Day 5 of No Sugar!!At this stage of the game you might really be having a lot of cravings for sweet treats.
This is your primitive brain acting like a toddler having a temper tantrum in the candy isle at Target!
Using the power of your Pre-Frontal Cortex (kind of like the calm, and in control parent of the screaming toddler) you kindly tell yourself that you can have the sweet treat another time. But, not today. Reassure your primitive brain that everything is going to be ok and it is time to leave Target now.
One of the things I help people that I work with 1:1 is the love affair they have with certain foods. I had to do this work on myself with Cupcakes, Ice Cream, Chocolate, and POPCORN!!
For most people its chocolate. People tell me that they love chocolate, or that they can’t live with out it, or having it at the end of the day is the best part of their day.
I ask them why? Why do you really love it? I have one rule when answering questions…they can’t say “I don’t know”.
Take a moment and write down why you think you love _____ (fill in the blank). What is so amazing about it? Why do you look forward to it? Can you remember when you first had it? Is there a special memory associated with it? Now, I want you to think about it’s negative side effects of you eating it (and possibly overeating it!). How do you feel after eating it? Does it make you crave or want more? Do you gain weight? Try and really be honest with yourself and the negative consequences of it. Finally, what do you think it would be like if you never had it again? How would that make you feel? What would be the upside of not having it again?
Now, I’m not saying I make people give up foods they love forever and ever. There is room in our life for exceptions.
The goal of doing this work on day 5 is to really look at your thoughts about certain foods. The way we think will determine what type of action we will take. If you think “I love chocolate” you might feel desire. When we feel desire, we are driven to answer that desire by eating the chocolate. This is called the Think-Feel-Act cycle. We think something that causes us to feel something which makes us do something.
Go grab a notebook and a pen and do some writing. See if you can answer all those questions I posted. If you have questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you. Please send me a message or email! val@hemscoach.comxo. Valerie