BREAK FREE FROM FOOD CRAVINGS CAUSING  YOUR WEIGHT GAIN

THE NATURE OF CRAVINGS & THE FORCES EXPLOITING THEM

Lesson #1 WE'RE WIRED TO CRAVE AND OVEREAT.

Have you ever wondered why we start wanting a nibble of food and end up binging? Why do we overeat even when we don’t want to? 

Few of us intend to hit food like a linebacker, yet almost all of us end up doing just that. Why? In this lesson, you’re going to learn a surprising conclusion drawn by evolutionary biologists: We are wired to overeat. 

 LESSON TAKEAWAYS 

AIM: Get you to understand you don't binge on sweets because you lack self discipline or self-control. You overeat because you were designed to do so. 

GOAL: Set you up to understand the next few lessons-- how the conscious brain can  outsmart our instinct to overeat.

Lesson #2 ARE WE "ADDICTED" TO THE FOODS WE CRAVE?

We use the phrase "sugar addiction" in everyday conversation because our experience is eerily reminiscent of what we think of as drug addiction. You start eating, believing you're only going to eat a certain amount but once you start you can't stop. 

You try to get a handle on it. You try to cut down but you repeatedly fail. There's a compulsive quality to it that can start to take on a life of its own. Despite a strong motivation to stop you're unable to get consumption under control. But here’s a question--do scientists actually believe sugar is an addictive substance?  The answers will surprise you.

LESSON TAKEAWAYS 

AIM: Understand sugar's properties encourage disordered eating (overeating, binging). That between the addictive nature of sugar and our wiring to overeat we need to put "guard rails" around the consumption of sweet foods and beverages.

GOAL: Awareness that sugar ignites our instinct to overeat in a way that no other food does. This is necessary to understand the "guard rails" we discuss later.

 Lesson #3 THE FOODS WE CRAVE ARE FORMULATED TO ADDICT US

By ordering laboratory scientists to manipulate chemicals and food substances into their highest “bliss points,” food giants can knock down the natural guard rails we have to prevent overeating. 

A natural craving for cookies might compel you to eat three or four. But the way they are manufactured compels you to eat eighteen. Basically, the food industry produces food designed to make us lose control. 

And since three-quarters of the groceries we buy are processed food, we have a lot to lose control over. Here we discuss the science of how the industry makes processed food addictive. 

LESSON TAKEAWAYS 

AIM: Help you understand why it's so hard to control our eating around processed foods and why we have to protect ourselves from the industry’s predatory practices.

GOAL: Create a mindset shift that you can't approach eating sugary food the way you would, say, celery. Understand there are forces arrayed against you that have nothing to do with willpower and self-discipline.

HOW TO END OR WEAKEN CRAVINGS FOR UNHEALTHY FOODS

Here you’re going to learn the most effective ways to weaken or eliminate cravings for chocolate, junk food or any other unhealthy food. Centering around what neuroscientists call "food cue reactivity" you'll find proven, evidence-based techniques to liberate you from crushing cravings. 

Lesson #1: "GUARD RAILS" THAT WEAKEN CRAVINGS & AVOID OVEREATING 

From common sensory cues that trigger overeating to serving styles that encourage binging you'll learn how unconscious eating behaviors set the stage for a loss of control.

LESSON TAKEAWAYS 

AIM:  Awareness of particular eating patterns, habits and behaviors that contribute to a loss of control.

SKILLS YOU'LL LEARN: How to avoid behaviors that start with cravings and lead to binging or overeating. You'll develop very specific "guard rails" that keep you safe while either entirely avoiding addictive food or allowing you to eat rational portions without wanting more.  

Lesson #2: HOW TO CREATE MORE FRICTION AROUND ADDICTIVE FOODS

Again, we cannot approach a donut the way we would an apple. Here we investigate a concept known as "friction" that's proven to eliminate or significantly reduce overeating. 

LESSON TAKEAWAYS 

AIM:  Awareness of how creating "friction" around addictive foods can practically guarantee you won't overeat.

SKILLS YOU'LL LEARN:  Dozens of tactics and strategies designed to stop you from overeating, not from enjoying food you love. They are a recognition that our instinct to overeat, the addictive properties of processed foods, and the industry’s exploitation of our cravings all compel us to approach these unhealthy foods differently than we do healthy foods. 

SECTION 3: HOW NEUROSCIENCE SAYS WE SHOULD MANAGE CRAVINGS

Here you’re going to learn two delayed gratification techniques that cut out a tremendous number of calories while preserving your ability to eat whatever you want. How is that possible? By replacing the current framework you're using ("Yes, I will indulge/No, I will not" with a better one ("Yes, I will indulge/ No, I will POSTPONE").  

Lesson #1: THE DELAYED GRATIFICATION TECHNIQUES YOU'RE CURRENTLY USING ARE COMPLETELY FLAWED. 

A neuroscientific critique of the utter uselessness of traditional delayed gratification techniques advocated by dieting ("I'll give up this burger so I can lose weight/get healthier"). When you find out why this type of approach has a 95% failure rate you'll never use it again.

LESSON TAKEAWAYS

AIM: Awareness of how useless and damaging traditional delayed gratification techniques are and why they almost always fail completely. For example, studies show that intellectual abstractions ("If I give up this burger today, Ill get thinner sometime in the future") can rarely compete with visceral emotions (the intensity of the look and smell of that burger!). 

Goal: Convince you to give up using dieting's version of delayed gratification and embrace neuroscience's far more effective version (which you'll learn in the next lesson).

Lesson #2: NEUROSCIENCE'S PREFERRED DELAYED GRATIFICATION TECHNIQUE

This method avoids the corrosive "intellectual abstraction vs visceral pleasure" dynamic riddling traditional delayed gratification techniques and replaces it with something far more powerful.

 Combining mindfulness with can't lose choices, this 5-second technique was voted "favorite technique" by hundreds of our students.

LESSON TAKEAWAYS

AIM: Understand the concept behind the PAUSE-RATE-DECIDE technique, why it's so powerful and the benefits it brings. 

Goal:  Instead of resisting cravings, you'll see the wisdom of tuning into them, and working with rather than against them. 

SKILLS YOU'LL LEARN:  How to apply the PAUSE-RATE-DECIDE technique right before every snack or meal. 

SECTION 4: A Second Neuroscientific Cravings Management Tool.  

How can the French eat anything they want and not gain weight? By managing their cravings differently than we do. Our second delayed gratification technique was inspired by anthropological research into foodie cultures in France, Italy and Japan. What they found was completely counter to the dieting ethos so prevalent in the U.S. 

These cultures use pleasure, not deprivation to manage their cravings. Thus, our second delayed gratification system doesn't confront a craving with sacrifice ("Should I give up these fries so I can lose weight/get healthier sometime in the future?"). 

Instead, it confronts it the way the French do--with PLEASURE ("Should I eat these fries or wait until I can find a better version of them?")

Lesson #1:  HOW THE FRENCH MANAGE CRAVINGS--AND HOW YOU CAN TOO 

You'll see studies showing when you base food decisions on higher and higher levels of pleasure you become habituated to higher and higher levels of satisfaction. Over time you become less and less satisfied with the merely pleasurable, which is what junk food is, and insist on the mouth-watering.

And when that happens, you start cutting out junk foods, not because they’re bad for you, but because they no longer meet your minimum requirements for pleasure. THIS is how epicurean societies like the French manage their cravings and eat what they want without gaining weight. 

LESSON TAKEAWAYS

AIM: Understand the epicurean mindset that  the pursuit of pleasure, not dieting and deprivation, is the path to weight loss. 

GOAL:  Convince you to give up dieting and its corrosive denial of pleasure in favor of becoming a pleasure junkie who gives up volume for quality. 

Lesson #2: TRAIN YOUR TASTE BUDS TO REJECT LOW-PLEASURE EATING

This lesson shows you how to "put your taste buds in rehab" so that you reject low-pleasure eating (a good deal of the American diet) in favor of high-pleasure consumption. Again, studies show that pleasure junkies gladly reject junk food (low pleasure eating) and wait for a high-pleasure eating opportunity. 

Since high-pleasure food is harder to come by you naturally eliminate a significant amount of calories from your diet. 

LESSON TAKEAWAYS

AIM: Understand the importance of raising the level of pleasure you get out of food. Example: You'll get way more pleasure out of fresh-baked cookies than processed, packaged ones). 

GOAL: Train your taste buds to reject low-pleasure foods in favor of food that sends you into a rapture, knowing it will reduce the volume of food you eat in exchange for more pleasure. 

Lesson #3: A NEUROSCIENTIFIC TECHNIQUE THAT TRAINS YOUR TASTE BUDS TO HAPPILY REJECT LOW PLEASURE EATING.

Would you sacrifice a mediocre meal for an excellent one? Would you turn down a snack that sends you into the doldrums for a snack that sent you to the moon?  Of course you would! Maximizing pleasure is a driving force of human nature --and the engine that drives this lesson.

LESSON TAKEAWAYS

 AIM:  Understand the concept behind the technique known as Postponement For The Rapture. It is the delayed gratification tool you'll use to adopt a new mindset: Pleasure is more important than volume.

GOAL:  To be far more motivated by smaller amounts of high-pleasure food than larger amounts of mediocre food. 

SKILLS YOU'LL LEARN: The ability to instantly--and gladly--give up low-pleasure eating in favor of intensely pleasurable eating.  

CAST YOUR NEW EATING HABITS IN CEMENT

Reducing hunger requires the establishment of new eating habits. It isn't difficult but it does take time. You will inevitably go through periods where you'll forget what to do, become resistant or sabotage yourself in some way. In this section, we show you how to avoid the traps of building new eating habits by overcoming resistance, dealing with frustration and rebounding from failures. 

Lesson #1: Awareness 

Building new habits require you to pause and pay attention to what you’re thinking and doing. They require in-the-moment “sensors” that go off when you’re in the middle of a habit you’re trying to break, or a habit you’re trying to establish. In this lesson, you'll learn the art of "cultivating a witness state" so you can be more aware of what you're doing.

Lesson #2: Build "Emergency Reserves" For Setbacks

The latest studies in resilience show that a strategy called "Planning For Setbacks" dramatically increases the accomplishment of goals. We'll show you how to apply this brilliant approach.