Stoping the “CAN’Ting” by “DON’Ting”

I am as big of an American as the next one, and to say that we hate being told that we CAN’T do something is just as bad as throwing up Christmas morning and not being well enough to even want to open your presents.  As a parent, I am often telling my children that they can’t do something (like mixing egg, flour, water, and hair gel….all together at the same time, on the living room carpet).  Now this might be for good reason, but let’s face it, we often push back on the things that we are told we can’t do. 

It is like that in any diet that we try to hold up to.  I can’t eat such-and-such, I can’t eat past such-and-such time of the day, or I can’t eat anything that taste better than twigs and dirt so that I adhere to the diet.  Doesn’t that just sound like a ton of fun and something that is attainable?  Almost as much as looking forward to a root canal.  However, I think I would rather chose a root canal than adhere to a diet that makes me eat twig like food. 

If you have tried to stay on track with a diet like this, what is it that you end up craving?  The food that ends up watering your taste buds is the very thing that you can’t have.  Eventually, your emotional brain will communicate you have to eat what it is that is being craved, otherwise you will explode into a million tiny pieces, or kill someone to get it.  Since jail time doesn’t sounds as appealing as just going out and getting that craving, you chose to get the craving met. 

Now while most of this can be avoided by taking simple steps that you read about in this blog each week, it can also be avoided by a change in your psyche.  What if you changed the phrase, “I can’t eat that,” to a better phrase, “I DON’T eat that .”  While this seems like a very small and insignificant phrase not worth really trying, consider the following.

No one likes to feel out of control.  People don’t enjoy having situations where there is nothing that can be done in the situation.  We try to avoid this at all cost, and for often times, good reason.  It isn’t something most people wake up in the morning and think of ways in which they can be out of the most possible control of their lives.  If you did do this today, seek professional and medical help.  For the other 99.9% of us that do not enjoy this, it is this lack of control, that we often unknowingly approach our diet with.

We have our diet in control of us, which is why we usually cave and give in only after a week, if that, of adhering to the diet.  It becomes overwhelming and too difficult.  Instead, what if we are the ones that are truly in control, and simply state, “No, that is not me anymore….I do not eat that on a consistent basis anymore.”?  See the difference?  It puts you completely in control, and empowers you.  It doesn’t mean you wont be tempted by the smell of food, or the desire to eat it, but it does put you in control instead of being powerless.

I dare you to try it, even if you think I am nuts, just for a week.  Then come back to the blog, and put your findings in the comment section.  I am sure that what you say, others will be feeling the same thing.  So take the challenge, and stop “CAN’Ting” by “DON’Ting”.