Do you often find yourself going back and forth about food? Is this healthy? Should I have just a bite? Am I still hungry? Will this make me gain weight?
I discovered a phrase that REALLY helps me when it comes to making decisions about what to eat.
When I’m trying to figure out—is this physical hunger or emotional hunger?
Or
Should I have this food or not
Confusion around food is super common. And that’s only because we have these two different parts of our brain that tend to compete with one another. We have the Prefrontal Cortex, which has our long-term goals in mind, and then we have our Primitive brain that makes decisions moment to moment and looks for immediate pleasure without considering the effects of it.
So of course, the prefrontal cortex is all, “no, you shouldn’t eat that, it’s not part of the plan.”
And then the primitive brain is like, “yea, but I’ve been so good, just this once, I’m on vacation, come on!” It’s the excuse maker, and it can be incredibly convincing if we let it be.
So I discovered a phrase that I use when I notice this brain battle come on that works like a charm every single time!
Here it is:
“IF IT’S NOT A HELL YES, IT’S A NO.”
I used to use this sentence when it came to making decisions in my life and it worked beautifully. Then I recently heard my business coach, Stacey Boehman, talking about it in relation to business decisions. When she said it, it clicked. I CAN APPLY THIS TO FOOD!
I decided that anytime my brain is going back and forth with food, it’s a NO. It means I don’t have it.
I don’t eat unless there are no questions about “should I eat this or not.”
When we begin questioning our food, it’s always coming from the primitive brain, which means it’s coming from our emotions. We don’t question physical hunger. Plus, our protocols are set up to address our physical hunger, so we should be just fine as far as that goes if we’re following our plan.
So take this phrase and use it!
Now, here’s the thing though. In the beginning, when you use this phrase, it’s probably going to bring up some negative emotion. You’ll FEEL the emotion you may have been trying to avoid with food.
That’s how we stop emotional eating though. We get good at feeling ALL emotions. It’s the ONLY way to end the battle with food and lose weight permanently.
So know that that saying NO may bring up a little pity-party. The inner toddler may come out and cry a little because it’s used to getting what it wants. It’s totally ok. Just comfort that lil one inside and move on!
You’ll be so damn glad you did!
In health, healing & happiness,
Jamie
