we feel what
we feel. By accepting that all our feelings are valid, and by allowing them to run their course, we are
practising deep self-care.
What about all the research that shows positive emotions (happiness, optimism, gratitude) strengthen
the immune system, while negative emotions (depression, fear, anger) weaken it? Studies have
unequivocally demonstrated that experiencing uplifting emotions produces a measurable positive
effect on the brain and body. We produce fewer stress hormones and more white blood cells to
protect us from infections and cancer. Positive emotions prolong survival in a wide range of diseases
and they lead to fewer side effects from medications. Conversely, psychological distress is
associated with a dose-dependent increase in the risk of having a stroke. In other words, the more
psychological distress a person experiences, the more likely they are to have a stroke. Meanwhile
depression is as much a risk factor for heart disease as is smoking!

Unbroken happiness is a bore. It should have ups and downs.

Moliere

So why am I encouraging you to feel your negative feelings? Because the feelings are already there. I
am not suggesting you look for situations that arouse your anger and anxiety; I am asking you to
acknowledge what you are already feeling, to feel whatever feelings arise in the moment, so you can
deal with them there and then. Holding on to your emotions by denying them, stuffing them down with
food or continually ruminating on a painful event is what causes the damage, not feeling them and
thereby allowing them to dissipate.
It is suppression not expression of emotions that has the potential to cause harm.
As early as 1977, Harvard Medical School professor W M Meisner observed that cancer patients
tended to be selfless individuals who were known for making sacrifices and for suffering in silence.
In 1985, a study of 1350 Yugoslavian residents revealed that ‘throttling their emotions’ was a
predictor of developing cancer, while Grace Gawler in her book Women of Silence, documented that
remaining silent about feelings was a risk factor for breast cancer. Most damaging of all is the
combination of ‘cynical distrust of other people’ and ‘strangled hostility’. When we close ourselves
off from others and push down feelings of injustice, it hardens our arteries, suppresses our immune
system and predisposes us to heart disease, infections and cancer.
In the early 1990s, Dr Richard Sagebriel, Director of the Melanoma Clinic at the University of
California, noted that melanoma patients had a tendency to deny or suppress their emotions and to
prioritise pleasing others over themselves. Those he described as ‘emotionally non-reactive to their
melanoma’ had the worst prognosis. To investigate this further, clinical psychologist Dr Lydia
Temoshok did a formal scientific study and reported that all the melanoma patients were very
amicable and highly concerned about others but they concealed their feelings and pushed aside their
own needs. Over time, inability to acknowledge or express unwanted feelings led to a weakening of
the immune system and an increased vulnerability to cancer. Dr Temoshok referred to this as ‘Type C
behaviour’. When patients were taught to open up about their emotions and to feel their feelings, their
prognosis dramatically improved.
The way we manage our emotions is often ‘learned’ in childhood. If we are repeatedly told ‘I’ll give
you something to cry about!’ it soon teaches us to hide our feelings. If we are encouraged to ‘get on
with things’ and not allow feelings to ‘get in the way’, we come to view them as unwanted intruders
to be done away with as expediently as possible. Instead of learning to honour our feelings, we cut
ourselves off from them.
The language you use around emotions can empower you to deal with them. It is more beneficial to
say ‘I feel anger’ than ‘I am angry’. I am not my emotions; I simply experience emotions. And like
other experiences, ‘this too shall pass’. Emotions are not part of your identity; they are visitors in
your realm of awareness. You have a choice about how you entertain a visitor. Feed her ice cream?
Tell all your friends about her? Argue with her in the hope she’ll leave? Or hide her in a dark
cupboard where she will constantly agitate to escape? Why not ask her the purpose of her visit and
hear her out? You might learn something. Let her have her say and she’ll leave of her own accord.
When you let go of fear, you also let go of excess fat because fear holds you back from living a full
life — a life in which you express your best self and relinquish self-sabotaging behaviours.
Of course not all fear or anger is deleterious. Fear can serve a life-preserving role in restraining us
from reckless driving or jumping off bridges. A bit of fear or apprehension before a job interview can
prompt us to prepare better and increase our chances of success. But fear that paralyses us from even
applying for the job, robs us of a rewarding life.
 Step 1
Below is a script that will guide you to feel your feelings. I use the term feeling and emotion
interchangeably.
You can ask someone to read it to you while you close your eyes and follow the instructions or
you can make a recording and play it back to yourself. Once you have gone through the process
a few times you will do it instinctively. The first time you experience feeling your feelings, you
don’t have to be in an emotional state. Practise the approach so you can apply it when you find
yourself in the grip of a painful emotion or stressful situation.
Whenever I experience an upsetting emotion, I use this approach. Sometimes it takes only a few
minutes; at other times it takes longer for the feeling to run its course. If I am in a situation
where I can’t excuse myself or I have to carry on, I keep part of my attention on the feeling
while I do what needs to be done. This is like having a small valve that releases some of the
pressure in the moment. Later — if I still need to — I allow myself to feel it fully. I no longer
regard this as a ‘process’ but a natural way of being that allows my feelings to ebb and flow as
they navigate me through life.

Make yourself comfortable, either sitting or lying down, and close your eyes. Bring your attention to your breathing.
Take a slow, deep, conscious breath. Notice the air as it enters your nostrils, flows into your lungs and expands your
chest. Follow the air as it travels back out. Each breath you take nourishes every cell of your body.

Now become aware of a feeling — any feeling — present in your body. You may not immediately be aware of a
feeling so take your time and don’t force anything. When a feeling emerges it may be very subtle. At other times,
strong emotions may surface. The feelings you experience may be pleasant or unpleasant, comfortable or
disturbing, uplifting or distressing. They may be easy to identify like anger, sadness, fear, agitation, annoyance,
curiosity, joy, excitement or peace. Or you may simply be aware of a vague, indeterminate sensation hovering in
your consciousness. Allow your feeling to take whatever form it wants. Allow it to ‘be’ and experience it.

If you feel nothing at all, bring your awareness to your body. Notice if there is any tension, uneasiness, pain,
heaviness, discomfort or warmth in any part. Direct your attention to that area of your body and experience whatever
emotion is associated with it. If you still sense nothing, keep scanning your body until your awareness eventually
comes to rest somewhere. Feel the feeling that arises from that place. Allow whatever comes up for you and don’t
try to push it back down. Breathe into that part of your body or breathe into the feeling you’ve become aware of.

Feel the emotion without trying to analyse it or work out why it is there. Feel the emotion without having a
conversation in your mind about it. Do you notice whether any thoughts are feeding the feeling? They may be
thoughts about something you did, or reflections about what someone said. Are you regretting something?
Disappointed about something? Relieved about something? Rather than engaging with these thoughts, observe
them and let them float by like clouds. Keep bringing your attention back to the feeling itself, not the story around it.
Simply observe the feeling and accept it. Watch and see where the feeling takes you.

Sometimes when we sit with a feeling, it transforms into a different feeling. If this occurs for you, allow the second
feeling to emerge and sit with it in the same way you did with the first feeling. Continue to breathe through the feeling.
Allow it to run its course.

The second feeling may give rise to a third feeling. Whatever is happening inside you, continue to observe without
judgement or commentary. Feel the feeling in silence for the next minute. Your uncritical acceptance of whatever you
are experiencing will transform the feeling into healing.

(Pause from reading for one minute. If you are reading this to someone else, observe the person and, when the
minute is over, ask them whether they would like another minute of silence or if they are ready to move on.)

Eventually you’ll reach a place of calm stillness or ‘nothingness’. You may feel a sense of expansion and even joy.
You may find yourself smiling. Sit with the stillness and it will sweep over you as a sensation of freedom, serenity
and peace.

This is the core of who you are.

This is your natural state.

This is the source of healing.

Remember this place and even give it a name so you can instantly recall it. This place of peace is always present
inside you. The busyness of life continually distracts us from noticing our own inner peace but it is ALWAYS there.
Any time you want, simply pause, and turn your attention to it. Or allow your feelings to take you there, as you have
now. All feelings, even painful ones, lead to peace when you allow yourself to feel them. The more often you
experience your centre of peace, the more it will permeate your life and even spread out beyond you.

Feeling is freeing.

Feeling is healing.

Take another slow, deep, conscious breath. Notice the air as it enters your nostrils, flows into your lungs and
expands your chest. Follow the air as it travels back out. Each breath you take nourishes every cell of your body.
Continue to follow your breath for as long as you like. When you are ready, open your eyes.

You have now had an experience of feeling your feelings. Being able to feel is a strength, not a weakness.

Step 2
Whenever you experience a craving, an urge to binge or a desire to eat for any reason other
than physiological hunger, take yourself through the process of feeling your feelings.
The first time you really allow yourself to feel the feeling of a craving or urge to binge — as
opposed to appeasing it with food — it may be a cathartic experience. You might feel agitated
and uncomfortable and find the urge intensifies before it subsides. Allow whatever is
happening to run its course. Be with the agitation or the discomfort or the anxiety or the tears.
You are not resisting the craving or the binge, you are experiencing it as an emotion or perhaps
a cascade of emotions.
Later you might still want to pacify the craving with food but you have created a shift in your
relationship with the craving and you have loosened its hold on you. You have generated space
around it. Practise simply feeling the craving or the urge to binge every time it occurs.
Eventually it will disappear — never to return. The struggle will be over.

Step 3
Whenever you experience a headache or physical pain, you can also apply this approach. You
could practise when you are at the dentist!
Assuming you have seen a medical practitioner about the physical cause of the pain and
received appropriate treatment, take yourself through the process of feeling your feelings in
relation to pain. Is the pain associated with a particular emotion? When you release the
emotion, you will release the pain.

Step 4
When you feel your feelings you will notice you have more energy because you aren’t using it
to force down your feelings.

Step 5
Regularly do an internal scan of your body and notice any pain, tension or heaviness that you
might not have otherwise noticed. Rest your awareness on the feeling without judgement or
conjecture. Your awareness will transform any feeling into healing.
This process will give rise to a new relationship with your body. You will become better at
listening to your body and knowing what it needs at any given time. You will enhance your
ability to recognise physiological hunger. You will start to appreciate the beauty of working
with your body, not against your body. And you might even start to love your body.

Recommended reading
Ruskan, John, Emotional Clearing, Rider, London, 1998
Siegel, Bernie, Love, Medicine and Miracles, Rider, London, 1999
Temoshok, Lydia, and Dreher, Henry, The Type C Connection: The behavioural links to
cancer and your health, Random House, Sydney, 1992
As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 16 
Gratitude is the best attitude

The aim of life is appreciation. There is no sense in not

appreciating things; and there is no sense in having
more of them if you have less appreciation of them . . . I
would maintain that thanks are the highest form of
thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by
wonder . . .
Gilbert K Chesterton

M IS S IO N 1 6
Your Sixteenth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Gratitude is the best attitude.
Gratitude (Fanks!) is the Second Strength of NeuroSlimming.
I first learnt gratitude at the dining table. I was taught to say grace before picking up my fork and,
before leaving the table, to thank Grandma for cooking. As food became more and more plentiful,
saying grace petered out as a social norm. Food is instantly available 24 hours a day and we have
forgotten how much effort actually goes into producing it. Have you ever contemplated all the people
and processes involved in bringing a banana to your table? Bananas require rich, dark, fertile soil and
protection from strong winds. Bananas want company: growers have to plant lots of them together to
increase humidity in the centre and to shade the trunks. Bananas need someone to give them plenty of
water — sometimes three times a day — and to break off the purple flower petals so the actual
bananas grow bigger. And they need someone to know when they’re ready to be picked. Then they’re
carefully packaged and loaded onto trucks so they can be transported to the markets where you’ll
eventually buy them. Phew! Thank you to everyone who made it happen.
Could we pause, just for a moment, before we eat, and quietly express gratitude for what went into
the meal? We are drowning in abundance and it is robbing us of awe. When we lose our sense of
wonder, we lose ourselves. We lose our quality of life and diminish our experience of joy. My father
has dementia yet he retains a sense of wonder. That is his gift to me. He is never in a hurry. He points
things out that I’m ‘too busy’ to notice — fascinating cloud formations, the chirping of an unfamiliar
bird or the way the light creates kaleidoscopic patterns as it shines through the curtains.
Gratitude goes way beyond thanking someone for something they did. Gratitude can arise from relief
that one narrowly escaped an unwanted situation, or feeling deep appreciation for an emotionally
moving experience. Gratitude comes from choosing to view a situation from a positive perspective or
taking the time to ‘count our blessings’. Gratitude means focusing on what we have rather than on
what we don’t have. Gratitude entails paying attention to the beauty and kindness in the world, and
deliberately noticing what we like in others. Gratitude protects us from taking things for granted and
reminds us that we have the ability to choose our attitude in any given situation. Gratitude arises from
remembering all the good things in our lives — the people, opportunities, experiences and unexpected
moments that take our breath away. Gratitude actually trains the brain to see the world differently.
Gratitude helps us put things in perspective.
A friend recently sent me the following story.

A famous writer was in his study. He picked up his pen and began writing:

‘Last year, I had surgery and my gallbladder was removed. As a result, I was confined to bed for a long time.

The same year I reached the age of 65 years and had to give up my favourite job. I had spent 30 years of my life in this
publishing company.

The same year I experienced the sorrow of the death of my father.

And in the same 12 months my son failed his medical exam because he had a car accident. He was hospitalised for several
days and wore a cast for many weeks. And the destruction of the car was yet another loss.’

At the end he wrote: ‘Alas! It was such bad year!’

When the writer’s wife entered the room, she found her husband looking sad and lost in his thoughts. From behind his back
she read what was written on the paper. She left the room silently and came back shortly afterwards with a similar paper
she had written, and placed it beside her husband’s note.

When the writer saw her paper, he began reading:

‘Last year I finally got rid of my gallbladder which had given me years of pain.

I turned 65 with sound health and retired from my job. Now I can utilise my time to write better with more focus and peace.

The same year my father at the age of 95, without depending on anyone and without any critical condition, met his Creator.

And in the same 12 months, God blessed my son with a new life. My car was destroyed, but my son stayed alive without
getting any disability.’

At the end she wrote: ‘This year was an immense blessing and it passed well!’

It isn’t happiness that makes us grateful but gratefulness that makes us happy.

Gratitude is not just about feeling better and having a positive outlook. Gratitude actually improves
physical health, reduces pain, lessens anxiety, raises energy levels, strengthens the immune system,
deepens relationships, makes us more empathic and buffers against stress! Gratitude has been used to
treat depression, chronic pain and eating disorders.
Two psychologists, Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, did a series of experiments in which
subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The first group were told to keep a daily
record of their hassles for two weeks, the second group their blessings (the Gratitude Group) and the
third group, neutral life events. When compared to both of the other two groups, participants in the
Gratitude Group felt better about their lives as a whole, had fewer physical complaints, spent
significantly more time exercising, experienced better quality sleep and were more optimistic
regarding the upcoming week. Those in the Gratitude Group were also more likely to have offered
assistance or emotional support to others.
The researchers then did a similar experiment with people suffering from neuromuscular diseases.
Once again they found the Gratitude Group had greater improvements in terms of mood, life
satisfaction, sense of connectedness with others and optimism. Spouses and significant others also
reported noticing improved wellbeing in people who had been counting their blessings.
Eight studies published in the Journal of Cognition and Emotion in May 2011, involving almost
3000 people, all demonstrated that ‘gratitude is related to fewer depressive symptoms’ and ‘gratitude
prompts people to reframe otherwise negative experiences as potentially positive experiences’.
Counting their blessings also lifted people’s mood in general, and the authors concluded that gratitude
is ‘an under-utilised resource in social science’.
In July 2011, the Journal of Positive Psychology reported that highly self-critical individuals
increased their happiness by simply listing five things they were grateful for every day, while Evan
Kleiman in the Journal of Research in Personality found that practising gratitude reduced thoughts of
suicide.
A study published in the journal Body Image in March 2014 found that women who were asked to
spend five minutes engaged in grateful reflection before being shown photos of thin models felt less
dissatisfied about their bodies compared to women who had been thinking about life hassles. Another
study in Social Science and Medicine in March 2010 reported that keeping a gratitude diary for two
weeks improved wellbeing and body satisfaction. Gratitude helps women accept their bodies and
promotes greater self-care. You don’t even have to feel specifically grateful about your body; it is
gratitude in general that improves health and health-promoting behaviours. And with an overall
appreciation of your life comes a gradual appreciation of your body.
 Step 1
Buy an attractive, blank notebook (with or without lines, whichever you prefer) and label it
Thankful Thoughts. Alternatively you can buy a customised Gratitude Journal. There are
hundreds of different designs and styles available. Keep it on your bedside table so you see it
every day and use it for the steps in this Mission.

Step 2
1. Write down 10 things in your life that you’re deeply grateful for.
2. Why do these things/people/events imbue you with gratitude?
3. Add to these on a daily basis — at least three thankful thoughts every day.
4. You can repeat previous entries if there is someone or something you feel particularly
blessed about. Include as much detail as you like about why certain things make you feel
grateful.

Reflect on your present blessings, on which every man has many, not on
your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
Charles Dickens

Step 3
Write down 10 things you’re grateful for in relation to your health and your body. The human
body is truly remarkable. Think about all the things you are able to do: walk, talk, see, hear,
smell, taste, touch and sing (even if only in the shower).

Step 4
Many people struggle to like, let alone love, their body. The following guided contemplation
will allow you to discover your own reasons for appreciating your body. Gratitude and
appreciation are stepping stones to love. They will lead you to treat your body with greater
care and respect.

What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognise the fact that the
foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment
with which it is clothed?
Michelangelo
Make yourself comfortable, either sitting or lying down, and close your eyes. Bring your attention to your breathing.
Take a slow, deep, conscious breath. Notice the air as it enters your nostrils, flows into your lungs and expands your
chest. Follow the air as it travels back out. Each breath you take nourishes every cell of your body.

Now bring your attention to your toes. Wiggle them and take delight in their movement. Think about what your toes do
every day and feel grateful to them. Express your gratitude as ‘I thank my toes for . . .’

Then move your awareness to your feet. Think about what your feet do every day and feel grateful to them. Continue
to slowly move your attention from one body part to the next, all the way up to the top of your head. Take a moment
to acknowledge each part and express your gratitude in the following way:

I thank my toes for . . .

I thank my feet for . . .

I thank my legs for . . .

I thank my hips for . . .

I thank my stomach for . . .

I thank my back for . . .

I thank my heart for . . .

I thank my lungs for . . .

I thank my chest, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers for . . .

I thank my neck, head, mouth, teeth, lips, cheeks, nose, eyes, ears, and so on.

Include any internal organs, bones and bodily features you would also like to thank, particularly if you have an illness
that involves them. Express gratitude to these organs for working as best they can under the circumstances they are
in.

Sometimes an unexpected emotion arises from a particular body part. Simply feel the feeling and allow it to run its
course. Don’t judge it or try and suppress it. You now know from the previous Mission that feeling the feeling will lead
to healing. If this exercise turns into feeling your feelings, that’s absolutely fine. Release the emotion from the body
part that triggered it. You can return to thanking the rest of your body another time.

When you have thanked all the parts of your body, take another slow, deep, conscious breath. Notice the air as it
enters your nostrils, flows into your lungs and expands your chest. Follow the air as it travels back out. Each breath
you take nourishes every cell of your body. Continue to follow your breath for as long as you like. When you’re ready,
open your eyes.

This is particularly good to practise before going to sleep. You won’t have to open your eyes when you finish. You’ll
simply drift into a healing sleep. Repeat this once a week until you reach an ongoing appreciation for your body
without having to consciously think about it.
 Step 5
Write down 10 things you’re grateful for in relation to your strengths, skills, abilities and
achievements. Add to all of these lists as more things occur to you.

Step 6
As well as reminding yourself of people and things you don’t want to take for granted, make an
effort to notice new things to be grateful for each day. This keeps your brain on constant alert
for a fresh dopamine hit. Looking for novel things to appreciate keeps the practice of gratitude
exciting because it becomes a creative endeavour. You are not just remembering things to be
thankful for, you are discovering new things that enliven you.

Step 7
Write as much detail as you can about what makes you grateful. Instead of simply jotting down,
‘I am grateful that I have such a caring and thoughtful partner’, give examples of what he or she
does that is caring and thoughtful. For instance, ‘My partner always knows when to warmly
squeeze my hand and say, “You’re doing an amazing job looking after your father.”’ Or ‘My
husband unloaded the dishwasher, put away the washing and made breakfast before I even
stepped out of the shower.’ Or ‘My neighbour offered to look after the kids this afternoon so I
could finish writing the next chapter of my book.’

Step 8
In the same way that you created your Can-do Jar, create a Gratitude Box — or bowl or vase or
any large, beautiful container. Attach a label to it that says Gratitude Box. Invite your family to
play another game with you. Every time someone experiences something they feel grateful for,
they write it on a piece of paper, sign it, date it, fold it up and put it in the box. Everyone will
instinctively start to find more things they are grateful for. You will catch your children
exclaiming, ‘This is something for the Gratitude Box!’ The moment immediately becomes more
memorable and reminds everyone else to be grateful.
Allocate one evening every year as your designated Evening of Appreciation. You may want to
choose World Gratitude Day (see Step 14) or any day that has significance for you. Sit around
a table with your family, open the Gratitude Box and take it in turns to fish out one of the folded
pieces of paper and read it out to everyone. This will be an incredible night of fun, laughter,
kisses, cuddles and a celebration of life and love.
Why not also make a Gratitude Box for your desk at work? When one of my retreat participants
did this, several of her work colleagues asked her about it and she explained it to them. When
she reviewed the contents of her box on her chosen day, she was amazed at how many notes
other people had placed in the box thanking her! She hadn’t even seen them putting the notes in
her box. People must have waited until she was away from her desk and secretly slipped them
in. She was overwhelmed with gratitude at their gratitude! Gratitude creates an amazing
upward positive spiral in our lives.

Step 9
Invite someone to be your Gratitude Buddy — a person with whom you can share a grateful
moment every day. My best friend and I send each other a daily SMS to recount an experience
we feel grateful for. We don’t allocate a particular time of day to do it; we share our moment
when it occurs. Some days I would forget were it not for her message to me. Other days I am
the one who asks her what she feels thankful for. Occasionally we joke about being thankful
that tomorrow is another day. The point is that our ‘Gratitude Game’ has become a ‘Gratitude
Frame’: a beautiful way of relating to each other and to the world. I am on the lookout every
day for something to be grateful for and invariably I find it. ‘Seek and ye shall find.’

Step 10
Bring a sense of gratitude to meal times. What are all the things you are grateful for in
relation to the food you are eating and the different foods available? Can you come up
with your own way of ‘saying grace’ — expressing gratitude for the meal — that is
personally meaningful to you (and your family)?
Whenever you sit down to have dinner with your family or friends, let everyone have a
turn at relating what they were grateful for that day — it can include the fact that you are
sitting down and having a meal together. This practice has been found to deepen people’s
sense of connection to each other.

Step 11
Buy a Gratitude Journal for each of your friends and members of your family. Teach them the
power of gratitude. A Gratitude Journal makes the most wonderful gift for any occasion. Before
giving it to each person, use the first page to write all the things you appreciate about them.
They will keep it for life and it will weave a kind of magic through their life. Whenever they
need a lift, they will pick up the journal and read your message.

The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.

William James

Step 12
Commit to writing a thank you message — preferably a handwritten card or note, but it can also
be an email or SMS — to one person every month for the rest of your life. This can take many
different forms — limited only by your memory and imagination. The most important thing is
that the message is heartfelt and genuine — feel your gratitude for the person and the deed as
you write. You’ll not only make their day, you’ll feel more harmonious with everyone else
around you.
You could thank someone at work for their assistance or support.
You could look up an old school teacher and thank them for their belief in you.
You could thank a mentor for their time and encouragement.
You could thank a parent, aunt, uncle, cousin, sibling, grandparent, anyone who ever did
anything that left a lasting impression on you.
You could write a thank you note to your teenage son and stick it on the fridge door with a
magnet.
You could write a thank you message to your spouse on the bathroom mirror with lipstick!
Every time we thank someone, we reignite our own flame.

Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps
the ability to see beauty never grows old.
Franz Kafka

Step 13
Using your phone or camera, take a photo of something you’re grateful for every day for the
first week (or longer) of each year. Or choose a week that is of significance to you. The week
will unfold to be an unexpected celebration of life.

Step 14
Celebrate World Gratitude Day on 21 September every year. The seeds of Gratitude Day were
sown at a dinner party in Hawaii in 1965 but it wasn’t until 1977 that World Gratitude Day
was officially started by the United Nations Meditation Group.
How can you involve your family, friends or work colleagues to make it a special day? If you
apply your imagination, you could create a wonderful Gratitude Day event at your workplace,
your child’s school or within your local community.

Step 15
Engage in at least one of these gratitude exercises every day for the rest of your life. The more
the better. In this way, gratitude becomes your orientation in life and will enrich you
immeasurably. Gratitude transforms us on a physical, psychological and emotional level.
Within a month of keeping a daily Gratitude Journal, you will be amazed at how your life
becomes more and more of what you want it to be, seemingly without effort. Gratitude is in
itself a cause for gratitude!

There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. It is

accompanied with such an inward satisfaction that the duty is sufficiently
rewarded by the performance.
Joseph Addison

Recommended reading
Emmons, Robert A, Gratitude Works! A 21-day program for creating emotional prosperity,
Jossey-Bass, New Jersey, 2013
Emmons, Robert A, Thanks! How the new science of gratitude can make you happier,
Houghton-Mifflin, Boston, 2007

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 17 
Clap not slap

The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the
pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious of the rose.
Kahlil Gibran

M IS S IO N 1 7
Your Seventeenth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Clap not slap.
Focus is the Third Strength of NeuroSlimming.
In the chapter titled The science of success, I wrote that learning to focus on how you want to feel is
the underpinning of NeuroSlimming. In this Mission, I discuss focus in more detail and explain how
being On Mission continually reinforces this concept.
In an experiment conducted in 2007, a group of hotel room attendants from seven different hotels
across the USA underwent a detailed assessment of their health and fitness levels. They all perceived
that they were too busy to do any exercise, and their test results supported this view. Half of the group
was then informed that the manual work they were doing — namely cleaning, moving beds, reaching,
bending and lifting — actually satisfied the national recommendations for daily exercise
requirements. They were also educated on the benefits of exercise, and notices were placed in the
staff rooms to remind them of the health advantages of their work. They were told not to change
anything about their lifestyles and, four weeks later, they were all re-tested on the same health and
fitness parameters. The room attendants who had not been informed that their work was exercise
showed no change in their health. Those who had been told their work was beneficial and served as
good exercise showed significant improvements in their health! Yet nothing had changed — only the
belief that they were living an active lifestyle!
In a 2002 research paper, Becca Levy recorded that people who had a positive attitude towards
ageing lived an average of seven and a half years longer than people who felt negatively about ageing.
This was after gender, socioeconomic status, loneliness and overall health were taken into account. In
fact, focusing on the positive aspects of their lives had a greater impact on survival than a healthy
lifestyle! Low blood pressure, normal triglyceride levels and never smoking each added around four
extra years to life — only half of what focusing on positives gives!
Our beliefs, thoughts, expectations and focus affect our brain and body chemistry.
I learnt this for myself in the most unlikely of places: on a trampoline.
I love trampolines. I’ve also sustained more injuries on trampolines than anyone I know. But it
doesn’t deter me from having a go whenever I come across one.

A few years ago I was at Brisbane’s11 night markets where a series of huge trampolines had been set
up for superhero-loving children. I watched as 10-year-olds were strapped into harnesses that
enabled them to jump to great heights without flying into the bushes. I had to have a turn.
The young man supervising the operation gave me a bemused look but took my money and fastened the
thick, elasticised ropes around my legs and waist. I began bouncing with great gusto. True to form, I
landed nowhere near the centre of the trampoline — I was always just short of falling off the edges —
but fortunately the ropes were there to rescue me.
When my time was up, the affable young man couldn’t hold back. ‘That was very impressive,’ he
grinned. ‘I’ve never seen anyone miss the bulls-eye so consistently. It’s like you had a magnet
drawing you off to the sides. But I figured out your problem.’ He paused.
‘And?’ I prompted.
‘You were always looking off to the sides. You never once looked down at the middle of the
trampoline. If you look there, that’s where you’ll land.’
I thought about his advice for a minute. The crowds had thinned and the temptation was too great.
‘OK. I’ll give it another go.’
Back in the harness, I propelled myself into the air and fixed my eyes on the centre of the trampoline. I
couldn’t believe it — I landed where I looked! I kept my focus on the target and got the same result,
over and over again. I was a trampolining legend! When I glanced over to the side, sure enough, that’s
where I headed. When I looked back to the centre, I was back on track. I laughed for the entire
duration of the ‘ride’ and then thanked my young mentor for the life lesson: what we focus on is
where we end up.
What do you tend to focus on in your life? In particular what do you focus on in relation to your body?
Do you spend most of your time appreciating the wonders of the human body or do you beat yourself
up for your imperfections? (Imperfections in your eyes, not in absolute terms.) Do you focus on
nourishing your body or punishing your body?
What does ‘focus’ actually mean? How can we turn focus into a daily practice that moves us in the
direction we want to go?
Focus is defined as ‘selectively concentrating on one aspect of your external or internal environment
while ignoring other things’. This indicates that focus is a choice. You are selectively putting your
attention on something. Your external environment constitutes the people, things and events around
you; your internal environment constitutes your thoughts and emotions. Of course, there are instances
where something involuntarily grabs your attention; for instance, a sudden loud noise or unexpected
sound. This is necessary for survival; you need to act quickly to deal with any potential danger the
noise might represent: an intruder in the house or a snake in the grass.
However, most of the time, you are choosing where you put your attention, even if that choice is not
conscious.
The second part of the definition is ‘while ignoring other things’. This does not mean denying the
existence of other things; it means choosing not to pay attention to them. Teenagers are very good at
this when parents ask them to do something they’re not interested in doing. ‘Did you hear me?’ Yes,
they heard you but they’re choosing to ignore you.
People often tell me they’re terrified that if they don’t remind themselves they’re carrying excess fat,
they’ll gain even more. This is not true. Not thinking about an unwanted situation doesn’t mean not
doing something to improve it. It means focusing on where you’re going rather than where you’re
coming from. When you drive somewhere, do you spend most of your time looking through the
rearview mirror or looking ahead? You only glance at the rearview mirror from time to time to make
sure you’re not making a dangerous lane change. Would you ever arrive if you kept looking behind
you? Focusing on what you want will not lead to complacency. Quite the contrary, it will inspire you
to move in your desired direction because you are reminded of the better life that awaits you.
Start to focus on the behaviours that support your goal. Focus on thoughts that feed the achievement of
your goal. Focus on things that remind you of your strengths, not your weakness. Focus on how you
can turn everything into a stepping stone rather than a stumbling block. You will notice that many of
the Missions refine your skill at focusing on what you want. Practising gratitude is an obvious
example. So is reviewing your Mission Statement, Passion Statement and Vision Statement, along
with creating a Can-do Jar.
How does focus actually work?
Focus is the window through which you view the world. Pick the best view every time. Think about
what you habitually focus on. Pay attention to your thoughts and conversations. Do you beat yourself
up for what you don’t achieve or do you congratulate yourself for what you do accomplish? Do you
look back over your day and recall your wins or your sins? Do you give yourself a clap or a slap?
Every day is a medley of things we feel have gone ‘right’ as well as ‘wrong’. What scenes do you
replay in your mind? What do you talk to others about? I’m not suggesting you become boastful. I’m
inviting you to choose where you put your focus. Choose which window you look through: the one
that offers the good view or the depressing view?
If you look in the mirror and focus on all the things you don’t like about yourself, how do you feel? If
you look in the mirror and make a conscious effort to notice your beautiful hair, your shining eyes and
your great smile, these features will start to stand out — not only to you but to others as well. Go on,
do it now — no one is looking!
Focus acts like a magnifying glass and a magnet. Water the flowers in your life, not the weeds. The
flowers you water are the flowers that grow. The flowers you ignore wither and die. Whatever you
put your attention on expands in your life. Whatever you talk about you see more of. Whatever you
think about you experience more of. What you focus on directs your subconscious mind — your crew
— to do what needs to be done to make it happen.
The other effect of giving yourself a Clap not a slap is that you reinforce the neural pathways that
bring about positive events. It’s a form of mental rehearsal and it brings about changes in the brain
that enhance your strengths and abilities.
There’s a Native American story that illustrates the power of focus.

A Cherokee elder was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, ‘A fight is going on inside me . . . it is a terrible
fight between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, hatefulness and lies. The
other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, kindness, friendship, generosity, faith and truth. This same fight is going on inside
you, and inside every other person, too.’

The children thought about it for a minute. Then one child asked his grandfather, ‘Which wolf will win?’

The Cherokee elder replied, ‘The one you choose to feed.’

Which wolf are you choosing to feed?

 Step 1
Review your life and write down all the positive things you’re already doing for your health:
yoga, meditation, prioritising sleep, the Missions you’ve accomplished, using the stairs, going
for a walk, eating more vegetables, whatever you can think of. Keep adding to the list as you
continue to adopt more healthful habits. This will reinforce your self-image as a fit, healthy,
energetic, active person. The more you view yourself as healthy, the more you will engage in
health-promoting behaviours.

Step 2
Whenever you achieve something, execute something well, learn a new skill, make a healthy
food choice, fit in exercise, do something self-nurturing or receive positive feedback PAUSE
and take it in. Give yourself a mental pat on the back. Celebrate in some way — even if it’s
simply engaging in the thought, ‘I did well’ and smiling quietly to yourself. Get in touch with
the feeling it gives you: satisfaction, contentment, success or fulfilment. Get a buzz from it —
don’t immediately move on to the next thing, without acknowledging that you’ve accomplished
something. We tend to rush through life and not enjoy or even recognise many of our
achievements. This not only detracts from our happiness but also our performance. Celebration
puts the brain in a can-do state. We then operate more efficiently and effectively when we
apply ourselves to the next task, and we create a positive, upward spiral of ever-increasing
success.
The same applies when we deal with other people. The most effective way to improve
someone’s performance is to acknowledge all the things they do well. Genuinely praise their
strengths and remind them of the things you value about them. People unconsciously live into
our expectations of them. This is another way that focus acts like a magnifying glass and a
magnet. The more attention we pay to all the things we like about someone, the more it
reinforces that behaviour in them.
Like all the other Missions, giving yourself a Clap not a slap will become easier with
practice. Once you have kept it up for a few weeks it will become your default way of speaking
to yourself.

Step 3
At the end of every day, write down three things you did well or accomplished that day. It
doesn’t have to be a major achievement like discovering a cure for cancer. It can be as simple
as managing to get to your lunchtime cycling class. The days you find this most difficult to do
are the days you need to do it most. Focusing on ‘what went right’ instead of ‘what went
wrong’ not only improves our wellbeing, it helps us sleep better!

Step 4
When you look in the mirror, focus on all the things you like about your body. If this is very
foreign to you, focus on finding one thing — just one — that you could start to like about
yourself. Your eyes, hair, hands, fingernails, feet, nose, smile. Begin wherever you can. Don’t
force anything. This is not about ‘willing yourself to think positively’ or repeating affirmations
you don’t believe. It’s about genuinely finding something good about yourself and enjoying the
good feelings that ensue. The gratitude exercises in the previous Mission will enhance your
capacity to like your body.

Step 5
Don’t talk about having cellulite, not liking your thighs or feeling unattractive. Either drop these
topics from your conversations or talk about improving your health, becoming more active and
noticing the positive changes in your life. You are not ignoring important issues in your life;
you are simply reframing the way you speak about them.
Don’t talk about how hard it is to adopt new habits; talk about the progress you’re making, no
matter how seemingly small or slow. If you don’t feel comfortable having these conversations
with others, have them with yourself.

Step 6
Do more things that make you feel good about yourself. In particular, as soon as you can, start
doing things you’ve been putting off because you previously lacked the confidence, energy or
fitness to do so.

Step 7
Wear clothes that fit you comfortably now, not clothes that are tight and remind you of the fat
you want to release. Wear clothes that you look and feel good in now. Don’t wait until you’re
the size you want to be before choosing clothes that present you at your best.

Step 8
When you receive a compliment, accept it, and don’t brush it off. How often do you negate
compliments? How often have you heard (or engaged in) the following exchange?

‘You look great!’

Response: ‘I wish I felt it. I couldn’t do anything with my hair this morning.’
 ‘That dress looks great on you!’
Response: ‘Really? I think it makes my hips look big.’
‘You’re looking very fit.’
Response: ‘Oh, I still have a long way to go.’

Try this simple practice: whenever you receive a compliment, just say, ‘Thank you’. That’s all.
Don’t try to repudiate it or be modest about it. Merely say ‘Thank you’. If you feel
uncomfortable, that’s OK. Sit with your discomfort, accept your discomfort and don’t judge
your discomfort. Your discomfort will slowly fade and you’ll become increasingly comfortable
with receiving compliments. Sometimes we feel comfortable with certain types of compliments
but not others. If the compliment validates something we already believe about ourselves, for
example ‘You’re great with kids’, we accept it. If the compliment relates to something we don’t
see in ourselves — and this often applies to compliments about our appearance — we tend to
dismiss it. Accept the compliment as a gift. By doing so, you are taking one more step in the
direction you want to go. ‘Won’t that make me look or become egotistical?’ No. You will
become more accepting of yourself, and others will actually feel more comfortable around you.

Recommended reading
Langer, Ellen J, Counterclockwise: Mindful health and the power of possibility, Ballantine
Books, New York, 2009
Seligman, Martin, Learned Optimism, William Heinemann, Sydney, 2011

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.

11 For my non-Australian readers, Brisbane is the capital city of the state of Queensland.
  Mission 18 
Forgive to live

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the

most massive characters are seared with scars.
Kahlil Gibran

M IS S IO N 1 8
Your Eighteenth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Forgive to live.
Forgiveness is the Fourth Strength of NeuroSlimming.
Is there someone in your life you haven’t forgiven? Your parents? A former friend? A group of
people? Yourself?
What does forgiveness have to do with slimming?
Holding on to resentment can weigh us down physically as well as emotionally. Forgiveness releases
an emotional burden that is sometimes reflected as a physical burden. Are you carrying something
you’d like to let go of?

The more a person knows, the more he forgives.

Catherine the Great

Forgiveness is not about condoning what happened. It’s about your liberation, not that of the other
person. It’s about letting go of blame and resentment so that you are able to thrive. A study in the July
2013 issue of Journal of Affective Disorders found that people who were able to forgive themselves
and others had a lower risk of depression and suicide.
Forgiveness means the past no longer has negative power over you.
Are you able to ask yourself how you might grow from an experience rather than remain trapped by
it? The goal isn’t necessarily to know why something happened, but to learn to use the experience to
deepen our understanding and appreciation of life and of ourselves. Rumi wrote, ‘The wound is the
place where the light enters you.’ Viktor Frankl, Jewish psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor,
discovered that the only way to endure life in Nazi concentration camps was to use the experience as
an opportunity for spiritual growth. And George Eliot reminds us that ‘The strongest principle of
growth lies in the human choice.’ The choice to forgive is not an easy one but the very struggle to
forgive is what leads to growth.
I am not for a moment suggesting that reading this brief chapter will enable you to automatically
release all the grievances you’ve experienced. Nor do I pretend to be an expert on forgiveness. I am
merely sharing my thought processes and observations about what has helped me. Sometimes people
go through such enormous horror that the pain is paralysing or they develop PTSD (post-traumatic
stress disorder). If you feel overwhelmed by what you’ve experienced, I urge you to seek counselling
from a psychologist or other health professional specifically trained in this area. Support groups can
also be valuable because you discover that you are not alone and you learn how other people have
dealt with similar experiences.
At other times, it may be helpful to reflect on the following two stories.

Two monks were walking through a village when a wealthy man in a carriage came carelessly around the corner and
knocked the senior of the two monks to the ground. The monk landed in a ditch filled with muddy water. Instead of stopping
to apologise, the carriage owner simply sneered and continued on his way. In response, the senior monk called out to the
man, ‘May you have everything that brings you joy and fulfilment!’ The junior disciple, surprised by the senior monk’s
response, turned to him and asked, ‘Master, I’m confused. Why did you say that to a man with such horrible behaviour?’ The
monk replied, ‘Because a happy man wouldn’t have thoughtlessly pushed another man into a ditch.’

We are all doing the best we can with the resources that we have. If a person is being nasty or
uncharitable, it is often because they feel wronged or resentful about life themselves — even if it has
nothing to do with the person against whom they are venting their misery.

The same two monks were travelling back to their monastery when they arrived at a fast-flowing river. It had been raining
and the water had risen and started to spill over the banks so they would have to wade across. Staring in despair at the
tumultuous rapids was a woman holding a baby. Without saying a word, the senior monk picked up the woman and child
and carried them across the river. As soon as he had placed them on dry ground he continued on his way without saying a
word. The disciple was completely baffled. Monks are not permitted to touch women, let alone carry them. Monks are also
not allowed to question the actions of more senior monks. So the disciple was left with a dilemma. He was intensely curious
about why his companion had picked up the woman but he didn’t want to risk getting reprimanded by asking him to explain
his actions. As they continued to walk to the monastery, the junior monk debated with himself about what to do. Six hours
later they finally arrived. He could no longer bear being in a state of ignorance so he cautiously asked, ‘Master, I have a
question. How is it that you picked up that woman and carried her across the river when we have such strict rules about not
touching women?’ The other monk replied, ‘I put her down hours ago. You’re the one still carrying her.’

What are you still carrying that is weighing you down?

Dealing with adversities, calamities and tribulations is what stretches us to discover who we really
are. We experience more deeply what it means to be human. We are forced to stop and evaluate the
bigger picture of our lives. We are prompted to question what life is really about and what’s truly
important to us. Our values suddenly become evident to us. These are the times when we discover we
have strengths we never knew we had. These are the times when we connect with others in the most
meaningful ways. This is our opportunity to gain wisdom, empathy and compassion.
It isn’t always possible to know why something happened. Life is like being on a train and looking out
of the window. We are able to see only as far as the window frame allows. Sometimes what we see
outside is beautiful and evokes happiness. We relax and enjoy the ride. Sometimes what we see is
shocking and disturbing and in the moment of horror we feel powerless to respond. Sometimes we
understand how the scene we’re looking at came about because of what has already transpired on our
journey. At other times, nothing seems to make any sense. But as we continue our journey, the
devastation transforms into awareness, learning, growth and peace.
Sometimes a crisis is an experience that enables us to relate to someone or something we encounter
later in life but it was impossible to foresee at the time. Sometimes a crisis is the only thing that
enables us to change course and lead us to something that is ultimately more fulfilling than where we
were going. We rarely change unless the status quo becomes unbearable or we have a compelling
enough reason to do so.
In an essay titled ‘A Room of One’s Own’ by Virginia Woolf, she writes ‘I thought how unpleasant it
is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in.’ This metaphor describes
my experience of holding on to grievances. A part of me felt locked in, unable to express itself, until I
was able to forgive. Forgiving brought me freedom.
There is no formula for forgiveness. The steps below are the approach I take when I find
myself needing to forgive. For me, forgiveness is a winding, unpredictable path, full of
unexpected twists and turns. The first step is designed to shed light on things you may not have
been aware of. The remaining steps are a way of dealing with your answers. Sometimes the
process of feeling the emotions associated with something you are unable to forgive is all it
takes. At other times I have sought professional counselling.

Step 1
Write your answers to the following questions in your Mission Manual.
1. What are all the things you haven’t forgiven your parents for?
2. What are all the things you haven’t forgiven other people for?
3. What are all the things you haven’t forgiven yourself for?

Step 2
Feel the feeling or feelings associated with the distressing event: rage, injustice, despair,
betrayal, bitterness, bewilderment, confusion or grief. Go through the process of feeling your
feelings described in Mission 15: Feeling not fleeing.

Step 3
Painful as it may be, recognise that no matter how hard you try, you will not change the past.
The past is exactly that: past. We are not our past. We grow through the process of learning
from our past, and we help others through the process of sharing those learnings. I am who I am
in this moment.
Intellectually we know this, but emotionally we often behave as though our misery will
somehow undo what happened. Holding on to the thought that ‘this shouldn’t have happened’
keeps us trapped from living fully in the present. My mother should not have died of lung
cancer — especially as she never smoked and spent a good part of her working life helping
others give it up. My initial resentment transformed into repressed anger that tainted everything
I did. Slowly I realised that it was stopping me from experiencing joy in all areas of my life.
My turning point was reading the words of Franklin Roosevelt: ‘Men are not prisoners of fate,
but only prisoners of their own minds.‘ I was jolted into seeing that life happens now. The only
time we can act is now. And what we do now is what influences our future. I started to regain
my appreciation for what I had now, and to leave the past in the past.

Step 4
Are you able to take a philosophical approach and say to yourself ‘Shit happens’? And it
happens to everyone. Life is comprised of yin and yang, day and night, light and dark, summer
and winter, hot and cold, fast and slow, laughter and tears, growth and decline, birth and death.
We need rain as well as sun for plants to grow. How could you grow from your experience?
Growth is such a rewarding, uplifting and enriching path. The difficult times in my life have led
me to aspire to grow, more than I aspire for anything else.

Step 5
Ask yourself: ‘What meaning can I give to my experience that will enable me to grow, move on
and find peace?’ Keep reminding yourself that forgiveness is for you and does not condone
what happened. Forgiveness enables you to reclaim your power — what happened no longer
has the capacity to compromise who you are or what you can achieve. It is an act of self-nurture
that frees us to be the best we can be.

Step 6
Watch the awe-inspiring documentary Beyond Right and Wrong: Stories of Forgiveness and
Justice, directed by Lekha Singh and Roger Spottiswoode. The film explores the process of
forgiveness in the most devastating and incomprehensible situations: genocide, terrorism, war
and murder. It is about ordinary individuals having extraordinary conversations that transcend
the mind and tap into the deepest recesses of our humanity.
At the time of writing this book, it was possible to watch the film online for free. For every
view, Operation Kids Foundation and Share the Mic will donate 50¢ to the charity of your
choice.

Step 7
If you are still unable to forgive the wrongs that someone has inflicted, accept that this is where
you are right now and forgive yourself for not forgiving.

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 19 
Trick or treat?

It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the

whole scheme of things works. All good things are
difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.
Confucius

M IS S IO N 1 9
Your Nineteenth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Trick or treat?
The way we label things profoundly influences our behaviour. Change the
label and you change your response.
Framing is the Fifth Strength of NeuroSlimming.
As long as you continue to label sugar-laden foods as a ‘treat’, you will feel deprived if you don’t
have them. You will feel that you are ‘missing out’ or ‘resisting’ rather than choosing not to rot your
teeth, brain and liver. Suddenly it doesn’t sound like such a treat.
By sugar, I am not referring to the sugar contained in fruit and vegetables in their natural state.
Natural meaning ‘as nature produced them’ — not juiced, blended, dried or tinned. Nor am I
referring to the naturally occurring sugar in milk, known as lactose. For the purposes of this
discussion, sugar refers to sucrose or table sugar (cane and beet sugar), high-fructose corn syrup,
other syrups (such as maple, rice, golden), honey and any sugar extracted from plants and added to
processed food and drinks.
What about indulging in a cool, luscious strawberry instead of a thick shake? If you were bombarded
with billboards featuring bikini-clad women sucking sensuously on strawberries, you would soon
find yourself wanting to eat a strawberry on your way home from work.
We only see junk food as a ‘treat’ because it has been marketed as such. Our consciousness is
saturated with emotive advertising that tells us ‘Have a break. Have Chocolate Bar X.’ There is no
intrinsic link between having a break and having Chocolate Bar X— or any other chocolate. You
have been brainwashed into believing you ‘deserve’ a sugary, fatty sensation in your mouth when
you’ve had a hard day. On the other hand, having ‘Chocolate Bar Y every day helps you work, rest
and play.’ Really? High blood sugar levels have been linked to poorer memory and a smaller
hippocampus, the learning and memory warehouse of the brain (published in the journal Neurology,
October 2013). Eating Chocolate Bar Y every day will blast your brain cells away. And don’t let
Chocolate Bar Z trick you into thinking you’ll be satisfied. You won’t be. Food manufacturers
deliberately manipulate the sugar, fat and salt content of edible substances to make them addictive.
Yes, chemically addictive like cocaine and heroin.
This is not to advocate never eating chocolate. As the cover of this book states, ‘It’s not what you eat,
it’s why and how you eat.’ Why and how we eat determine what we eat. There is nothing wrong,
bad or unhealthy about enjoying a piece of chocolate. Sometimes it’s delectable to finish a meal with
a sweet taste. Or sometimes you might simply feel like the gustatory experience of chocolate, cake,
ice cream or dessert. Problems arise when these things are consumed in excess on a regular basis and
we stop appreciating rich, exquisite tastes for what they are: an occasional sensory pleasure or
something to commemorate a special event. Rich foods are for savouring and appreciating with all
our senses. The more you taste, the less you need to feel satisfied. Problems arise when we use these
foods to self-medicate or anaesthetise ourselves from pain. Problems arise when junk food becomes a
surrogate for life fulfilment. Problems arise when we become addicted to processed foods that have
been manipulated to disrupt our brain chemistry.
Neuroscientist Dr Paul Kenny has done extensive research demonstrating how junk food can hijack
the brain’s reward centres so that eating becomes a compulsion rather than a response to hunger. In
one of Dr Kenny’s studies at Florida’s Scripps Research Institute, rats that were fed as much junk
food as they wanted (cheap commercial cakes, fatty meat products and chocolate) soon started
binging and became very fat. When their brains were examined they were found to need much higher
levels of stimulation to register pleasure than rats fed healthier diets. The pleasure centres in their
brains had been over-stimulated by eating junk food. The result was constant craving for more junk
food accompanied by diminished pleasure from other sources.
In another experiment, rats stopped eating at a certain point when given either sugar or fat on its own.
But when sugar and fat were combined in a ratio of 50–50, for example glazed donuts or commercial
cheesecakes, rats were no longer able to regulate their intake and vastly over-consumed the sugar–fat
combination. Once again, their brain chemistry had been corrupted, driving them to continue eating.
There is no food in nature — no real food — that contains addictive formulations of sugar and fat.
The processed food industry (which includes junk food, fast food, soft drinks and juices)
methodically and mathematically calculates the optimal levels of sugar and fat to keep you coming
back for more. The ideal sugar content in a product is referred to as the ‘bliss point’. The goal with
fats is to create the perfect ‘mouth feel’. A recent fast food advertising campaign made a Freudian
slip: ‘Crafted for your craving’.
Sugar by itself can also be addictive if consumed often enough in large enough quantities. People
differ in their susceptibility to become addicted to both sugar and alcohol, and too much of either
substance causes fatty liver disease. If soft drinks are the new cigarettes, sugar is the new booze. The
major difference between sugar and alcohol is sugar’s furtive ubiquity. With 80 percent of products
on our supermarket shelves containing added sugar, it is very easy to consume a lot of sugar on a
daily basis without even realising it. Everything, including tomato sauce, flavoured yoghurt, breakfast
cereals and baked beans, is loaded with added sugar. The list is endless and I don’t mean to single
out any particular product. Anything labelled ‘low fat’ should also set off alarm bells for lots of
added sugar. If fat is removed, more sugar needs to be added to retain an alluring taste and texture.
How is sugar addictive? Sugar causes the pleasure centre of the brain, called the nucleus accumbens,
to receive a dopamine signal that we experience as immediate gratification. We think to ourselves,
‘That was pleasant and now I’ve had enough’. But if the dopamine signal is continually activated by
everything we eat, it gradually weakens and we need a higher dose to receive the same level of
pleasure. Then if we stop eating sugar, we feel awful and experience withdrawal. So we consume
more sugar to lift us back up and so it goes on. We forget that after a sugar hit, we don’t crash back
down to ‘reality’. We crash below our baseline mood and need another dose just to get back to
‘normal’ functioning. Addiction.
Most of us don’t like to be told what to do and we strongly rebel against having our personal freedom
taken away from us. Yet this is exactly what the food industry has done.
One of the reasons we reach for ‘naughty’ treats is that we feel like being rebellious. ‘I’m going to do
what I want and no one is going to make me eat celery.’ Guess what? No one is trying to make you eat
celery. Only you are. Have you ever seen an advertisement for celery? Or for any other vegetable that
is not in a tin?
The irony is that by eating so-called treats we are being the opposite of rebellious. We have
passively allowed the food industry to tell us what to do.
By spending more money on marketing than ingredients, the food industry has conditioned us to see
their products as treats and indispensable staples. At the same time, they have manipulated their
products so that once we start eating them it is difficult to stop. And in the process we are eroding our
health on every level: physical, psychological and emotional. By eating a packet of biscuits, we are
not being rebellious at all. We have fallen into a trap. The food industry is full of tricks not treats.

Convenient or corrosive?
‘Convenience food’ is another misnomer. Convenient for whom? Convenient for the companies who
make them because of the profits they generate. Not convenient for me who will end up having my
gallbladder removed or my liver transplanted because of the damage to my health from consuming
their products.
How and why we eat is greatly influenced by how we label what we eat. Once again, I want to
emphasise that eating one luxurious piece of chocolate or home-made piece of cake is not the
problem. Feeling that you need a box of chocolates to get you through the day is a completely different
scenario. As is putting sugary snacks in a child’s lunch box every day. Sugar is not designed to be a
daily snack but an energy-rich substance for when we need a lot of energy. Mindlessly eating junk
food in front of a screen is where we need to make changes.
 Step 1
Recognise that you are not powerless in the face of advertising or addictive products. You are
more than your biochemistry. Your beliefs, goals and self-image ultimately determine how your
body responds to food and how your brain responds to marketing. A person can only be
hypnotised if they allow themselves to be.
If you are practising mindful eating together with the Missions in the Second and Third
Freedoms, your fat and sugar cravings will naturally diminish. You will be drawn to foods that
support your optimal health.
The purpose of this Mission is not to add to the rapidly expanding literature on the dangers of
sugar — there is plenty of excellent reading material on the subject already. The purpose of this
Mission is to demonstrate the power of language and labels in swaying your choices and
creating your habits. Language and labels (how you frame things) actually generate your food
environment because they determine what you buy in the first place.

Step 2
Play hide-and-seek instead of Trick or treat.
The recommended daily intake of sugar (as per my definition above) is still being debated. The
American Heart Association advises that men consume a maximum of nine teaspoons of sugar
per day and women a maximum of six teaspoons per day. The World Health Organization has
published similar guidelines while Australian authorities are still deliberating.
A 2012 report titled Sugar Consumption in Australia: A statistical update disclosed that the
average Australian eats 27 teaspoons of sugar per day — more than triple the recommendation.
This is partly because of sugars we are not even aware of in foods branded ‘healthy’ or ‘low
fat’.
So I invite you and your family to play hide-and-seek-the-sugar. The food industry hides sugar;
the game is for you to find it.
One teaspoon of sugar is approximately four grams. To calculate the number of teaspoons of
sugar in a packaged food, follow the system below:
1. Look at how many grams of sugar are on the label. The label usually has two columns. The
first column lists sugar ‘per serving’ and the second column lists sugar per 100 grams or
100 millilitres.
2. Look at how many servings of the product are in the packet or container (usually at the top
of the label). For instance, ‘Servings per container’ might be listed as two.
 3. Calculate the amount of sugar in the whole packet. For example, if there are 20 grams of
sugar per serving and the number of servings is two, there are 40 grams of sugar in the
whole packet. This equates to 10 teaspoons of sugar.
4. How much of the product do you think you will eat in one sitting? Often the serving size on
the packet is very small and it is easy to consume twice the designated serving at a time. A
200-gram tub of yoghurt is a good example. Most people eat the entire tub in one sitting
but this is nominated as two servings by the manufacturers.
5. When you have estimated how much you will eat, calculate the corresponding amount of
sugar.
6. Add up the sugar in all the different foods you eat in a day. What is your daily average
number of teaspoons?
Beware that ‘No added sugar’ does not mean no sugar in it. It usually means there is plenty of
sugar in the other ingredients so no sugar needs to be added. Do not rely on descriptions of
foods on the packaging. Look at the numbers. The best example of this is fruit juice. There are
approximately 20 grams or five teaspoons of sugar in 250 millilitres (one cup) of orange juice.
Never mind the fact that it is ‘rich in vitamin C’. You can get your vitamin C without the high
sugar dose if you eat fresh whole fruit and vegetables.
If you are working with ounces, one ounce of sugar is about seven teaspoons.

Milk contains a sugar called lactose,12 which is broken down by the enzyme, lactase, into
glucose and galactose. Lactose constitutes two to eight percent of milk by weight, and is also
included under ‘sugars’ in the label. However, lactose in milk, yoghurt and cheese does not
count towards your daily sugar intake. As a rough estimate, you can subtract four grams or one
teaspoon of sugar for every 100 millilitres of milk or yoghurt. This means unflavoured milk and
yoghurt do not contribute any sugar to your daily allowance. However, flavoured or sweetened
yoghurts of all types can contain large amounts of added sugar depending on the brand. You
will find out as soon as you start playing hide-and-seek.
When you have calculated how much sugar you are eating, you can make informed choices
about what and how much you consume.

Step 3
Think about all the edible substances you currently refer to as treats or rewards. Ice cream,
chocolate-chip cookies, pizza, pretzels, cheesecake, muffins, anything you consider an
indulgence. Write up a list in your Mission Manual.
Next to each ‘treat’ write down what you find special about it. How does it make you feel?
What gives it treat or reward status?
In light of what you have just learned, do you still feel that all the consumable items you have
listed are a treat? Are there any you could replace with more healthful options?
‘Reward yourself with true nourishment.’ If this were an advertising slogan for a basket of
fresh vegetables, you would soon shift your perceptions about what constitutes a reward.
The deep and lasting joy that ensues from honouring your body is incomparably more enriching
than a short-lived sugar rush. Many people have never experienced the natural high of optimal
health. They only have the post-sugar crash or the fatigue of an unfulfilled life as a reference
point. Relying on sugar for sustenance keeps us in a permanent mental haze. Removing sugar
brings us greater clarity of mind and a powerful physical awakening.

Step 4
Think about all the pleasurable experiences you regard as a treat or reward. Write up a list in
your Mission Manual. Make it as varied and specific as you can: a facial, pedicure, massage,
bubble bath, reading a novel, visiting an art gallery, walking in nature, engaging in a hobby,
buying a new handbag, browsing through family photos, strolling in the moonlight, watching a
movie, listening to music, a day at the beach or dining at a romantic restaurant.
How could you give yourself more of these treats in place of your first list? Without
consciously setting out to eliminate the first list, if you do more of what is on your second list,
you will find that you don’t need sugar or fat as a treat.

Recommended reading
Critser, Greg, Fat Land: How Americans became the fattest people in the world, Houghton-
Mifflin, Boston, 2003
Gateau, Damon, That Sugar Book, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 2015
Lustig, Dr Robert, Fat Chance : Beating the odds against sugar, processed food, obesity, and
disease, Hudson Street Press, New York, 2013
(The detailed science in this book is excellent, however I differ with the author’s conclusions
that we are at the mercy of hormones and that behaviour is driven by biochemistry. Yes,
hormones influence bodily functions and behaviour, but our capacity for self-awareness and
conscious decision-making is more powerful than our hormones.)

Recommended viewing
Super Size Me directed by Morgan Spurlock
That Sugar Film directed by Damon Gateau
The Men Who Made Us Fat — a three-part BBC documentary

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
 body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.

12 Some adults develop lactose intolerance to varying degrees (with symptoms of bloating, cramps, flatulence, diarrhoea, nausea or
vomiting) because lactase production peters out in some children after ceasing breast milk. These people either avoid dairy products or
consume lactose-free varieties. A small number of babies are born with lactase deficiency.
  Mission 20 
Feedback not failure

Failure is the most important part of an artist’s training,

and one you cannot afford to do without.
Gustav Holst

M IS S IO N 2 0
Your Twentieth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Feedback not failure.
Feedback is the Sixth Strength of NeuroSlimming.
The 2012 British movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel taught me there was no such thing as failure
— only feedback. In reassuring his guests that things were going to plan, the hotel manager explains,
‘Everything will work out in the end, and if things haven’t worked out, then it’s not the end!’ I have
lived by his dictum ever since. I invite you to take the same approach with Mission SlimPossible.
You cannot fail. Everything that happens and everything you encounter is feedback. You are learning
about yourself.
Failure is just a word, a label, an arbitrary judgement about something. What is failure anyway? That
something didn’t turn out as planned? That I didn’t attain a specific outcome? That I didn’t get what I
wanted? The only time we fail is when we give up and stop learning from our experiences — when
we stop striving for what is worthwhile and meaningful.
What do you tend to say to yourself if you don’t achieve something you set out to achieve? If you don’t
end up doing what you’d promised you’d do? Do you label it as failure? Or do you view it as
feedback? If you eat a tub of ice cream after a difficult day, does your self-talk run you down even
further? ‘I’m pathetic.’ ‘I’m hopeless.’ ‘I’m disgusted with myself.’ Or are you able to say, ‘I’ve had
my binge. Now I need to reflect on what happened so I can learn from it.’ If you apply for a job and
you don’t get the position, do you tell yourself you’re not good enough, smart enough, competent
enough? Or do you enrol in a course to improve your presentation skills? Which is the more
empowering approach? When you speak to yourself, are you mostly critical or compassionate? You
are the only one who can make or break you.
Viktor Frankl was a Jewish neurologist and psychiatrist who spent three years in Nazi concentration
camps. After his release he wrote an account of his experiences from the perspective of both
oppressed inmate and scholar of the human psyche. The original title of his book was Nevertheless,
Say ‘Yes’ to Life: A psychologist experiences the concentration camp. Thirteen years later in 1959
the book was published under a new title, Man’s Search for Meaning. Dr Frankl’s profound
observations define what it means to be human. He writes that we can have everything taken away
from us except one thing: the ability to choose our attitude in any given situation. No one can control
our inner world. We always have power over our own thoughts—but sometimes we forget this. And
we underestimate the power this gives us.
Dr Frankl saw that those who survived the concentration camps were able to do so because they
chose to see their suffering as a challenge to achieve an inner victory. They gave their suffering a
meaning that enabled them to transcend it. A person’s inner decisions, not their outer circumstances,
determined their destiny.
It is not experiences that define us, but the meaning we assign to them. It is not ‘failures’ that shape us;
it is what we learn from them. It is not circumstances that break us; it is how we respond to them. Dr
Frankl summarises this insight in a haunting declaration: ‘The hunger was the same but people were
different. In truth, calories do not count.’ Everyone in the camp was deprived of food. Everyone was
starving. It was how people responded to their hunger that defined them.
Our ultimate power as human beings is the ability to choose our point of view, our perspective, our
approach in any given situation. We have the capacity to assign whatever meaning we want to
whatever we are experiencing. We do it all the time, without even realising. This is what our self-talk
is primarily about — assigning meaning to our experiences.
When you make a ‘mistake’, do you regret it for months or work with what you have? Consider the
possibility that there is no such thing as a mistake or a ‘bad’ decision. Imagine you are faced with two
options: A or B. If you take option A, you have experience A. If you take option B, you have
experience B. If you are happy with the result, you label it a good decision. If you are not happy with
the result, you label it a bad decision. But in fact, ‘Things are neither good nor bad but thinking makes
them so.’ Hamlet
Who knows what would have resulted from taking the other option? In retrospect, we often think we
should have chosen a different path. In reality, we don’t know if the outcome would have been more
favourable. It is what we do in any given moment that matters. Every moment of our lives — whether
pleasing or difficult — is an opportunity to bring out the best in ourselves. If someone is impatient
with me, I can either let it go or I can snap back. It’s a choice about who I want to be in any given
moment.
How do you treat those you love? Would you ever speak to them the way you speak to yourself? Why
do you not always give yourself the same respect you give to others? No human being is intrinsically
more worthy than another. Everyone’s core is the same: love. We all want to give and receive love.
That’s it. Everything in life is about expressing love. But we hide it very well — even from
ourselves. When we eat out of anger or anguish, it’s because we have disconnected from our core of
love. Feeling our feelings will take us there.
Thirteenth-century Sufi poet Rumi wrote that ‘Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your
heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life’s search for love
and wisdom.’
Great thinkers regard failure as feedback, as a stepping stone, not a stumbling block. People who
achieve extraordinary results have the capacity for constructive not destructive thinking. Their
self-talk is characterised by compassion not criticism. As Gautama Buddha taught, ‘We are shaped by
our thoughts; we become what we think.’
When you recognise that anything you dislike about yourself is a symptom of disconnecting from love,
you will start to view failure as feedback. Simply asking the question ‘What can I learn from this?’ is
a step towards love. The answer will come in due course. When you experience a setback in your
slimming goal, view it as feedback and keep going regardless.
Feedback encourages us to keep going.
 Step 1
Become aware of your self-talk. Do you speak to yourself the way a loving parent, partner or
friend would speak to you? Or do you beat yourself up at the first opportunity? Does it depend
on the situation? At this stage, simply become the observer of your thoughts. Recognise that you
are not your thoughts. Your thoughts resemble a sports commentator expressing an opinion
about the way you play the game of life. Some commentators offer valid insights and praise
players for great skill. Some are annoying and I mute the TV. What is your inner commentator
saying most of the time?
Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson discovered that self-talk is critical in determining whether
we flourish or languish. Her eminently readable book, Positivity: Top-notch research reveals
the 3-to-1 ratio that will change your life, explains how people who express an equal number
of positive and negative emotions are despondent about themselves and about life. Remarkably,
even those who engage in positive self-talk twice as often as they succumb to negative self-talk
are also unhappy and dispirited. But as soon as positive emotions outnumber negative emotions
by three to one, people start to thrive. They are more likely to bounce back from upsets and
overcome obstacles. As mentioned in earlier Missions, this is not about forcing yourself to
think positively, it’s about choosing to view things from an empowering perspective. In Dr
Fredrickson’s studies, positivity was not limited to joy, hope and gratitude. Positivity included
approaching a situation with curiosity, interest, fascination, amusement, serenity and awe.
Positivity is not about vehemently convincing yourself that you can do something; it is being
open to new possibilities and having the willingness to try different options. A major
impediment to positivity is prematurely judging yourself before you have the chance to learn
and grow. A powerful stepping stone to positivity is adopting the viewpoint that everything is
feedback.
An interesting corollary of Dr Fredrickson’s research is that there is also such a thing as too
much positivity! In general, the more optimistic and reassuring our self-talk, the better we
perform. However, if the ratio of positives to negatives exceeds 10 to one, we start to slide
backwards. We fail to learn from experiences, we are blind to danger and we are nauseating to
others!
Paul Ekman, the American psychologist dubbed ‘the best human lie detector in the world’,
further uncovered that faking it does not lead to making it. Insincere positivity increases the
risk of heart attack as much as does anger. It is okay and even necessary to acknowledge that
you want things to be different. The first stage of transforming your inner critic into your inner
coach is to see how much airtime each of them is commanding.
On a new page in your Mission Manual, rule a line down the middle of the page to form two
columns as shown below. Label the left column Encouraging Self-talk and the right column
Undermining Self-talk. Observe your thoughts over the course of a week and keep a tally of
your self-talk in the appropriate column. What is your heartfelt positive-to-negative ratio?

Step 2
Whenever you catch yourself criticising or beating up on yourself, pause and take a deep
breath. Then say to yourself: ‘I am making a premature judgement. What can I learn from this
incident?’

Step 3
Whenever you experience something upsetting or disappointing, ask yourself, ‘What meaning
can I give to this experience that empowers me rather than crushes me? What perspective can I
take that will pull me forward rather than hold me back?’
It isn’t about finding the correct meaning because there isn’t one. It’s about creating a meaning
that will bring out the best in you.

Step 4
If you experience any of the scenarios listed below, make it your default to immediately say,
‘This is feedback.’

eating when you are not hungry

eating past 80 percent
drinking more than you intended at a party
giving in to a craving
missing your exercise session
forgetting to do your morning visualisation
 falling back into old habits
not honouring a commitment you made to yourself
disappointing yourself in any way

Once you have identified that something is feedback, ask yourself the question that best
corresponds to your specific circumstance.

What is this telling me to do differently?

What do I need to change in order to get a different outcome?
What insights about myself or my life does this give me?
What took me Off Mission?

Practising this type of self-questioning turns destructive thinking into constructive thinking.

Recommended reading
Brown, Brené, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be and
embrace who you are, Hazelden Publishing, Minnesota, 2010
Frankl, Viktor E, Man’s Search for Meaning: The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust,
Rider, London, 2004
Fredrickson, Barbara L, Positivity, Crown, New York, 2009
Wiseman, Richard, The Luck Factor, Random House, London, 2003

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 21 
Connection not isolation

We should look for someone to eat and drink with before

looking for something to eat and drink.
Epicurus

M IS S IO N 2 1
Your Twenty-first Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Connection not isolation.
Family, Friends and Fraternity are the Seventh Strength of
NeuroSlimming.
In the sequel movie The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Sonny, the hotel manager, tells his
mother, ‘It takes teamwork to make a dream work!’ My retreat participants have expressed this notion
in many ways:

I feel so grateful that I had amazing people who believed in me even when I didn’t.
Having someone to confide in as I released each layer of fat — which I recognise had served as
protection — made an enormous difference.
I realise I wasn’t just doing this for me — my whole family has benefited from my
transformation.
It was great to have someone remind me that mind games are just that: games I no longer want to
play.
My trainer is awesome! He kept telling me I could do it until I realised it for myself.
My husband and family have been the most fantastic support! This has brought us all closer.
A colleague and I decided to go On Mission together. Not only was it incredible to share every
step of the way, we have forged the most wonderful friendship as a result.

We all function better in any situation when we feel supported and connected to others. People who
like their workmates are less stressed and more productive. Workplaces that encourage water-cooler
conversations have less absenteeism and lower staff turnover. Our deepest joys come from our
closest loving relationships. Being On Mission needs to support your relationships as much as
your relationships need to support you being On Mission. In the same way that you are learning to
work with and not against your body, you need to work with and not against the people who are
important to you.
If being On Mission alienates you from family and friends, your inborn need for connection will take
you Off Mission. A protocol used by scientists to induce distress in rats is to remove them from their
social structure. Simply isolating them activates stress hormones. The same applies to humans. It is
stressful to be shunned or isolated because loneliness is a threat to our physical and emotional
survival. Conversely, when people are placed in a stressful situation, just having someone present in
the room with them reduces their heart rate, blood pressure and output of stress hormones.
The longing to belong is hardwired into our brains — we crave connection and social interaction.
The parts of the brain responsible for this are the amygdalae: a pair of small, almond-shaped
structures located deep within the medial temporal lobes. The amygdalae are a component of the
limbic system and play an essential role in processing emotions and memory. The amygdalae drive us
to seek out meaningful relationships.
Our relationships also markedly influence our health. In a Yale University study of 194 heart attack
patients, those who had emotional support were three times more likely to be alive six months later
than those who didn’t have family and friends to support them. At Carnegie Mellon University in
Pittsburgh, 276 volunteers had cold viruses dripped into their noses and were quarantined for five
days. Subjects who had a wide range of friends and acquaintances developed a cold at one-quarter
the rate of people with minimal social networks. Another study found that the greater the number of
arguments between a husband and wife, the more frequently they contracted a cold! And worldwide
research involving thousands of elderly people confirms that having satisfying social connections
halves the risk of developing dementia. Good friends equates to good health.
When we change something in our lives, it has a ripple effect through all our relationships and
social networks. The more visible the change and the more it involves adopting new behaviours, the
greater the impact and repercussions. Changing your body ticks all the boxes and can result in
massive emotional and social upheavals in your life. Be prepared to deal with other people’s
reactions when you start making significant changes in your life. Even the best-meaning family
members and friends can start to feel threatened because they think they’re losing the ‘you’ they
always knew. They’re uncertain how your transformation will affect your relationship and they
instinctively want things to go back to where they were. People may not even be consciously aware
that they’re feeling threatened and exhibiting ‘push-back’. Their fear can manifest as picking fights
with you or trying to sabotage your Mission by coaxing you to eat more than you need. Yoyoing
weight is sometimes a symptom of yoyoing between who you want to be and who others want you to
be.
Is there someone in your life you need to reassure that you are still the loving partner or friend they
always knew? Or do you need to explain that, rather than supporting you, their behaviour is making
things difficult for you? Staying connected to the people we love is a fundamental human need and it
may be necessary to have some heartfelt conversations to renegotiate boundaries to accommodate
your new way of being.
Being On Mission offers an incredible opportunity to deepen your relationships, discover new
friends and inspire everyone whose life you touch — whether or not you are aware of the effect
you are having.

If you have people who support you, your journey will be easier, more rewarding and
more meaningful. Your supporters include those who stand by you, socialise with you,
stretch you or sign up with you.
If you understand that people might try to sabotage you, you will be ready to deal with
stings or surprises.
If you recognise that people will study you, you will see that self-care is the opposite of
selfish.
If you have people who sustain you, thank them!

Step 1: Who will support you?

What does support look like to you? How much of your Mission SlimPossible are you
comfortable sharing with others? With whom will you share what? How can the wide-ranging
people in your life support you in various ways?
Support means different things to different people. Establish in your own mind what you need
from others. Do you want someone who will simply listen when you need to offload, or
someone who will actively help you prepare meals? Would you like your partner to look after
the children while you go for a run, or would you rather they take up exercising with you? Do
you want someone to encourage you to go to the gym and remind you how good you will feel
afterwards, or would that make you more resistant to going? ‘Don’t tell me what to do!’
Don’t assume that your family and friends know what you mean when you say, ‘I need your
support.’ For a partner who has not read NeuroSlimming, the phrase ‘I am making a
commitment to my health’ can set off alarm bells. ‘Does that mean brussels sprouts and lettuce
leaves every night? And no more romantic dinners at our favourite restaurant?’ Clarify what
being On Mission will look like and how it may affect what you do together. Someone else’s
idea of how they can best support you might be completely different from your own. Specify
what you need and reassure them that a healthier you means a healthier relationship.
Create a culture of collaboration in your home. What is your partner passionate about? What do
your children love to do? How can you align your Mission so that it also supports what is
important to them? What are your partner’s strengths in relation to giving support?
Recognise that NeuroSlimming is a big paradigm shift and people need time to take it on
board, especially if they are not reading it for themselves but are discovering it through your
experience. You are not embarking on a short-lived ra-ra body blitz program where things will
‘go back to normal when it’s over’. You are building a new life for yourself and your family.
Remember where you were at before you started reading. Encourage your family to ask about
what you are doing and why. The more involved they feel, the more they will support you.
Sometimes you may need to ask a partner how they feel about your changes. If you notice they
are withdrawing or behaving oddly towards you, check in with what is going on for them. If
things begin to fray and your partner starts bringing home greasy take-away to eat by him- or
herself in front of the TV, it is a sign that something needs to be discussed! What might you
have triggered in them?
If carrying excess fat served as a barrier between you and a dangerous world, you may start to
experience fear or anxiety as the layers dissolve. If fat meant emotional protection or gave you
a sense of physical security, issues may surface and make you feel uncomfortable. If this
happens, are you able to feel your feelings? Are you able to express your fears to a friend or
partner and share what is going on for you? Or do you need professional counselling? Remind
yourself that this is part of your healing and will ultimately bring you closer to those you love.
Your capacity for love will expand on all levels.

Step 2: Who will socialise with you?

Invite your friends to be part of your success story. Friend-power is stronger than willpower.
Empower others to empower you. Involve them in your Mission to the degree you both feel
comfortable. Ask for their contribution so that your success also becomes their success. If
people have been involved in your transformation, they won’t feel threatened by the result.
They will feel part of it.
How much of your social life revolves around food? What about slowly shifting your
socialising so that it revolves around activity? Could you suggest to a friend that you go for a
walk together instead of a coffee? Could you use your children’s activities as your own
exercise time? For instance, while they are at soccer training, could you go for a jog around the
field? I am not suggesting you miss watching them play in the grand final, but why not get some
exercise yourself while they practise?
Do you have a friend to whom you could voice a specific request? If you need support when
you feel a binge coming on, would a friend mind if you rang them?
When people see how much healthier, happier and zestful you are, they will take a keener
interest in what you are doing and may ask you to tell them more about it.

Step 3: Who will stretch you?

When the pupil is ready, the teacher appears. When the patient is ready, the healer appears.
Who will you give permission to stretch you? A partner, sibling, adult child, friend, personal
trainer or yoga teacher? Is there someone you admire who has done what you are doing? Could
you ask them to be your mentor? Most people view this as the greatest compliment and are
honoured to help you. We are nourished by making a positive difference to others. In time, you
will do the same for someone else.
Having someone who stretches you can manifest in infinite ways:

stretching your beliefs about yourself and what is possible for you
stretching you to overcome embarrassment
stretching you to attempt something you would not otherwise have done
stretching you to learn a new skill
stretching you to walk a little further each day
stretching you to push past fatigue and keep going
reminding you of your why
reminding you that discomfort is part of any journey
reminding you that everything is Feedback not failure.

One of my retreat participants related how her son taught her to swim. She was terrified of
water but he reassured her he would stop her from sinking. Over the course of many months she
learnt to love the water and recently completed a triathlon! I still well up with tears when I
think about it. Another retreat participant recounts her dread of going to a gym. The first time
she stepped on a treadmill she almost fell off. A trainer saw her and offered to help. She
describes gripping the rails so hard that she had more pain in her hands than her legs! The
trainer eventually taught her to let go of the rails and walk freely, then to jog and then to run.
Our biggest buzz comes from contributing to others and seeing them blossom. Allowing
someone to help you is a gift to them as well as to yourself. Those who stretch you can see
what you are capable of before you can see it for yourself.

Step 4: Who will sign up with you?

Two of the most powerful words in any language are ‘Me too’.
In December 2011, Ararat was named Victoria’s heaviest town. Three out of every five people
in Ararat were classified as overweight or obese. More alarmingly, heart disease and Type 2
diabetes were becoming the norm. In 2013, The Biggest Loser TV program selected 14
contestants to compete on the show while the rest of the town embarked on its own challenge to
move from fat to fit. Community-wide activities were organised to encourage the entire
population to support the contestants and participate in regular physical exercise. People
started sharing their exercise plans on social media and arranging walking groups to which
everyone was welcome. The entire town signed up for change and produced a sweeping
cultural shift that continued beyond the show and remains today. Mutual support is keeping
everyone going.
Putting aside any opinions you have about the show and its methods, the message is that change
is much easier and more sustainable when you have others participating with you. If you can
find a friend or a group of people who would like to go On Mission with you — supporting
each other as you go through each Mission at your own pace — FANTASTIC!
If you don’t know anyone who wants to go On Mission, finding people to sign up for some of
your activities is also valuable. Many of the Missions lend themselves to having a buddy. You
could have your family sign up to the Can-do Jar, your best friend as your Gratitude Buddy and
a work colleague as your Exercise Buddy.
Microclinic International is another example of small groups of people achieving lasting
improvements in health across communities. Healthy behaviours are contagious and can
spread through social networks. Microclinic disseminates information pertaining to disease
prevention to various social groups within a community. This empowers people to make
personal changes that are supported by other members of the group. The changes that occur
within the group have a flow-on effect to the rest of the community.

Step 5: Who will try to sabotage you?

Aristotle observed, ‘There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be
nothing.’ Despite doing everything you can to reassure those around you, you may still
encounter comments that sting or surprise you. Teasing or pressuring you to go back to ‘the old
you’ is often a way of testing whether or not you are serious about your goal.
‘Go on, have a piece of cake. It won’t kill you!’

‘But I made this especially for you!’ (Despite telling your mother not to.)
‘Don’t tell me you’re on that anti-sugar bandwagon. I thought you were smarter than
that.’ (Whatever that means.)
‘Let’s relax in front of the TV with a bag of chips.’

‘You’re no fun anymore.’

One response to these comments is, ‘This is not helpful to me. I am doing this to stay alive long
enough to meet my grandchildren.’ If you don’t want to be quite so morbid, could you take
someone aside and have a quiet conversation about how their actions are affecting you? If other
people’s comments are water off a duck’s back for you, I applaud you for smiling as you
confidently reply, ‘No, thank you.’

People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing
it.
Confucius
Some people may start out being supportive but switch to saboteur when they see you attaining
lasting results. The unspoken contract was that they would support you as long as you never
succeeded. If your success threatens their identity, they will fight to retain their position as the
slim one in the family or the fit one in the group.
If you are stepping out and becoming different to the rest of your social group, you may trigger
discomfort in others because they now feel pressured to get healthy themselves. ‘Damn you! I
don’t want to change and you’re making me feel bad about it!’ Or they may feel resentment that
if you can do it, why can’t they? I once saw a T-shirt with the words, ‘Please God, if I can’t
look skinny, make my friends look fat.’
Sabotage is one of the many faces of fear. People are scared about the implications of your
actions for them. Perhaps you’ve stirred up their anxiety about getting diabetes. Perhaps you’ve
stirred up a buried sadness about not living life to the full. Keep reminding yourself that
people’s responses are a reflection of their own issues and not a chastisement of you.
People who try to sabotage you can actually serve to strengthen you. They are only revealing
their own insecurities. In some instances you may be able to broach the subject with them. At
other times you may just need to be patient with them. Everyone is your teacher, whether they
inspire you, support you or actively try to sabotage you. Everyone gives you the opportunity to
ask yourself, ‘Who do I want to be in this moment?’

Step 6: Who will study you?

If you have children, changing your life will change their lives. Children learn by example.
They unconsciously model their parents and older siblings even if they openly contradict them.
Tell your children what you are doing and why you are doing it. Children want their parents to
be happy, to be able to do things with them and to live forever. If you explain that this is what
your food and exercise choices are about, your children will want to help you stay On Mission.
You don’t need to impose your new regime on them. Allow them to see the transformation in
you and they will want the same for themselves. Our actions always speak louder than our
words.
Take your children with you to your local farmers market or greengrocer. Discuss the benefits
of the foods you are buying. Ask the grower to sell you on buying his produce — with a
friendly wink so he understands that you want him to inspire your children to eat zucchini. Turn
food shopping into quality time with your children, rather than a chore that takes them away
from Facebook. Visit a working farm during the school holidays so they see what goes into
producing real food.
When children are involved in food preparation, they are more inclined to try what they have
created. They can wash, assemble, stir or assist with age-appropriate tasks. Encourage an
atmosphere of adventure around trying new foods. Tell your children you would like their
opinion on the taste of something.
Now that you know the Seven Secrets, you will be able to teach your family the importance of
following internal hunger cues and eating until 80 percent full. My retreat participants report
that children love the term hara hachi bu and, in many households, everyone has adopted the
habit of saying ‘I’m hara hachi bu!’ when they feel satisfied. You have learned not to tell your
children to finish everything on their plate. You will be conscious not to use food as a bribe,
bargaining tool or reward. Food is nourishment; food is something to be appreciated,
respected, enjoyed and shared. These attitudes and behaviours are lifelong gifts you are giving
your children. Your newly acquired insights will contribute to fostering a healthy relationship
between your children and food.
Not only children but friends and colleagues observe us and unconsciously study us. We take
our cues from each other and subliminally teach each other what is acceptable and attainable.
When you start to improve your health and vitality, you give other people permission to do the
same. And you show them that it’s possible.

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
 Summary of Love not war

When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t

compare or compete, everybody will respect you.
Lao Tzu

Just as we’re great at playing the game of ‘I’ll commit to be fit when . . .’, we’re also addicted to the
game of ‘I’ll love myself when . . .’
I’ll love myself when I’ve lost 20 kilograms (44 pounds). I’ll love myself when I stop binging. I’ll
love myself when I’m rid of my paunch. I’ll love myself when I’m not so weak and pathetic. I’ll love
myself when I get fit. I’ll love myself when I acquire some self-discipline. I’ll love myself when I’m
a better mother/daughter/husband/provider. I’ll love myself when I’m more
patient/generous/tolerant/understanding. I’ll love myself when I do something with my life . . .
It’s a silent, mordant, insidious game we play with ourselves and with those we love. Even when we
love others unconditionally, we are not able to love them completely if we don’t love ourselves. We
hold parts of ourselves back because we don’t want others to discover the things we don’t love about
ourselves. We don’t connect with others fully because we’ve disowned parts of ourselves.
When we realise that love comes above, that love is the ultimate reason for everything we are and
everything we do, we become free to love ourselves. Love is the means and love is the end. How
wonderful that love is also infinite and inexhaustible.
But how do we love ourselves unconditionally? Love cannot be forced. And what does self-love
actually mean? Self-love means realising we are no better and no worse than anyone else. Self-love
means knowing that we will always be imperfect just like everyone else. Self-love means heeding the
Egyptian proverb, ‘A beautiful thing is never perfect.’ Self-love means accepting ourselves as we
are, while striving to be the best we can be.
Self-love is not vanity or self-aggrandisement. Self-love does not manifest as selfishness or self-
indulgence. How can self-love be selfish when it allows us to love others more? How can self-care
be self-indulgent when it enables us to give more?
Self-love is uncovering that you ARE love.
If you:

feel your feelings

have an attitude of gratitude
bestow a clap, not a slap
forgive to live
treat yourself to truth
 view failure as feedback
and nurture your connections

you will discover that you are love.

 Why Fun not force?

Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your

dreams.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Fourth Freedom is Fun not force.

Fun not force represents a paradigm shift from the prevailing mindset of ‘no pain no gain’. Apart
from ‘no pain no gain’ simply not being true, it creates a negative filter through which many people
have come to view health and fitness. A healthy lifestyle is often equated with missing out on pleasure
or just plain hard work.
Recall the discussion about labels and framing in Mission 19: Trick or treat. If you label exercise as
a chore, you’ll be reluctant to find time for it. Physical exercise will become an intrinsic part of your
life when you see it as nurture not torture. When you view exercise as something your body craves for
optimal functioning, exercise becomes a choice, not a chore. It becomes something you want to do,
not have to do. What would happen if you left your car in the garage and never took it out for a drive?
Fun not force means the attitude we bring to whatever we do is as important as the doing. Unless you
enjoy something, you simply won’t keep at it long term. If you find something a negative experience, it
creates resistance and resentment — whether conscious or not — and you are unable to view it as an
act of love and respect for your body. This reduces or even counteracts any intended benefits.
The means do not justify the ends. For sustainable change, the means need to be a positive end in
themselves. This is what ultimately drives a new state of being. The pleasure chemical, dopamine, is
responsible for consolidating structural changes that occur in the brain when we learn a new skill.
There is a chemical link between fun and sustainable change.
Whether or not you regard something as fun depends on your general state of health as well as your
personal preferences. It’s a two-way street. Fun improves wellbeing, and wellbeing enhances your
ability to have fun. When I’m stressed or sleep-deprived, nothing seems fun, even things I usually
enjoy. ‘Not tonight, darling, I have a headache.’ If I feel rundown, taking Dad to watch the ballet is a
draining undertaking. When I’m feeling relaxed and refreshed, it’s a beautiful outing.
The Missions in Fun not force are straightforward, common-sense lifestyle habits that profoundly
improve overall health, as well as directly reduce VAT.
Fun not force supports Love not war, Being You, not new and Living not dieting.
 Step 1
What are all the filters through which you view physical exercise?

Boring, time-consuming, hard, unpleasant, scary, too much hassle, not worth the effort
or fun?

Write your answers in your Mission Manual and include today’s date.

Step 2
What are all the preconceived ideas you have about yourself in relation to exercise?

I’ve never enjoyed it. I’m not sporty. I have no time. I’m too busy. I don’t know where
to start. I always get injured. I hate it or I love it?

Once again write and date your answers in your Mission Manual.

Step 3
What would physical exercise need to be for you to make it a regular part of your day?

Easy, enjoyable, convenient, private, less time-consuming, instantly rewarding or

brings immediate results?

In your Mission Manual, write up a list of everything you would like exercise to be.
If you currently view exercise in a negative light, it might be because exercise has been
‘marketed’ in a way that does not appeal to you. If your own experience of physical activity has
not been positive, it doesn’t mean it will stay that way. Be open to the possibility that exercise
could be everything you want it to be. Recall Fiona’s change of attitude in the Foreword.

Step 4
In three months’ time, look back at the three lists you wrote in relation to exercise. Has anything
changed?
  Mission 22 
Stand it off

Footprints on the sands of time are not made by sitting

down.
Thomas Jefferson

M IS S IO N 2 2
Your Twenty-second Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Stand it off.
Standing is the First Habit of NeuroSlimming.
An imposing poster in the waiting room of my physiotherapist’s office boasted the macabre headline
‘Australia’s Biggest Killers’. There were six contenders, each represented by a gruesome image:
1. saltwater crocodile — the cause of one death during the 12 months of 2013
2. shark — the cause of two deaths in 2013
3. snake — on average four deaths per year
4. funnel web spider — 27 deaths in the last 100 years
5. road — 1193 deaths in 2013
6. comfy couch and office chair — 7000 deaths in 2013.
Yes, that’s SEVEN THOUSAND deaths in one year from illnesses related to prolonged sitting. I
decided to stand while I waited for my appointment.
Sitting rivals soft drinks as the new smoking.
Researchers at the Australian National University and Sydney University discovered a direct link
between hours of uninterrupted sitting and likelihood of early death. Professor Emily Banks and
Associate Professor David Dunstan followed 200 000 people aged 45 and over for a three-year
period and found that those who sat for 11 or more hours a day had a 40 percent increased risk of
early death compared to those who sat for less than four hours a day. Those who sat for eight hours a
day were 15 percent more likely to die early. The increased risk of death from excessive sitting was
linked to Type 2 diabetes, increased VAT, heart disease, stroke and cancer, particularly ovarian,
endometrial and colon cancers. In contrast, interrupting sitting time improved biomarkers for a wide
range of chronic conditions.
Studies all over the world have yielded similar results. Scientists at the Pennington Biomedical
Research Center in Louisiana analysed the lifestyles of more than 17 000 men and women for 13
years and found that people who sat for most of the day were 54 percent more likely to die of heart
attacks. Women in the United Kingdom who spent most of their day standing or walking had a 32
percent lower risk of early death than those who had desk jobs. An eight-year study involving eight
provinces in China found that acquiring a car doubled the risk of becoming obese. And a study in
2011 by the University of Queensland and Melbourne’s Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute
involving 11 000 adults found that each hour of sitting in front of the TV after age 25 took 22
minutes off our lives. In contrast, one cigarette shortens life by 11 minutes. Smoke while sitting and
you’re on a bullet train to the after-world.
The bad news is that an hour at the gym before or after eight to 11 hours of sitting does not counteract
the negative effects of prolonged sitting. However, getting up out of your chair for two minutes every
20 minutes to simply stretch your legs and wander around does cancel out the health hazards of
sitting. That’s great news!
We still need to engage in daily physical exercise, but in addition we need to stand up regularly.
Prolonged sitting disrupts metabolic functions resulting in reduced insulin sensitivity, lower levels of
HDL (good cholesterol) and higher levels of triglycerides and small dense LDL (bad cholesterol).
After an hour of sitting, the production of enzymes that burn fat in the body declines by up to 90
percent! Scientists at the University of Missouri identified that the act of sitting reduces the activity
of the enzyme lipoprotein lipase which breaks down fats to fuel muscle activity. This contributes to
elevated blood triglyceride levels, accumulation of VAT and increased risk of heart attack. Standing
burns more calories and produces 2.5 times more muscular activity in our thighs than does sitting. We
need muscle contraction to improve blood sugar regulation and vascular health.
Research from New Zealand in 2013 revealed that long periods of sitting at a desk were associated
with a 2.8-fold increase (almost a tripling) in the risk of having a deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Each
hour of sitting raised the risk of DVT by 10 percent. The 2011 American Nurses’ Health Study found
that women who spent most of their day sitting also doubled their risk of a pulmonary embolus (a
potentially fatal blood clot in the lungs) compared with women who spent the least time sitting.
Eating lunch at a desk is particularly hazardous due to reduced clearance of fats and sugars from
the bloodstream after a meal. This is not to suggest we should eat standing up. The body requires
muscle activity and movement after a meal in order to minimise spikes in blood sugar levels. An
Australian study published in Diabetes Care May 2012 found that standing and walking around for
one minute and 40 seconds every half hour substantially lowered blood glucose levels by 39 percent,
and insulin levels by 26 percent after eating. Standing is a treatment for diabetes. It’s time to re-
think the way we do things at work.
Professor Grant Schofield and his colleagues at the Human Potential Research Centre at Auckland
University of Technology have been using standing desks for several years. They usually stand for
three to four hours a day, and they demonstrate that it simply takes a cultural shift for people to view
standing as the normal way to work. Best of all, the benefits are wide-reaching in terms of both health
and productivity. Even people who simply adopt the habit of standing up every 20 to 30 minutes
report fewer headaches, less back pain, reduced shoulder tension and feeling more alert during the
afternoon. Standing also prompts people to stretch throughout the day and to move more without
realising it. Studies at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota found that lean people unthinkingly spend two
and a half more hours a day moving than people whose body weight is in the obese range.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, office workers mostly stood. Sitting was what people did when they
took a break. Winston Churchill, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo Da Vinci and novelist Vladimir
Nabokov all advocated standing to improve creativity and concentration. Lewis Carroll, Donald
Rumsfeld, Charles Dickens, Otto von Bismarck, Henry Clay, Thomas Jefferson and John Dos Passos
were also standing-desk enthusiasts. The absence of women in the historical line-up is due to the fact
that women were standing or moving for most of the day while engaged in housework. There is
debate about whether Virginia Woolf used a standing desk — it appears she alternated between
standing and sitting — the ideal situation. One of the keenest standing-desk users was Ernest
Hemingway, who declared that it improved his breathing, posture, focus and energy. And Victor Hugo
admitted it was so that his stomach didn’t sag — he felt he looked more attractive when he was
standing rather than sitting!
Standing desks are becoming increasingly mainstream in companies such as Apple, Google, Chevron,
Intel and Boeing. Some of my colleagues have incorporated a treadmill desk in their office. One man
designed his own bicycle-powered television. If he doesn’t pedal he is not able to watch!
The more there is consumer demand for standing solutions, the more companies and entrepreneurs
will be driven to create better solutions. You can also create your own varied routine. I am not
advocating prolonged standing as this brings its own health hazards. Excessive standing can increase
load on the circulatory system and raise the risk of varicose veins. Desks and screens that are not
designed for standing will lead to leaning, stiff necks and compromised wrist posture, predisposing to
carpel tunnel syndrome.
The solution — as with most things — is a balanced approach. Ideally, alternate sitting with standing,
pacing, stair-walking and raising yourself on your toes every so often. It only takes a few days for
frequent standing to start feeling natural. It is one of the quickest and easiest habits to adopt and it can
add decades to your life, reduce your VAT and boost your productivity.
In 2014, the Australian Government updated its guidelines to recommend minimising prolonged
sitting because ‘evidence for the associated harm is now widely understood’.

Step 1
Do an audit of how many hours a day you sit. Include meals, commuting, working at a desk,
watching television, going to the movies, meeting a friend for coffee and any other times you sit
— other than on a bicycle! Write down the number of seated hours in your Mission Manual.
Are you surprised?

Step 2
Set an alarm clock, computer or phone to give you a signal to stand every 20 to 30 minutes
while you are working at a desk or table or engaged in a seated leisure activity.
Alternatively, you can download an app such as Stand App or Twenty and set a timer to go off
at regular customised intervals to remind you to stand up. Stand App also offers low intensity
exercises that can be done at work.
If you are an employer, I strongly recommend Stand App Business. This can easily be
integrated into your organisation’s health and wellness program. I concur with the website that
‘sedentary jobs could become the next biggest wave of health lawsuits since the occupational
overuse syndrome and repetitive strain injury’. Not only that, frequent standing creates an
enormous positive shift in productivity, engagement and interpersonal relationships. Visit
standapp.biz to organise a free trial.
By the time this book is published, I would not be surprised if there were more apps available
encouraging people to stand.

Step 3
Brainstorm how you can sit less and move more frequently in a variety of ways every day.
Here are some examples:

Stand on public transport.

Stand while waiting in doctors’, dentists’ and any other waiting rooms.
Stand up whenever the phone rings and remain standing while speaking. If you are using a
mobile phone, pace while you talk. You will burn more calories and sound more positive
and confident. Many people working in sales report that cold calling is easier while
standing.
Organise ‘Meetings on the Move’ rather than sitting around a table. Even just removing
 chairs from boardrooms will mean everyone has to stand around the table. Meetings will
be quicker and more efficient because when people are standing, they are more involved
and attentive.
Stand up, walk around, stretch or do a set of exercises whenever the ad breaks come on
the TV. There are commercials at least every 20 minutes so the timing is perfect.

Step 4
Eat lunch away from your desk. Ideally go outside and get some fresh air and sunshine. A park
or rooftop garden would be ideal. This means you will have to walk back to your workstation
after you have eaten. Even if you don’t have diabetes, your blood sugar levels will improve
markedly as a result. If you are concerned about ‘losing’ valuable work time, rest assured that
your increased productivity and sharper thinking will more than compensate for the ‘lost’
minutes away from your desk.

Step 5
Consider getting a lectern next to your desk so you can alternate between the two and
comfortably read and work at the correct height while standing.

Step 6
What about buying a standing desk? Established furniture companies along with niche suppliers
are rapidly starting to produce them. There are already hundreds of different types and styles,
with or without whizz-bang features, and optional matching chairs (for the short periods of time
you will now be seated). You can begin your search on Google — while standing in front of
your computer.
Do you know someone in Men’s Shed who could start a fundraising effort by making standing
desks or lecterns?
If you buy a standing desk, make sure you leave it in the standing position when you leave work
for the day. People report that if they leave the desk in the sitting position, they automatically sit
down and stay that way for hours the next morning!

Step 7
If there are times when you need to sit for periods of longer than 30 minutes, keep your legs
active in the following ways:

Contract and release your buttocks and thigh muscles.

Alternately lift each foot off the floor as though you were performing a seated walk.
Raise and lower your heels while keeping your toes on the floor.
Raise and lower your toes while keeping your heels on the floor.
 Step 8
Spread the word about the hazards of sitting to your family, friends, colleagues and decision-
makers in your workplace. You will be at the forefront of a massive, nationwide cultural shift
to stand more and sit less. I believe that prolonged sitting will become a workplace health and
safety issue. Make the transition to a standing culture before it is legislated so that you can
educate and ease people into the change.

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 23 
Move it off

Watson! Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient,

come all the same.
Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

M IS S IO N 2 3
Your Twenty-third Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Move it off.
Moving is the Second Habit of NeuroSlimming.
In 2001, the Medical Journal of Australia published a seminal study conducted at Old Sydney Town
by Egger, Vogel and Westerterp. Old Sydney Town was designed to recreate life in an old Australian
penal colony during the first half of the 19th century. It operated as a theme park from 1975 to 2003
and now serves as a location for film production. The study involved seven male actors living like
early settlers for one week. During this time their activity levels were recorded and compared with
that of seven sedentary office workers. The result was that the settlers walked an average of 16
kilometres more every day than their corporate counterparts. The actors did not engage in any formal
exercise but simply lived the way we lived 150 years ago. Physical activity levels have dropped
dramatically in the last century and this is a major contributing factor in the rise of obesity and
chronic diseases, particularly Type 2 diabetes, heart attack and stroke. The good news is that you
don’t have to go back to walking 16 kilometres a day to improve your health.
The human body requires movement for optimal functioning. Burning calories is the least important
reason to engage in regular physical activity. For one thing, exercise influences the way our genes
are expressed, leading to the production of enzymes that repair damaged tissues and protect against
cancer and chronic diseases. Is it possible to shed fat without moving? Yes, it is possible. But it takes
longer, is a lot more difficult to maintain and will not necessarily improve your health. So the real
question is: do you want to be thin or do you want to be healthy? Being fit (which equates to moving
at moderate intensity for 30 minutes a day or even fewer minutes if you move at high intensity) is
much more valuable than shedding fat.
Steven Blair is Director of Research at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics in Dallas. For the last 30
years, he has tracked the health, weight, body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness of thousands
of patients. His research has shown that the death rate for men and women who are thin but unfit
is at least double the death rate of people who are obese but fit. Brisk walking for just 30 minutes
a day (or an equivalent dose of exercise as discussed below) is all it takes to lengthen lifespan
regardless of body composition or how much you weigh. This means you can start improving your
health and extending your life today. Simply go for a walk, ride a bike, have a swim, take a dancing
lesson, play a sport or engage a personal trainer.
Steven Blair and his team found that 30 minutes of exercise a day lowered mortality by 50 percent;
doing more exercise brought additional health benefits. In the last decade, scientists have built on
Blair’s research and discovered that if you increase the intensity of your workout, you can benefit
from even fewer minutes of formal exercise a day — as long as you also stand up for two minutes
every 20 minutes. The key is high intensity and is discussed under Get your HIIT! later in this
chapter.
Most health professionals are still of the opinion that what you eat is more important than how much
you move. When I was a medical student, I was taught ‘You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.’ This has
now been overturned by overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Exercise influences how your
brain operates and how your body utilises food. Physical movement has profoundly positive
repercussions on every part of the brain and body. Moving your body (and the more vigorously, the
better) influences your genes, your hormones, your mood, your food choices and your entire
biochemistry. Over time, this inevitably leads to decreased body fat, particularly VAT. It isn’t that
food is less important than exercise, it’s that exercise has a greater impact on how the body handles
food, than food has on how the body responds to exercise. Exercise has a more immediate and more
powerful impact on the brain than does food.
Everyone has a unique biological and psychological response to physical exercise. Some people
benefit from exercise more quickly than others. Some have a strong preference for one type of
exercise over another. Whatever the case, everyone experiences improvements in health when they
move their body to the degree to which they are capable. The following is a condensed list of the
benefits of movement on health and wellbeing.

The effects of physical movement on the body

Adventure is worthwhile in itself.
Amelia Earhart

Exercise increases muscle mass which in turn increases resting metabolic rate. The more muscle
mass you have, the more calories you burn just by breathing. Exercise also protects against
muscle loss as we age, thereby preventing the age-related increase in body fat that many people
believe is inevitable.
Exercise increases strength, stamina, stability, balance and flexibility, all of which mean you are
capable of doing more, and at the same time expending more calories throughout the day, without
even noticing.
After any strenuous activity, you increase your rate of oxygen consumption in order for your
body to undergo restorative processes. This is known as EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen
Consumption) and is accompanied by a breakdown of fat stores and increased caloric
expenditure just by going about your day. Intermittent higher intensity exercise results in greater
EPOC than continuous gentle exercise, but any exercise is better than no exercise. Get
comfortable with feeling uncomfortable in terms of physically exerting yourself. Your intensity
is indicated by how breathless you feel and your aim is to push yourself a little further each
week.
Exercise sets off a cascade of biochemical processes that prevent and cure Type 2 diabetes and
mitigate the effects of Type 1 diabetes. Exercise lowers insulin levels and improves insulin
sensitivity which means you are better able to regulate blood sugar levels and less likely to store
fat. By increasing insulin sensitivity, exercise also improves leptin sensitivity so you feel fuller
faster. This is one way in which exercise influences how the body uses food and whether it
stores food as fat or releases fat for fuel. Exercise drives everything in a positive direction.
Exercise turns on genes that suppress inflammation, thereby mitigating some of the damaging
effects of excess VAT. People who regularly exercise have lower levels of an inflammatory
marker in their blood called CRP (C-reactive protein).
Exercise reduces the number of falls and fall-related fractures in the elderly by 35 percent.
Exercise increases bone mineral density and protects against osteoporosis.
Exercise lowers the risk of developing cancer, including colon and breast cancer, which are the
two most common cancers in men and women respectively.
Exercise lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke.
Exercise strengthens the immune system. People who exercise regularly have fewer sick days.
Exercise is the best form of detox because our skin is the largest organ of detoxification, and
perspiration assists in removing a wide range of toxins from the body. Your skin is larger than
your liver and kidneys, the other two organs that play an important role in eliminating toxins. A
2011 study in Archives of Environmental and Contamination Toxicology found that heavy
metals and petrochemicals were preferentially eliminated in perspiration. Sweat is the body
crying tears of joy!
Exercise lowers blood pressure and raises HDL (good) cholesterol levels.
Exercise is one of the best ways to dissipate stress and to increase resilience to stress. Physical
exertion is itself a mild form of stress. This mild stress induces the production of free radicals.13
The free radicals stimulate genes in muscles and brain cells to make proteins that then go on to
protect cells against future stress. The days you experience the most stress are the days you most
need to exercise.
Exercise promotes better sleep and is helpful for insomnia.
Continuing to engage in regular physical exercise is the best predictor that a person who has
shed excess fat will maintain their lower body fat percentage.
Exercise increases sexual libido, and people report that it improves their sex life.
It’s a wonderful paradox that although exercise requires exertion of energy, it results in creating
more energy throughout the day. In 2004, researchers at Leeds Metropolitan University in
England found that workers who used the company gym at lunchtime were more productive, less
tired and better able to handle their workloads during the afternoon.
At a conservative estimate, if everyone in Australia engaged in 30 minutes of exercise a day, the
health care system could save two billion dollars a year — one-fifth of our total health care
costs.
The effects of physical movement on the brain
An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body.
General George S Patton

In the 1990s, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California first discovered
that exercise not only builds muscle it builds brain! Since then, a profusion of experiments has
shown that exercise is the most important thing we can do to improve brain function and reduce
the risk of dementia.
Exercise stimulates the production of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor
(BDNF), which acts like a fertiliser for neurons. BDNF promotes the formation of new brain
cells and new connections between existing brain cells. BDNF is particularly active in areas of
the brain linked to learning, memory and complex thinking. The more you exercise, the more
BDNF you produce and the better your cognition and memory. A study published in 2006
reported that those over the age of 60 who engaged in brisk walking for three hours a week over
a six-month period increased both grey matter14 and white matter15 and enlarged their overall
brain volume.
Higher levels of BDNF are also associated with reduction in hunger via a region of the brain
called the hypothalamus. When a person first starts exercising they often expect to feel hungrier
but this is not what happens. Research has found that over the long term, physical exercise leads
to people eating less, not more. Exercise also prompts people to make better food choices.
Studies all around the world have shown that the brain operates at its best in the first hour
after we engage in any form of physical activity. People concentrate better and think more
sharply. Just 20 minutes on a treadmill improves language learning, creative thinking and
problem solving. If you are stuck on a problem, get moving for 20 minutes and you are more
likely to come up with the solution.
As little as 20 minutes of exercise every second day cuts the lifetime risk of dementia in half and
reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by over 60 percent. Bump it up to 20 minutes every day
and you also cut your risk of stroke by 57 percent.
Physical movement increases the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the brain and facilitates the
removal of waste products. Specifically in relation to memory, exercise increases blood flow to
a region of the hippocampus called the dentate gyrus. The more you exercise, the bigger your
dentate gyrus and the better your memory. A Western Australian Centre for Health and Ageing
study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association confirmed that a walk a
day keeps memory loss away. Conducted over 18 months, 170 participants aged over 50 who
felt they had memory problems were divided into two groups. One group walked for 50 minutes
three times a week or participated in another form of moderate exercise. The other group
continued with their usual activities. The result was that the exercise group — even if they only
walked 20 minutes a day — performed better at cognitive tasks such as remembering lists of
words.
Exercise strengthens our ability to resist temptation by rewiring our prefrontal cortex — the
part of the brain that controls impulsive behaviour. Regular exercise increases the amount of
grey matter in your forebrain and raises your capacity for inhibitory control. This means the
more you exercise, the less you’ll want to eat junk food and the less susceptible you are to the
 hunger-inducing effect of food porn. A study by the University of Exeter found that taking a walk
reduced chocolate cravings. Even in the most stressful situations, a 15-minute walk can cut
chocolate snacking by half.
Exercise stimulates the release of a cocktail of feel-good chemicals: endorphins, serotonin,
dopamine, oxytocin and noradrenaline. These neurotransmitters improve mood and positivity.
We feel better about ourselves and are more likely to engage in self-care and empowering self-
talk.
One hour of exercise a day has an anti-depressant effect equivalent to that of medications
such as Prozac and Zoloft. Regular exercise also halves the risk of developing depression in the
first place. Alternating aerobic activity with weight training is a potent treatment for depression.
Exercise benefits a range of mental conditions such ADHD, anxiety disorders and panic attacks.
Exercise changes your relationship with your body. It enhances self-esteem, self-confidence,
self-mastery and self-awareness. As you move your body, you learn more about it; you become
more sensitive to the signals your body sends you throughout the day and more cognisant of
whether you are physiologically or emotionally hungry. People report having greater respect for
their body and feeling more motivated to look after it. Exercise makes people want to take care
of their body rather than feeling they should take care of their body.

The differential effects of endurance training and weight

training on the brain
Make today count. Then you can count on tomorrow.
Joy Delmar

A study in The Journal of Aging Research February 2013 examined the cognitive effects of three
different types of supervised exercise on women aged 70 to 80 years who had been diagnosed with
mild memory impairment. One group engaged in endurance training (aerobic exercise such as brisk
walking), a second group did resistance training (lifted weights) and a third group did toning and
stretching. The women were tested on their verbal and spatial memory at the start of the experiment
and six months after doing regular exercise. The women who toned and stretched showed a decline in
their memory due to ongoing age-related deterioration. In contrast, the women who had walked or
lifted weights performed better on almost all the cognitive tests after six months of exercise. Both
groups scored equally well on tests of spatial memory (remembering information related to their
environment and where things were located) but the walking group showed greater improvement in
verbal memory (ability to remember words) than the weight-lifting group. This suggests that aerobic
exercise and resistance training affect the brain in different yet complementary ways to enhance
memory.
A year earlier, a similar study was done on rats and published in the journal Neuroscience in January
2012. One group of rats spent eight weeks running on a treadmill, a second group had weights tied to
their tails and were made to climb vertical ladders, while a third group did no exercise and served as
controls. At the end of two months, both exercise groups improved their spatial memory and ability to
learn but they had different levels of specific neurotransmitters in their brains. The treadmill group
produced more BDNF while the weight-lifting group had more insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1).
IGF-1, like BDNF, promotes the birth, growth and survival of brain cells but the two proteins work
via different chemical pathways.
The message from all the above is:
1. Do whatever exercise you most enjoy doing.
2. Mix it up and undertake different forms of exercise so that your brain and body are stimulated in
different ways.
3. Stand up and move about as much as you can throughout each day even when you are not
formally exercising.
Toning and stretching are good ways to reduce stress and start moving your body if you haven’t
exercised in a long time. Stretching is also an important adjunct to aerobic and weight training as it
improves flexibility and helps prevent injury when done after, but not before, vigorous exercise.
However, in order to gain the brain- and body-boosting benefits listed above, you need to progress to
more strenuous movement along with lifting a few weights (or shopping bags, children and furniture).
Yoga can fall into any of the above exercise categories depending on the type of yoga.

Where to start?
I begin by considering an effect.
Maurice Ravel

I cannot make a strong enough case for engaging in regular physical activity. At this point in time we
know of nothing that improves health and longevity to a greater extent than physical movement.
Any movement — even one minute — is better than no movement. You can build momentum
from just one minute a day. When you make a commitment to one minute of intense exercise a day, it
creates the habit of dedicating time to moving — even if it’s only a very short amount of time to start
with. After a week, it’s only a small step to increase it to two minutes a day. Then three minutes a day
and so on until you reach 15 to 30 minutes. Even if you never get past five minutes, you are doing your
brain and body a favour.
Going for a walk is an even better introduction to exercise than toning and stretching. After a while,
add hills and stairs. Then increase your walking speed. Build up to jogging or intermittent sprints and
so on. Then try other forms of exercise on alternate days. Just keep at it and you will feel exhilarated
by your progress. The key is not to overdo it in the early days. Push yourself to the point of breathing
heavily but not heaving or feeling like you want to throw up! If you make it too hard too soon, you
may not want to continue. Allow the Fourth Freedom to guide you: Fun not force. Ultimately, the
best exercise is any exercise you do on a regular basis indefinitely.
Recall the lesson from Old Sydney Town: physical activity comprises both formal (planned) exercise
and incidental exercise (while going about our daily lives). Briskly walking to the train station or
running to catch the bus are as valuable as jogging on a treadmill or going for your ‘scheduled’ walk.
Using the stairs rather than the elevator, pushing a pram, hanging out the washing, kicking a ball with
your children, walking the dog and vacuuming the house all count as exercise. Seek out every
opportunity to move in any way you can. All those seemingly insignificant activities throughout the
day add up to make a big difference.

Common questions about exercise

Research on exercise is growing at an exponential rate and provides a variety of excellent answers to
the following questions. The responses I offer are simply to get you started.

What’s the best type of exercise for fat burning? Aerobic exercise — anything you enjoy
doing that makes you breathless and speeds up your heart rate; for example, walking, running,
skipping, cycling, swimming, dancing, ice skating, tennis, soccer, formal exercise classes — the
list is endless. Try a variety of different activities to discover what you most enjoy doing and
can fit into your life with the least amount of fuss. Exercising in company makes people more
likely to keep going with it.
What’s the best type of exercise for muscle building and strength training? Weight training
needs to be done under the supervision of a trainer until you have learnt how to do it on your
own. There are many different effective protocols and regimes. In general, muscle building
requires lifting heavier weights at fewer repetitions, while strength improves by lifting
moderately heavy weights for a greater number of repetitions. You can also use your own body
weight as resistance; for instance, doing pushups or holding a squat position.
When is the best time to exercise? Whenever you are most likely to do it! Ideally for fat-
burning, first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. However, you may find that you have
less energy, feel more tired, and push yourself less hard than if you had eaten. To improve your
performance on an empty stomach, drink a cup of black coffee, black tea or green tea (no milk or
sugar added to any of them) 40 to 60 minutes before your workout. But this is now getting into
minutiae. Just move at every opportunity and organise a formal exercise session at whatever
time of day is most convenient for you. It doesn’t have to be the same time every day.
How hard should you exercise? See Get your HIIT! below.
How long should you exercise for at any one time? See Get your HIIT! below.
How often should you exercise? Unless you are training for a marathon or big sports event that
involves a specific training schedule with recovery days, aim to move in a variety of ways every
day. The goal is to want to move every day. When exercise becomes a regular part of your daily
routine, your body will crave movement. This does not mean thrashing yourself every day. It
means anything from a few minutes to an hour or more a day, depending on your chosen exercise.
Yes, even a few minutes is worthwhile — see Get your HIIT! below.
When and what should you eat in relation to exercise? Before exercise, eat when you’re
hungry. Don’t eat if you’re not hungry. Obviously, if you exercise too soon after eating you
will feel uncomfortable. My personal preference is to eat at least two hours before exercise.
Experiment with timing to discover what works best for you in giving you optimal energy for
your workout. The same goes with what you eat in relation to exercise. Continue to be guided by
the first seven Missions. If you’re weight training, it’s important to include protein throughout the
 day. If you are competing in a sports event, I recommend consulting a sports dietician as this is a
specific situation for which you want to be at your peak. After exercise, eat when you get
hungry. Don’t eat if you’re not hungry! Your body will continue to guide you.

More detailed answers are beyond the scope of this book and depend on your individual goals and
preferences. There are many different ways to get a good workout. Every personal trainer will have
their own biases towards one way of training over another. Many different methods are equally valid.
My aim is to get you moving in the most enjoyable, effective, time-efficient way possible in order to
release VAT, improve insulin sensitivity, increase your capacity to burn fat rather than store fat, and
enhance overall health. The best way to do this — based on the most up-to-date research at the time
of printing — is to introduce you to HIITS.

Get your HIIT!

This is not a misprint. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training and is better than sliced bread!
When there is an S at the end of HIIT, it stands for Session(s).
Notwithstanding my advice to start slowly and build up your strength and fitness, short and sharp is
more effective than long and slow. In other words, you will see greater improvements in your health,
fitness and body fat composition if you go hard and fast for a few minutes than if you walk at a
leisurely pace for a solid hour. In a time-poor world, this is great news!
In the past, physiologists believed that moving at low to moderate intensity resulted in fat burning.
This is only the case if you keep at it for hours. Research has now shown that the harder you run, row,
swim, walk or cycle, the more fat you burn and the more you will sensitise your muscles to insulin.
So ignore the settings on the machines at the gym that are labelled ‘fat burning’ — they are out of date.
After a short warm-up, go as hard as you can for as long as you can (usually between 15 seconds and
one minute) and then slow down your pace until you get your breath back (usually a minute or two or
four). Then go hard again. Then slowly again until you recover. And so on for four to six rounds of
high intensity followed by recovery. This is the basis of HIITS.
In 2005, Professor Martin Gibala from McMaster University in Canada did an interval training study
on a group of moderately active people (not athletes) using indoor exercise bikes. Every second day
for two weeks they pedalled very hard against high resistance for 30-second bursts. After each 30
seconds of hard pedalling they did four minutes of slow pedalling to recover. They repeated the fast-
slow routine four to six times during each session. This meant their total exercise time per session
was only two to three minutes. The remaining 16 to 20 minutes was spent recovering. By the end of
two weeks, the cyclists had doubled the length of time they could cycle at a pre-set intensity from 26
to 51 minutes. In other words, they had stronger hearts and were twice as fit after just two weeks of
three minutes of exercise, three times a week! To obtain the same improvement in fitness through low-
intensity aerobic exercise — whether it is cycling, running or swimming — would take 20 weeks!
You can get very fit very fast using HIITS.
The same three-minute exercise protocol three times a week was used in a study at Heriot-Watt
University in Edinburgh. This time the researchers measured the effects of HIITS on blood glucose
and insulin levels. At the end of two weeks, insulin sensitivity improved by 21 percent and both
glucose and insulin levels dropped substantially. These studies have since been replicated all over
the world, and HIITS has become the most potent treatment for Type 2 diabetes and metabolic
syndrome.
For people who are totally inactive and for whom starting a high-intensity exercise routine could
trigger a heart attack or injury, Professor Gibala tested a less intense format in which subjects
pedalled at moderate intensity against moderate resistance for one minute instead of 30 seconds. They
were then given a one-minute break since they didn’t need as long to recover as those who had
pushed themselves to maximum capacity. They alternated one minute of moderate pedalling with one
minute of recovery for a total of 10 rounds. After six sessions, muscle biopsies and blood tests
revealed the same improvements in fitness and insulin sensitivity as the groups who had done all-out
training for three minutes at a time. What this means is that you can start slowly, improve your fitness
very quickly and then move to shorter, more intense exercise routines.

What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.
Samuel Johnson
 Step 1
If you have not exercised in a long time, follow the suggestions under Where to start? This will
ease your body into movement without risking injury or strain on your heart. If you are in any
doubt about how much exercise you can undertake due to a previous injury or illness please
have a medical check-up or consult your doctor.

Step 2
Once you feel comfortable doing a brisk walk, easy swim, leisurely cycle or whatever you
have chosen to start with, apply the one-minute interval training regime described above:
alternate one minute of moderate to hard intensity with one minute of recovery for five to 10
rounds. Warm up for a few minutes by doing a light version of your intended exercise before
you do your first moderate intensity burst.
If you are walking, your one minute of moderate intensity could be tackling a staircase or
jogging. If you are swimming, alternate fast and slow laps. If you are using a rowing machine,
row faster against greater resistance for a minute and then slow down for a minute. If you have
joined an exercise class, push yourself harder at various intervals throughout the class.

Step 3
When one-minute intervals at moderate intensity become reasonably comfortable, move to
shorter bursts of maximal intensity. The first time you do this, you might only last 10 seconds.
That’s absolutely fine. It means you have pushed yourself to your limit and you will soon be
able to stretch it to 20 seconds, then 30 seconds and maybe even 40 seconds. Aim to be
completely spent after 30 or 40 seconds. That’s your indication that you’ve pushed yourself
hard enough. Recover for up to four minutes and repeat the cycle four to six times. This is a
fantastic workout!
HIITS should never get easier because to receive the full benefits, you need to push yourself to
maximal exertion every time. However, because HIITS gets people fitter faster than traditional
exercise, people feel exhilarated and spurred on by their progress.

Step 4
By all means, if you have the time and you prefer slow and long exercise sessions, go for slow
and long. Every so often, throw in a short burst of higher intensity to get the most out of your
slow and long.
 Step 5
If you have a personal trainer or plan to work with one, ask them to design some HIITS for you.
I expect that most personal trainers are already doing this.

One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you join a gym, you will have access to numerous machines that lend themselves to HIITS:
stationary bikes, treadmills, cross-trainers and rowing machines. Make sure you ask someone
to show you the proper technique to avoid injury and to get the most from your workout.

Step 6
There are countless different versions of HIITS. Many group exercise classes are designed
along interval training principles. HIITS are not meant to replace longer bouts of exercise if
you are already a regular exerciser and you enjoy it. HIITS will add to the benefits you are
already receiving from longer, moderate-intensity exercise. HIITS can freshen up existing
workouts and HIITS can improve your performance in whatever you are already doing. A study
in the Journal of Applied Physiology 2009 asked runners to reduce the time they spent training
by 25 percent and replace this with six sets of 30-second sprints three times a week. At the end
of two months, they had improved their sprint time by 7 percent and their 10-kilometre race
time by one minute.
HIITS also means that if you don’t have the time for your usual hour at the gym, you now know
that it’s still worth going even for 15 minutes. One of the best things about HIITS is enabling
people to recognise that even if they only have a few spare minutes a day, it is worth using
those minutes to move.

Step 7
You can buy HIIT songs that alternate music speed so that you don’t have to set a timer. The
length of the intervals depends on the brand and program you select. Choose whichever suits
your needs and preferences. You can opt for purely instrumental music or you can have a
coach’s voice talking you through your HIIT.
I predict that HIITS will give rise to a booming new industry with devices and programs we
have not yet even conceived of.

Step 8
Don’t get stuck on the detail of designing the perfect exercise plan or the optimal HIIT. You can
do HIITS informally while going for a walk by sprinting to a tree then walking to the next tree.
Then finding another tree to sprint to, then walking again. Some days, aim to get as many HIITS
throughout the day as you can, even if they aren’t super intense. I feel we’ve become too
serious about exercise. Relax and view exercise as an opportunity to have fun. Your HIIT might
simply be to run quickly on the spot in front of your computer, tackle a few flights of stairs,
jump up and down off a low bench or race around your backyard. Whenever you take a break
from anything you are doing, incorporate a HIIT. Get creative about how and when you have a
HIIT. There are no rules apart from going as hard as you can at any given time and having fun!
Although the metabolic and hormonal benefits are greater if you do your six rounds a few
minutes apart, sometimes you might choose to have ten 30-second intense sprints throughout the
day, spaced an hour apart! That would constitute five minutes of exercise in a 24-hour period
but you’d be doing yourself an enormous favour in terms of improving your blood sugar control
and reducing your VAT. Who would have thought that just five minutes of movement could
make such a big difference?
Give yourself a HIIT whenever you feel a craving or a binge coming on, or if you feel like
eating when you’re not hungry. Give yourself a HIIT whenever you feel stressed. Give yourself
a HIIT when your favourite song comes on the radio while you’re doing the ironing. (Just be
careful that you put the iron in a safe place before you get going.) Or simply dance around your
living room for a few minutes before getting back to your crumpled shirts. Have HIITS with
your children or your partner. HIITS can generate laughter and playfulness alongside the
breathlessness. At my retreats, everyone gets HIIT every hour and loves it!
HIITS will make you spontaneously more active throughout the day without even realising it.
HIITS will improve your alertness, concentration, productivity, mood and energy levels. HIITS
will give you all the brain and body benefits listed above. HIITS will give you the experience
of enjoying your body.
I’m excited for you to discover HIITS!
 Step 1
1. Open your Mission Manual to a new page.
2. Set a timer for two minutes.
3. As quickly as you can, write down all the different ways you enjoy moving your body.
Don’t think in terms of exercise, but in terms of joyful movement. What do you find fun in
relation to moving your body? Come up with as many different options as you can in two
minutes.
4. When your time is up, feel free to add to your list. You can return to it whenever you think
of more ways you enjoy moving.

Step 2
How can you increase the amount of joyful movement in your life? Is there anything in your list
that you could easily integrate into your life without causing major disruptions to your current
schedule? Is there a friend or family member who would be interested in doing your activity
with you? Is there a sport you used to play or would like to try? Have you ever wanted to learn
how to dance or ice skate? Do martial arts appeal to you? Beach volleyball, frisbee, table
tennis, soccer, kayaking, water polo, badminton? The list goes on and on . . .

Step 3
How can you increase the amount of incidental exercise in your life? Examples include:

Use stairs instead of elevators or escalators at every opportunity. Stair climbing

stimulates much greater muscle activity than brisk walking. Doing anything against gravity
adds to the benefits of the exercise.
Park further from the entrance to shops, hairdressers, cinemas or wherever you are going.
Get off the bus or train one stop before you usually would.
Walk around whenever you are talking on the phone.
Walk around airports instead of sitting down while waiting for your flight.
Organise social events that revolve around activity.
Move around, run on the spot or do squats and pushups whenever a TV commercial comes
on.

Step 4
Aim to walk 10 000 steps every day. You can buy a simple pedometer for only a few dollars or
you can spend over 100 dollars on the latest whizz-bang activity tracker — or you can opt for
something in between.
Activity trackers (ATs) are small, wearable, digital, wireless-enabled devices that record a
range of exercise-related parameters such as heart rate, calories burned, distance walked,
number of steps taken, floors climbed and even quality of sleep. You can choose whatever type
of tracker best suits your goals and needs. Many people find them highly motivating for the
following reasons:
1. ATs (or pedometers) serve as a reminder and a commitment to move.
2. ATs take the guesswork out of whether you have reached your 10 000 steps.
3. ATs give people a sense of achievement when they have completed their exercise goals
for the day.
4. ATs record your progress so you can see yourself getting fitter.
5. Family members, friends or work colleagues often playfully compete with each other to
see who can achieve their 10 000 steps the soonest in any one day or who can take the
most steps, tackle the most stairs and so on, in any one day.
6. There are countless different ways you can use ATs to make moving more interesting and
rewarding.

Step 5
Don’t be afraid of seeking out exercise physiologists, personal trainers or group exercise
classes. Gyms can seem intimidating if you’ve never been and have no idea what to do.
Attending a gym is by no means mandatory for getting fit. However, in my experience, people
who work in the fitness industry love what they do and are excited about helping others achieve
their goals. For some people, a trainer or a gym provide a supportive environment in which
they grow to love moving their body.

Step 6 — A WARNING!
You will recall that BDNF produced when we exercise reduces hunger. The more intense the
exercise, the more it suppresses hunger via additional hormones such as adrenaline and
noradrenaline. This effect peaks around seven hours post HIIT and wears off after 20 to 30
hours. Hence getting your HIIT every day will reduce your hunger indefinitely.
However, studies have found that thinking about exercise stimulates hunger! At the University
of Illinois, students were shown one of two leaflets. Group one read about the value of
friendship. Group two read about the benefits of exercise. Afterwards they were offered raisins
and asked to rate their flavour. The students who had been reading about exercise ate one-third
more raisins than the students who had been reading about friendship! So don’t think about
exercise, just do it!
Similarly, if you think you’re hungry after reading this chapter, you’re not — it’s only a trick of
your mind! Switch your attention to something else and your ‘hunger’ will soon subside! Or
have a HIIT instead!
Research has also revealed that people often unconsciously move less during the day if they
 know they will exercise in the evening or if they have already exercised in the morning. The
goal is to increase overall movement in as many ways as you can, not to conserve your energy
for a single bout of movement at a set time during the day.
Another way that people often dilute the benefits of exercise is by consciously or unconsciously
‘rewarding’ themselves with food immediately after exercise even though they aren’t hungry.
Make your exercise intrinsically rewarding — and give yourself a clap every time — so you
won’t need food as a reward for moving. Food is sustenance. Use other things at times you
need a reward.

Recommended reading
Mosely, Dr Michael, and Bee, Peta, Fast Exercise, Short Books, London, 2013
(This book is all about the science and the practice of HIITS. I strongly encourage you to read
it. The content is short and sharp — like HIITS!)
Ratey, Dr John J, and Hagerman, Eric, Spark! How exercise will improve the performance of
your brain, Quercus, London, 2010

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.

13 Free radicals are highly chemically reactive atoms or molecules believed to contribute to developing cancer and degenerative
diseases.
14 Grey matter consists of nerve cell bodies, supporting cells and capillaries.

15 White matter contains myelinated nerve fibres called axons. Myelin acts as insulation and is composed largely of fatty tissue, which
turns white when preserved in formaldehyde.
  Mission 24 
Sleep it off

Finish each day before you begin the next and interpose
a solid wall of sleep between the two.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

M IS S IO N 2 4
Your Twenty-fourth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Sleep it off.
Good-quality sleep is the Third Habit of NeuroSlimming.
Having just spent the last two chapters reading about the need for more physical activity, this Mission
may seem like a contradiction. The fact is that we need both: more activity as well as consistent,
rejuvenating sleep. If you find yourself thinking ‘I’m starving!’ consider the possibility that you may
be starved of sleep rather than food.
The average Australian and New Zealander accumulates two weeks of sleep loss a year due to the
ever-increasing demands of work, crying babies or simply being caught up in 21st-century clamour.
More than 10 percent of Americans suffer from chronic insomnia and 25 percent report inadequate
sleep due to one cause or another. Meanwhile, a third of people surveyed in the UK reported
episodes of insomnia, and four times as many poor sleepers disclosed having relationship difficulties
as did good sleepers.

It is better to sleep on things beforehand than to lie awake about them

afterwards.
Baltasar Gracian

Are you getting adequate, good-quality sleep every night? If not, this could be a contributing factor in
carrying excess VAT or having poor health in general.
What is the effect of sleep deprivation on hunger, metabolism and fat deposition?

Sleep deprivation disrupts all our hormonal processes so that we are driven to eat more, move
less and deposit fat around the abdomen — a lethal combination, literally.
We produce more cortisol (the stress hormone) which stimulates hunger and drives the body to
 lay down VAT. Cortisol also interferes with collagen production which in turn causes wrinkles
and saggy skin. This means that when we are sleep-deprived we look older so we eat out of
despair! It’s not called ‘beauty sleep’ for nothing.
We produce less leptin (the satiety hormone made in fat cells) which leads to feeling hungrier
and craving high fat and high sugar-containing foods throughout the day. It also means we don’t
feel as satisfied after we’ve eaten.
We produce more ghrelin (the appetite-stimulating hormone made in the gastrointestinal tract)
which makes us feel hungry all day long. Men produce more ghrelin in response to sleep
deprivation than do women. Research at the University of Chicago, published in Annals of
Internal Medicine 2004, found that male volunteers who slept four hours a night for two
consecutive nights had a 28 percent increase in ghrelin and an 18 percent reduction in leptin.
This translated into feeling 24 percent more hungry, eating more junk food and not feeling
satisfied after meals.
In contrast, when women are sleep-deprived, they make less GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1),
a gut hormone that acts on the brain to induce satiety and reduce the desire for food. Therefore
less sleep means greater hunger and Mission 1 is thrown out of whack.
We feel tired, more moody and have less energy to exercise.
We feel we need food to prop us up and boost our energy levels.
We have measurably less willpower and less self-compassion.
Decision-making skills drop substantially and all cognitive processes slow down. Your mother
was right — studies on students have found that they are much better off getting a good night’s
sleep than cramming the night before an exam. Students are also more likely to cheat if they have
not had enough sleep! Sleep deprivation has played a major role in many world catastrophes: the
Challenger space shuttle explosion in January 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in April
1986 and the Exxon Valdez oil spill in March 1989.
Food actually appears more tempting because, after sleeplessness, the brain’s sensitivity to
the pleasure-inducing properties of food is heightened. After a night of sleep deprivation, people
eat much more at a buffet.
We are also more susceptible to food porn. In other words, we are more likely to want to eat in
response to seeing images of food.
We are more vulnerable to emotional eating and less able to eat mindfully.

A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition September 2011 demonstrated that young
normal-weight men who had a single night of complete sleep loss curbed their energy expenditure and
experienced increased levels of hunger the next day.
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism January 2012 published research from
Uppsala University, Sweden, on another group of men who were also subjected to a night of total
sleep loss. This time the scientists used fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to examine
what was going on in the men’s brains when they were shown images of food. The researchers found
a much higher level of activation in an area of the brain involved in the desire to eat than in subjects
who had not been sleep-deprived.
To date the largest and longest study on adult sleep habits and weight is the Nurses’ Health Study,
which followed 68 000 middle-aged American women for up to 16 years. Those who slept five hours
or less each night were 15 percent more likely to become obese than those who slept seven hours a
night. Similarly, a study on younger nurses showed that the more rotating night shifts they did (which
disrupted their sleep patterns), the more likely they were to develop diabetes and obesity. Several
other studies have also shown that people who sleep less than five hours a night triple their
likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes.
Sleep is absolutely essential for every aspect of physical, psychological and emotional health. Sleep
deprivation negatively influences gene function, immunity to disease and tissue repair. Several
studies have shown that when people are sleep-deprived they produce fewer antibodies in response
to vaccines against flu, hepatitis B and other infectious diseases. This means they do not receive the
expected level of protection. Could your medication not be as effective as it should be, because you
are not sleeping well?
Dr Kristine Yaffe, from the University of California in San Francisco, did a five-year study on 1300
adults aged 75 years and older. She and her team of researchers found that those who had poor or
disrupted sleep, such as occurs with sleep apnoea, were twice as likely to develop dementia as those
who had regular, good-quality sleep.
Everyone is different in their sleep requirements at various stages throughout their lives. Most people
need seven to nine hours. Only three percent of the population have the ‘short sleep gene’ that
allows them to get away with under five hours a night. Many people think they can function
adequately on less than seven hours but, when they are tested, the results paint a very different
picture.
Conversely, consistently sleeping more than nine hours a night is also associated with an increased
risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and headaches. Scientists are still trying to unravel
why this is the case. This does not apply if you are unwell and require extra sleep to recover from an
illness.
Alcohol initially has a relaxant and sedative effect but it is quickly metabolised and about four to five
hours later it produces rebound wakefulness. Alcohol acts as a soporific in the acute intoxication
stage, but it diminishes the quality of sleep and produces longer and more severe episodes of hypoxia
(oxygen deprivation) in people with sleep apnoea.
After 17 hours of wakefulness (for example from 7 am to midnight) your brain function is equivalent
to having a blood alcohol reading of 0.05 percent (above the legal limit for driving). After a week of
averaging four to five hours of sleep a night, brain performance plummets to the equivalent of a blood
alcohol level of 0.1 percent! It’s very worrying to see the number of workplaces that regard an ‘all
nighter’ as dedication to the job rather than as detriment to every aspect of work and health.
For many people, lack of adequate sleep is so ‘normal’ that they forget how great it is possible to feel
after a good night’s sleep. The whole world looks different, everything is far less stressful, and the
Missions are much easier to accomplish.
 Step 1
Are you prioritising getting your optimal hours of sleep every night?
If not, why not? What are you valuing more than sleep? Apart from improving your health and
reducing your fat deposition, the quality of everything you do will improve when your sleep
improves. I understand if you have a newborn baby in the house!

Step 2
Do you feel rested and refreshed when you wake up?
Is it quality rather than quantity of sleep that is the issue for you? Are you not getting seven to
nine hours a night despite making every effort to do so? Is the length and quality of your sleep
compromised by pain, snoring or stress? Are you struggling to fall asleep or are you waking up
in the early hours of the morning and then finding you are unable to fall asleep again? Resolving
these issues is beyond the scope of this book. My aim is to alert you to the significant impact
that sleep can have on your health and your fat deposition.
I feel very strongly about avoiding sleeping pills unless you are in excruciating pain and
analgesics are not enough. Sleeping pills invariably disrupt normal sleep cycles and
compromise sleep quality even if they help you fall asleep. Sleeping pills can also quickly lead
to dependence.
If sleep difficulties are a feature of your life, please read Dr Harrington’s book (see
Recommended reading) before you do anything else. It could make a world of difference to
you.

Step 3
Read through the side-effects of any over-the-counter medications you are taking. Some of them
may contain stimulants such as caffeine and phentermine. Ironically, the latter is used in
appetite suppressants. Whenever your doctor prescribes a drug, check whether or not it affects
sleep.

Step 4
Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol at least four to six hours before going to bed. Certain food
additives, colourings, flavourings and MSG can also act as stimulants and contribute to feeling
wired and unable to get to asleep.
 Step 5
Foods containing tyrosine, tyramine (the breakdown product of tyrosine) and glutamate all
increase alertness and can also interfere with sleep. Foods containing these three amino acids
are best avoided in the evening. They include processed meats like salami and chorizo,
seaweed, peanuts, cheddar cheese, overripe fruit, gelatin and soy protein.

Step 6
Conversely, foods that are high in tryptophan, such as almonds, hazelnuts, milk, eggs, skinless
poultry, fish, bananas, oatmeal, mushrooms and leafy green vegetables are natural sleep
promoters. Including one or several of these foods at dinnertime may be helpful. Tryptophan is
the amino acid from which melatonin is produced. Melatonin is the hormone that induces sleep.
Melatonin follows a circadian rhythm and is released in the brain in response to darkness.

Step 7
Daily exercise, regardless of whether it is long and slow or hard and fast, improves all aspects
of sleep. People fall asleep more easily, spend a longer time in deep sleep and report feeling
more refreshed when they wake up. Exercise increases the production of growth hormone
while we sleep and this assists in tissue repair and maintenance. It is best, however, not to
exercise within three hours of bedtime.

Step 8
Turn off computers and all digital devices including tablets and phones at least one hour,
preferably two hours, before going to bed. Don’t even have electronic devices in your
bedroom. Use an old-fashioned alarm clock in preference to your phone alarm.
Bright lights shining into the eyes suppresses melatonin and thereby delays the onset of sleep.
The brighter the light (the closer it is to your eyes) and the longer you are exposed to it before
bed, the more your melatonin is suppressed and the longer it will take you to fall asleep. Short
wavelength blue light has the most disruptive effect and this is precisely the light that is emitted
from portable screens. Dimming your screen or downloading technology that automatically
adjusts the light being emitted at night can be helpful, but the best solution is to switch off the
device altogether. Adolescents are at greatest risk of sleep disorders in response to using
devices at night because of the biological changes they are experiencing.
The other night-time issue with phones and computers is that they are highly stimulating so it
takes the brain longer to settle down and prepare for sleep. If you have been working on an
important project, you may also feel stressed or anxious. At the very least, your brain will be in
a highly active state and you may find it hard to switch off mentally even after you have turned
off your device.
I am well aware of the challenges this step imposes. Students are up late doing homework on
computers and many of us have deadlines that drive us to work into the night. This is all
contributing to sleep difficulties and poorer work performance in the long run. What can you do
to change this?

Step 9
Declutter your bedroom. Avoid giving your bedroom a busy feel. Make your sleeping quarters
a place of calm, peace and quiet.
Quarantine your bed for the sole purpose of sleep +/– sex. Use eyeshades and earplugs if you
need to prevent noise or light waking you up in the early hours of the morning.

Step 10
Establish good sleeping habits, otherwise known as ‘sleep hygiene’. Sleep experts recommend
the following:
1. Be consistent with what time you go to bed and what time you get up. Go to sleep and
wake up at roughly the same time every day, even on weekends and holidays. Creating a
regular rhythm makes us feel better and improves the overall functioning of the body.
2. Eat when you’re hungry and at the same time try to finish your last meal two to three
hours before bedtime. If you find that you get hungry closer to bedtime, have a handful of
almonds or one of the other tryptophan-containing foods listed above.
3. Create a wind-down routine. Engage in the same set of rituals in the same order every
night as you prepare for bed. This tells your brain to prepare for sleep. Wind-down rituals
can include:

dimming the lights — this will stimulate melatonin release

lighting a few candles
drinking a cup of herbal tea
brushing your teeth
laying out your exercise clothes for the next morning
reflecting on what you feel grateful for
meditating
listening to quiet, slow, soporific music that automatically switches off after half an
hour or so
doing whatever calms you and signifies that the day is coming to a close.

Step 11 — A few final tips to help you fall asleep

Have a hot bath or shower about half an hour before bed. When you leave the shower,
your body temperature will start to drop. A decrease in body temperature promotes
sleepiness.
Think pleasant, warm, fuzzy thoughts, play your mental movie from Mission 12 or do one
 of the gratitude exercises from Mission 16. An experiment in Behaviour Research and
Therapy 2002 asked insomniacs to do one of three things when they went to bed. The
control group simply engaged in their usual bedtime routine. The second group were asked
to stop themselves thinking about their problems, and the third group were instructed to
visualise a pleasant and relaxing scene. The control group took one hour to fall asleep, the
second group took 40 minutes and the third group fell asleep in 20 minutes!
Use lavender scents in your bedroom. Several studies have shown that this can help
people fall asleep more easily as well as improve the quality of their sleep.
If you have something buzzing around in your head and it is keeping you awake, turn on a
dim light and write it down. Keep a pen and notepad beside your bed so you don’t have to
get up. If it’s a problem you need to solve, write down the problem and tell yourself you
will wake up knowing the answer or at least the next step. Often this is what actually
happens but even if it doesn’t, the act of writing what is on your mind will help you let it
go and fall asleep.

Recommended reading
Harrington, Dr Carmel, The Complete Guide to a Good Night’s Sleep, Pan Macmillan,
Sydney, 2014

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 25 
Shrug it off

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.

James Joyce

M IS S IO N 2 5
Your Twenty-fifth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Shrug it off.
Effectively managing stress is the Fourth Habit of NeuroSlimming.
What is the effect of stress on hunger, metabolism and VAT deposition?

Stress disrupts all our hormonal processes so that we are driven to eat more, deposit fat around
the abdomen, and use food for comfort, compensation and reward.
We produce more cortisol which stimulates hunger and drives the body to lay down VAT.
Cortisol also interferes with collagen production which in turn causes wrinkles and saggy skin.
This means when we are stressed we look older so we eat out of despair!
We produce less leptin (the satiety hormone made in fat cells) which leads to feeling hungrier
and craving high fat and high sugar-containing foods throughout the day. It also means we don’t
feel as satisfied after we’ve eaten.
We produce more ghrelin . . .

Is this sounding familiar?

The same hormonal mechanisms that influence bodily processes and eating behaviour when we’re
sleep-deprived, kick in when we’re stressed: we increase cortisol and ghrelin output, drive down
leptin production, have no time for self-care and feel exhausted. We also eat faster and less
mindfully. Women commonly use food as a way of coping with stress, while men are more likely
to turn to alcohol. Both sexes tend to reach for sugar- and fat-laden snacks in response to daily
hassles. If it’s any consolation, lab rats at the University of California also turned to sweets and fats
in response to stress! Rodents and humans are wired in similar ways when it comes to dealing with
threatening situations.
In addition to stress directly contributing to excess fat deposition, stress increases the likelihood of
contracting every disease from the common cold to cardiac arrest to cancer. An estimated 80 percent
of the Australian health budget is spent on stress-related conditions.
 A study of 12 000 nurses found that those who described their work pressures as ‘too high’ were
50 percent more likely to develop heart disease 15 years later than women who felt their
workloads were manageable.
A study from Heidelberg University in Germany found that a stressful job — defined by long
hours, demanding schedules and uncomfortable work conditions — increased the risk of
developing asthma in adult life by 40 percent.
Stress interferes with blood glucose regulation and raises triglyceride levels.
Stress weakens the immune system and slows recovery from illness.
Emotional stress is more predictive of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer than is
smoking. In other words, if you have heart disease or cancer and you’re under emotional stress,
you are more likely to die than if you smoke!
Stress impairs all our mental abilities, especially memory, creativity, decision-making and
problem-solving. We make the worst decisions when we’re stressed.
Stress reduces performance and productivity much more than we realise.
Stress reduces our capacity for empathy, kindness, patience and joy.

This is just a snapshot of the wide-ranging effects of stress.

In surveys done by Australian health insurance companies, 100 percent of respondents report feeling
stressed at various times throughout their lives. When asked to rate the severity of their stress, 50
percent of people tick ‘extreme’. Similar surveys conducted by the American Psychological
Association reveal that a quarter of Americans rate their stress level as eight or more out of 10. Yet
when asked to define stress, people’s answers are surprisingly vague. So what exactly is stress and
what can we do about it?
Stress is the response of a living organism to a perceived threat. This definition provides three things
to work with:
1. the threat itself, known as the stress-or — the thing ‘out there’ causing the stress
2. our perceptions of the threat — what we make it mean and the perspective we choose to take
3. our responses to the threat — physical, psychological and emotional — that are largely
governed by two hormones: adrenaline and cortisol.
Therefore stress is a specific set of responses that occur in your brain and body whenever you face
something you think is threatening — whether or not it is actually threatening. This is the first clue in
effectively managing stress: understanding that whether or not you find something stressful is
subjective. Some people find public speaking highly stressful. Other people love giving speeches.
Some people thrive on deadlines. Other people break into a panic. In many instances, increasing your
skills or improving your time management is a first step in stress management.

Failure is not the opposite of success, it is part of success.

Plato

What exactly happens in the brain and body when we perceive a threat?
At the first inkling of a possible threat, for instance a sabre-tooth tiger, an angry client or a rapidly
approaching deadline, the brain sends a message to the adrenal glands (sitting on top of the kidneys)
to pump adrenaline into the bloodstream. The role of adrenaline is to set off the fright, flight, fight
response — whether the stressor is a tiger, client or deadline. Adrenaline does this by increasing
heart rate, blood pressure, muscle strength, arousal, concentration and speed of information
processing. At the same time, the adrenal glands also release cortisol to reduce inflammation and
raise blood sugar levels so that fuel is available for immediate action. The combined result of these
two hormones is to provide a massive surge of energy to enable us to deal with the threat. Therefore
not all stress is negative. In the acute stage of stress we are fired up and fully focused. Ability
increases and hunger decreases. The technical term for the performance-enhancing stage of acute
stress is ‘eustress’. A bit of stress can bring out the best in people. This is referred to as ‘rising to
meet a challenge’. Specific examples are mild stage fright or an athlete’s frame of mind before a race
— switched on and revved up. Can you think of a time when you experienced eustress — when the
right amount of stress lifted your game?
However, if stress becomes too severe or continues for too long, the brain and body get overwhelmed
and we hit a tipping point at which performance starts to decline. This tipping point is known as an
individual’s ‘allostatic load’. It’s where eustress becomes distress.
Beyond a person’s tipping point, the stages of distress follow a predictable path. Initially they
experience tunnel vision and a reduction in capacity to see options. This leads to feeling stuck in a rut
and becoming agitated and hyperactive. Cognitive abilities can drop by more than 50 percent because
blood is diverted from higher centres of intelligence to more primitive reflex parts of the brain. Short-
and long-term memory freeze up (as I frequently experienced in the middle of an exam) and
exhaustion sets in. If you are not able to switch off at the end of the day, you can develop insomnia or
disrupted sleep patterns and this sets off a self-perpetuating vicious cycle. Unabated stress can also
produce irritability, impatience, emotional lability and loss of empathy. The longer the stress
continues, the higher the risk of physical illness or depression.
Have you ever observed any of these signs in yourself?
What does this summary of stress reveal? Effectively managing stress is about understanding what
happens at your tipping point. What is it that pushes a person from eustress into distress?
Your tipping point is where you start to feel you are losing control of a situation. You may not always
recognise that loss of control is the basis of feeling stressed, but if you drill down to the core of an
issue, lack of control is often a key factor. (When I use the term stress I am referring to negative
stress, not eustress.) This is why deadlines are a common cause of stress: you are not able to control
the passage of time. If you feel you have plenty of time to complete a task, you are unlikely to feel
stressed. The minute you feel you are running out of time, what happens? This is also why managing a
team can be stressful: you cannot control other people. As for public speaking — you cannot control
how an audience will respond. Experienced public speakers learn techniques to overcome this. A
situation can be threatening without being stressful if you know how to deal with the threat or have the
option of walking away from it.
Please complete the table on the following page.

In the first column under STRESSORS, list situations that have caused you to feel stressed or that are
currently causing you stress.
In the second column under DEGREE OF CONTROL write down how much control you felt in each
of the situations you listed. Zero means you felt no control and five means you felt totally in control.
In the third column under DEGREE OF STRESS give your stress level a score out of five. Zero
means you felt no stress (in which case you wouldn’t have listed the event in the first place) and five
means your stress level was through the roof.
I have provided a couple of my own examples to get you started.
What do you notice about the relationship between the number in the second column and the number in
the third column? Are you finding that the less control you have, the more stressed you feel?
This understanding provides the basis for turning stress into success. Stress can be reconfigured to
our advantage. Every time we handle a stressful situation effectively, we boost our immunity to
disease. Threatening situations per se do not erode people’s health; feeling out of control and
viewing a situation in a negative light are what do the damage. If you change your thinking about an
event, you change the way your brain and body respond to it.
In 1986, a pioneer in the field of psychoneuroimmunology, Dr Steven Locke, studied the effects of
stressful life events on the immune function of Harvard University graduates. He measured the number
and functionality of natural killer (NK) cells in their blood and discovered that students who coped
poorly and reported feeling anxious or depressed had fewer and inferior NK cells than students who
experienced stressful events but handled them effectively. The students who were good at handling
stress had even higher numbers of NK cells than students who had little stress in their lives. That
which doesn’t kill us really does make us stronger!
A study of centenarians in 1999 by Dr Thomas Perls and Dr Margery Silver found that successfully
dealing with stress was one of the greatest predictors of longevity. People who live longer don’t
experience less stress in their lives than people who die early. What set the centenarians apart was
their exceptional ability to respond to difficulties and to recover from setbacks.
Notwithstanding that stress management could fill another book, below is an outline of the five most
important steps in dealing with stress so that it serves you rather than undermines you. These five
steps will help you regain control, lower your cortisol levels and stop you reaching for food or
alcohol.
The five steps in dealing with stress are:
1. prevention
2. resilience
3. focus
4. perspective
5. celebration.
 Step 1: Prevention
1. Is stress a significant factor in your life? Do you feel it is contributing to undesirable
eating habits and VAT deposition?
2. The major stresses of modern-day living revolve around illness, interpersonal conflict and
excessive demands on our time, energy and finances. Is there anything you can do to
eliminate or at least decrease the number of things that are causing you stress? Is there a
way of reducing your workload (paid and unpaid) without giving rise to negative
consequences?
3. Sometimes the answer is ‘no’. However, when people do an audit of their to-do list, they
often discover there are things they can delegate or postpone. Review all the things you
are currently doing and ask yourself the following questions:

Do I really need to take this on?

Am I prepared to give myself permission to do less? We live in a frenetic society in
which the speed of life makes us feel out of control, whether or not we are in control.
Could I get help with this?
Is there a more efficient way of doing this?
Can I unsubscribe from this?
Do I really need to attend this function?
Can I cut back on my expenses? Am I stuck on the ceaseless treadmill of work and
spend?

4. Often what stops us asking these questions is our fragile sense of self-worth — feeling that
we are defined by what we do rather than who we are. Or fearing that we will fall behind
(whatever that means). Is this a concern for you? How valid a concern is it?
5. When people live and work in alignment with their values, they perceive challenges to be
much less stressful than if they are engaged in work that is not meaningful to them. This
seems obvious but many people stay in unsatisfying jobs because of convenience,
familiarity or financial remuneration, and wonder why they constantly feel stressed. In
contrast, finding meaning, purpose and fulfilment serves as a buffer against stress.
6. One of the most powerful questions to ask yourself during a stressful situation is: Does
this really matter? Will this matter in five years’ time? In one year? In one month? In one
week? Tomorrow? If nothing mattered, your stress levels would instantly plummet.
Choose what really matters and don’t stress about the rest.

Be curious, not judgmental.

Walt Whitman

Step 2: Resilience
Resilience is defined as the ability to handle difficulties and recover from adversity.
Resilience is about recognising that self-care is not selfish because it enhances your ability to
cope with stress. If you are in good health before an operation, you’ll recover more quickly
than if you’re run-down or unwell. Similarly, if you’re feeling physically and mentally on top
of your game, you are less likely to find something stressful and you’ll handle it more easily
than if you are tired or sleep-deprived.
Eighty percent of stress management is self-management. I can walk into a situation one day and
handle it perfectly calmly and effectively. I can walk into the same situation another day and
find it stressful because I’m running late and I just had an argument with my boyfriend. We see
things through the filter of everything else that is going on in our lives.
There are several things you can do to build up your resilience so that you’re less likely to
perceive things as stressful. Having greater resilience prolongs the time it takes to reach your
tipping point. This step does not involve changing anything around you. It’s about strengthening
your inner resources so that you’re better able to deal with whatever challenges you’re facing.
Below are 10 powerful ways to increase your resilience:
1. Get regular, good-quality sleep — follow the Call to action in Mission 24.
2. Engage in regular physical exercise — follow the Call to action in Mission 23.
3. Eat real food — follow the Call to action in Mission 6.
4. Speak to someone — simply having someone who will listen, even if they are not able to
give you practical help, will reduce your cortisol output.
5. Hug a family member or friend, or stroke an animal. Physical touch stimulates the release
of endorphins and oxytocin, two hormones that have a calming and mood-enhancing effect.
Touch also lowers cortisol levels and strengthens the immune system.
6. Take a few slow deep breaths — read Mission 26.
7. Take a walk in nature — read Mission 26.
8. Learn to meditate — follow the Call to action in Mission 26.
9. Get more laughter in your life — follow the Call to action in Mission 27.
10. Practise gratitude — follow the Call to action in Mission 16.

Step 3: Focus
After you’ve applied Steps 1 and 2, if you still find yourself engulfed by stress, narrow your
focus to the present moment. Put all your attention on the task at hand. Focus on one thing at a
time and do not multi-task. Multi-tasking is inherently stressful because the more things you
try to juggle at any one time, the less you will feel in control. Stress dissipates in the focused
doing. When you are fully absorbed in what you are doing, here and now, you are too
preoccupied with taking action to have time to feel stressed. The future hasn’t happened. Your
power is in the present. Doing your best in the present moment puts you in the best position to
address the next moment.
Stress is exacerbated — if not created — by the conversations we have in our heads about a
situation rather than the situation itself. A study in the journal Appetite 2013 found that simply
thinking about a stressful situation caused a rise in ghrelin and accompanying hunger. Fifty
college women were told they needed to complete a questionnaire. A second group of women
were told they would have to make a speech in front of a panel of judges. The women then had
blood samples taken and were offered brownies while they sat and waited. Those who’d been
told they would be making a speech had higher ghrelin levels and ate more brownies than those
in the questionnaire group. Be careful what you think!

I’ve suffered many tragedies in my life — but only a few of them actually
happened.
Mark Twain

How often do your worst fears materialise?

Step 4: Perspective
You will recall from Mission 20 that it is not circumstances that break us; it is how we
respond to them. You have the ability to choose your perspective in any given situation. In
many cases, we can talk ourselves into or out of feeling stressed.

What are the meanings you attach to a challenging situation that make the situation seem
stressful?
Are you able to view the situation differently so that it empowers you rather than
distresses you?
How can you change your perspective to allow you to see more options?
What can you say to yourself to lower your anxiety and enable you to get on with what
needs to be done?

Asking these questions will enable you to gain a sense of control.

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is

exhilarating. There’s really no such thing as bad weather, only different
kinds of good weather.
John Ruskin

In addition, whenever you encounter a stressful situation, follow the Call to action in Mission
20.

Step 5: Celebration
Celebrate your successes. Celebrate each successful step along the way. Celebrate your
progress, not just the overall achievement. Whenever you give yourself a pat on the back, you
reinforce your belief that you are capable of success. This is particularly important if you are
dealing with something that is causing you stress.
When you walk into a new situation with a recent memory of your strengths and victories, you
are more likely to succeed again, even if the new task is a greater challenge than the previous
one.
Follow Steps 2 and 3 from the Call to action in Mission 17.
Just by virtue of being On Mission, you will enhance your capacity to handle any stressful
situation.

Recommended reading
Carlson, Richard, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff — and It’s All Small Stuff, Hyperion, New
York, 1977
Tolle, Eckhart, Stillness Speaks, New World Library, 2014

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 26 
Breathe it off

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience,

compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.
Lao Tzu

M IS S IO N 2 6
Your Twenty-sixth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Breathe it off.
Breathing is the Fifth Habit of NeuroSlimming.
Right now, take a slow, deep, conscious breath all the way in and all the way out. Follow the air as it
enters your nostrils, expands your lungs and travels back out. Close your eyes and do it again.
Conscious breathing brings you into the present moment and stills your thinking. Pay particular
attention to your out-breath and make it twice as long as your in-breath. Lengthening your exhalations
activates the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) which is responsible for slowing down heart
rate, lowering blood pressure and relaxing your muscles. The PNS also dilates blood vessels in the
gastrointestinal tract to enhance digestion and absorption of nutrients. Before every meal take a few
deep, conscious breaths and focus on making your exhalations as slow as possible. This simple act
improves assimilation of food and sends a message to your brain and body that you are calm.
In contrast, stress activates the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) which diverts blood away from the
stomach and inhibits peristalsis (the contraction and relaxation of muscles that propel food through
the gut). The SNS is also activated prior to a binge. One of the simplest ways to short-circuit a binge
is to become conscious of your breathing and slow down your exhalations. People report that deep
breathing reduces cravings and leads to less of a binge. Sometimes the urge to binge or eat junk food
disappears altogether — not because you have forced yourself not to eat, but because you have
interrupted the craving pathways that were activated in your brain.
Even though the human brain constitutes less than two percent of body weight, it consumes 20 percent
of the oxygen we breathe, making it the most oxygen-hungry organ. Oxygen is critical for optimal
brain function and for clarity of thinking. When we feel stressed or anxious, our breathing becomes
rapid and shallow, even if we are not aware of it. This compromises the oxygen reaching the brain
and brings on mental fatigue and fogginess — the exact opposite of what we need when we’re
stressed. As soon as you notice yourself becoming stressed or anxious, breathe it off.
Sleep apnoea also compromises oxygen supply to the brain and reduces quality of sleep. Over time,
oxygen deprivation can lead to brain cell death and increase the risk of dementia.
Taking a slow, deep, conscious breath before a meal will remind you to eat mindfully and assist you
in mastering the Seven Secrets. By stilling your mind, you become aware of the signals from your
body relating to hunger, food preferences and satiation.

Meditation
Slow, conscious breathing is at the heart of many forms of meditation. In this Mission, I use the phrase
Breathe it off in three ways:
1. to remind you to pause and take a slow breath before eating
2. to encourage you to learn to meditate
3. to remind you to spend time in nature.
Time magazine in August 2004 dubbed meditation as ‘the smart person’s bubble bath’. I believe
meditation is much more. Meditation is like having a bubble bath while sipping a cocktail laced with
painkillers, anti-depressants, anxiolytics (anti-anxiety drugs), antihypertensives (blood pressure
lowering medications), omega-3, Viagra and performance-enhancers!
During meditation, your mind chatter subsides and you are temporarily free of the constant ‘noise’ of
thinking. You are at peace with your body and accept who you are on the deepest level: exquisitely
unique and worthy of self-care. It’s a wonderful paradox that, while seemingly doing nothing, you’re
doing a great deal: strengthening your immune system, reducing your cortisol output, gaining clarity
and self-compassion, and slowing down ageing. Meditation elevates the body’s production of
DHEAs (dehydro-epiandrosterone), a hormone that is closely linked to anti-ageing effects.
There are countless books, websites and courses on meditation. Here I provide the briefest overview
to inspire you to try it for yourself.
Regular meditation delivers profound physical, psychological and emotional benefits. It increases
feelings of positivity and leads to more healthful behaviours in relation to food. It reduces binging and
emotional eating. At Cambridge University, John Teasdale found that meditation halved the relapse
rate in people who were chronically depressed. In the medical setting, meditation is incorporated into
treatments for cancer, chronic pain, heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, anxiety disorders,
neuromuscular disease, psoriasis and insomnia. While stress has a similar effect on the brain and
body to sleep deprivation, meditation has the opposite effect. You will recall that stress weakens the
immune response to vaccination; meditation strengthens it. At the University of Wisconsin in
Madison, meditators and non-meditators were given flu shots followed by blood tests. People who
meditated had more antibodies (a stronger immune response) at both four and eight weeks after the
shots than did non-meditators. When their brain activity was measured, the meditators had a shift in
activity from the right prefrontal cortex to the left prefrontal cortex, correlating with higher levels of
willpower and greater contentment. The more the shift in brain activity, the higher their willpower
and antibody count.
The clutter and quality of our lives is determined by the clutter and quality of our minds.
I believe meditation is more powerful than medication.

Could you be suffering from NDD?

NDD stands for Nature Deficit Disorder and refers to lack of exposure to outdoor natural settings.
Why does this matter?
According to Harvard University scientist Edward O Wilson, humans are genetically programmed to
need contact with nature. At Queensland University of Technology, research psychologist Eric
Brymer has shown that being in nature is essential for physical and mental wellbeing. Whether it’s
trekking in the bush, growing herbs in a pot or eating lunch in the garden, nature soothes and heals us.
A Dutch study published in the Journal of Health and Psychology 2011 found that half an hour of
gardening reduced stress levels more effectively than half an hour of quiet reading. Not only does
gardening qualify as physical exercise, garden soil is the home of an organism called Mycobacterium
vaccae. M. vaccae stimulates the formation of brain cells that produce serotonin and noradrenaline.
These two neurotransmitters reduce anxiety and improve focus. Scientists postulate that while we are
gardening we are inhaling the bacteria. When mice were fed live M. vaccae they navigated mazes
twice as quickly as mice who had not ingested the bacteria.
Connecting with nature restores concentration and improves willpower and creativity. A
University of Michigan study found that people learned significantly better after a walk in nature than
after a walk in a crowded urban environment.
Looking at nature strengthens the immune system. Research in hospitals shows that patients with
a view of nature require fewer painkillers and heal faster than patients whose rooms face a brick
wall. American prisoners in cells overlooking farmland had 25 percent fewer bouts of illness than
prisoners in cells facing the prison courtyard. Living in tree-lined streets or close to parks and open
spaces prolongs life in the elderly. Nature is a great healer and balancer. When we feel stressed and
agitated, nature calms us. When we feel physically tired and mentally drained, nature reinvigorates
us.
Spending as little as five minutes a day in nature improves mood and self-esteem. Walking in a
park or nature reserve lowers blood pressure and cortisol output. Even looking at fish in your home
aquarium can be therapeutic.
A few years ago I took my 80-year-old father to Floriade in Canberra’s Commonwealth Park. This
annual celebration of spring is a spectacular display of flowers in a dazzling array of colours. Dad
was complaining about being tired, and I was tired of him complaining. Within moments of entering
the park, we were both stunned into silence. It was impossible to suppress the enormous smiles
spreading across our faces. Our grievances dissolved as we were drawn into the breathtaking
showcase of nature. Dad forgot about his tiredness as he wandered from one flowerbed to the next.
Flora and fauna are more powerful than Prozac.
Exercising outdoors, especially in nature or at the beach, provides additional benefits to exercising
indoors. Wind resistance, together with soft and uneven surfaces, drives up calorie burning while
natural surroundings improve mood and cognition. ‘Ecotherapy’ — connecting with nature in a
variety of ways — is a recognised treatment for depression and other mental health issues.
We instinctively know that nature nurtures. When you visit someone in hospital what do you bring
them?
Spending time in nature improves mood and willpower, and at the same time lowers stress and
anxiety. These factors reduce emotional eating and contribute to self-care.
Many of the Missions in Fun not force such as moving, sleeping, managing stress and meditating
could easily fill a book themselves. My aim is to make you aware of the various lifestyle factors that
affect body weight and eating behaviour so that you can explore them to the degree you feel is
personally necessary.
The first four steps could be thought of as ‘mini-meditations’. They offer a variety of ways to
quiet your mind wherever you are. You can do the four steps one after the other in one sitting or
you can carry them out separately at different times. The objective is to give you an experience
of mental stillness for however long you need. Start with as little as one minute for each
meditation. Set a timer for however long you plan to do each step so that you are not distracted
by looking at the clock.

Your life is what your thoughts make it.

Marcus Aurelius

Step 1
Look at the palm of your hand. Focus on a point to which your eyes are naturally drawn. Don’t
comment, criticise, judge or mentally describe what you see. Don’t have a conversation with
yourself about the length of your lifeline. Simply look without analysing. If a thought crosses
your mind, let it pass and bring your attention back to your hand.

Step 2
Close your eyes and listen. Become aware of the different sounds around you, whether you are
indoors or outdoors (preferably the latter). You might hear the whirr of an air-conditioner, the
song of a bird or rustling leaves. Or you may simply experience silence.

Step 3
Keeping your eyes closed, become aware of everything you’re touching, from your head to your
toes: the glasses on your nose, the clothes against your skin, the chair under your thighs and the
shoes around your feet. Continue to scan your body and notice everything with which you are in
physical contact.

Step 4
Become aware of your breathing. Feel the breath entering your nose or mouth, filling your lungs
and expanding your chest. Observe the corresponding movement of your abdomen. Notice the
momentary pause between inhaling and exhaling. Feel your body relax as you exhale and
prolong your exhalation as much as you can. Continue to follow the movement of air as you take
deep, slow, conscious breaths.
If you have trouble falling asleep, any one of these four meditative exercises is an excellent
way of stilling your mind and inducing sleep.
Conversely, if you feel physically or mentally tired, meditation will have the opposite effect.
You will feel refreshed and energised and ready to resume the task at hand. Meditation brings
you whatever you need in any given moment.

Step 5
I encourage you to learn formal meditation. There are many different schools of meditation but
they all have the same aim: to give you the experience of mental stillness. When I learnt to
meditate I based my choice on the classes that were geographically closest and held at the most
convenient times. In many cases, weekly classes are free of charge. You may want to leave a
donation or you might be asked to pay a small fee to help with the running of the premises.
Some centres offer half- or full-day meditation courses after which you simply do it on your
own at home. As with most things, meditation becomes easier with practice. Meditating first
thing in the morning is a beautiful way to start the day. You can build momentum from just one
minute a day. When you make a commitment to one minute of meditation on waking every
morning, it creates the habit of dedicating time to stillness. After a week, it’s only a small step
to increase it to two minutes each morning. Then three minutes and so on until you reach 15 to
30 minutes. Even if you never get past five minutes, you are doing your brain and body a
favour. Yes, this is the same approach I suggested with physical exercise.

Step 6
Spend time in nature every day — whether it’s in a local park, city rooftop garden or your own
backyard. Go camping, beach walking, sailing or trekking. Put a pot plant on your desk, grow
herbs on your balcony or pull weeds from your garden. Stop to look at flowers in the window
of a florist. Choose a room with a view of nature wherever you go.

I think that I shall never see, a poem lovely as a tree.

Alfred Joyce Kilmer

Recommended reading
Louv, Richard, The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with life in a virtual age, Algonquin,
North Carolina, 2012
Michie, David, Hurry Up and Meditate, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2008

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 27 
Laugh it off

Whoever is happy will make others happy too.

Anne Frank

M IS S IO N 2 7
Your Twenty-seventh Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Laugh it off.
Laughter is the Sixth Habit of NeuroSlimming.
Laughter, like meditation, has the opposite effect to stress and sleep deprivation.

Laughter lowers cortisol production, thereby reducing hunger and VAT deposition.
Laughter stimulates endorphin release and induces relaxation. Laughter even lessens pain. When
scientists subject people to painful shocks, participants rate the pain as less intense if they are
made to laugh beforehand. Next time you go to the dentist, laugh while you are waiting.
An hour of continuous laughter burns the same number of calories as an hour on a treadmill!
A hundred outbursts of laughter are equivalent to 10 minutes of rowing or jogging.
You engage 400 of your 600 muscles in a full-on belly laugh.
Laughter increases self-compassion and makes you feel good so you’re more likely to engage in
self-care.
The more you laugh, the lower your risk of a heart attack.
Laughter strengthens the immune system.

A study published in the International Journal of Cardiology 2000 assessed 300 subjects on their
propensity to laugh. Taking into account known risk factors for heart disease like family history,
smoking, lack of exercise and high blood pressure, the researchers discovered that heart disease
sufferers were significantly less likely to experience laughter in their lives. This was consistent with
an earlier US study in 1997 where 50 heart attack survivors were followed up for one year. They
were all given standard discharge treatment and, in addition, half of them were asked to watch
comedy shows for at least 30 minutes a day. The other half served as a control group and were not
given any instructions relating to laughter. At the end of 12 months, almost half of the patients in the
control group had died while less than a tenth of the patients in the comedy-watching group had died.
Many doctors now recommend watching half an hour of comedy a day as standard treatment for
cardiology patients.
Shakespeare, one of literature’s great psychologists, must have known this when he wrote: ‘And
frame your mind to mirth and merriment, which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.’
The study of laughter and its effects on the body is a science in its own right known as gelotology
(from the Greek gelos meaning ‘laughter’) and the use of laughter in therapy is termed gelototherapy.
In this Mission, I use the phrase Laugh it off in the literal sense as well as to denote feeling the full
spectrum of positive emotions.
At the University of California, students from the drama department were asked to participate in an
experiment examining the effect of emotions on the immune system. The students were instructed to
employ a technique called ‘method acting’ in which the actor evokes the same thoughts and feelings
as the character he or she is portraying. They were then divided into two groups. One group was
given uplifting scripts to rehearse all day and another group was given depressing scripts. When the
actors had blood samples taken, those who had been playing cheerful characters had a competent
immune system. Those who had been practising unhappy roles showed a drop in the number and
quality of their immune cells. Your emotions affect the functioning of your immune system.
In Mission 15: Feeling not fleeing, negative emotions were compared to speed humps. I suggested
that when you feel anger, sadness, fear or other unwanted emotions, you turn your awareness inward
and allow yourself to feel the emotion in your body so that you can release it. I focused on the
importance of feeling negative emotions because these are the emotions people are most reluctant to
feel. However, sometimes people can be equally dismissive of positive emotions. What possible
reasons could you have for not welcoming positive feelings?
Sometimes negativity becomes a habit and we don’t even notice when something is worth celebrating.
Sometimes we’re in such a hurry to get to ‘the next thing’ that we don’t allow ourselves to stop and
take in a joyous moment. As I type this, a personal example comes to mind. Last week I caught up
with a friend I had not seen in over a year. I love her dearly but we rarely see each other because she
lives in London — 10 000 miles away. We spent a wonderful day together and, as soon as she left, I
rushed off to my father’s house because his carer was due to leave and I had to make dinner for him.
With rain, traffic and last minute grocery shopping spinning around in my head, I almost missed out on
really feeling the happiness of reconnecting with my friend. I had to make a conscious effort to hold
on to the joyful feelings rather than hurriedly move to the next task. Don’t let being busy distract you
from noticing the happiness that is already present in your life.
I am reminded of a parable about a Mexican fisherman and an American banker.

An American investment banker was taking a much-needed holiday in a laid-back coastal Mexican village when a small boat
with a lone fisherman docked at the wharf. The boat had several large fresh fish in it.

The investment banker was impressed by the quality of the fish and asked the Mexican how long it had taken to catch them.
The Mexican replied, ‘Not very long.’ The banker then asked, ‘Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?’

The fisherman replied that he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.
The banker then asked, ‘But what do you do with the rest of your time?’

The fisherman replied, ‘I sleep late, fish a little more, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, and stroll to the village in
the evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos: I have a full and happy life, señor.’

The investment banker scoffed, ‘I’m an Ivy League MBA, and I could help you. You could spend more time fishing and with
the proceeds buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats until eventually
you’d have a whole fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to the middleman, you could sell directly to the
processor and in due course open your own cannery. From there you could control the product, processing and distribution.’

Then he added, ‘Of course, you would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City where you
would run your growing enterprise.’

The fisherman asked, ‘But señor, how long will this all take?’

To which the banker replied, ‘Fifteen to 20 years.’

‘And what then?’ asked the fisherman.

The banker laughed and said, ‘That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your
company stock to the public and become very rich. You could make millions.’

‘Millions, señor? Then what?’

To which the American replied, ‘Then you’d retire. You could move to a small coastal fishing village where you’d be able to
sleep late, fish a little, play with your children, take siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evening where you
could sip wine and play guitar with your amigos.’

I confess there have been times when I’ve been so busy trying to achieve something that I’ve forgotten
what I already have.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

Confucius

When something good happens, pause and really feel your happiness. Positive emotions nurture and
strengthen us physically and psychologically. Positive emotions provide a buffer against stress and
improve every aspect of health. Positive emotions change the structure of the brain and increase our
mental capabilities. You are able to think more globally and creatively and are better able to find
solutions to problems. This means that when you are in a positive frame of mind, you’re more likely
to figure out how to fit exercise into your life, and get a good night’s sleep.
A third important use of the phrase Laugh it off is to remind you to maintain a fun approach to being
On Mission. Every Mission is meant to be enjoyable and enlivening, not a hard slog. Don’t take being
On Mission so seriously that you start to feel stressed about it! Feeling stressed about what you will
eat or when you will exercise will undo the benefits of a healthy meal. Yes, there are a lot of
Missions and a lot of steps in each Mission. This means the Missions will provide you with a lot of
fun for a long time. Focus on the joy of being On Mission and the adventure of self-discovery.
Being On Mission is not about taking health to an unhealthy extreme. In 1977 Californian doctor
Steven Bratman coined the term ‘orthorexia nervosa’ for a condition in which people became
obsessed about healthy eating. For people with orthorexia, it isn’t about attaining a particular size or
shape, it’s about measuring everything in terms of its health-promoting potential.
I am not advocating you spend hours analysing food labels or exercising until you’re wiped out. If
you’ve pushed yourself so hard one day that you’re too tired to exercise the next, you have over-
exercised. In the same way that I advocate to eat when you’re hungry, I encourage you to rest when
you’re tired.
As Friedrich Nietzsche affirmed, ‘There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest
philosophy.’ Don’t let the pursuit of health be a cause of ill-health.
 Step 1
Write your answers to the following questions in your Mission Manual:
1. When was the last time you laughed and what did you laugh about?
2. What makes you laugh?
3. What were the messages you received about laughter when you were a child?
4. How often do you laugh? Daily? Weekly? Not enough?
5. If you answered ‘not enough’ to the previous question, what stops you from laughing more
often?
6. How could you increase the laughter in your life?
7. Is there someone in your life with whom you are able to have a good laugh? We are much
more likely to laugh when we’re in company than when we’re alone. Laughter is more
closely linked to relationships than to situations or jokes.

Step 2
Become a humour consumer — watch, read or listen to humour. Give people humorous greeting
cards. Put humorous quotes on your noticeboard or above your desk. Go out to a comedy show,
surround yourself with people who make you laugh or just pause to observe life’s little details
— you’ll find plenty of laughter when you start looking. Every time you brush your teeth, think
of a recent experience that made you laugh.

In all things of nature there is something of the marvellous.

Aristotle

Viktor Frankl wrote how he and another concentration camp inmate promised each other that
they would invent at least one amusing story every day about something that might happen after
their liberation.

Step 3
Take the time to really feel your positive feelings. Pause to take them in fully. Don’t rush from
one thing to the next without savouring a heartwarming experience. Allow yourself to slow
down and take life in more fully.
From time to time, when you experience an uplifting emotion, go through Step 1 in Call to
action in Mission 15 and see where it takes you.

Step 4
Get some sunshine. The Baker Heart Research Institute in Melbourne found that daily exposure
to sunlight improved mood by increasing serotonin production. Eat your lunch in a sunny garden
and you’ll improve your health before you even start on your salad.
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh discovered that even indirect sunlight through a
window was beneficial. Patients who had undergone surgery and were transferred to bright
sunny rooms reported feeling less stress and required less pain medication than patients who
were placed in dim rooms.
The sun is our best source of Vitamin D, and low Vitamin D levels are associated with poorer
cognition and an increased risk of dementia. Vitamin D also helps protect against cancer, heart
disease, bone loss and immunological disorders.
Depending on your skin type (the more naturally dark, the more sun you can safely handle) aim
for 10 to 15 minutes of sunshine a day — in the middle of the day — without sunscreen.
Excessive sun exposure increases the risk of skin cancer.

Step 5
Lighten up about everything! Relax about being On Mission. As the next Freedom indicates, it’s
about Direction not perfection. Remind yourself that being On Mission is about increasing the
fun in your life. It’s OK to eat something purely for the pleasure of it. The proviso is to pause
and really savour it. When you eat, eat and enjoy what you eat. There is no universal ideal
way of healthy eating. In Mission 6: Get real about your meal I discussed the wide variety of
healthy diets adopted by different cultures around the world. Don’t get hung up on one
particular way of eating. Eat in a way that brings you pleasure, fits comfortably into your
lifestyle and does not alienate you from your family. Recall from Mission 17: Clap not slap
that having a positive attitude prolongs life to a greater extent than a healthy lifestyle does. This
is not to say that a diet based on processed food won’t erode your health. But happiness,
gratitude, wonder, joy and feeling connected to others are even more integral to health than
what you eat. Sacrificing your emotional wellbeing for a healthy diet will not be healthy in the
long run.

Recommended reading
Cousins, Norman, Anatomy of an Illness: As perceived by the patient, W W Norton, London,
2005
Fitzgerald, Matt, Diet Cults, Pegasus Books, New York 2014 — I already listed this book in
Mission 6. It is also relevant to this chapter.
Scott, Sophie, Roadtesting Happiness: How to be happier (no matter what), ABC Books,
Sydney, 2010
Tolle, Eckhart, Stillness Speaks, New World Library, 2003
Weiner, Eric, The Geography of Bliss, Twelve Books, New York, 2008

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
  Mission 28 
Turn it off

Education is not the filling of a pail, but rather the

lighting of a fire.
William Butler Yeats

M IS S IO N 2 8
Your Twenty-eighth Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Turn it off.
Knowing when to turn off the TV (and other screens) is the Seventh Habit
of NeuroSlimming.
Turn off the gadgets and turn on the fat burning.
The average Australian and New Zealander spends 12 years of their life watching TV — about three
hours a day — while Americans average five hours a day. Why does this matter?

Watching TV increases body fat regardless of the amount of exercise a person does.
The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle (AusDiab) study found that three hours of TV a
day can double the risk of metabolic syndrome and obesity.
A study published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) 2003 found that
two hours of TV every day increased a woman’s risk of obesity by 23 percent and diabetes by
14 percent.
Worldwide research reveals a direct link between TV viewing in children and levels of body
fat. More TV correlates with more body fat and poorer nutrition. A report by the Australian
Institute of Family Studies showed that the more children watched TV, the less fruit and
vegetables they ate and the more junk food they consumed. Melissa Sweet in her
meticulously researched book The Big Fat Conspiracy observes that heavy marketing of
processed foods makes children think it’s strange to eat a piece of fruit or a vegetable. Many
children don’t even recognise common vegetables because they’ve never seen them in their
natural state. Why would you eat real food when you have the option of a brightly packaged
edible substance that resembles a toy? TV normalises and even glamorises unhealthy eating.
Recall the 2011 study by the University of Queensland that found each hour in front of the TV
takes 22 minutes off our lives.

The purpose of this Mission is not to demonise television. It is to encourage you to make TV viewing
a conscious choice and to alert you to the power of TV in influencing food choices and eating
behaviour. TV offers a wide range of entertaining, informative and educational programs. In the
previous Mission, I wrote that 30 minutes of comedy a day improves survival after a heart attack. On
the other hand, German researchers found that viewing a stressful football match more than doubled
the risk of a heart attack or stroke! During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, on days when the German team
played, men had three times as many cardiac emergencies as on days when the Germans were not
playing. Women also experienced more heart problems but not to the same extent as men.
The message is to savour the things you really want to watch and get your HIIT during the ad breaks!
Above all, never eat in front of the TV. We are not able to simultaneously focus on what we are
eating and what we are watching. When you consume food in front of a screen you miss out on the full
pleasure of what you are eating. Have you ever opened a packet of sweets while watching a show and
suddenly looked down to find the packet empty?
Eating in front of the TV leads to overeating for several reasons.

When you watch TV your attention is on the screen and this blocks internal food cues. Normally
your brain receives feedback from your stomach and bloodstream that you’re full. When you
watch TV you are unaware of satiation cues so you consume more.
The pace and colour of TV makes people eat more: you take more bites per minute!
TV can habituate people to crave a snack as soon as they turn on the set.
Twenty-four studies on distracted eating (for example, eating in front of a screen or while
reading) conducted between 1997 and 2011 showed that people not only ate larger amounts
while watching TV, they were less likely to remember how much they ate, and they consumed 25
percent more food at a later meal! In contrast, asking people to recall what they ate earlier in the
day reduced subsequent food consumption by 10 percent. Paying attention to eating has both
immediate and protracted effects on our food consumption.

How does TV viewing contribute to carrying excess visceral fat?

Watching TV burns fewer calories than sleeping or simply sitting and doing nothing.
Compared with other sedentary activities like reading, playing board games, writing and driving
a car, TV watching brings about the slowest metabolic rate.
TV induces sedentary habits and mindless munching.
You are bombarded with food advertisements — most of them for high-calorie snacks and
confectionary — which can stimulate your appetite even after you’ve just eaten and know that
you’re full. The American Journal of Health Promotion 2008 reported a direct link between
food advertisements and how much a person snacks while watching TV.
TV is full of contradictory messages: how to lose weight one minute followed by how sexy it is
to sip a soft drink the next. Mixed messages contribute to feeling stressed, confused and fatigued.
Junk food ads fuel pester-power. An estimated 75 percent of spontaneous food purchases are the
result of children nagging their parents to buy something they have seen on TV.
At the same time, TV reinforces the notion of an ideal body thus driving an epidemic of self-
dissatisfaction. Ads on TV are designed to create discontent on all levels so that we constantly
feel we need to be more, do more and have more. Ironically, many people use TV to disconnect
from negative feelings. In May 2015, researchers from the University of Texas found that
depression and loneliness can lead to binge-watching TV, which further increases feelings of
isolation and low self-esteem.
What role might TV be playing in sabotaging your slimming success?

Step 1
How much TV do you watch each day or during an average week? Do a TV audit of yourself
and your family. If you watch more than three hours a day, what other things could you do with
this time that allow you to unwind and feel good about yourself? Physical exercise is an
obvious example. Fulfilling some of the other Missions in the Second and Third Freedoms is
another. There are also an infinite number of recreational alternatives for you to explore: a
walk in nature, gardening, table tennis, darts, chess, scrabble, card games, board games,
puzzles, crosswords, sudoku, taking up an art or hobby, reading . . . What would really
exhilarate you?

Step 2
Would it enhance your enjoyment of TV if you intentionally selected a few specific programs
each week? People report that consciously choosing what they watch gives them something to
actively look forward to, rather than arbitrarily channel surfing until they find something
engaging enough to stick with. Having less of something enhances our appreciation of it.

Step 3
Recall Mission 3: When you eat, eat. Never eat or snack in front of the TV.

Step 4
Introduce TV-free evenings and plan to do something especially fun. Aim for less than 90
minutes of recreational screen-time a day — the less the better. Remind yourself and your
family members how many minutes of your life you are trading for each hour of TV (without
nagging them!).

Step 5: Convert sit time into fit time

Get your HIIT during EVERY ad break. This is an excellent use of TV. If you do your exercise
at maximal intensity you will need the show to recover! Make sure you keep moving at low
intensity when your program resumes. If you sit down straight after a vigorous bout of exercise,
your blood pressure can drop too rapidly and you’ll feel light-headed.
Surf the internet for exercises you can do during commercial breaks. You will never run out of
options!
Even if you don’t want to exercise during advertisements, get up and do something else like
water the plants, tidy your bedroom, dust the bookshelves or paint your toenails!

Recommended reading
Sigman, Dr Aric, Remotely Controlled, Random House, London, 2007
Sweet, Melissa, The Big Fat Conspiracy, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007
Winn, Marie, The Plug-In Drug: Television, computers, and family life, Penguin, Melbourne,
2003

As you carry out each Mission, you are changing your brain to heal your
body.
Every time you practise a new thought or behaviour, you build new brain
circuits and weaken old habits. Repetition is the key to rewiring your
brain.
Savour every moment and every mouthful.
 Summary of Fun not force

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is

always beyond our grasp, but which, if you will sit down
quietly, may alight upon you.
Nathaniel Hawthorne

If you:

stand up and stretch

move every day
get a good night’s sleep
let go of stress
become aware of your breath
remember to laugh
and turn off the TV

your body fat will take care of itself and you’ll have vibrant health, lasting vitality and a body you
love.
 Why Direction not perfection?

Many of life’s failures are experienced by people who

did not realise how close they were to success when
they gave up.
Thomas Edison

The Fifth Freedom is Direction not perfection.

Direction not perfection means that great health and happiness are not a distant destination but a
daily choice. Better health is a direction in which everyone can choose to travel; it is not a state of
perfection you will one day reach. Having a body you love is about how you feel, not how you look.
Working towards uplifting goals is what makes people feel good about themselves.
Simply ask yourself the question, ‘What choices can I make today that will move me in the direction
of better health and greater vitality?’ Just focus on what you can do today. This may involve working
on a specific Mission, shopping for food, preparing a meal, going for a walk or diarising future
activities. Each healthful choice empowers you to aim higher and stretch yourself further. The goal is
not to finish each Mission but to stay On Mission and to make it your way of life.

Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.
Buddha

Direction not perfection means you will start improving your health as soon as you embark on
Mission 1: Eat when you’re hungry. Don’t eat when you’re not hungry. Don’t try and tackle all
the Missions at once. When Mission 1 is almost a habit, congratulate yourself on your progress and
take on Mission 2. Practise the Second Mission along with the First Mission. Each Mission you
undertake facilitates your accomplishment of the next Mission. You don’t have to get each Mission
perfectly right before advancing to the next. Practise them as best you can, as often as you can.
Success is not a linear path. There will always be days when things won’t go to plan. Direction not
perfection allows you to have ‘bad’ days without feeling that you’ve failed. There is no such thing as
failure, there is only feedback. Direction not perfection means that even if you find yourself Off
Mission, you can get back On Mission any time you want and continue where you left off. The longer
you stay On Mission, the easier you will find it. The more times you get back On Mission, the longer
you will stay On Mission — until one day you realise you are never not On Mission.
Imagine you’re driving off road through uncharted terrain. You know your destination but you haven’t
been there before. There is no thoroughfare, no signage and no familiar track to follow. You are
creating the route as you drive — over rough, rocky ground and through thick scrub. The going is
tough and you don’t know how long it will take to get there. Sometimes you’re afraid your vehicle
will get bogged and you won’t make it through. You’re tempted to go back and follow the smoothly
paved road you’ve driven down many times before — it’s safe and easy and predictable — but it
won’t get you where you want to go. So despite your discomfort and uncertainty, you keep going.
Eventually the forest starts to thin and you arrive at your destination.
The next time you drive down the new route it’s a little easier — maybe. When you drove through the
first time, you cleared some of the foliage and made the ground a little smoother but it’s still hard
going compared with the old familiar road. Again you persevere until you arrive. Was it a little faster
the second time? You’re not certain. You repeat the journey down the new road several times.
Sometimes you hardly notice the improvement, but each time you drive down the new route it
definitely gets smoother and easier.
If you stop driving down the new route it gets overgrown again. You’re frustrated because it feels as
though your earlier efforts were wasted and the gains you made were lost. But your efforts were not
wasted. It doesn’t take nearly as long to clear the track again. It’s never as tough as it was the first
few times.
The more frequently you take the new route, the quicker and easier it becomes until one day you no
longer think about it. It has become your habitual route. The new road you’ve created is now the
smooth, comfortable, easy one. Meanwhile, the old, once familiar road has become rough, overgrown
and hardly visible through lack of use. That’s when you know you’ll never go down the old road
again.
This is how you create and consolidate a new neural pathway. This is the process of rewiring your
brain. It simply takes repeated practice.
When you take on one of the Missions for the first time, it can be tough going. It isn’t your usual way
of thinking or behaving and it feels difficult and uncomfortable. The first time you do anything new,
the electrical signal transmitted down the axon is weak. The first time you think in a new way or
operate through a new paradigm, the neurons responsible for the thought are under-developed. But
they quickly grow and sprout new branches to enable your new way of operating to be smooth and
efficient — as long as you continue to practise the new way. Then one day, the neuronal pathway is
established and you no longer need to practise — it is simply who you are.
Direction not perfection reminds you of the joy and value of striving and moving towards self-
mastery, not simply attaining an end result. The process of getting somewhere is itself a source of
excitement, growth, learning and discovery.
Every step towards your goal is an arrival in itself. Every step brings you to a desirable destination
because you’re closer to where you want to be and further from where you don’t want to be.
If you have a particular food addiction and your goal is to be free of your addiction, every time you
pause or interrupt the compulsive eating you are loosening the hold that your addiction has over you.
Every time you feel less compelled to eat a particular food or you stop eating sooner than you
anticipated, you are a step closer to where you want to be. Feeling positive about where you are in
your journey further consolidates the changes you are making. Having a celebratory attitude to your
progress expedites your progress.
If your goal is to exercise for 30 minutes a day, take pleasure in every small incremental addition to
the number of minutes that you exercise and the number of days that you do it. In time, your exercise
routine will be second nature and you’ll wonder why you ever found it difficult.
In our rush to arrive at an end, we are often blind to the fact that we are no longer at the beginning.
Every step you take is a victory, a chance for celebration and a small goal that is necessary to achieve
the larger goal.
Anything that is worthwhile takes time. Have you ever studied for a degree or diploma? Learnt to
drive a car? Tried to play a musical instrument? Learnt to walk? Were you an overnight success in
learning to walk? There are no overnight successes. Even apparent overnight successes took years of
effort, practice and persistence.
All the Freedoms and Missions guide you to a compassionate and nurturing relationship with
yourself. Self-compassion and its corollary, self-acceptance, also reshape the brain. Self-compassion
is strongly linked to health, vitality and healing, and facilitates your achievement of every Mission.
Every Mission you embark on turns up the volume on the loving, empowering, motivating voice in
your head and silences the inner critic that tries to tell you why you won’t succeed or why you aren’t
deserving. I encourage you to read and reread this book. Every time you read through the Missions
you’ll internalise them more deeply and integrate them into every aspect of your life.
The Freedoms provide guidelines for living in accordance with a new uplifting paradigm.
Living not dieting shows you how to eat.
Being You, not new shows you how to think.
Love not war shows you how to feel.
Fun not force shows you how to live.
Direction not perfection shows you how to keep going.
Direction not perfection encourages you to embrace Fun not force, Love not war, Being You, not
new and Living not dieting.
 Step 1: Make a start
You will never cross the ocean until you have courage to lose sight of the
shore.
Christopher Columbus.

Choose one Mission and follow the Call to action. Focus on one step at a time. You don’t need
to see the entire path, just the very next step in front of you. Trying to map out the entire path at
once can feel overwhelming.

Step 2: Keep going

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Take one small step at a time to develop the habit of consistent action. Taking consistent
action rewires your brain. It is better to do one small thing every day than to dedicate an entire
day each week to knocking off 10 Missions. The small steps create habits that change the way
you see yourself. When you change your self-image you change your life.
  The Ultimate Mission 
Choice not chance

Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the

great things while they are small. A journey of a
thousand miles must begin with a single step.
Lao Tzu

U LT IM AT E M IS S IO N
Your Ultimate Mission, should you choose to accept it, is:
Choice not chance.
Choice is the Ultimate Power of NeuroSlimming.
Your Ultimate Mission is to discover the Power of Choice.
Recognising that you have the power to choose your thoughts and actions every moment of the day is
the Ultimate Power of NeuroSlimming.
We are not passive victims of our genes. We succeed by Choice not chance. Every day we shape our
lives and our bodies by the ongoing choices that we make. There is no key to happiness; the door is
always open.
We are undoubtedly products of our past; but we are not victims of our past. What we do with our
past is a choice — and one of our greatest sources of power. Your past has not only contributed to
your fears and hang-ups but also to your strengths and charms. The things that people love about you
are just as much a product of your past as the things you don’t love about yourself. No one is perfect.
If you were flawless, you wouldn’t be able to relate to anyone else. It’s our struggles that enable us to
connect with others more deeply.
What do you like about yourself? You are a package — a unique blend of attributes and attitudes that
sometimes serve you and at other times hinder you. Most people are quick to blame their past for the
things they don’t like about themselves, but what about acknowledging your past for the strengths it
has given you? Your past can work for you as much as it can work against you. The difference lies in
your choices. Do you want to be the product of your excuses or your aspirations? Take a minute
to reflect on your strengths and positive attributes. How have past experiences contributed to the
things you value about yourself?
The choices we make throughout our lives influence our brains and our genetic expression. Our
decisions are more powerful than our DNA.
If we choose not to look after our health:

We diminish ourselves in all areas of our lives.

We teach our children not to value their health.
We hold back from giving the people around us the best of ourselves.
We will need our children (or someone else) to look after us when we get sick.
We miss out on living life to the full.

When we choose to be in the best health:

We are choosing to thrive rather than survive.

We give other people permission to do the same.
We discover that life is better than we ever imagined it could be.
We uncover a world of possibilities that were not previously available to us.
We inspire and uplift those around us.
We are able to give more, feel more and experience more in every area of our lives.

It’s your choice — your daily choice. It’s the small everyday choices we make that add up over time
and make the biggest difference. Making simple, positive, conscious, consistent, health-promoting
choices, one day at a time, will turn your life around more dramatically than a month at the best health
retreat. In isolation, does a single choice matter that much? Probably not. But a lifetime of healthful
choices matters a lot.
The secret of success is to start from scratch and to keep on scratching. Every day is an opportunity to
make healthy choices that express your values and affirm who you want to be.
Choose to measure your progress and your success differently from the rest of the world. Instead of
focusing on end results, focus on the process of getting there; on the thoughts and actions that enrich
your life along the way. Each positive thought and each healthful action is a useful end in itself, even
if you are not able to measure immediate results. You are changing your body by changing your brain
even when external change is not visible. Enjoy the process of making empowering choices.
Nothing and no one is stopping you, except you — your doubts about yourself. All you need to do is
take one step at a time. One Mission at a time. One meal at a time. One day at a time. The strength and
vitality you will gain from being On Mission will keep you going.

Choose to feed your spirit, not starve your body

What is Mission SlimPossible really about for you? It isn’t ultimately about your body. It isn’t even
about your health. It’s bigger than that. It’s about living life to the full. Giving everything your best
shot. Living every moment and uncovering your true potential. What might that look like? When was
the last time you dared to really dream?
Trusting yourself about your food choices is symbolic of trusting your inner guidance in all areas of
your life. You are your own expert. You have a ship’s crew working 24 hours a day to ensure your
optimal physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing.
If you have suppressed your needs and desires for a long time, maybe your first step is to ask
yourself, ‘What will feed my spirit?’ You are the only one guaranteed to be with you till the end of
your life. Mission SlimPossible gives you the opportunity to express your uniqueness and become all
you can be.
Living by other people’s rules and expectations makes life exhausting and unfulfilling. Not being you
is draining and tiring. Being You is energising and enlivening. There is no one you ‘should’ be. You
are already you. You are here to be you, to express yourself fully and to give you to the world. No
more and no less.
Feeding your spirit is part of your legacy because who you are in any given moment is influencing
your children, your family and everyone around you.

If parents pass enthusiasm along to their children, they will leave them an estate
of incalculable value.
Thomas Edison

Mission SlimPossible makes anything possible. The Missions can be applied to any goal and any
area of your life. The Missions represent universal principles that enable you to be your best in any
situation, under any circumstance. Who you want to be in any given moment is always your choice.
Which brings us to the Winning Formula underpinning NeuroSlimming.
 What did Einstein know about slimming?

It’s never too late to be the person you might have been.
George Eliot

In 1905 Einstein published his Special Theory of Relativity and discovered the most famous equation
of all time: E = mc2

E = energy
m = mass
c = speed of light
2 = squared
This equation demonstrates that energy can be changed into mass and mass can be changed into
energy.
In 2015 Helena published her Special Theory of NeuroSlimming and discovered the most famous
slimming equation of all time: HE = mc2

HE = Healthy Eating
m = mindful
c = choices
2 = squared (made over and over again)
This equation demonstrates that eating can become an act of mindfulness, and mindfulness can
produce healthy eating.
Apply the formula for Healthy Eating to everything you do.

Healthy eating = mindful choices over and over again.

Let your life flourish through your ongoing mindful choices.

Choose to trust yourself.

Choose what really matters to you.
Choose your perspective.
Choose to live every day.
Choose to stay On Mission.

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down,
and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by
acting.
Henry David Thoreau
 What’s the difference between Calories,
calories and kilojoules?
Calories, calories and kilojoules are all metric units of energy.
1 Calorie = 1000 calories = 4.2 kilojoules
Calorie with a capital C (symbol Cal) is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one
kilogram of water by one degree Celsius at a pressure of one atmosphere. The word comes from the
Latin calor meaning ‘heat’ and was first defined by Nicolas Clément in 1824. Calorie with a capital
C is also known by many other names: big calorie, large calorie, kilogram calorie, dietary calorie,
nutritional calorie and food calorie!
The Calorie is commonly used to designate the nutritional energy of food or the amount of energy we
use when we move. For instance, there are about 100 Calories in a medium-sized banana and 80
Calories in a large egg. Energy expenditure during exercise depends on many variables, including the
type, intensity and duration of the activity, how much you weigh and your ratio of muscle to fat.
Calorie with a lower case c (symbol cal) is one-thousandth of a Calorie. It is the amount of energy
required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. The term came into use
in 1929 and also goes by a few other names: small calorie and gram calorie. The small calorie is
usually used in chemistry.
The big and small calorie have officially been superseded by the kilojoule and the joule in the
International System of Units (SI) but both Calories and kilojoules are often used in food labels. One
Calorie is approximately 4.2 kilojoules.
 The Missions

Yes ✓

Mission 1: Eat when you’re hungry. Don’t eat when you’re not hungry.
☐
Mission 2: Eat what you like. Don’t eat what you don’t like.
☐
Mission 3: When you eat, eat
☐
Mission 4: Enjoy what you eat. Don’t eat if you’re not enjoying it.
☐
Mission 5: Stop eating when you’re satisfied. Don’t wait until you’re full.
☐
Mission 6: Get real about your meal
☐
Mission 7: Think before you drink
☐

Mission 8: Values not virtues

☐
Mission 9: Clarity not confusion
☐
Mission 10: Want-power not willpower
☐
Mission 11: Results not regrets
☐
Mission 12: Imagination sparks creation
☐
Mission 13: Commitment creates capacity
☐
Mission 14: Can-do not candy
☐
Mission 15: Feeling not fleeing
☐
Mission 16: Gratitude is the best attitude
☐
Mission 17: Clap not slap
☐
Mission 18: Forgive to live
☐
Mission 19: Trick or treat?
☐
Mission 20: Feedback not failure
☐
Mission 21: Connection not isolation
☐

Mission 22: Stand it off

☐
Mission 23: Move it off
☐
Mission 24: Sleep it off
☐
Mission 25: Shrug it off
☐
Mission 26: Breathe it off
☐
Mission 27: Laugh it off
☐
Mission 28: Turn it off
☐
The Ultimate Mission: Choice not chance
☐
 Acronyms
AN acanthosis nigricans

ANS autonomic nervous system

AT adipose tissue OR activity tracker

BAT brown adipose tissue

BDNF brain-derived neurotrophic factor

BIA bioelectrical impedance analysis

BMD bone mineral density

BMI body mass index

BMR basal metabolic rate

BPA bisphenol A

BVI body volume index

CRP C-reactive protein

CT computerised tomography

DEXA/DXA dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry

DHEA dehydro-epiandrosterone

DNA deoxyribonucleic acid

DSM-BIA direct segmental multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis

DVT deep vein thrombosis

EEG electroencephalography

EPOC excess post-exercise oxygen consumption

fMRI functional magnetic resonance imaging

GI glycaemic index

GLP-1 glucagon-like peptide 1

GM genetically modified

HC hip circumference

HIIT high intensity interval training

HIITS high intensity interval training session

IGF-1 insulin-like growth factor

 MRI magnetic resonance imaging

NDD nature deficit disorder

NK natural killer

OA Overeaters Anonymous

PNS parasympathetic nervous system

PTSD post-traumatic stress disorder

PYY pancreatic peptide YY

RS resistant starch

SNS sympathetic nervous system

SVF stromal vascular fraction

SWAT subcutaneous fat

TMS transcranial magnetic stimulation

TOFI Thin on the Outside but Fat on the Inside

VAT visceral adipose tissue

WAT white adipose tissue

WC waist circumference

WHR waist-to-hip ratio

 Winning at Slimming
Winning at Slimming is the name of Dr Helena Popovic’s company and website:
www.winningatslimming.com.
Here you can find further resources relating to NeuroSlimming.
The Winning at Slimming website also lists dates and locations for her upcoming seminars and
retreats.
Winning at Slimming means winning back control of your life, your body and your happiness.
Winning at Slimming means freedom with food and peace with your body.
If you would like to book Helena to speak at your conference or event, please contact her through the
Winning at Slimming website: www.winningatslimming.com/contact-us/.
 References
In NeuroSlimming, I refer to a great many research papers and studies. Rather than list them all in
the back of this book, you can find them at www.winningatslimming.com/references.
 Invitation to readers
Do you have a story about your own journey to better health, vitality and a body you love?
If you’d like to share your experience of being On Mission or send the author a message, please visit
www.winningatslimming.com and go to the Contact page.
Health is not only a personal issue. When we’re in optimal health we have the energy and motivation
to extend beyond our own needs to the needs of others. We inspire others to look after themselves and
we teach our children how to look after themselves.
The science and the stories in this book show what is possible for you. In turn, your stories will show
others what is possible for them.
 VIKING

UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia

India | New Zealand | South Africa | China
Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies
whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

First published by Dr Helena Popovic and Choose Health, 2015

This edition published by Penguin Australia Pty Ltd, 2017
Text copyright © Dr Helena Popovic and Choose Health 2017
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or
introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Liability Disclaimer
The material contained in this book is general in nature and does not represent medical advice. The author disclaims all responsibility and
liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly, from any person taking or not taking action based upon the information in this
publication.
Cover design © DiZign Pty Ltd
Edited by Rosemary Peers
Cover photograph by Stephen Morris/iStock
penguin.com.au
ISBN: 9781743771891
THE BEGINNING

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