News and Events

  • Award Winners!

    The University of Hertfordshire and Heales Medical Ltd have won an award for their partnership, which led to the development of the No Diet Diet way site. Heales originally teamed up with Profs Fletcher and Pine under a 'Knowledge Transfer Programme' (KTP). This programme is part of the Government’s commitment to transfer knowledge of science and innovation from academic institutions to businesses. Research by Profs Fletcher and Pine, with Dr Leanne Andrews, has helped Heales develop a powerful stress assessment tool for occupational health, as well as the Do Something Different on-line programme. On March 5th 2008 the team was awarded Best Partnership in the South East of England, 2008.

    Pictured receiving the award from David Way of the Technology Strategy Board are (L to R): Professor Ben (C) Fletcher (UH), Dr Phil Fiddaman (KT Team, UH), Professor Karen Pine (UH), Eamonn Swanton (MD, Heales Medical Ltd) and Professor Tim Wilson (Vice-Chancellor, UH).

  • The Independent newspaper serialises The No Diet Diet,"The easiest way to make 2008 the best year of your life".

    From Saturday 5th January 2008 the Indepent newspaper features The No Diet Diet, "The easiest way to make 2008 the best year of your life". The newspaper is running a New You special for January. There'll be a free booklet with the Independent daily for 6 days, each covering a section of The No Diet Diet, plus health tips and a free wallplanner.

  • Research

    Professor Karen Pine would like to thank all who took part in the recent survey into women's emotional relationship with money. A special thanks to those who took the time and trouble to relate their personal stories, the information will be invaluable in helping us understand further this intriguing topic. The survey analysis is underway and the findings will be reported later this year. As a follow-up, Prof Pine and her team are exploring the relationship between people's attitudes to food and money and a new survey is underway. It is short, easy to fill in and anonymous so if you would like to participate please Click Here to take survey

  • Health for a Better Life

    Professor Karen Pine is quoted in The Times On-Line, describing how The No Diet Diet is about so much more than just weight loss. As many No Diet Dieters know, it also has "positive ramifications for your relationships, your career and your entire attitude to life". Read more by clicking this link >>

  • Careers that Cut Calories: Cosmopolitan

    The August 2007 edition of Cosmopolitan magazine features careers that can help you lose weight. Professor Karen Pine discusses the habits of three women working as a nurse, a film runner and a kennel maid. Ultimately though, it's not the job you're in that determines your weight, but how flexible you are. And, of course, the extent to which you remember to keep Doing Something Different.

  • Professor Pine awarded a Professorship

    The University of Hertfordshire awarded Dr. Karen Pine a Professorship in recognition of her research career, her international standing and achievements (she promises she won't let it go to her head though!).

  • AS FEATURED IN THE DAILY TELEGRAPH Look Your Best Summer 2007

    From May 28th to June 1st the Daily Telegraph tasked their Team Telegraph to make this Your Best Summer Ever. Along with fitness, fashion and beauty advice was the headline "Escape from your web of bad habits" followed by lengthy excerpts from the No Diet Diet and an offer to buy the revised edition.

  • NO DIET DIET FEATURED ON RADIO 2's CHRIS EVANS SHOW 29th MAY 2007

    When discussing the new edition of The No Diet Diet with Ben, Chris said, "You say lots of good things. I'm very much FOR your book". He also mentioned that he's a member of the Slow Food Movement (www.slowfood.com) an organisation that promotes dining as a source of pleasure and opposes fast food. We're with you on that, Chris.

  • The NoDietDiet Book now conquers Estonia!

    • An Estonian publisher is now added to our growing list of publishers worldwide. To date, the No Diet Diet book has now been translated into twenty languages.

  • The Daily Telegraph: Diets make you crave chocolate even more

    • Dieting increases women's cravings for chocolate, according to research that shows that denial makes the desire even stronger.

    Women confronted with images of ''oozing chunks'' of chocolate cake and puddings smothered with chocolate sauce showed much more desire than when they looked at other desirable and attractive objects, including perfume and a Mercedes car.

    However, among women who had dieted in the past or who were on diets, the response was even stronger. Prof. Ben Fletcher and Dr. Karen Pine, of the University of Hertfordshire, say in the journal Appetite that dieting leads women into a vicious circle of negative emotions which provokes cravings for the very foods they are trying to avoid, with chocolate one of the most powerful.

    “It is an ideal target food for research since it is often the subject of a love-hate relationship,” Dr Pine said. “While it is loved for its pleasurable taste, scent and texture, it is often disliked for is perceived high calorific value and sugar content. As a result, some make conscious effort to restrict their consumption of it.”

    In the research 85 women were shown enticing images of chocolate products and non-food items. Two thirds were dieting or had been on diets, and 15 per cent had been on seven or more diets.

    They filled in ''attitudes to chocolate'' questionnaires which showed that dieters had more guilty feelings about – and more craving for – chocolate than non-dieters.

    Dr Pine said: “The Chocolate images evoked very strong feelings in the women who had dieted. If we constantly deprive the brain of the food we most desire we crave it even more.” by Celia Hall - Medical Editor

  • Daily Mail: Dieting can make you crazy for chocolate

    • Anyone who has kept up a strict New Year resolution diet will be feeling pretty smug by now.

    But high-calorie disaster could be only hours away.

    Experts have discovered that dieting actually increases women's cravings for forbidden foods such as chocolate.

    So the temptation to dip into a Valentine's box of chocolates could easily be overwhelming today – and the momentary lapse could result in a guilt ridden feast.

    The love-hate relationship many women have with chocolate is laid bare in research from Professor Ben Fletcher and Dr Karen Pine at the University of Hertfordshire's school of psychology. Their study suggests that dieting leads women into a vicious cycle of negative emotions which provokes cravings for forbidden foods.

    Top of the list is chocolate, says Dr Pine. In an experiment, she and her colleague showed 85 women a series of images of chocolate and non-food products.

    Two-thirds of the women were dieting or had dieted in the past, including 15 per cent who had been on seven or more diets.

    The researchers then asked them to complete an Attitude to chocolate questionnaire. The results revealed that dieters had greater feelings of guilt about chocolate than non-dieters, supporting the idea that they had stronger cravings.

    Professor Fletcher said the findings increase evidence that dieting can rebound on those trying to cut back on 'sinful' foods.

    He said: “In this study, we assessed cravings and guilt and found that it was the combined scores that differed between the dieters and non-dieters in the two conditions, suggesting that negative effect and craving are closely linked.

    “Dieting then appears to make a difference to how people perceive food, in this particular instance, chocolate. Instead of helping people to eat more healthily and to cut down on products which are bad for their health, the negative effect induced by dieting appears to have the opposite effect in that it can increase the desire for the actual foods they are trying to avoid.”

    Dr Pine said chocolate was an ideal food for use in such research.

    She explained: “While it is loved for its pleasurable taste, scent and texture, it is often disliked by some for its perceived high calorific and sugar content and, as a result, some people make a conscious effort to restrict their consumption of it.” The results will be published in the journal Appetite next month. February 14,2007 by Jenny Hope - Medical correspondent

  • Bella Magazine

    • Bella Magazine includes the No Diet Diet in their feature You're Looking Good (August 15th 2006). In their article "Think yourself slim" they say "Believe it or not, you can think yourself thinner - a huge part of the weight-loss process is mind over matter. We asked health and nutrition experts for their tips to help you try it for yourself." And amongst their tips..... "Think about doing something different every day"

  • The No Diet Diet is catching on all over the world!

    The book The No Diet Diet: Do Something Different has just been sold to publishers Modern Press in Romania. This makes Rumanian the 20th language in which The No Diet Diet is published. The others are: Brazilian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Chinese The No Diet Diet - it's a world-wide phenomenon. Why has it caught on in all these countries? Because the ideas behind it are universal and are at the very core of all human behaviour. Doing Something Different can improve people's lives regardless of their colour, race or creed - or the country they live in. Perhaps the world has woken up and noticed that food diets are everywhere - and yet so is obesity. It's surely time to Do Something Different.

  • ALL in the mind

    Radio 4"s Clauia Hammond interviewed Professor Ben (C) Fletcher about the No Diet Diet for 'All In The Mind' on 4th July at 9pm (repeated on 5th July at 4.30pm). The importance of breaking habits and Doing Something Different was discussed as an effective means of losing weight on this popular programme that debates topics in psychiatry and mental health.

    Listen to BBC radio 4 All In The Mind (rpt) now. This program requires Real Player, if you dont have it click here to download. BBC Radio 4
  • SHE magazine

    In June 2006 SHE magazine includes the No Diet Diet in their 7 Top Diets. They say, "Why it works: Change your eating mindset and you'll instinctively choose the right foods and never overeat again."

  • Family Circle magazine

    In April 2006 Family Circle magazine chose the No Diet Diet as their Diet of the Month. They say "Withought counting cals, watching carbs, following a faddy diet or feeling hungry you can naturally slim to your ideal weight and stay that way. You dont have to read a single label."

  • Richard and Judy:

    The Richard and Judy show followed 39 year old mum, Lorna Houldsworth, on the No Diet Diet. Lorna was taking part in Richard and Judy's 'Sort your life out' mini-series and Dr. Karen Pine was brought in as one of the experts. On the March 10th show Lorna told viewers how the NDD had really sorted her life out. She'd lost more than half a stone in just over a month - and she felt happier, healthier and had new energy and zest for life. Lorna can look forward to losing more weight as life gets better and better for her with the No Diet Diet approach.

  • Now Magazine:

    • "Top UK psychologist Professor Ben Fletcher published research into the link between habits and weight in 2004..." . 1 February 2006

  • Manchester Evening News

    • How to develop your diet into a daily routine: It must be every slimmer's dream - a way to lose weight without dieting, with no need for calorie or carb counting or arduous gym regimes. Now, after years of research into the secrets of permanent weight loss, that's exactly what two psychologists reckon they have found.
    10 January 2006

  • The Independent:

    • Want to lose weight? Forget willpower, counting calories, curbing carbs and pumping iron - they almost always fail. But break free from the 'habit web' that makes up your daily life, explains Dr Danny Penman, and you'll be slimmer for ever. 03 January 2006

  • The Telegraph:

    • A new weight-loss approach being pioneered by psychologists sounds too good to be true.. by:Raj Persaud, 17 January 2005

  • The British Psychological Society:

    • Is it possible to lose weight without going on a diet? New psychological research suggests that it is. 17 September 2004

  • The Sun

    • There's no calorie counting and it could even help you quit smoking. Monday, June 30, 2003

  • Professor Ben Fletcher at the Royal Society of Medicine Conference

    • Professor Ben Fletcher is talking about the No Diet Diet to the Royal Society of Medicine conference on 'Obesity: Causes, Consequences and Management' on November 14th 2006 in Manchester. In this lecture, he will show why food diets and exercise regimes are bound to fail in the longer term and explain why the No Diet Diet Way works

  • Foyle's Bookshop:

    • See pictures of Professor Ben (C) Fletcher and Dr. Karen Pine talking about The No Diet Diet on 12 January 2006.

  • Chatshow Network

    • Watch Professor. Ben (C) Fletcher on the Chatshow Network talking about the No Diet Diet.