A Simple Technique to Curb your Impulsive Eating

You know the scenario – you are trying to be ‘good’ and cut out those unnecessary and impulsive ‘treats'…that muffin with your morning coffee, that chocolate you grabbed whilst queueing to pay for the shopping, eating that doughnut your work colleague brought in or reaching for the biscuit barrel as soon as you arrive home.  The list goes on.

Impulsive eating not only adds unnecessary calories to your daily diet, it can also make you feel ashamed, guilty and worthless. 

For many of my weight loss clients, when they feel down they turn to food to cheer themselves up…and there lies that downward spiral of guilt and snacking.  One literally feeds the other!

So how do you stop yourself from falling into this spiral?

Two Essential Pieces of the Jigsaw

1. Anticipation

We know from fMRI scans of the brain that it is often the anticipation of the reward (the snack) rather than the reward itself that excites your brain.

When we impulsively buy a chocolate bar, it is often the thought of what it will taste like

that is more desirable than the actually eating of the chocolate itself. 

Surprisingly few people actually find a quiet area, close their eyes, eat the chocolate slowly and really savour the taste one bite at a time, feeling the texture on their tongue and being in the moment of consuming the chocolate.  Instead they eat it whilst chatting to their friend, whilst driving or they gulp it down quickly as they are in a rush.  By the time they have

consumed it, they hardly tasted (or truly enjoyed) it at all!

Sound familiar?

2. Say 'Maybe' Rather than 'No'

Nothing makes you desire a food more than forbidding it. The moment you say No to chocolate/alcohol/ice cream you start to think about it more, how good it tastes, how everyone else is having it, how it's unfair other people can have it and not put on weight but you can't. Your resolution of saying No makes you zone in and think about the forbidden door all the more. It's no wonder most people give in to cravings after a short while.

Rather than saying 'No', try saying 'Maybe later'.

Delaying rather than inhibiting consumption of favourite snacks is a far easier pill for your brain to swallow (pardon the pun) as it often won't mind delaying before it has the snack, as long as the snack is still on the cards.

When that food has stopped being the forbidden food that drives our attention, the internal drama of 'This is so unfair' or 'This is too tough' is lessened or in many cases gone.

The 20 Minute Rule

Telling your brain that you can have that 'treat' but in 20 minutes rather than immediately can be amazingly effective in changing even deep routed behaviour. 

Inserting this pause can prevent us acting impulsively and allow us to consider our actions even after we would usually have finished the 'treat' and been regretting it.

It is a simple rule, (note: I said simple, not easy) that can have an amazing ability to put you back in charge of your behaviour.

What are the Rules?

There are only 3 rules

RULE 1

• When you feel the urge to buy/grab something unhealthy, you set your stop watch for 20 minutes, (silent alarm works best)

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RULE 2

• In these 20 minutes you cannot buy or pick up the snack.

  • If you are in a shop you cannot purchase the snack in those 20 minutes

  • If you are at work or home, you cannot store or save the snack for those 20 minutes

RULE 3

• If possible you must leave the environment within those 20 minutes

  • If at home, go into a different room, out for a little walk or start an activity

  • If at work and are unable to leave your desk, move the snack further away from you so it moves instead of you

  • If you are in a shop, you should leave the shop

IMPORTANT

If after 20 minutes you still really want that snack you can have it.

If you were in a shop, you can go back to it, if you were in a petrol station you can stop at the next one, if at work and all the snacks are gone you can buy yourself one at lunch.

But you must eat it slowly and savour it! 

Saying you can have it in 20 minutes is essential for this technique to work.

If your mindset is 'I'll try to delay by 20 minutes but even if I still want it after that time I'll try to use willpower and impose the same ban of eating it that has never worked before' you are bound to fail.

As Rita Mae Brown may or may not have said:

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results"

Unless you genuinely allow yourself to have the 'treat' if you still REALLY want it after the 20 minutes is up, you won't have changed anything and your brain will behave in exactly the same way it always does when you ban a food. Freedom is only gained by knowing you can still have it...just in a few minutes time.

You will be surprised how often your brain stops thinking about that 'treat' when it knows it can have it later. That feeling of 'It's so unfair' can evaporate and free your mind to focus on other things.

Even if you do still want the 'treat' after 20 minutes, if the treat is large enough, (doughnut, tub of ice cream', muffin) you can eat a small amount, (maybe cut it in half or just have 3 spoonfuls) and eat half now, then start the timer again and eat the other half in another 20 minutes. But remember, you must move the 'treat' away from eye sight for the second 20 minute delay.

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Round Up

This technique does not have to work every time and nor will it. But even if it works 50% of the time, or maybe just 10% of the time, you are starting to put a delay in impulsive actions around food and that is still important progress in changing behaviour. And at the end of the day, changing habits around food is all about progress, not perfection!

If you do end up eating the snack, remember that you have still made progress by delaying that initial impulsive action.  You will never change behaviour until you can at least delay it so this is a step in the right direction.

There are ways of developing this strategy to help you over longer periods of time such as Christmas, Easter or parties but that would take too long to go into on one article.

However, I have had clients lose over a stone by using this simple technique.  It may not sound much but used correctly it is THE most effective tool I have found with clients trying to change their impulsive habits around food.

Give it a go and let me know how you get on.

If you struggle, the missing link may be accountability or support.  As part of my service, I can offer both of these and I would be more than happy to discuss how I may be able to help you.

Consultations are free so you have nothing to lose.  I don’t bite…well, not for the first 20 minutes at least!

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#middleagefitness #workout #goodhabits