Friday, February 13, 2009

Friday the 13th?


Cravings!
What food do you crave the most? When do you crave it? Is it time for you to eat, or are you responding to being sad or depressed? These are important questions for you to consider when those gosh darn cravings sneak up.
Cravings are such a significant obstacle for so many people. The good news is... you can learn to change the way you respond to the forces and factors that trigger cravings.
Factors include the people, places, emotions, and events that cause us to experience cravings. We have developed a conditioned response over time to use food as an emotional support, and as a "fix it" tool. The problem is that eating something does not change the emotion, nor does it change the situation.
What does need to change is the way you respond to these same situations when trying to change that conditioned response. It is important to consider some of your own personal conditioned responses. I want you to make a list of some of these. Once you have created this list, review each one and create a changed behavior for that situation. The idea of thinking about this ahead of time is critical. This way, when you are faced with a conditioned response situation, you will already have identified what you are going to do as your new behavior.
I'll share one of mine with you to get the ball rolling:
When I go shopping at the mall, I can smell the cookies being baked at the local cookie shop. My conditioned response is to walk over, thinking that I am just going to take in the great smell...but then I buy a cookie. Because I know this is a difficult situation for me, I now plan before I go shopping at the mall. I make sure that I have eaten my meal before I go. I bring a protein snack with me so that if I am tempted, I have my protein snack instead.
If I didn't plan ahead for facing the aroma of the cookie shop, I would likely be munching on a cookie fairly quickly. Thinking these situations through in advance can really help you learn to create a new response for an old behavior.
Today's Affirmation: I am only hungry when my body needs nourishment.

1 comment:

  1. HI, I GOT INTERNET TODAY!!!! YIPEEE
    Yes that is a good plan.....

    ReplyDelete