Weight-Loss... becoming a non-smoker... old habits, but how can you overcome them?

Our automatic thoughts can help to keep us stuck in old habits and emotions which are often not the best habits and emotions for us. However, if we become more aware of the impact of automatic thinking on our lives, we will have more options and change will be easier.

Teaching someone to see their own thinking patterns is like teaching a young gardener how to identify a rare type of plant. The gardener needs lots of examples of what the plant looks like and they also need to know where it usually lives.

For instance, some people may think: 

What caused the weight problem

"I don't understand why I am overweight. I don't stuff myself all day".  
"I may have slow metabolism"

What to do about the problem and what this "solution" will be like

"My life is busy and difficult enough already, I can't cope with losing weight at the same time"
"Losing weight will be awful. I will have to go running and do aerobics and go to the gym the whole time"

And many other thoughts such as:

- Thoughts about what you "can" or "can't do" or
- Thoughts that happen "on the spot" whilst trying to lose weight or stop smoking or 
- Thoughts about yourself...

Being able to "catch" or spot an automatic thought is a hugely useful skill, but it is not easy or straightforward - like the new gardener trying to spot the rare plant - it takes practice.

However one can try to pinpoint the most important automatic thoughts such as:

What was going through my mind just before I started to feel this way?

What does this say about me? What does it say I can/can’t do?

What does this mean about me? My life? My future?

What am I afraid might happen?

 

Once those automatic thoughts have been spotted, we may choose to question/challenge them:

What is the evidence for these thoughts? What is the evidence against it?

What are some other ways of thinking about this situation?

Am I blaming myself for something over which I do not have complete control?

Am I always thinking that things will go badly?

Am I exaggerating how bad things would be if they did go wrong?

Ok, so... you may ask me, is that all? I am afraid not... this is only a glimpse of what I use to help/empower my clients to overcome their eating/smoking habits. I employ other techniques such as Hypnosis, CBT and NLP to find out the reasons for those thoughts and behaviours. 

This is not aimed to be "a" guide but it helps those people out there wanting to either lose weight or stop smoking as well as start thinking differently about their habits.


As I mentioned before, our automatic thoughts can help to keep us stuck in old habits and emotions, however it is never too late to start the process!

How gargling lemonade could help smokers to quit the habit!

• Sugar on the tongue activate sensors that boost attention and can improve self control

• Could help people quit bad habits, at least in the short-term

For those smokers desperate to give up the habit, scientists have an unusual solution - gargling with a glass of lemonade.

They found that the interaction of sugar (known as glucose) on the tongue boosts attention as well as energy and can improve self control.

This could help keep smokers away from the cigarettes at least in the short-term.

Trying to ditch a bad habit? A glass of lemonade could help by activating sensors on the tongue, which then stimulate the brain.

A team from the University of Georgia conducted self-control tasks on 51 students to see if a mouth rinse with glucose boosts attention as well as energy.

The first task, which depletes self-control, was to meticulously cross out Es on a page from a statistics book.

The second was the Stroop task, where participants were asked to identify the colour of various words flashed on a screen, which spell out the names of other colours.

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The Stroop task’s goal is to turn off the student’s tendency to read the words and instead see the colours.

Half the students rinsed their mouths with lemonade sweetened with sugar while performing the Stroop test, and the other half with Splenda-sweetened lemonade. 

Results showed students who rinsed with sugar, rather than artificial sweetener, were significantly faster at responding to the colour rather than the word.

Professor Leonard Martin, of the University of Georgia, said: 'Researchers used to think you had to drink the glucose and get it into your body to give you the energy to (have) self control.

'After this trial, it seems that glucose stimulates the simple carbohydrate sensors on the tongue. 

'This, in turn, signals the motivational centers of the brain where our self-related goals are represented. These signals tell your body to pay attention.'

Sugar could provide at least a short-term boost to your willpower

It took participants about three to five minutes to perform the Stroop test, which shows a measure of self-control, but glucose mouthwash might not be enough to solve some of the biggest self-control obstacles like losing weight or smoking.

Professor Martin said: 'The research is not clear yet on the effects of swishing with glucose on long-term self-control. 

'So, if you are trying to quit smoking, a swish of lemonade may not be the total cure, but it certainly could help you in the short run.'

Professor Martin, along with co-author Matthew Sanders, a doctoral candidate, believes the motivation comes in the form of self-values, or emotive investment.

He said: 'It is the self-investment. It doesn’t just crank up your energy, but it cranks up your personal investment in what you are doing.

'Clicking into the things that are important to you makes those self-related goals salient.
'The glucose seems to be good at getting you to stop an automatic response such as reading the words in the Stroop task and to substitute the second harder one in its place such as saying the colour the word is printed in. 

'It can enhance emotive investment and self-relevant goals.'

The study, published in journal Psychological Science, says previous research into self-control has shown a decline in performance for the second task as energy levels plummet.

'Previous studies suggest the first task requires so much energy, you just don’t have the energy left for the second task that you need,' Martin said. 

'We are saying when people engage in self-control, they ignore important aspects of their goals and feelings. 

'If you have to stay late at work, for example, but you really want to be going home, you have to ignore your desire to go home. Doing so will help you stay late at work, but it may also put you out of touch with what you personally want and feel on later tasks. 

'Swishing glucose can focus you back on those goals and feelings and this, in turn, can help you perform better on the second task. 

'In short, we believe self-control goes away because people send it away, not because they don’t have energy. People turn it off on purpose.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2229792/How-gargling-lemonade-help-smokers-quit-habit.html#ixzz2Bw5tP8Wb