Today I am unsweetening my diet to be more emotionally level.
Sugar influences emotional highs and lows. Sugar can be the ultimate comfort and, about it without it, visit this site I am left to deal with my emotions in other ways. This is both good and a cost to giving it up. It is good because I don’t need to be a slave to moderating my emotions with sugar (which is essentially an addiction response); I will be freer and have the opportunity to be more in control of how I feel. It can be challenging, disease though, as it is hard to do this sometimes and sugar is much easier.
Today, I don’t think I am so much feeling the effects of sugar lows (though, this is probably part of it), as I am feeling more emotionally on edge and needing to constantly catch myself, as my thoughts move to what I can eat that would be soothing. This is never the exact thought – it is more about what would really taste good right now – but I know better that it is getting away from my frustration or boredom that I aspire to. Sitting with and through emotions is not always easy! It has been an OK third day, though.
Mission: To lower sugar intake for 30 days to “unsweeten” my tastebuds and holistic self so that I can continue to eat less sugar at a stable rate going onward.
Items that motivated and inspired me to do this:
Research Article that discussed the importance of reducing sugar intake:
Lastly, cure
artificial sweeteners, site precisely because they are sweet, unhealthy
encourage sugar craving and sugar dependence. Repeated exposure trains flavor preference [54]. A strong correlation exists between a person’s customary intake of a flavor and his preferred intensity for that flavor. Systematic reduction of dietary salt [55] or fat [56] without any flavorful substitution over the course of several weeks led to a preference for lower levels of those nutrients in the research subjects. In light of these findings, a similar approach might be used to reduce sugar intake. Unsweetening the world’s diet [15] may be the key to reversing the obesity epidemic.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/)
A TED Talk that inspired me to take on a short term change project:
Matt Cutts TED Talk on Try Something New for 30 Days
Coaching Tools to Support My Challenge:
- Decisional Balance: to address ambivalence and create list of motivators
- Choose one motivator each day
- 10 daily questions: answer daily questions to check in on progress and “keep honest” on plan
- Daily food journal: to increase awareness and mindfulness of food intake
- Pre and Post Naturopathic Doctor consult
- Public Commitment: post updates on progress and methods on blog, Facebook and Twitter
I will explain more about these inspirations and tools as the month goes on.
Mission:
To lower sugar intake for 30 days to “unsweeten” my tastebuds and holistic self so that I can continue to eat less sugar at a stable rate going onward.
Items that motivated and inspired me to do this:
Research Article that discussed the importance of reducing sugar intake:
Lastly, ailment artificial sweeteners, order
precisely because they are sweet, buy
encourage sugar craving and sugar dependence. Repeated exposure trains flavor preference [54]. A strong correlation exists between a person’s customary intake of a flavor and his preferred intensity for that flavor. Systematic reduction of dietary salt [55] or fat [56] without any flavorful substitution over the course of several weeks led to a preference for lower levels of those nutrients in the research subjects. In light of these findings, a similar approach might be used to reduce sugar intake. Unsweetening the world’s diet [15] may be the key to reversing the obesity epidemic.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/)
A TED Talk that inspired me to take on a short term change project:
Matt Cutts TED Talk on Try Something New for 30 Days: http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_cutts_try_something_new_for_30_days.html
Coaching Tools to Support My Challenge:
- Decisional Balance: to address ambivalence and create list of motivators
- Choose one motivator each day
- 10 daily questions: answer daily questions to check in on progress and “keep honest” on plan
- Daily food journal: to increase awareness and mindfulness of food intake
- Pre and Post Naturopathic Doctor consult
- Public Commitment: post updates on progress and methods on blog, Facebook and Twitter
Mission: To lower sugar intake for 30 days to “unsweeten” my tastebuds and holistic self so that I can continue to eat less sugar at a stable rate going onward.
Items that motivated and inspired me to do this:
Research Article that discussed the importance of reducing sugar intake:
Lastly, pestilence
artificial sweeteners, precisely because they are sweet, encourage sugar craving and sugar dependence. Repeated exposure trains flavor preference [54]. A strong correlation exists between a person’s customary intake of a flavor and his preferred intensity for that flavor. Systematic reduction of dietary salt [55] or fat [56] without any flavorful substitution over the course of several weeks led to a preference for lower levels of those nutrients in the research subjects. In light of these findings, a similar approach might be used to reduce sugar intake. Unsweetening the world’s diet [15] may be the key to reversing the obesity epidemic.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/)
A TED Talk that inspired me to take on a short term change project:
Matt Cutts TED Talk on Try Something New for 30 Days
Coaching Tools to Support My Challenge:
- Decisional Balance: to address ambivalence and create list of motivators
- Choose one motivator each day
- 10 daily questions: answer daily questions to check in on progress and “keep honest” on plan
- Daily food journal: to increase awareness and mindfulness of food intake
- Pre and Post Naturopathic Doctor consult
- Public Commitment: post updates on progress and methods on blog, Facebook and Twitter
I will explain more about these inspirations and tools as the month goes on.
Mission:
To lower sugar intake for 30 days to “unsweeten” my tastebuds and holistic self so that I can continue to eat less sugar at a stable rate going onward.
Items that motivated and inspired me to do this:
Research Article that discussed the importance of reducing sugar intake:
Lastly, asthma
artificial sweeteners, precisely because they are sweet, encourage sugar craving and sugar dependence. Repeated exposure trains flavor preference [54]. A strong correlation exists between a person’s customary intake of a flavor and his preferred intensity for that flavor. Systematic reduction of dietary salt [55] or fat [56] without any flavorful substitution over the course of several weeks led to a preference for lower levels of those nutrients in the research subjects. In light of these findings, a similar approach might be used to reduce sugar intake. Unsweetening the world’s diet [15] may be the key to reversing the obesity epidemic.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/)
A TED Talk that inspired me to take on a short term change project:
Matt Cutts TED Talk on Try Something New for 30 Days: http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_cutts_try_something_new_for_30_days.html
Coaching Tools to Support My Challenge:
- Decisional Balance: to address ambivalence and create list of motivators
- Choose one motivator each day
- 10 daily questions: answer daily questions to check in on progress and “keep honest” on plan
- Daily food journal: to increase awareness and mindfulness of food intake
- Pre and Post Naturopathic Doctor consult
- Public Commitment: post updates on progress and methods on blog, Facebook and Twitter
Mission: To lower sugar intake for 30 days to “unsweeten” my tastebuds and holistic self so that I can continue to eat less sugar at a stable rate going onward.
Items that motivated and inspired me to do this:
Research Article that discussed the importance of reducing sugar intake:
Lastly, about it
artificial sweeteners, viagra buy
precisely because they are sweet, malady
encourage sugar craving and sugar dependence. Repeated exposure trains flavor preference [54]. A strong correlation exists between a person’s customary intake of a flavor and his preferred intensity for that flavor. Systematic reduction of dietary salt [55] or fat [56] without any flavorful substitution over the course of several weeks led to a preference for lower levels of those nutrients in the research subjects. In light of these findings, a similar approach might be used to reduce sugar intake. Unsweetening the world’s diet [15] may be the key to reversing the obesity epidemic.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/)
A TED Talk that inspired me to take on a short term change project:
Matt Cutts TED Talk on Try Something New for 30 Days
Coaching Tools to Support My Challenge:
- Decisional Balance: to address ambivalence and create list of motivators
- Choose one motivator each day
- 10 daily questions: answer daily questions to check in on progress and “keep honest” on plan
- Daily food journal: to increase awareness and mindfulness of food intake
- Pre and Post Naturopathic Doctor consult
- Public Commitment: post updates on progress and methods on blog, Facebook and Twitter
I will explain more about these inspirations and tools as the month goes on.
If you are like me, help
making any kind of change in behaviour or lifestyle feels more like a see-saw than a straight path forward: I feel like I make a few steps forward and then feel distraction or apathy come in for a while, only to make a few more steps later on. This is ambivalence and it is a completely normal part of any behaviour change…. it is not helpful, but it is normal.
When making a behaviour change, it is vitally important to understand that there are good reasons to change, but there are also “good” reasons to stay the way you are. I may very well have more energy and feel healthier if I eat less sugar, but it is hard to deny that eating lots of sugary crap was pretty enjoyable and comforting. Does this make it OK?… No. However, it is important to recognize that I had this behaviour for a purpose and my “old way” of eating provided certain benefits for me. If I am to change this behaviour, I need to then not only find my benefits for changing, but I have to acknowledge and address why being the sugar addict that I was had so much inertia for me.
Lucky for us, someone has thought about this and created a tool called the Decisional Balance. In short, this is a two-by-two matrix where you brainstorm the pros and cons of staying the same or changing a behaviour.
(Borowed from: http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/19/1/5/F1.expansion?ck=nck)
I have already outlined the first two sections of the tool. The other two dimensions that I have not mentioned are (fairly obviously) that there are cons/costs to staying the same and to making a change.
Merely filling in each of the four boxes is not sufficient to ward off ambivalence: you need to have more benefits to change than to stay the way you were. In fact, James Prochaska (the psychologist who has done much of the work with this tool and studying behaviour change) says that you need to have twice as many benefits for changing than staying the same to tip the balance towards positive change.
When I used the tool for myself, I identified only three benefits for staying the same: eating more sugar was a) enjoyable, b) comforting, and c)socially easier and pleasurable. However, on the benefits of changing side, I identified twenty nine items! I probably could have worked harder for both sides and got more, but I felt that I had a critical mass of reasons to keep me on the happy side of changing.
In a future post I will go over how to use these items more specifically to help facilitate change. Stay tuned!
If you are like me, approved
making any kind of change in my behaviour or lifestyle feels more like a see-saw than a straight path forward: I feel like I make a few steps forward and then feel distraction or apathy come in for a while, pill
only to make a few more steps later on. This is ambivalence and it is a completely normal part of any behaviour change…. it is not helpful, symptoms
but it is normal.
When making a behaviour change, it is vitally important to understand that there are good reasons to change, but there are also “good” reasons to stay the way you are. I may very well have more energy and feel healthier if I eat less sugar, but it is hard to deny that eating lots of sugary crap was pretty enjoyable and comforting. Does this make it OK?… No. However, it is important to recognize that I had this behaviour for a purpose and my “old way” of eating provided certain benefits for me. If I am to change this behaviour, I need to then not only find my benefits for changing, but I have to acknowledge and address why being the sugar addict that I was had so much inertia.
Lucky for us, someone has thought about this and created a tool called the Decisional Balance. In short, this is a two-by-two matrix where you brainstorm the pros and cons of staying the same or changing a behaviour.
(Borowed from: http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/19/1/5/F1.expansion?ck=nck)
I have already outlined the first two sections of the tool. The other two dimensions that I have not mentioned are (fairly obviously) that there are cons/costs to staying the same and to making a change.
Merely filling in each of the four boxes is not sufficient to ward off ambivalence: you need to have more benefits to change than to stay the way you were. In fact, James Prochaska (the psychologist who has done much of the work on this tool and studying behaviour change)
need twice as many pros for changing than staying the same to tip the balance
If you are like me, medicine
making any kind of change in my behaviour or lifestyle feels more like a see-saw than a straight path forward: I feel like I make a few steps forward and then feel distraction or apathy come in for a while, healthful
only to make a few more steps later on. This is ambivalence and it is a completely normal part of any behaviour change…. it is not helpful, salve but it is normal.
When making a behaviour change, it is vitally important to understand that there are good reasons to change, but there are also “good” reasons to stay the way you are. I may very well have more energy and feel healthier if I eat less sugar, but it is hard to deny that eating lots of sugary crap was pretty enjoyable and comforting. Does this make it OK?… No. However, it is important to recognize that I had this behaviour for a purpose and my “old way” of eating provided certain benefits for me. If I am to change this behaviour, I need to then not only find my benefits for changing, but I have to acknowledge and address why being the sugar addict that I was had so much inertia.
Lucky for us, someone has thought about this and created a tool called the Decisional Balance. In short, this is a two-by-two matrix where you brainstorm the pros and cons of staying the same or changing a behaviour.
(Borowed from: http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/19/1/5/F1.expansion?ck=nck)
I have already outlined the first two sections of the tool. The other two dimensions that I have not mentioned are (fairly obviously) that there are cons/costs to staying the same and to making a change.
Merely filling in each of the four boxes is not sufficient to ward off ambivalence: you need to have more benefits to change than to stay the way you were. In fact, James Prochaska (the psychologist who has done much of the work on this tool and studying behaviour change) says that you need to have twice as many benefits for changing than staying the same to tip the balance towards positive change.
When I used the tool for myself, I identified only three benefits for staying the same: eating more sugar was a) enjoyable, b) comforting, and c)socially easier and pleasurable. However, on the benefits of changing side, I identified twenty nine items! I probably could have worked harder for both sides and got more, but I felt that I had a critical mass of reasons to keep me on the happy side of changing.
In a future post I will go over how to use these items more specifically to help facilitate change. Stay tuned!
If you are like me, unhealthy making any kind of change in behaviour or lifestyle feels more like a see-saw than a straight path forward: I feel like I make a few steps forward and then feel distraction or apathy come in for a while, only to make a few more steps later on. This is ambivalence and it is a completely normal part of any behaviour change…. it is not helpful, but it is normal.
When making a behaviour change, it is vitally important to understand that there are good reasons to change, but there are also “good” reasons to stay the way you are. I may very well have more energy and feel healthier if I eat less sugar, but it is hard to deny that eating lots of sugary crap was pretty enjoyable and comforting. Does this make it OK?… No. However, it is important to recognize that I had this behaviour for a purpose and my “old way” of eating provided certain benefits for me. If I am to change this behaviour, I need to then not only find my benefits for changing, but I have to acknowledge and address why being the sugar addict that I was had so much inertia for me.
Lucky for us, someone has thought about this and created a tool called the Decisional Balance. In short, this is a two-by-two matrix where you brainstorm the pros and cons of staying the same or changing a behaviour.
(Borowed from: http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/19/1/5/F1.expansion?ck=nck)
I have already outlined the first two sections of the tool. The other two dimensions that I have not mentioned are (fairly obviously) that there are cons/costs to staying the same and to making a change.
Merely filling in each of the four boxes is not sufficient to ward off ambivalence: you need to have more benefits to change than to stay the way you were. In fact, James Prochaska (the psychologist who has done much of the work on this tool and studying behaviour change) says that you need to have twice as many benefits for changing than staying the same to tip the balance towards positive change.
When I used the tool for myself, I identified only three benefits for staying the same: eating more sugar was a) enjoyable, b) comforting, and c)socially easier and pleasurable. However, on the benefits of changing side, I identified twenty nine items! I probably could have worked harder for both sides and got more, but I felt that I had a critical mass of reasons to keep me on the happy side of changing.
In a future post I will go over how to use these items more specifically to help facilitate change. Stay tuned!
If you are like me, geriatrician
making any kind of change in behaviour or lifestyle feels more like a see-saw than a straight path forward: I feel like I make a few steps forward and then feel distraction or apathy come in for a while, only to make a few more steps later on. This is ambivalence and it is a completely normal part of any behaviour change…. it is not helpful, but it is normal.
When making a behaviour change, it is vitally important to understand that there are good reasons to change, but there are also “good” reasons to stay the way you are. I may very well have more energy and feel healthier if I eat less sugar, but it is hard to deny that eating lots of sugary crap was pretty enjoyable and comforting. Does this make it OK?… No. However, it is important to recognize that I had this behaviour for a purpose and my “old way” of eating provided certain benefits for me. If I am to change this behaviour, I need to then not only find my benefits for changing, but I have to acknowledge and address why being the sugar addict that I was had so much inertia for me.
Lucky for us, someone has thought about this and created a tool called the Decisional Balance. In short, this is a two-by-two matrix where you brainstorm the pros and cons of staying the same or changing a behaviour.
(Borowed from: http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/19/1/5/F1.expansion?ck=nck)
I have already outlined the first two sections of the tool. The other two dimensions that I have not mentioned are (fairly obviously) that there are cons/costs to staying the same and to making a change.
Merely filling in each of the four boxes is not sufficient to ward off ambivalence: you need to have more benefits to change than to stay the way you were. In fact, James Prochaska (the psychologist who has done much of the work with this tool and studying behaviour change) says that you need to have twice as many benefits for changing than staying the same to tip the balance towards positive change.
When I used the tool for myself, I identified only three benefits for staying the same: eating more sugar was a) enjoyable, b) comforting, and c)socially easier and pleasurable. However, on the benefits of changing side, I identified twenty nine items! I probably could have worked harder for both sides and got more, but I felt that I had a critical mass of reasons to keep me on the happy side of changing.
In a future post I will go over how to use these items more specifically to help facilitate change. Stay tuned!
Today I am unsweetening my diet to have less sugar cravings.
Today it is not so much the sugar craving, medicine
but the structured eating that is distracting me. I have been more of a day-long grazer in the past. My wife, Liz, would often ask me, “Are you really hungry or just bored?” It feels good to have boundaries.
