A lot of diets cater to how busy you are (such as the Fast Food Diet), whether or not you have allergies (such as gluten-free) or your medical needs (such as diabetes). But have you ever heard of a diet that caters to your personality type? That’s right, it might be your personality that has been causing you to gain weight and not be able to lose it. At least, that’s the theory of the Personality Type Diet that was created by Robert Kushner, MD.
Dr. Kushner is a physician with the prestigious Northwestern University as a Professor of Endocrinology. He has been helping people with fitness and weight management for many years, and found that a truly personalized diet can lead to weight loss. Kushner has said that “You go on a diet, but since restrictive diets are hard to keep up, eventually you go off the diet. With time, your old habits or patterns of behavior that feel familiar and comfortable creep back into your life.”
With that, Kushner’s plan is specific to seven different lifestyle patterns, and published his findings. So how will that all work for you? Let’s take a deeper look into Dr. Kushner’s Personality Diet and see if you can finally find a plan that will meet your needs and allow you to shed that stubborn extra weight.
The Science of the Personality Diet
Now that you know that there’s seven different personality types to follow on the diet, let’s glance at what each one entails. Keep in mind that there is a 50 question quiz to take to find out what types you are. There are eating pattern personalities, as well as exercise and coping.
Eating Patterns
Nighttime Nibbler – 50 percent or more of your daily calories come from after the lunch period, whether it be large dinners or afterward. You also go most of the day without feeling hungry, and tend to feel strong cravings at night. Most people that fall under this category are very busy during the day, and not thinking about food.
Fruitless Feaster – The types of eaters in this category tend to stay away from fruits and vegetables, instead opting for heartier meats and potatoes. A lot of the population falls into this category as not enough people are getting the proper servings of fruits and vegetables.
Convenient Consumer – Convenient consumers absolutely hate the idea of having to cook, instead relying on foods that come either prepared in a wrapper or from a restaurant. This can be dangerous as there is a lot of processed foods involved, and not enough nutritional value to get through the day.
Unguided Grazer – Grazers tend to eat throughout the day, ranging from large meals to small snacks, there usually isn’t an hour or two without eating. These people tend to eat without thinking about it, often eating on the go or while watching TV and working.
Deprived Sneaker – Those that fall into this type of personality will often eat healthy meals on purpose while feeling good about themselves in the process. However, the cravings begin to take hold and they are often sneaking junk food to the point of overindulging. A lot of diets get derailed from this personality type.
Mindless Muncher – The Mindless Muncher is similar to the Unguided Grazer, but there is a little more guidance here as you plan for three meals per day. However, on top of those meals comes a lot of mindless snacking that can lead to too many calories from convenient foods.
Hearty Portioner – The Hearty Portioner tends to be the heaviest of the eating personalities, as they continue to eat despite not feeling hungry, feeling that they can never be satisfied. Even those that are beyond full will tend to eat if they fall under this category, quickly leading to weight gain.
Exercise Patterns
Self-Conscious Hider – If you’re self-conscious, you might find it hard to go to the gym. Feeling that people are staring at you while working out in public can make you shy away.
Inexperienced Novice – There’s no real reason that the Inexperienced Novice never exercised, it just didn’t happen. These people tend to have the easiest time getting into exercise as they don’t have much of the same emotional struggles.
Hate-to-Move Struggler – These people dread the idea of exercise, and it has been this way for their entire lives. Either something happened that made them embarrassed to exercise or they just think that exercise will only produce pain.
Set-Routine Repeater – People that continue to run the same amount of miles in the same amount of time and not see any results are afraid to get out of their routine and challenge themselves, which is why it is hard to lose weight.
Aches-and-Pains Sufferer – This is the type of person that wants exercise, but can’t do it because of health problems. Even when the problems go away, there is the fear that there will be more pain due to exercising.
All-or-Nothing Doer – This personality type covers those that start a workout plan, then stop for weeks on end and then start all over again. The process repeats itself endlessly.
No-Time to Exercise Protester – If you constantly make claims that you’re too busy because of work or school to exercise, then you certainly fall under this category. Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Coping Patterns
Emotional Stuffer – A very common trait, those that use food as a comfort for their emotions fall into this category.
Fast Pacer – You try to get through everything too quickly, including eating and exercising, and it might be affecting your weight. If that’s the case, you’re a Fast Pacer, most likely.
Unrealistic Achiever – People that set their goals extremely high and don’t meet them fast fall under this category. Weight loss tends to be slower than other successes, which is why you can get frustrated.
Persistent Procrastinator – If you put off the gym or diet, then you might fall under this category where you try to keep yourself busy enough to make excuses as to why you haven’t lost weight.
Can’t Say No Pleaser – People who have legitimately put their own health in the way of helping people or raising a family fall under this category. Parents that haven’t shed the extra weight tend to be common here.
Low Self-Esteem Sufferer – People that tend to think about their bodies too much to be seen in public usually fall under this category. It can be bad enough to affect your work and school habits.
Pessimistic Thinker – Pessimistic Thinkers feel that they have tried everything to lose weight and there is no possible way left that they can shed the pounds. It can be an emotional struggle just to last for a few days on a diet.
What to Know About the Personality Diet
While on the Personality Diet, you will be keeping a journal that shows what times you eat, what you eat, where you ate, how you felt and how hungry you were at the time. You will also keep track of your exercise patterns in 10 minute long activities. While the amount you should be eating depends on the types of personality traits that you found out about above, you should be eating grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat/fish/poultry/nuts on a daily basis.
There are specific things that you should be working on for each personality trait, though posting exactly what you need to do would be a lot to take in on just one review. The only resource out there, really, is the book that Dr. Kushner wrote. The book can be bought for about $5 online, and is certainly worth the read.
Summing it Up
A lot of people might not think of the Personality Type Diet because they automatically think that it’s the ESTJ, ISTJ or INTJ types of personalities. The diet itself should have been called something else, in all honesty, so that people would be willing to give it a try. This diet really focuses on your overall health, which can be hard to say about a lot of other diets.
Very rarely can you find a lifelong diet guide that will also focus on your mental health and exercise patterns. After all, most diets promise that you’ll lose a specific amount of weight or pants sizes in a certain amount of time (or your money back!). That’s where Dr. Kushner’s Personality Diet gets high marks, as it really is a plan that is easy to follow.
If you feel completely lost and have been struggling to lose weight or have been putting off exercise, then this is a good way to find out why…and how to change it. You might not see an infomercial about the Personality Diet, but it’s certainly worth a shot.