Pavlov's Cat Would Not Be Fat
By Rosie PetersFood Cravings. The scourge of all would be dieters. We may have the best intentions in the world to follow a decent and respectable weight control diet complete with rigorous daily exercise routine, but then the bell rings in our head and ....food craving.
We salivate like Pavlov's dog for a food treat at the onset of food cravings. We are conditioned and indeed encouraged to consume food when our brain receives a trigger - a particular time, place or mood. It's a habit. A habit that has been created and one that must be broken in order to lose that fat.
You know, you can easily train most dogs to respond to a stimulus cue, but by contrast a cat will train you.
Picture this. Pavlov rings the bell, his dog salivates and gets a treat. His cat glances up from where it is playing with its toy mouse and thinks "Oh, right food. I'll be wanting some of that later". Later, when the time suits the cat, it will meow incessantly and rub against Pavlov's legs until the man responds by feeding the demanding cat.
We have the ability to turn the tables too. It's a simple shift in your response to taking active control. You need to recognise the demanding whine of your food craving. You can break the stimulus/response habit.
The food craving habit may have been created for you by your upbringing - the traditional fat saturated family afternoon tea, for example. It may be that whenever you have been miserable and lonely, a certain well advertised brand of ice-cream has come through for you.
For whatever reason, a food craving habit has landed in your ever spreading lap. Now you have the opportunity to drive that bad habit from your life forever and be a slimmer, trimmer, healthier and happier person.
Go for it.
1. Distract yourself. Do something you enjoy that you know will lift your mood. When you think "Oh, I could eat some nice corn chips" finish that thought with, "but I'll just go for a little walk/ring my friend/do a bit of gardening instead".
After about 20 minutes, if you stop focusing on the craving, it will slink off of its own accord. But be ready. It will be back later.
It will take weeks to break the habit.
2. Have a big drink of water. Thirst if often mistaken for hunger and water has no calories. Fill your tummy with something other than food.
Give it 20 minutes and you should not have a craving - if you are not fixating on food in the meantime - but you won't be, you'll be gardening or washing the dog or doing your yoga workout.
3. Face the food craving head on. Think "OK, I'm hungry, what am I going to eat today?" and work out what good nutritious food you are going to treat your body to so that it can perform at its best level for you.
Pavlov's dog let the food cravings control it. It was a salivating slave to the bell. Pavlov's cat controlled the food cravings and did more with its life than just sit around waiting to be fed.
So what's it going to be? Are you a dog person or a cat person?
Rosie Peters gives common sense advice, encouragement and tips for weight loss, sensible diet and lifelong fitness. Sometimes it's not what you want to hear, but what you need to know. Visit Rosie at weight-control-diet-advice.com.
Rosie's e-Book Weight Loss is Simple may be what you're after. Check it out & get a FREE copy of her popular e-Book Fat No More, while you're there.