Food as Fuel
Although most times we forget, the purpose of food is to fuel our body for our daily activities as well as all the involuntary processes it carries out such as the renewal of cells, growth of hair and nails, digestion, etc.
Food instead of Love
Nowadays food’s role has changed more into a way of dealing with our emotions, good or bad. This starts from childhood and the way we are brought up. If we are good and behave well we are rewarded with a treat or candy, if we fall down and scrape our knee we are offered something sweet to make us feel better. This creates in our mind an association between food and “feeling good”.
If we are bored we eat, if we are sad or stressed we eat… This behavior gets us in trouble sooner or later and the consequences can lead to a food addiction that will most likely decrease our overall health, self esteem and quality of life.
Make the switch
We have to make an effort to switch the way we look at food, food may taste good in your mouth, that’s not a bad thing by any means… it’s when we make it’s taste a priority over it’s effect on the body that we find ourselves over indulging and gaining weight.
Conscious Eating
We have to turn this sort of compulsive behavior into a conscious one. When you catch yourself reaching for something that you know goes against your health or overall fitness goal. Stop for a second. Find a piece of paper and write the pros and cons of eating that fast joint burger, chocolate bar or whatever it may be.
Pros Vs Cons
Pros: It will taste good VS Cons: My willpower will diminish. I will have to sweat an extra __ minutes to burn it off. My blood sugar will shoot up, then I’ll crash and crave more sweets to keep it up. I’ll feel guilty. I’ll find it harder to reach my goal. I may get discouraged and feel like giving up.
Make it your choice
Now you have forced your brain to make a conscious decision on whether or not to eat whatever it is you are craving, if you still decide to go for it, at least you are doing it fully aware of the consequences, not as an impulse that you can’t control, lying to yourself telling you it’s not a big deal… after all it is precisely this kind of pattern that got us in trouble in the first place.