A huge amount of the actions we take on a daily basis are unconsciously based on
habits.
That is, we give very little thought to them and habitually or compulsively complete the tasks.
For example, cleaning your teeth, making morning coffee, tying your shoes, getting a mug out of the dishwasher, driving your car. Mostly we complete these tasks with what feels like zero thought.
Unfortunately we often have the same disregard for our food choices!
Many of our decisions regarding food are habits.
We pull the box of cereal from the cupboard.
We spread the marmalade on our toast.
We have a soda with lunch.
We grab a sausage roll from Greggs.
And anyone who has ever tried to lose weight will testify to how hard it can be to break certain habits!
Too often we have members who beat themselves up over succumbing to old ways of eating when they are trying to reinvent their diet into something more nutritious and sustainable.
They often interpret the slip up as weakness or stupidity.
But when finding out that it is an old habit that is creeping in they can look at their mistake in a more practical and less emotional way.
Habits can be very hard to break.
Even more so if we remain unconscious of the offending habit!
Forming new habits
Once we have identified that it is a habit problem we can look at breaking the habit for good.
Sometimes this means choosing fruit instead of chocolate bars or decaf tea instead of soda.
Once we establish a suitable substitute we can focus on establishing it as a new habit and replacing the old habit for good.
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