Breaking Bad Habits - POSTED ON: Mar 19, 2013
We all know it is hard to Break Bad Habits. Here are some reasons Why.
5 Ways Your Brain Tricks You into Sticking With Bad Habits by Dennis Hong - 9/26/2012 at www. cracked.com Bad habits can ruin your life. Whether you're gorging on Haagen-Dazs or dressing up like a Power Ranger and flaying hobos every night, you know on some level that things have to change, or disaster will follow. But no matter how badly you want your life to be different, things just keep plowing on the way they are. Why?
Because your brain has a long list of diabolical mechanisms intended to keep your habits exactly as they are. #5. Your Brain Thinks Your Future Self Is a Different Person
You knew you had to be up at 7 a.m. for a big exam. But there you were, at one in the morning, watching every minute of a double feature on cable including Timecop and a second showing of Timecop. On a conscious level, you knew you were screwing yourself. But on a subconscious level, you always think of the tomorrow version of you as a completely different person. That guy can deal with the consequences; the night version is watching some fucking Jean-Claude Van Damme. Well, don't feel so bad. Science says that this feature is built into your brain. Brain scans have shown that different parts of our brain light up when we're thinking of ourselves versus when we're thinking of other people. That part makes sense -- your brain is partitioned out into separate regions for yourself and for everyone else because you have to look out for yourself first. But where it gets weird is that in some people, when they're asked to think about their future selves, the region that lights up is the one reserved for other people.
In other words, if someone asks you to think about what you'll look like in 20 years, your brain treats it as though you're trying to picture some bizarre stranger. Now think about what that means in terms of your ability to fix what's wrong in your life. What motivation do you have to abstain from your 14th peanut butter doughnut today just to help out some droopy manimal in the future? Logically, you understand that you're endangering the person you'll become, but subconsciously, your brain doesn't have the sympathy to spare for that poor slob, and just wants to enjoy the doughnut.
#4. It Takes 10 Weeks of Work to Build a Good Habit Let's say you have a habit or two you need to break, and you decide to start by picking up some good habits, because as we all know, the surefire way to overcome an addiction is to replace it with another addiction. So, you waddle over to the local gym, sign up for a membership and plan to start working out three times a week to help control your cravings for pie or cocaine or cocaine pie. So, how much uninterrupted effort would you say it takes to start to become a gym person? As in, how long unti...
Searching for Your Diet - POSTED ON: Jan 10, 2013
There's a very common Theme here at DietHobby.
It is: When it comes to diets, I believe there is NO "one size fits all". What works for me may not work for you. Diets are like perfume; you keep sniffing until you find the one that's right for you.
Health Experts - POSTED ON: Dec 27, 2012
A “health expert” says: “Don’t listen to health experts.”
You are the One by Frank Forencich Hi! I’m a health expert and I’m going to tell you how to live. I’m going to tell you how to exercise, what to eat and when to eat it. I’m going to tell you how to succeed in athletic training and how to avoid injury. I’m going to tell you how much water to drink and how much sleep you need to get. I’m going to tell you what supplements to take and what products to buy. And since stress is such an important part of health, I’m even going to tell you what to think about your life and your world. But what makes me such an omniscient health expert? Well, maybe I’ve read a big stack of books and/or I have a bunch of letters after my name and/or I’ve won some big athletic competitions and/or I have some testimonials from some really famous clients and/or I have a really hot bod and/or I’m just a good talker. In any case, I’m claiming to know what’s good for your body and your life which, if you think about it, is a truly preposterous claim. After all, I don’t know you and I haven’t done any assessments of your body, your genes or your life. I don’t know your personality, your history or your life goals. I don’t know your biomechanical profile or your biochemistry. And even if I did know all of these things, it would be a outrageous leap to suggest that I could integrate all of that knowledge into a concrete, practical, personalized prescription for a healthy life. So, why should you listen to me? Well, perhaps you shouldn’t be listening to health experts at all. Maybe, just maybe, health experts are part of our problem. After all, health experts have been proliferating over the last several decades at just about the same rate as epidemic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, depression and heart disease. If health experts were the solution, we’d all be fit and happy. But we’re not. In fact, we might even go so far to say that the proliferation of health information, advice and expertise is actually having a negative, disempowering effect on the very people it is supposed to be helping. Intimidated by the apparent complexity of health, fitness, nutrition and training, we balk. Afraid to take matters into our own hands, we give our innate intelligence over to others. Afraid to move our bodies, we hire personal trainers to hold the clipboard and count our reps. Afraid to make our own food choices, we hire nutritionists to tell us what to eat. At every decision point in the modern world, we come to a grinding halt, unwilling to take a chance with our own judgment. Awash in information, study becomes a substitute for authentic action. Now maybe I’m writing myself out of a job here, but I’m trying to make an important point, which is: You are the ultimate authority on your health and your life. No one knows your body as well as you do. No one knows your life story as well as you do. No one knows your predicament, your stress profile, your passions or your dreams. Your nervous system knows millions of times more about your...
One can Entertain a Thought Without Accepting it. - POSTED ON: Nov 08, 2012
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Aristotle
Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology. The ability to entertain a thought and examine it from multiple perspectives, without necessarily accepting the premise of the thought, is a mark of an educated mind and a mature philosophy because it demonstrates a lack of fear for new ideas, a solid understanding of – and trust in – one’s own position and it implies a willingness to change one’s mind. Conversely, actively avoiding entertaining opposing thoughts, demonstrates a fear of those thoughts and implies an unwillingness to adapt to new ideas. Entertaining thoughts that might contradict what one already believes is a cornerstone of science. Scientists actively search for thoughts that might contradict established theories, even – sometimes especially – their own. Aristotle’s quote above means that we can think about an idea without automatically accepting it. We can choose to look at things from an objective point of view and weigh the facts carefully before making a decision.
It ALSO means that it is unnecessary to make a decision to accept, or to reject, every single concept that crosses our minds.
A Sustainable Alternative - POSTED ON: Oct 21, 2012
Weight-loss and maintaining weight loss requires that we change our Way-of-Eating, Forever, BUT.. While the change FROM our Way of Eating while we were fat must be permanent, our change TO any other specific Way of Eating can be temporary. There are many different Ways of Eating to choose from. We can choose one for awhile, and then make a different choice. We can hop between these choices as much as we like. Every Way of Eating is acceptable, as long as it fulfills the following requirement, which is:
During weight-loss: The amount of food intake must provide less energy than one's individual body burns.
During maintenance: The amount of food intake must provide the same energy as one's individual body burns.
During my lifetime of learning about, and sampling different Ways of Eating ... (Diets) here's a statement of objection I commonly see made by somebody, to almost every Diet I've encountered.
The '"X Diet", or "Dieting", will not result in permanent weight-loss because it is NOT SUSTAINABLE.
Everyone tends to nod their head in agreement with this principle, and then people in favor of the specific diet or in dieting, say that after achieving success, one should return to their "normal" Way of Eating... eating a bit less, AND then continue to use that same diet occasionally in order to lose any weight regained. There is an Alternative way of looking at this, and it is the one I use here in my own Dieting Hobby.
It's okay for the PERMANENT change to consist of many TEMPORARY changes.
Just pick any diet or way-of-eating that meets the above-stated energy requirements which attracts you. Stay on it as long as you can. When you want to eat differently, choose another diet or way-of-eating that meets the above-stated energy requirements which attracts you. Keep doing this process until you find a diet or way-of-eating that you find personally sustainable long-term, or until you die ... whichever comes first. This Alternative provides great deal of flexibility within one's eating choices. I've found that by choosing this Alternative, I am exposed to many desirable possibilities that are new to me. Some of these possibilities are transient experiences, and some of these possibilities become enjoyable Habits that I am able to incorporate into my life on a rather permanent basis. Some of you may be interested in my new Grandma video: which is located in DietHobby, at GRANDMA'S HOUSE, under Ask Grandma. You can also get there by clicking the link:
Mar 01, 2021 DietHobby: A Digital Scrapbook. 2000+ Blogs and 500+ Videos in DietHobby reflect my personal experience in weight-loss and maintenance. One-size-doesn't-fit-all, and I address many ways-of-eating whenever they become interesting or applicable to me.
Jun 01, 2020 DietHobby is my Personal Blog Website. DietHobby sells nothing; posts no advertisements; accepts no contributions. It does not recommend or endorse any specific diets, ways-of-eating, lifestyles, supplements, foods, products, activities, or memberships.
May 01, 2017 DietHobby is Mobile-Friendly. Technical changes! It is now easier to view DietHobby on iPhones and other mobile devices.
