I’m reading an interesting book, The End of Overeating by Dr. David Kessler, former commissioner of the FDA. In it, he argues that eating highly palatable food is actually an ingrained, bad habit. Fortunately, as with most bad habits, such as smoking, we can overcome this one as well and learn a new, more rewarding habit.
He mentions four parts to habit reversal, which I’m summarizing and putting into my own words here:
1) Being aware of your urges and cues to eat tempting food
This involves knowing all the situations that lead you to eat, and cataloging all the stimuli. Perhaps it’s when your senses are engaged, such as the sight or smell of a food. Or maybe it’s a stressful situation.
But once you’re cued, you’re not doomed. You still have a moment of control. At that moment, you have to say, “I’m aware of the urge. Now, I have a decision to make. Am I going to cave in, or turn away and triumph?”
What you’re doing here is bringing the setting, along with your habitual response, into your conscious thought. Once you pay attention, you have the chance to stop the bad behavior.
2) Engaging in a competing behavior
To resist the pull of bad behavior, we need to develop alternative responses that are incompatible with it.
What you’re doing here is creating a road map to guide you through your high-risk situations.
For instance, driving a different route to work to avoid the donut shop. Or making a grocery list and asking a loved one to go to the store so you don’t risk buying off-limit foods.
You need to be prepared beforehand with some other behavior, because the closer you get to caving in, the more powerful the urge becomes. But if you intervene early and start a new behavior that prevents you from going down the destructive path, then you’re more likely to be successful in overcoming the bad behavior.
3) Formulating thoughts that compete with and quiet the old ones
Much of what we do is guided by our thoughts, and the language we use to express them.
What you’re doing here is talking your way through the problem, reminding yourself of the consequences of your bad habit, and introducing new ideas that overrule the old ones.
So instead of saying, “That slice of chocolate cake looks really yummy; I’ll just have a few bites, and it won’t hurt,” we say, “If I’m brutally honest with myself, I can’t just have a few bites, because one bite will lead to four, and then I’ve eaten the whole thing.”
We can also remind ourselves of our goals. “If I don’t eat that now, I’ll feel better about myself – and look better – tomorrow.”
Or, we can repeat statements of self-control: “I don’t have to respond that way; I can control this, and can respond this way instead.”
Instead of responding habitually to the promise of the immediate reward of taste, we can make ourselves conscious of the long-term impact of eating hyper-palatable food. This helps us change the meaning of the stimulus.
By learning to not only think about the pleasure of eating an ice cream sandwich, but also of its direct contribution to your weight gain, you can begin to take control. Thinking about outcomes changes the way you feel about a situation. And changing the way you feel will change the way you act.
4) Having a support system
We all know that changing bad habits is hard. Having people around to help you recognize and avoid your cues – and acknowledging when you successfully overcome them – makes the process much easier.
That’s because people tend to engage in bad behavior in private. But if you’ve made a commitment to a person who knows your plan and is committed to being there for you, then it may feel embarrassing to cave in while in front of that friend.
The prospect of disappointing the people who care about you and who are trying to help you can keep you on track.
Regarding this last part, I think this forum is a great way to create a support system. There are tons of friendly people here who are ready to listen and help.
What do you all think?
