(PRLEAP.COM) Anti-dieting charity The Weight Foundation has released a free self-test to help dieters analyze their behavior towards food and eating.

The nonprofit researches long-term dieting and develops strategies for lasting and natural weight control.

Detailed interviews with over 500 persistent dieters has allowed the creation of its Hardcore Dieting Index self-diagnostic questionnaire.

The Manchester UK-based organization has developed its own categorization of what it calls Hardcore Dieters – people whose lives are dominated by eating and self-image issues. Its detailed test, which is a product of 4 years of international research, allows long-term dieters to pinpoint their own habits.

“Far too many people suffer miserable lives divorced from a relaxed relationship with food and eating. The key to lasting weight control is not persistent dieting but rather holding food only as a necessary tool of life, not one’s master,” says The Weight Foundation’s founder and secretary Malcolm Evans, 46.

“By making this new self-test freely available to everyone on our website we hope many dieters will take their first permanent steps to shedding both their eating hang-ups and quite a few unwanted pounds.”

The Hardcore Dieting Index self-test can be found at http://www.weightfoundation.com