Overcoming Unconscious Consumption
Did you know that people consume almost twice as much food and drink when they’re in a group of six or more? It happens for the same reason that we can mindlessly consume a bucket of popcorn at the movies or find ourselves having had one too many beers at the big game. We’re consuming unconsciously.
Of course, it doesn’t help the situation that we tend to reach for convenience foods when hunger strikes and many of those easy-to-grab, convenient-to-fix processed foods -- the boxed stuff, the canned goods, the frozen dinners -- are engineered to make you crave them, to keep you coming back for more and more more...long after your dietary needs have been met.
Another reason we tend to overconsume is that overconsumption of food and/or alcohol fires off the reward center of the brain. Plain and simple -- it feels good. We get a dopamine high when we gorge.
But food and drink aren’t the only things that can give us that feel-good high. One of the keys to overcoming unconscious consumption is to train yourself to feel rewarded by achieving the healthy, good-for-you goals that you consciously set.
As someone who once weighed 300 pounds, I’m no stranger to unconscious consumption. I’ve been there, done that. And I’m living proof that by eating and drinking consciously, it’s possible to take control of your weight and your health.
In today’s episode, I share my personal relationship with food and alcohol and how it’s changed over time. I share what foods make me feel the best and which ones I typically avoid. I also share about my current practice of intermittent fasting, and we talk about how to make positive changes in the direction you want to take your health and why setting small, achievable goals is the key to creating feel-good, sustainable results.
And it all starts with awareness.
Thanks for listening!
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Links from today’s episode:
- Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss
- Episode 2 -- We learned that our behaviors control our results
- Episode 10 -- We talked about achieving big goals
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