I Want It Now
Why do we want to eat foods that we know aren't good for us? Pizza, ice cream, cheese, candy, alcohol, fried foods. We all know this feeling. Guilt overcomes us even as we are in the act of indulging. But it is as if we are possessed. We feel completely out of control. As if the idea of not eating is literally not a possibility.We’ve been conditioned from inside out to form these habits. Here are some of the tops reasons.
Biology
Part of these urges and cravings are innate and hard wired in us as humans. This goes back thousands of years to when, we needed to find and jealously guard food, shelter, sex, territory in order to survive. Part of that brain is still in us even though we don't need it anymore.
Brainwashed
We learned through rituals and customs that junk food is a reward. Something positive we have earned for going through a stressful time or for celebrating an event. But think how disturbing that is. Seriously. For example, when we tell children they cannot have dessert until they do not finish their vegetables. It is literally saying something like this “if you eat something that you don’t want but that is good for you because it will make your brain and body function well and help fight off diseases, then you get to have something immediately after that will do the exact opposite and contribute to a disease that may ultimately kill you.” Think of all of the candy and junk food at school bake sales, birthday party goodie bags, Valentine’s Day, Trick or Treating, and practically any celebration you can think of. We have been conditioned our entire lives to value junk food and comfort food as a reward for dealing with something we would rather not deal with. Over time that “reward” became a habit we use to soothe ourselves. When in reality what “soothing” is really doing, is making us unhealthy and addicted.I truly think someday people are going to be saying things like, “people used to give their children sugar as a reward, how weird!”, the same way we now say “how weird is it that people used to smoke in movie theatres, airplanes, and hospitals!”
Temptations Galore
The consumer culture we live in needs us to consume things. The instant gratification humans get from indulging in sugar is forced on us everywhere. I went into a few chain "pharmacies" near my apartment recently and was shocked by how much candy they are selling for Easter. The vitamins and medicines and actual pharmacy are way in the back on half of one side of the aisle. But the Easter Candy took up 4 full aisles in the front. This is the tagline for CVS Online Drugstore,Pharmacy, Prescriptions & Health Information. They should add a “candy store” to the front of that list.A lot of people and institutions that claim to be are looking out for our well being are making a lot of money by enticing us all to develop habits that will lead to our getting sick and maybe even killing us.Many US Hospitals house fast food restaurants like McDonald’s. What?! So if we eat fast food we can diseases that put us in hospitals and then the hospitals we are treated in have McDonald’s inside their walls?!
Sugar made me do it!
Another signal your body could be sending is that it is in full-blown sugar addiction mode, and the cravings you are having are a result of sugar addiction. If this is a signal you pick up on, it could indicate that perhaps you do not need sugar, but rather your brain is demanding you to satisfy its yearning for euphoria.It is why we are seeing an insane increase in type 2 diabetes and obesity. It is also linked to heart disease, many forms of cancer and Alzheimers.The sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to play down the link between sugar and heart disease and promote saturated fat as the culprit instead, newly released historical documents show.
Emotional eating
Take all the reasons I have listed so far and add the fact that many of us use food to dull the feelings we want to avoid. Addictions are like vices. I have learned the best way to fight them is with awareness and virtue. Easier said than done, I know. Urges, cravings, and vices are opportunities to learn something about yourself. The next time you feel an uncontrollable urge to eat, drink, shop, take out a pen and paper and try the Working In exercise. Are you trying to escape from loneliness, boredom, feeling left out, fear? Figure out what you are trying to run away from and run towards it instead.At the beginning of any major life change, there is going to be a period of needing to get used to it. You go through the motions and eventually it becomes second nature. But if you understand what the triggers are, you will have a better chance of making the habit stick. The way you eat is the way you live. It is an expression of something deeper. Stop depriving, shaming and torturing yourself. Everything you believe is possible for you shows up on your plate. The moment you reach for the cheese crackers or drink, or cake, or ice cream to avoid what you feel, you are saying “I have no choice but to dull my thought. I cannot allow things to be felt, understood or worked through.” You are saying, “There is no possibility of anything different so I might as well eat.” You are saying, “Possibility exists for everyone but not me so I might as well eat.” Or “Food is the only true joy in life so I might as well eat.” We have to start saying “enough”. We have to re-write our story. You cannot eat your way through feelings. You have to feel your feelings. Let them take you. Deal with them. Eating them will not make them go away.You cannot fill a void in your heart with food.Use food as a way to the rest of your life. Use it to express how much you respect yourself, your body and your mind.Please share this with anyone you think might benefit from it.Have a great week!