About Steven Aitchison
Tips for a better life # 6
I am trying to stop eating as much rubbish as I can just now. My downfall is biscuits and cakes. If I see a pack of cookies you can be pretty
sure that with a cup of tea or coffee they will be all gone in a matter of
minutes. I want to stop eating them as much as I know the pounds will
pile on; however is it fair not to have them in the house at all when I have
2 healthy children? No it’s not. So I was looking for another way
of stopping myself eating a packet of biscuits whenever I had a cup of tea
or coffee. I have finally discovered a really simple way of doing it. I
have been using it for the last 7 days and it is working brilliantly, I can’t
believe how easy it is.
Train your brain method
Whenever you reach for that pack of biscuits say out loud ‘I don’t
like biscuits!’, whenever you are offered the food you crave say ‘I
don’t like (the name of the food)’, if you are talking about your
downfall food in conversation tell people you don’t like that particular
food. Don’t tell people you are telling yourself this to stop you
eating as much, just tell them you don’t like it and leave it at that.
I can imagine the conversation between my brain and my conscious:
Brain: “Steve reach for that pack of biscuits I’m dying on a little
biscuit fix.”
Conscience: “I don’t like biscuits!”
Brain: “Yeah right! just put out your hand a slide a few from the packet
and into your mouth.”
Conscience: “I don’t like biscuits!’ A little more forceful
this time.
Brain: “What! You love biscuits, you had twenty just yesterday. What’s
going on?”
Conscience: “I don’t like biscuits!”
Brain: A little confused “Okaaaay, I’ll play your little game.”
2 days later
Brain: “Steve, reach out for that pack….oh, sorry I forgot you
don’t like biscuits. Fancy an apple”
Conscience: “I love apples, take my legs to the fridge.”
What is happening here is that there is, what psychologists call, cognitive
dissonance. You are saying to yourself you don’t like something
but your brain doesn’t believe that just now. After a few days
both brain and conscience work hand in hand as the brain has been told that
many times it believes the conscience and simply accepts the fact that you
don’t like the food.
This is simplifying it a little but you get the picture.
I am thinking of ways of using this method on other areas of my life. Let
me know your thoughts on this.
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Very helpful tip. I agree with you that if we train our brain to avoid those things, we will surely react based on impulse and it will slowly become a belief.
True. We only have to train our brain more often if we want to have an agreement. We know that it’s hard to control some of the things that we want, especially if it’s in our routine.
I used to have a very heavy daily habit of drinking soft drink/soda, particularly Coca Cola. Over the past decade I had many unsuccessful attempts in giving this habit up. My latest attempt has been very successful because I know from past experience that after several days of not drinking Coca Cola, when I gave in and had some I found the taste really horrible. So every time that I feel like a soft drink now, my immeadiate thought is horrible it’s going to taste.
I also set up a method of tracking how many consecutive days I haven’t had any soft drink, and my thoughts get very excited every time I hit another ten days in a row milestone.
As a bonus I have lost some weight after a few months of no soft drinks.
I think the key with training one’s brain is to accept that it may take a number of attempts to find the “best” training exercise for the goal in mind.
Hi Steve, what you say here is so true. For instance, some university students have the idea they can’t write a paper. One of the reasons they might not do well at writing is that they have given their brain a wrong message. It’s amazing what happens when I show students how to turn this around.
Hey Steve,
I’ve just quit smoking, about 2 days or so… although i’m on patches, the psychological connection to craving the cigarette doesn’t go away. I’m going to try your method for the next few days and see how it work
Cheerio
-D
hey steve, I am too in a habbit of snacking and i think train our brain would help to overcome that.
I reckon one of the best things to tell your brain is that ‘you are stronger than whatever it is you are craving’ its a sort of self build up thing – worked for me anyway
helen
The brain is a very powerful thing and obviously controls all we do, it quite simply drives the body. Coming from the world of professional sport i am aware of the importance of a healthy diet. However it is very difficult for some people to break their unhealthy habits The main reason for this is they are operating in the subconscious- doing without thinking-habit. Unconscious competence is quite simply doing something well(negative or positive)with very little conscious thought. For instance driving whilst doing or thinking about something else(talking, listening and noticing) A technique for trying to give up eating chocolate for instance is to make an association with something visually that you find disgusting and would never under any circumstances put in your mouth. We as humans first visualise/make a picture of what we think about before we do something. It occurs at a subconscious level so we are not aware of it. The trick is to bring the visual association to our consciousness. So the next time you imagine eating chocolate think about the disgusting thing in great detail, see it ,smell it and even imagine tasting it time and time again. You will create an association over time where just the thought of chocolate will disgust you and you will have smashed the habit. Rread more on my website more2me.co.uk
Dear Stephen,
I simply love your articles and the suggestions you make for further reading. I get so much junk e-mail that it often requires two to three hours per diem just to go through them, not reading many of them — just skipping over them. Others, I want to read and study, even if time-consuming. Yours is my absolute favourite and I can hardly wait to get to them. This is my reward for going through the rest of the stuff.
Yours gratefully,
Sylvia L. Bosworth
sylviabosworth@yahoo.ca
I am not sure if I agree with the idea to convince myself that I hate something if I love it. I always think a better method is to consciously and constantly remind myself of the reasons WHY I don’t want to consume that particular item. Focus on the positive aspect of NOT eating it and it feels much more simple.
Delicious cookie!… Prefrontal cortex (executive functions in the brain) rings a bell and says “I don’t think so bub, don’t you remember you are trying to get fit like Arnold Schwarzenegger? You don’t think Arnold eats those do you?”
Perhaps that isn’t the best visual, regardless, keeping your goal or objective in mind triggers your rational side of your brain and the visual stimulates the emotional side. Just as effective as convincing yourself you hate something, except this way, you don’t have to fool yourself
Greg recently posted..Releasing Expectations- Redefining Success
3 P’S= (1).PERSONAL, (2).POSITIVE+, (3).PRESENT TENSE.
Your mind doesn’t know how to”(NOT)” CREATE! It only creates. I having been working with a theory that reality is like the internet. & we are anthropomorphic computers of course. Our relationship with reality is all based on data & IN-FORM-ATION. Ive been experimenting with a tool lately to change negative habitual reality. I use the Google Analogy= Google’s job is to process search results,=ANSWERS to QUESTIONS! Our minds seem to function much like this with manifesting our reality. So I try to ASK rather then AFFIRM. (e.g.) Why am I a Success? Why am I so disciplined & focused? etc… This tool seems to realign our minds/brains to it’s intended purpose. To show us answers. Just like Google>
I find this less exhausting then trying to “Trick” myself. This is also why I feel AFFIRMATIONS can do more harm then good sometimes. Affirmations are like Lying/deceiving your all powerful mind/self> I state “I am now extremely wealthy”. But I can barely pay my rent. Your sub/unconscious tells U B.S. etc.. this can lead to a bread trail of depression & dig a deeper hole of frustration etc etc… Blessings to U all courageous enough to take this path of heart that only authentic warriors choose so to do. This spiral has no summit, as I’m sure you know! Over thinking over analyzing separates the body from the mind leaving opportunity left behind> Spiral Out.