This year (well, actually at the moment) my resolution is to eat healthier. As you get older, you get away with less bad habits. Those bad habits come back to bite you. Actually to sit on your tummy, and make it bigger.
So… my inspiration comes from the books I read last year about habits – The Power of Habit, Maximum Willpower , The Willpower Instinct, How Self-control Works. Why it Matters, and What You can do to get more of it.
And these articles in the Daily Mail, here, and here. Seriously. These articles by Paul McKenna makes a lot of sense to me.
Four golden rules.
Eat only when you’re hungry.
Eat what your body tells you it wants.
Eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful.
Stop eating when you think you’re full.
My most common forms of self-sabotage I follow are:
- Thinking I’ve stopped a craving but then giving in to sudden temptation – cracking without warning;
- or Deciding that I deserve a treat.
There are times when an idea just gets stuck in your head. And if you can’t stop thinking about eating, it can be infuriating.
Solution:
If the idea has a picture (such as a bar of chocolate).
1. notice where you see it – to your left, or right, above, level with or below your eyeline.
2. Wherever it is, shrink it, drain out the colour so it’s black and white and move it off into the distance.
3. Finally, reduce it to postage-stamp size and send it way, way behind you.
If the idea has words:
1. Use a voice in your head to hear them. Notice where you hear that voice, then move it away so it seems to be coming out from the tip of your thumb. 2. Now change the voice to something ridiculous, like Donald Duck’s.
For now, I am trying to get into the habit of eating salad for lunch, and a piece of fruit for morning tea. My breakfast is already healthy. My research on habit shows that willpower is a finite resource that can be used up. I’m hoping by eating healthy until afternoon without thinking, I will have more willpower left for the big challenge: after dinner. After dinner is when my willpower fails!