Rewarding Yourself for Changing Habits

November 8, 2011 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

How do you reward yourself for the changes you’re making?

This is not a rhetorical question. We engage in our habits (whether negative or positive) because we get some benefit from them.

First rule of habit change

The first rule of habit change says that when the pain from the “side effect” of the habit outweighs the benefit of the habit itself (e.g. when the frustration of gaining weight is more painful than the pleasure of eating) then it’s time to make a change. However, one does not just “drop” a habit, s/he has to replace it with a “counter-productive habit.” In other words, find something else to replace the void left by getting rid of the problem habit. If you don’t do this, it makes it more painful.

For example, instead of simply saying, “I won’t eat when stressed anymore,” which makes one even more stressed out, triggering the habit you were trying to stop; it’s smarter to say, “When I’m stressed, I’ll take a walk.”

The problem with changing habits

Although this is a good first step, it’s important to remember that the habit you’re trying to change was providing a benefit, so even though the new habit is helpful, it’s still uncomfortable, making you less likely to continue. That’s why it’s important to reward your “inner child” when you make a change. If every time you resisted your problem habit, you were to reward yourself, the change would be:

More exciting
Less painful
Quicker

The problem is how do we change these habits?

[Read more…]

The Route to De-stress is through the Heart

August 4, 2011 by Featured Author Leave a Comment

Stress creates a huge impact on your mind and body.

Stress might have a slow or a sudden effect on your heart. It might lead to heart diseases and even a life-threatening heart attack. Stress is an unavoidable part of our life; it is not possible to get rid of stress. All you can do is avoid it or find ways to deal with it. You need to take care of yourself first to take care of others. Pay attention to the needs of your body and mind in order to take care of yourself. Follow a few rules of life to deal with stress and see the difference in your health.

Symptoms of stress

Symptoms of stress are sleeplessness, aches and pain, losing and gaining weight, etc. Recognizing the symptoms and working on them is very important to live a healthy life.

Management

Give yourself enough time: Very often we forget ourselves. Remember yourself first, if you want a happy and healthy heart. Be good to yourself and give yourself enough time.

Have food that is healthy for your heart: Avoid food that is full of trans-fats such as a lot of fried food, fast food, cakes, etc. Restrict yourself from taking in a lot or refined sugar. Use food that helps to reduce cholesterol like extra virgin olive oil and garlic with your daily food. Use fish oil as it is very good for your heart and is a source of omega 3 fatty acid.

Have a balanced diet: Your food needs to include everything from minerals to vitamins, proteins, iron, carbohydrate and even fats in a proper proportion. Make sure the food that you consume contains everything your body needs. Make sure you have a balanced diet. [Read more…]

Breaking the Eating Cycle: Why Bad Habits Trigger Bad Habits

May 5, 2011 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

It’s important to understand that bad habits trigger bad habits.

I call it “The Eating Cycle.”

In a nutshell, here’s how it works.

Something “happens.” We react to the “something” with a variety of feelings (listed under reaction to the event). Our way of dealing with those feelings is to eat. When we eat too much, we gain weight. Because we do not like gaining weight, we have a reaction to the weight gain, which is usually one of those listed. That triggers us to eat, which causes us to gain weight. You can see the cycle goes on and on.

How to break the cycle?

If we eat too much, we’ll gain weight; there is no way around that. So, we can only break the cycle by reacting differently to the weight gain. In other words, reminding ourselves “it could have been worse,” or “we don’t do it as often as we used to,” or “realizing on the grand scale of things, a minor weight gain is not the end of the world.” That will minimize the urge to eat.

The other option is that we learn how to handle our reactions differently. So, if we’re frustrated, we call a friend (instead of eat). If we’re depressed, we take a walk (instead of eat). If we’re angry, we do some activity to work it out (instead of eat). We don’t have to do it very long, just for a few minutes, long enough to break the cycle.

Remember, you cannot drop a habit, you replace it with a different habit. What will you do to fill the void left by changing your habit? (If you need help, I’m here.)