Discussion Board

See

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/opini ... lobal-home

What is your "philosophy of change"?

Interesting article, but I do think a bit overdoing it with this idea that we are always slaves to outside influences and habits and that the 19th century notion of "free will" is completely bogus. The article makes it seem as if we are no better than Pavlov's dogs, responding to cues of reward and that the way to change is to simply create different cues.

I'll admit that it's not a matter of knowing what to do to change and even deciding to change it - it is a matter of doing it with some consistency. But to me, that's far different than simply creating new habits to replace old ones.

How many amazing people have there been who have changed their lives because they made a conscious decision to do so and followed through with it? I'm not just talking about losing a lot of weight and shaping up health wise (which I know many on the McDougall plan have experience with - Star McDougallers and non-Stars alike) but even people who have been on other roads of self-destruction because of destructive behaviors (such as drug addicts or alcohol abusers or people who get into one abusive situation after another). To say that these people made changes by merely replacing their destructive "habits" for non-destructive habits is not giving them credit for being in control of their own destinies and deciding to change and following through with that.

Just my views...

Djuna

Well. . . we ALL learn via classical and operant conditioning (the Pavlov's dog experiment being an example of the former). That's just a fact. Behavior that is rewarded will tend to continue; behavior that is punished will tend not to continue.

Human beings like to think that they do things b/c they decide to so them, but in reality we do them for the same reasons as every other being on Earth. There is no LOGICAL reason to love a baby you just gave birth to: you just met her, she's a useless blob of protoplasm, she's messy and noisy and a PITA! And yet you LOVE her and will DIE for her instantly. That is BRAIN CHEMICALS and wolves, rats, cardinals and cattle all feel the EXACT same way about their babies as you do for the EXACT same reasons. Ditto "falling in love," wanting to eat high-calorie density foods, etc. We are told by brain chemicals what to want and then are rewarded for doing what the chemicals told us to do by a release of other brain chemicals that reinforce us by making us feel good.

The only difference is that we're able to obsess about it intellectually. This is not always a good thing, of course (it's why we're ruining the world), but there you have it.

Doesn't make us better or smarter or "higher" than the other animals who have the exact same feelings and thoughts for the exact same reasons.

However, we CAN actively try to change b/c we DO have all this extraneous grey matter. Mostly it gets us into trouble--but it CAN be used for good instead of evil.

Addiction is a disease that tells you that you don't have a disease. "The End of Overeating" by Dr. Kessler shares the hypereater's brain physiologically isn't like the "normal" brain as it doesn't release the same amount of endorphins. What is exciting when breaking addictive cycles that impair the hippocampus.. the organ that makes the unknown known.. vs. it shutting down, it leaps forward where new neuron synapses in the brain are created.

The subconscious is like the computer processor a million times faster then the keyboard.. our wishes and desire mind. That is why when practicing low calorie density.. starch creating long term satiety.. works. We are a living system that self organizes. A infinite amount of energy, like a whirlpool expanding and contracting inside out. The hardest part is identifying with the hole in the doughnut/the black whole. Our limited thought wants to throw it out because our mind can get it in a instant but it might take our body a lifetime.

Aloha, patty