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Strategies for Giving Up Bad Habits
Keep bad habits out of reach
Sometimes, bad habits are just too convenient and we're used to them, so creating obstacles that make the bad habit a challenge to perform will take care of impulsive actions and indulgences.
If one wants to quit smoking, it does help if there are no cigarettes around, for example.
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Key Ideas
Willpower is like a muscle
Just like going to the gym and building up strength, the more you train your willpower by accomplishing tasks on a consistent basis
Self-Discipline - a series of healthy habits
Long term change is better served by building better habits, than by forcing your willpower.
You will choose the apple over the cake for a number of times ... and then give up. Building a habit to start the day by going to the gym will work better.
Habits = “automatic” responses...
...to familiar environmental cues.
They form when you engage in a behavior repeatedly in the presence of consistent stimuli.
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Key Ideas
How craving are stimulated artificially
- Salivary response: the more a food causes you to salivate, the more it will cover your taste buds.
- Rapid food meltdown: this tells your brain tha...
Building better habits means changing your environment
Most people think that building better habits or changing your actions is all about willpower or motivation. But your environment has an incredible ability to shape your behavior.
Nowhere is this more true than with food.
The reasons we crave junk food
- The sensation of eating the food: what it tastes like, what it smells like and how it feels in your mouth.
- The blend of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates that it contains: junk food companies are looking for a perfect combination, that excites your brain and gets you coming back for more.
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Key Ideas
Start a list of the emotions
Pay attention to your emotions as you start to think about eating (you might feel hungry, or have a craving to eat something). Notice your emotions as you eat, and after as well.
Pick one emotion to start with
Start with the emotional trigger that occurs most frequently. So if you only have social eating triggers once or twice a week, but you have stress or comfort triggers multiple times a day, choose the latter.
Find a healthy alternative
If the need is a way to cope with stress, you need to find some healthy way of doing that other than eating. If you don’t, then the need will become so strong that you’ll cave and eat.