Lurking beneath your consciousness is a stone age brain that can cause you to make self-destructive choices. But there are effective ways to reprogram it to achieve your goals without struggle.
The cost-benefit frmaework here really clarifies why willpower alone rarely works. I tried breaking a late-night snacking habit for months by just 'trying harder' until I started actually paying attention to how groggy I felt the next morning. Once that connection became real instead of abstract, the habit just kinda dissolved on its own. The mindfulness approach sidesteps the whole shame spiral that usually derails change attempts.
Your observation about how the shame spiral derails change is so astute. Shame keeps us locked into the very behaviours that we feel ashamed of! Once we liberate the power of curiosity - as in curious observation of our own behaviours and their consequences - we stop thinking of ourselves as defined by our unwanted behaviours ('I'm a drunk', 'I'm a junk food addict', 'I'm a nag') and instead can see ourselves as people who do certain unproductive things as a learned response to particular circumstances. And we can UNlearn those responses if we don't like their consequences. Glad to hear you kicked your late-night snacking habit with this approach!
Brilliant. I love this so much! There is so much there!
I think the food transition is hardest at the start... but it actually does get easier and easier...WFPB just tastes soooooo good that the other stuff does not appeal. I mean it doesn't even fit into the category of "food" to me. (I used to think the WFPB doctors were lying when they said they weren't tempted by junk food or didn't occasionally indulge.. but now I believe it!)
Then I think about my experience of life eating WFPB.... my health better than I've ever experienced, and it's just a no-brainer. Why would I risk that? Absolutely not willing!
I do from time-to-time eat sweet stuff when I'm feeling really down/sad for whatever reason... but my indulgence then is sourdough toast with honey.... so not too bad...?
I used to always make I think it was Chef AJ's brownies... or one of the WPFB people or docs.. at Christmas as a treat for me. But I was discinlined to make them this year as last year I found them just too sweet. So I didn't!
And for me also, doing "right" in one part of my life, has spread to other parts.... I mean, somehow eating right made it more difficult for me to sustain other bad habits... it's been a most fascinating journey!
I totally relate to your experience. When I was quite young - around 10 I think - my dad gave me Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery. (The back-story to this is that my mum was/still is a TERRIBLE cook, and I think my dad was hoping that if one of his daughters learned to cook, he'd finally get something decent to eat 🤣.) As dad hoped, I not only learned to cook, I actually became a pretty damn good cook... but it was good old-fashioned cooking with loads of butter and sugar and meats of every kind. When I went vegetarian at 15, I missed meat and chicken at first but I quickly got used to new foods like legumes, and within a couple of weeks I didn't feel like I was missing anything at all. Same thing with going WFPB in my 20s - there were some foods from my 'old' diet that I missed, but it didn't take long to forget all about them because I was discovering new foods with exciting tastes, textures and smells. And just like you mentioned, I FELT so much better after eating these new foods than the old ones, that I wasn't tempted to go back.
Thanks Kerry; hope it proves useful to you, especially at this time of year when we tend to be paying more more attention to changing our habits for the better!
The cost-benefit frmaework here really clarifies why willpower alone rarely works. I tried breaking a late-night snacking habit for months by just 'trying harder' until I started actually paying attention to how groggy I felt the next morning. Once that connection became real instead of abstract, the habit just kinda dissolved on its own. The mindfulness approach sidesteps the whole shame spiral that usually derails change attempts.
Your observation about how the shame spiral derails change is so astute. Shame keeps us locked into the very behaviours that we feel ashamed of! Once we liberate the power of curiosity - as in curious observation of our own behaviours and their consequences - we stop thinking of ourselves as defined by our unwanted behaviours ('I'm a drunk', 'I'm a junk food addict', 'I'm a nag') and instead can see ourselves as people who do certain unproductive things as a learned response to particular circumstances. And we can UNlearn those responses if we don't like their consequences. Glad to hear you kicked your late-night snacking habit with this approach!
Brilliant. I love this so much! There is so much there!
I think the food transition is hardest at the start... but it actually does get easier and easier...WFPB just tastes soooooo good that the other stuff does not appeal. I mean it doesn't even fit into the category of "food" to me. (I used to think the WFPB doctors were lying when they said they weren't tempted by junk food or didn't occasionally indulge.. but now I believe it!)
Then I think about my experience of life eating WFPB.... my health better than I've ever experienced, and it's just a no-brainer. Why would I risk that? Absolutely not willing!
I do from time-to-time eat sweet stuff when I'm feeling really down/sad for whatever reason... but my indulgence then is sourdough toast with honey.... so not too bad...?
I used to always make I think it was Chef AJ's brownies... or one of the WPFB people or docs.. at Christmas as a treat for me. But I was discinlined to make them this year as last year I found them just too sweet. So I didn't!
And for me also, doing "right" in one part of my life, has spread to other parts.... I mean, somehow eating right made it more difficult for me to sustain other bad habits... it's been a most fascinating journey!
I totally relate to your experience. When I was quite young - around 10 I think - my dad gave me Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery. (The back-story to this is that my mum was/still is a TERRIBLE cook, and I think my dad was hoping that if one of his daughters learned to cook, he'd finally get something decent to eat 🤣.) As dad hoped, I not only learned to cook, I actually became a pretty damn good cook... but it was good old-fashioned cooking with loads of butter and sugar and meats of every kind. When I went vegetarian at 15, I missed meat and chicken at first but I quickly got used to new foods like legumes, and within a couple of weeks I didn't feel like I was missing anything at all. Same thing with going WFPB in my 20s - there were some foods from my 'old' diet that I missed, but it didn't take long to forget all about them because I was discovering new foods with exciting tastes, textures and smells. And just like you mentioned, I FELT so much better after eating these new foods than the old ones, that I wasn't tempted to go back.
Aaahh Margaret Fulton!
The only things I have truly missed at times are eggs, and at Christmas time, mince pies. That's it.
Great article Robyn - Well thought out and conveyed!
Thanks Kerry; hope it proves useful to you, especially at this time of year when we tend to be paying more more attention to changing our habits for the better!