Post 7 | The Psychology of Change

Greetings,

In simple terms, the aim of all diet programs remains the same.  They endeavor to help participates change their behavior towards food. 

Ironically, however, most diets focus very little on the psychology of behavior and much more on promoting the techniques which make their particular program more effective at losing weight.

We all have seen the infomercials; "Drink just two of these shakes per day", or "Our company will send you your individually designed meals" or "Eat foods measured for you on this website"; the theories, methods and slogans are endless.  Regardless of their merit however, the success of these programs is still predicated on each individuals ability to change their behavior towards food.

Moreover, these diet plans ask participants to adopt behaviors which are harder to observe than the behaviors of healthy people. 

Think about that for a second?  Some diet programs ask people who have an issue with portion control to replace one of their meals with a liquid shake and/or have a single boiled egg for breakfast? Do you really think that is going to last? NO, especially considering that it would NOT last for most healthy people either!

On the on contrary, the Five Rules ask you to observe a few of the SAME basic habits of healthy people.  As these habits become internalized, they will help guide your behavior towards eating.  Through this process, YOU will begin to blossom into a healthy life through YOUR own self-discovery.

Healthy people don't go to websites to figure out what they can and cannot eat.  They don't replace a nice home cooked meal with a shake (no matter how nutritionally rich the drink is);  and they certainly don't have weekly boxes of low calorie processed meals and snacks delivered to their door-steps at a premium cost.  All of this is too hard and unsustainable.

No, as the Five Rules state, all healthy people simply eat a modest portion-sized meal which always includes some vegetables and a bit of fruit.  They also pack loads of snacks to munch throughout the day so that they don't get hungry. It is that simple.

Like most people, the hardest part for me was changing my behavior.  Previously, when I failed to change my behavior I became frustrated and thought that I lacked the self-control and discipline needed to live a healthy life.  Now I realize that my failure was not due to any personal indiscretion; but rather my not having the right strategy to change.  Let's explore.

Because a change in behavior is so essential for improving your health, special attention must be given to the relationship between habits, behavior and the mental process that drive them.  Understanding the nuances of these relationships, will give you the mental framework in order to change your behaviour for good.

First of all what is a habit? And how is a habit formed? 

Dictionary.com defines a habit as an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it becomes almost involuntary.

Now that is powerful stuff.  Notice that by introducing the word acquired; the authors’ are effectively suggesting that habits are a form of learned behavior. Learning as you know takes place in the mind. This means that all habits begin with your thoughts.

I would go even further to say that, "Habits are the acquired behavioral building blocks which serve as "two-way" links between more complex behaviors and our mental instructions"

Wow, that was a mouthful; but this point is critical; so let's explore more.

Logically, no behavior occurs in isolation; rather, all behaviors are the result of sequences of habits which originate from the brain's thought process.  Interestingly enough however, certain behaviours can also impact the way in which our brain's think (more on that later)

One can describe the process as "An initial thought, which leads to smaller habits which grow into the behavior that people began to observe"

This concept can be better understood through an example.

Many people misdiagnose the act of someone routinely arriving to work late as a bad "habit".  When I was in the Navy for example, I used to have a shipmate who always arrives to camp late and often forgets our company banner (which is needed for the opening ceremony).

I contend that his tardiness and forgetfulness are not habits.  More specifically, his tardiness and forgetfulness are behaviors which are the product of a serious of bad habits that happen before work.

This painstaking way of viewing habits, behavior and the thought process that drive them is important because it establishes that in order to effectively change your behavior you must address the habits that lead to the undesirable behavior.

Given that all habits begin in our minds, we must examine habit formation in order to improve them.  To do this well, it is helpful to divide habits into two broad categories.

The first category of habits is the  Involuntary/Emotional/Reactionary Habits ("RH")

Most often occurring during a heighten state of emotion, RHs, are those habits which you have little control over.  Their occurrence is most frequent and are often triggered by your environment.  Examples may include; a person's habit of crying during romantic movies, or a person's habit of becoming shy in front of large audiences or a person's tendency to grab a piece of candy on display in their doctor’s waiting room.

In essence, RHs are driven largely by the environment and that part of the personality which is learned during the developmental years.  Many, but not all, RHs can be changed.  To do this requires preparation.  This point brings me to the next category of habits.

The next category of habits is called Affirmative Habits. These habits are acquired (during an unemotional state) by the individual in order to produce and/or avoid certain behaviors as well as reduce the influence of their environment.  These are the habits that you employ as part of a strategy to overcome the RHs that you want to change.  For instance, people who want to become better speakers; join organizations like Toast Masters which forces them to get into the habit of speaking.  By speaking to an audience every week they slowly begin to improve their RH of shyness.

The most important part of my transformation was discovery that eating junk food and over-sized portions were RHs triggered by hunger, lack of education and the larger environment. 

My hunger was the result of my not having an Affirmative Habit of eating enough fruits & vegetables (which are high in protein and fiber) and surrounding myself with an abundance of healthy snacks.

For nearly 20 years, I tried to break the Reactionary Habit of eating junk food and over-sized portions with mental games (will power).  This never worked.

The best way for most people to curb a Reactionary Habit is by off-setting it with Affirmative Habits. 

Back to the example of my shipmate; it seems quite reasonable to suggest that my shipmate should get into the habit of waking up just a little earlier in order to change the behavior of arriving to camp late. 

The fallacy of this approach is that it is extremely difficult to use one RH as a tool to change another RH.  Waking up early is a RH influenced most likely by my shipmate's alarm clock; which is part of the environment.  Also, by default, waking up can only happen from a state of sleep. Hence, it is impossible for the person to be of sound mind when they make the decision to wake up. 

A more fruitful approach would be for my co-worker to introduce a few AHs which will offset the behavior of arriving to work late.  For example, he could iron next week’s uniforms on Sunday evening while he is watching TV.  The night before, he might place the flag near the door so that he has to pass it on the way out.  If he brings lunch, he could also prepare it the evening before.  Finally he could go to bed a little earlier whenever possible.  All of these suggestions are AH which would have helped my shipmate fix the ultimate behavior of arriving late to work.

I also use AHs to overcome my bad habit of buying junk food from the office vending machine.  I used to think that I had no control over my food environment, and that my only option was to will myself not to get a treat from the vending machine.  Of course I couldn't ask my company to get rid of all the vending machines; and even if I did; there were still loads of stops in the building that sold junk food galore. 

By understanding the concept of habits, I decided to employ a few Affirmative Habits to help me kick my habit.  Each Monday, I brought enough snacks to last the entire week.  I brought a bag of apples, a bag of oranges, a box of Fiber One bars, grapes, grapefruit, nuts, raisins, frozen mix fruit, celery, carrots, cucumbers and of course my training wheels; popcorn.  If there was a nuclear explosion I was the go to man! 

Notice that I attacked the problem from a different completely opposite perspective.  Instead of trying to not give in to the RH of eating the junk food, I just offset it by an arsenal of Affirmative Habits. By the end of the month, my snack pile began to slowly reduce. Now I carry a normal amount of snacks, and still have not touched the vending machine.

Using AHs to overcome bad Reactionary Habits is a strategy that works.  You can start today!

This is the underpinnings of the Five Rules.  By affirmatively adding two vegetables to each meal; this transforms the way you grocery shop and the way you think about food.

By affirmatively bringing as many snacks as you can eat to work; this changes your environment and puts you in a better position to change your behavior towards the vending machines.

Remember, you can't fight a Reactionary Habit with another Reactionary Habit.  We have all tried it for years and it has not worked.

 Happy Eating!