Self-discipline it is not 22 shop for green tea instead of coffee? In fact, so often, when it comes to weight loss, the effort is that of putting a shopping list together and going shopping. As we go through the ideas I outline in this book I want you to forget about self-discipline and, instead, think about how you install a series of strategic structures in your life on which to build your habits. Trigger control strategies Controlling the things in our environment that trigger us to eat is a key part of the psychology of losing weight. Unlike the construction of strategic structures, this is not about forming habits as much as it is about recognizing that the human mind is easily tempted. Rather than trying to resist temptation, we are better off simply organizing our environment so that temptations are kept to a minimum – there will always be a few. It is not a sign of weakness that we give in to temptation – I believe it is normal human behavior to do so.( Remember our heroin addict?) For example, one trigger control strategy in my life is that I simply refuse to go to restaurants that only have buffets. Surprisingly, I find this dogmatic stance rarely causes a problem. Maybe, deep down, other people intrinsically know the dangers of these dens of iniquity and vice – well, dens of temptation at the very least. If a restaurant has a buffet and an a la carte menu, I will happily pay the extra money as I know myself only too well. Like all good rules, they are meant to be broken from time to time – we just need to break them on purpose and have some reason to do so. Of course the astute reader will have realized that what I’ m talking about here goes far beyond how we eat. These principles can be applied to many aspects of day-to-day life. In fact, you’ ll find that many of the strategies to deal with over-eating discussed in this book can be applied to many other challenging areas of our lives. The reality is, given that food is the most addictive substance on Earth, the skills we develop to control over-eating will be amongst the most powerful skills we have to overcome a wide range of bad habits.