When you want to lose weight, you have to cut out some of your favourite unhealthy treats. The desire to eat these tasty foods often stems from an underlying desire for something else. According to David Bedrick, writing for Psychology Today, identifying the desire can make dieting a heck of a lot easier.
Photo by Alan Bailey (Shutterstock)
To illustrate, Bedrick gives an example of a man who had a bad habit of eating ice cream each night before bed:
I say, “Tell me about eating chocolate chip ice cream.” He replies, “It’s the end of the day; my chores and work are over and I just want to sit back before bed. That’s when it hits.” I suggest, “Imagine your day is done and you have a spoonful in your hand. Taste it.” He replies, “Mmm, it is good. The whole day feels good somehow.” I say, “The whole day feels good?” He replies, “Yes, even God rested after the 6th day and looked upon his work and blessed it.”
He wanted a time of reflection, acknowledgment and affirmation of his day. It was more than just a sweet reward; he was hungry for feeling good about how he spent his time and what he had accomplished. As he made time with his spouse to do this, not only did the “hunger” for ice cream diminish but a truer and deeper appreciation for his work and his contribution to his family grew.
Bedrick argues you’ll fail if you just try to cut out certain parts of the foods you like (such as the bun from a hamburger) because you become accustomed to getting what you like. If you can attribute the feeling the food gives you to something else, however, that underlying desire will no longer cause you to cheat on your diet.
Want to Lose Weight? Find Out What You Are Really Hungry For [Psychology Today]
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2 responses to “How To Hack Your Mind Our Of Craving Junk Food”
Catalyst this week did an excellent story on Sugar. The gist of which was that sugar is in bloody near everything. A couple of decades ago the big food manufacturers and fast food jumped on the “Cut out fat” bandwagon and because food tastes like crap without fat they started adding sugar instead. Now we all crave food because it has a lot sugar in it and the wold population has become obese because of it. Do yourself a favour and check the sugar content on your food labels, you’ll be very surprised! Items that were high in fat are now high in sugar, even those things you wouldn’t think would have it in there…! 🙂
So true. I started counting sugar when I began logging my food intake, and was absolutely amazed to see how much of it there was in things you just wouldn’t expect. I mean, half a jar of Dolmio pasta sauce has nearly as much sugar as a Snickers bar! These days I make most things from scratch (including bread) so I’ve got better control over what’s going into my body.