Junk-Food Addiction Hooks & Tips to Avoid Them

Posted June 14, 2010 By Kathleen Fuller, Ph.D.
Dr. Fuller Pulls Free of Fast –Food Addiction to Protects Her Brain
This article entitled, Junk-Food Addiction Could Change Your Brain (posted June, 2010 under the dieting category on my blog www.kathleenfuller.net/wordpress  )has some amazing research for going to the next level for your health and happiness. Then find out why you may get hooked into junk food or fast food and tips to release you. Why do you tend to go for junk food or fast food, even though you know it will probably end up making you feel bloated and guilty? Researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan say, “people often overindulge or become compulsive overeaters in an attempt to improve their mood. It can happen when you’re happy -- and trying to prolong the happiness -- or when you’re sad and trying to get rid of the blues.”  Imagine yourself on a slow Sunday afternoon, and you think, “Let’s go to such and such and have some --------whatever.”  The very act of visualizing that tempting fast food can cause your body to respond and the dopamine gets released in your brain, and you feel happier or rewarded with a please feeling. Wait a minute, is that how you want your mind to control you?  If you can stop a minute and imagine you are an observer self, and choose to think of a different activity that can bring you joy plus health.  What would it be?  Using your creativity may take some practice. However, the rewards are so huge and life changing that goes on and on working for you by uplifting you on all levels.  Imagine that. "People strategically manage their actions both to accomplish their long-term interests and to attain immediate pleasures. If they believe they need to take action to regulate their feelings in the here and now, they tend to indulge in immediate pleasures. In contrast, if they believe such actions are not required, they act in their long-term interests," researchers found. “The recipe is simple. If you are feeling happy, focus on reasons why those feelings will last, and if you are feeling unhappy, focus on reasons why those feelings will pass." What Else Can You do to Avoid Fast Food Hooks? Separate research from University of Texas at Austin researchers revealed another simple way to help resist temptation: exaggerating its threat. "Four experiments show that when consumers encounter temptations that conflict with their long-term goals, one self-control mechanism is to exaggerate the negativity of the temptation as a way to resist, a process we call counteractive construal," the researchers wrote. For instance, college students with a high grade-point average were more likely than other participants to estimate that an upcoming party would take time away from their study. They, therefore, also were less likely to attend the party.
Too Many Decisions Can Also Deplete Your Willpower Your level of self-control can also be depleted by simple, daily decisions, research shows. So many men and women, mothers and fathers, even grandparents are overwhelmed in today’s world.  Furthermore, self-control and decision-making are both controlled by the same area of your brain, the prefrontal region. "Even if you just have to decide between two cups of coffee at Starbucks, it's a small choice, true, but doing that over the course of a day will, by the end of the day, render you less able to be good at self-control," said study co-author Kathleen Vohs, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, on LiveScience.com.
He chooses a heathwise choice for dessert.	Hook Free Tip: delegate unimportant choices to others. For example, let your spouse decide where to go or what to do for the weekend or let your waiter or waitress recommend a good healthy entrée to order when you eat out.
Hook Free Tip:  If you have trouble gathering up your willpower and resisting unhealthy temptations, choosing a fitness routine that addresses both your MIND and your body is a great way to increase the rewarding brain chemical dopamine. By making fitness your habit and letting nothing get in the way, you can build momentum to keep going even when you have down days. If you are currently in a state of mental unrest, be it financial worries, overworking, relationship troubles or any other negative emotional pattern, it will be very difficult to make your health a priority -- and overindulging may become second nature. Hook Free Tip: Self-control is the realization that you are responsible for everything you do. When you stop to think about it, how you react to the events happening in your life is the only outcome of any event that you can consciously determine. So use your imagination to lift yourself to a higher level of consciousness.  As you learn to use your imagination and follow these tips you can control your emotions and your body will follow! However, this is not a quick fix.  There is no success in a quick fix mind set.  Let that go. Hook Free Tip:  Choose a healthwise food plan you can love for life.
Hook Free Tip:  Make small consistent changes and keep your expectations to the small successful steps. This method of one small step at a time eliminates setting yourself up to feel like a failure because of too high of expectations. “Most dieters want to lose large amounts of weight and aren't happy unless they lose 30%-40%" of their body weight, says Wyatt.’ says Holly Wyatt, MD, Colorado University's program director for obesity research and education. Hook Free Tip: You might not fit into those skinny jeans, but keep in mind that losing even a little weight goes a long way toward improving your health. Research has shown that losing 10% of your body weight (for example, going from 200 to 180 pounds) can have big payoffs for your health. This is true success.
Barefoot Body Paradise Everyday, Dr. Kathleen Fuller, Ph.D #1 Amazon Bestseller Award Winner Leading Eating Disorder Expert The Surgeon of The Subconscious TM Dr. Fuller, a leading eating disorder expert reports on little-known tips too many tragically ignore in her breakthrough book Not Your Mother’s Diet BUY HERE
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