Are your brain patterns making you eat?
Repetition of behavior is comforting because it’s secure and familiar, and we like to know what to expect. This applies to all aspects of life including food.
We all have well-worn neural networks that get triggered when we see a food that used to be a regular part of our diets. Without conscious thought, your brain automatically says, “Eat it!” even though we want to avoid that particular food.
Then, the guilt and shame neural networks get triggered. And our brains knows how to lead us down that pathway, too. The reality is our brains are not in charge because they are simply following the well-worn path.
To change how you behave around food, you will need to create new neural networks. This is not as easy as following the same old path but you can do this using positive self talk.
Remind yourself that the discomfort you are feeling is temporary. Eventually your new patterns will overtake your old patterns and you will no longer eat on auto pilot. Visualize yourself digging a new path in your brain, a path that takes you away from life as an overweight person.
Forming new eating patterns in your brain takes more than three weeks because you are establishing a neural change, not just a behavioural habit . After several months of reinforcing new eating patterns the change will become permanent and the old impulses to eat poorly will be a distant memory.
