Addiction Recovery

A person cannot hope to be well by thinking health, if he eats, drinks, breathes and sleeps like a sick person. You cannot “break” a habit. Instead you create a better way and replace that old habit with a new one.

You were aware of your actions the first or possibly even the tenth time you were learning something new. By the 100th repetition it was a habit. No longer were you conscious of the action–it was automatic. We started learning about eating from our parents and the number of teachers has been multiplying since then.

Along the way we have acquired a multitude of habits concerning the what, where, when. why and how of eating. It is not really necessary to know the history of our habits. Now is the time to decide which habits are good and which ones need to be replaced.

For instance, consider the habit of eating while watching television. It is called a BAD habit because you are unaware of how much food is being consumed. It is likely to be more than is needed.

How much attention are you giving to food and how much to the television screen? It’s certainly not a 50-50 proposition. Have you become like one of Pavlovs Dogs–every commercial is a signal to rush to the kitchen for more food?

How about doing your own research on the subject? One time is good but several times would be better. Prepare your meal and take a tray with everything you had planned to eat to your favorite viewing position. Then, pretend that the TV suddenly quit working. Do NOT turn it on–just go ahead and eat your dinner!

Notice how the food looks and smells. Take a bite and pay attention to how it feels in your mouth and what it tastes like. Chew each bite thoroughly before taking the next one. Take time to enjoy the food with all your senses. Remember, you are not in any competition trying to see how much food you can stuff into your mouth in the shortest amount of time.

Pay attention to the point when your are satisfied and the hunger is gone. There may be some food still left on the plate–we are talking about satisfied, not stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey!

I learned this the hard way when the repair shop kept the TV longer than necessary. I thought I had been following all the “rules” for healthy eating–even taking time to weigh everything before cooking. Surprise, there was no desire to finish everything that was on my plate.

Compare your test dinner with the times before when you were so engrossed with what you were watching that you did not notice the food. The dinner plate was empty but you had no memory of how anything tasted.

Take what remains on the plate to the kitchen and put it down the disposal. Those extra calories are better there than on your hips or adding to the love handles. Begin learning the difference between the hunger that is your body signal for more fuel (energy) and the hungers that cannot be satisfied with food.

If it is impossible for you to eat unless you are watching television, try this trick. Start your meal with a big green salad. Measure the salad dressing, but salad greens are low in calories. By the time you finish the salad, you have given your chewing muscles a workout and allowed the appetite control time to start working. (By the way, do you really want to teach your children that television and eating are synonymous?)

The habit of drinking carbonated beverages by the six-pack each day is another one to replace. One visiting friend remarked that children in the USA do not get weaned from the baby bottle. “They simply replace the bottle with a can of pop.”

It’s not just the extra calories in the beverages–research is showing that some ingredients may have serious long term effects on the body. Give your body the water it needs for the proper functioning of all the internal organs.

Two new habits (eating meals without television and drinking water instead of carbonated beverages) can work wonders for everyone. Both are best described as preventive medicine.

These new habits are for everyone now considered as reasonably healthy. Are you gaining one or two pounds each year? What was your weight 10 years ago? At the present rate of increase, what will you weigh in 10, 20 or 30 years. Most people tend to decrease physical activity as they grow older.

It would be great if we had easy access to the imaging programs that show what people look like as they age. Seeing what we would look like in 10 years just might be the push that forces us to replace a few of the old habits with healthier ones.

Start now to replace habits that are interfering with your desire for a healthy lifestyle. You will be happy with the results.

Gloria Hansen is an author and educator on consumer issues. She has a B.S. degree in Foods and Nutrition from Iowa State University. Her website http://www.LivingBetterAndBetter.com/healthy/ features lifestyle changes for optimum health, living life in abundance, feeling and looking great, changing your mind to change your world and other resources for self improvement.

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