A weird reason why you might actually be eating junk

"Do I want this?" "No, I don't want this!" "Do I want this?" "No, I don't!" "How many calories is it?" You don't want this!" "I really want it though!"

This internal chatter can be extremely taxing.

It's a pure battle between our long term, rational mind versus our short term, irrational mind.

It's Dr. Jekyll versus Mr. Hyde.

It's our Body Tutor versus the devil on our shoulder.

Whatever you want to call it ---> it's extremely taxing. This internal debate can drive us crazy.

And here's the weird reason why you might actually be eating junk food --> because you're so sick of 'listening' to it! And we know that if we give in, and just eat whatever it is we're obsessing over, we won't have to listen to this internal debate anymore.

What I'm saying is that you might not even REALLY want the junk you're eating. What you might want is peace and quiet.

Laurie, a client, writes this to me: (Pardon her french)

"I made the decision to eat like shit today. Because I've been thinking about it for a few days and I just don't want to think about it anymore. It's like what you were saying about the candy. I just ate to shut-up my food desires."

Don't you find this fascinating?

Because what we're really after isn't necessarily the food. And food, as much as we like to think it might, will never give us what we're truly after.

So what can we do about this?

Question: if you were watching TV with a little kid and suddenly something very graphic appeared what would you do?

Well, I think, you'd change the channel as fast as you possibly could, right?

As soon as we find ourselves starting to negotiate with ourselves we have a chance to turn it off. We have a chance to change that channel. We can choose to focus on something else. And that's the key. Because in this moment, we're focusing our attention only on the temptation in front of us.

What would happen if your favorite person walked in the door?

You'd very quickly forget about the temptation, and the internal chatter would never start.

What would happen if going forward, instead of only focusing on yourself in that moment, you focused on other things?

Thinking about this BEFORE we're in the moment, is what makes this possible because after all, the moment is the moment. It's hard to control what we do in the moment. But, if God forbid there's an emergency we all know how to call 911 - even though we may never have in the moment, right?

How to practice: Right now whatever you're thinking about, change that channel and think about this: Why are manhole covers round?

Right now, you're (hopefully) thinking fairly rational and you were able to change your focus to the question I just asked.

Next time you feel yourself starting to negotiate with yourself why can't you quickly think about something else?

When we know what's going on, while it's going on, it's much, much easier to change what goes on.

-Adam

P.S Bonus Prize: First person to email me --> adam at mybodytutor dot com with the subject line 'Bonus prize: Manhole question' -- with the correct answer to my question will get a prize. I'll announce the winner in my next inspiration. Oh and don't Google the answer because I will know if you did! :)