ix Introduction There is no sincerer love than the love of food. George Bernard Shaw Question: Why is it that over 80 % of people who lose weight eventually regain what they lose and often more? Answer: Because dieting is not about what we eat, it is about why we eat! Diets typically fail to recognize that food is the world’ s most addictive substance! Craving for food is much more powerful than craving for nicotine, alcohol and other substances. George Bernard Shaw put it somewhat differently: Statistics show that of those who contract the habit of eating, very few survive. But unlike every other addictive substance food is critically different in one way – it is a human need. We must have it to survive. Alcohol, nicotine and other substances of addiction can be hard enough to give up or manage – and they are nowhere near as important to us as food is! Is it really any wonder that dieting has such a high failure rate? As smokers in the western world have given up over the last couple of decades, overeating has really taken off! When we accept that food is a highly addictive substance and start to tackle it from this perspective, we begin to take control of it. Ignore its habit-forming potential and we are powerless to control it. Very few weight-loss programs fully appreciate the addictive quality of food and even fewer deal with it – primarily because they simply don’ t know how to. Very few diet program planners are qualified in both human psychology and human physiology. It is deadly simple and much easier to tell people what they should eat with the latest and greatest diet.