False-Hope Syndrome

False-Hope Syndrome is when people tend to set unrealistic goals. Setting ambitious goals make people feel good. Their self-image improves, and they feel optimistic and in control. They set goals like, "I will lose 20v pounds before summer." But what happens as times goes by and goals have not been met?

Most people give up then, They think their goal is unreachable, they feel disappointed and bad about themselves. This leads to the planning fallacy, were people consistently underestimate the time, energy and other resources required to complete a given task.

It is my belief that goals can be met...if set properly. To lose 20 pound in one month is close to impossible. But stating smaller increments like five pounds in a month is more realistic. Or they want to totally eat 100% clean after just learning the concept, coming from a highly processed diet.

My advice would be to make gradual changes. Eliminate some, but maybe not all of the processed foods at first. Take out the worse culprits first, like 100-calories packs, potato chips, white rice and pasta, and bread products containing HFCS. Switch it with brown rice, whole wheat pasta and Ezekiel bread. You may not even know the difference. And make your own 100-calorie packs with fresh fruit, veggies and hummus for dip, raisins and raw nuts, nonfat plain yogurt.