Erase Food Cravings and Cut Fat with This Counterintuitive, Yet Super Effective Method
The dopamine epidemic is real.
Now, there’s no problem with reward-motivated behavior. You work towards a goal, you accomplish it, you reap the reward: boom, a little dopamine hit.
The problem arises when you become so enraptured with the reward that you resort to shortcuts. You start to think, “How can I put in less effort and still feel that bubbly feeling inside?”
You start using cheap rewards like food.
The second you get a little work done, you hit up the local burger joint.
Or you finish off your to-do list and immediately settle on the couch with an oversized bowl of chips and guac.
Before you know it you’ve induced a conditioned response. A consistent association between certain foods and actions, and vice versa.
You’ve wired your brain to expect that big, beautiful burst of dopamine at the end of a habitual practice.
You now have food cravings. Plus a little extra belly fat?
But to every problem there is a solution, my friend.
The Psychology Behind Classical Conditioning
The Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov discovered the scientific method of classical conditioning while researching salivation in dogs.
Pavlov predicted that the dogs would begin to salivate in direct response to food. However, he discovered that the salivation began when the dogs heard his assistant’s footsteps bringing the food.
Pavlov’s dogs learned to associate food with a certain event or object resulting in the same response as the food itself.
Food cravings in humans are no different.
After a consistent eating habit has developed, the brain hard-wires an association between certain foods and specific stimuli, actions, or social situations.
For example, every Friday for breakfast you “reward” yourself with a large coffee and a donut.
Soon enough, this becomes a habit.
Now, as you round the corner, the donut shop straight ahead, you begin to salivate. The clock hits 8 AM and the saliva comes in uncontrollable waves. You step foot in the donut shop, smell the fried dough, and completely lose it.
There Are No Short-Cuts Towards An Effective Solution
If you can condition yourself to associate certain foods with specific stimuli, you can also decondition it.
Through conscious action, determination, and consistency it can be done.
And it’s simple.
Stop eating those foods. And especially stop eating them at the time, place, or situation you’re accustomed to.
Numerous studies have discovered that the frequency of hunger, craving responses, and reactivity to food stimuli all decrease during fasting.
Over time, a severe caloric restriction is extremely effective at cutting cravings and fat.
The lower the caloric deficit, the better.
If you think a simple diet is going to do the trick, you’re wrong.
Begin Your Journey Towards Physiological Freedom
“But if I fast I’ll feel really hungry and be forced to eat my way out from under the pain.”
Look, if you start running and want to improve, you don’t run for 5 minutes and then proceed to walk toward your goal because it’s too uncomfortable.
Fasting is no different.
Practice, gain consistency, and you’ll be amazed by the gradual lack of attachment to foods and routines you used to depend on.
Need some structure? Intermittent fasting is a great way to ease into the fasting process using a specific daily timetable.
In one research study, one group of overweight women went on a low-calorie diet for 8 weeks. Another group added an intermittent fasting regimen where they only ate a low-calorie diet between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.
The fasting group lost 25% more weight.
But even more impressive than the weight loss, the fasting group experienced much higher levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).
BDNF is a protein found in the brain that helps grow new neural pathways, an essential process that boosts habit formation and cognitive functions like self-control.
Stop Being A Slave To Your Subconscious Conditioning
It’s time to take the reigns and regain control.
You choose what to eat, when, and with whom, not your programmed mental faculties, which unbeknownst to you, have left you with some shitty habits.
Like running or meditating or any physically and mentally rigorous activity, fasting takes practice and patience.
But once you get in the groove, you’re going to install a new program that will have you feeling brand new.
