Here’s a lesson from my assistant coaches, Tiger and Stripe, on why diets fail:
Aside from the obvious fact that we go on and off diets and if we lose weight on a diet, it comes back when we go off the diet, a major reason why diets fail is that you’re trying to take food away from yourself.
The other day I was cooking, and a spinach leaf fell on the floor.
My cat Tiger ran over and snatched it up and started to eat it before I could get it back. I know he likes spinach, so I just let him have it.
But then my other cat Stripe came over to check it out and Tiger gave her a swat to tell her to back off, and he ran away with the spinach.
In a sense, this is what happens to us when we’re dieting.
When we feel like somebody is taking away our food, we lash out and say, “back off, Bubba!”
The problem is, we are Bubba.
One part of your brain is saying, “you can’t have this,” and the other part is saying, “back off, Bubba!”
Well, it turns out that the unconscious part of your brain is the part that’s saying “back off” to the conscious part that’s trying to run the show.
But in fact, it’s usually the unconscious part of your brain that is actually running the show.
And the unconscious brain is running the show based on patterns and programming that it created when you were just a little kid.
Now those patterns and coping mechanisms and behaviors made sense way back, then but the problem is that they’re not serving us now.
We’ve all seen two and three-year-olds say, “I don’t wanna.”
We’ve all seen two-year-olds throw a tantrum when they don’t want to do something or they can't have something (like a cookie in the grocery store, for example).
The question is this:
When you’re 30, 40, 50, 60 or older, do you really want to be throwing tantrums just because you don’t want to do something, or you've told yourself you can't have a cookie?
My guess is probably not.
And I also suspect that most of us as adults don’t really want to be bossed around by a two-year-old.
Which is exactly what’s happening.
So what do we do?
Well, we all like to control things, so we usually try to boss the two-year-old around.
Well, we all know how well that works.
It turns out that if you let the two-year-old have her tantrum, give her a hug, and meet her emotional needs, she calms down a bit.
It also turns out that your unconscious brain responds the same way.
The problem comes when you try to force things, rather than just paying attention to what’s really going on and dealing with that.
So just like Tiger, who got a little threatened when his sister tried to steal his spinach leaf, our unconscious brains freak out when our conscious brains try to take away the things we love by putting us on a diet.
You need a different solution.
Denying yourself is not the answer.
Figuring out why you can’t stay away from foods, or why you can’t stop eating, and healing those things is the answer.
I’ve got a system that’s designed to help you identify and heal the specific reasons why you feel compelled to eat, and why you feel compelled to eat certain foods.
If you want to know a bit more about how this works, I will be hosting a free workshop on releasing your cravings on Saturday, September 10 at 10 AM Pacific.
Registration will be open in the next couple of days.
In the meantime, you can sign up to be notified when the registration link is available.
Go to endyourcravingsnow.com to sign up.
You’re going to want to bring one or two of your cravings foods to this workshop, since we will be releasing the cravings during the workshop. If you’ve got a medical reason not to take a taste of your craving food, we can do it with imaginary food. But if possible, you’ll want to have the real thing there with you.
And don’t worry - this is not aversion therapy - you will still like your craving food, you just won’t be ruled by it anymore.
I hope to see you soon for the “Conquer Your Cravings Today (No Willpower Required)” workshop!
And if you want to see the full 8 second video of Tiger, Stripe, and the spinach, click here.
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Weight loss or emotional eating: releaseemotionaleating.com
The Designer Life Doctor
...With Dr. Jill Rosenthal
Email: [email protected]
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