I am always looking for ways to improve myself in both mind and body. (Especially for the ever-elusive “quick fix”!) During one of my many jaunts along the information highway, I came across this site which lists 8 ways of thinking like a genius. This is all good advice, but what if you want to DIET like a genius? I decided to turn this article in that direction:

1. Look at problems in many different ways, and find new perspectives that no one else has taken (or no one else has publicized!): Just what exactly is your problem? What are the causes of it? Okay, you are not eating right or exercising enough, or both.. that’s a problem. But look at it in a different way…maybe you are planning your weekly meals wrong. Maybe you are spending too much time on the computer.. that’s my problem! HAHAH! Maybe you would look fine if you tried a different style of clothing.. and that monstrous amount of inches you think you need to lose aren’t so monstrous after all. Approach your weight and fitness goals from a completely different angle and see what happens.

2. Visualize! This is so easy! Write down your weigh/measurements as you are now and then next to it write down the stats as you want them to be. Or your clothing size now and the clothing size you want to be. How about this? Buy a nice outfit at the size you want to be and look at it. Hang it on the door or your closet. Look at a picture of yourself when you were in better shape. Compare it to a picture as you are now. Or, incorporate tip #1 into your visualization: Write down a healthy weekly menu and make a shopping list for it, and compare it to your regular shopping. The trick is to get the vague concept of your goals out of your head and actually in front of you where you can SEE it with your eyes.

3. Produce! A distinguishing characteristic of genius is productivity. Do something. Let’s see some results. Good or bad, it doesn’t matter. Did you actually make a meal on your new meal plan? Did you find an activity to do that gets you away from the computer? Yes, no? Did it work? What do you have to SHOW? Did something unexpected happen? All that matters is results. Your observations on what you did, your physical appearance, how you feel, how your clothes fit. These are all the products of your diet genius at work. The more results you can produce, the better! Take any little victory or failure as a result! Quantity matters!

4. Make novel combinations. Combine, and recombine, ideas, images, and thoughts into different combinations no matter how incongruent or unusual. and
5. Form relationships; make connections between dissimilar subjects. This is especially important in dieting. Have you noticed that you can read a bazillion diet books, read the experiences of other dieters in their blogs, but only a portion of what you read “speaks” to you? This is because each dieter not only has their own unique physiology, but also because each dieter has their own unique inner conversation with themselves. Think about all the tidbits and things you’ve learned about diet and exercise. Think of all the things that worked or didn’t work for you. Now think of something else! Something totally unrelated to diet and exercise. Can this something else be applied to your diet and exercise routine? If not, can you make it apply? How? Try something else. Can you make it fit? Here’s an example: Think of two unrelated things that you enjoy: I like science fiction and fishing. How can this be applied to diet and exercise? Well, I could invite my fellow sci-fi buddies over one weekend a month for a “Sci-fi Fish Fry.” It could be a day of fishing, prepare the catch with a healthy recipe as a group and enjoy the meal with them during a viewing of our favorite movie. I would be away from the computer for one of my most computerly-indulgent days (a weekend day) doing something I enjoy with people I enjoy being with… how’s that?

6. Think in opposites. This one is hard for dieters, especially me. There are some established rules for diet and exercise that your brain may have a hard time thinking against. Here’s one: chocolate = bad for you. But wait a minute here. Dark chocolate can be good for you. How can we use this in our diet? Here’s one that I have trouble with: Walking=good for you, but walking=boring. When is walking NOT boring? Well, walking is not boring, when I’m walking TO somewhere. Or shopping in the mall. Would walking in the mall every morning be an exercise I would enjoy? (many malls have mall walking groups!)

7. Think metaphorically. Try to find similar relationships to your feelings or goals related to diet and exercise and express the comparison. For example:
Eating whole grain bread is like a digging a ditch: it’s hard and feels dirty but in the long run, it keeps everything flowing nicely. How is this helpful? It expresses the necessity of doing what I have to do in a different way. By working out that comparison myself, my brain had to look at all the important aspects of eating whole grain bread. It put those things at the front of my mind. Try making a metaphor about something you have to do to reach your goals. You’ll see for yourself how well this works.

8. Prepare yourself for chance. Things happen. Things throw you off track with your diet or exercise routine. We all know this. You can’t control everything in your life that has an effect on you or your diet/exercise strategy. The trick here is not to see this as a failure of your plan or strategy, even if you go off the track. This is just an opportunity to add more data to your plan. What happened? What did you do? How can you fix this? How can you prepare for something similar to happen again? Remember your goal, see where you are now, and use your newfound knowledge to get there! Or perhaps look at this new information on your strategy and see where else it can take you.