Controlling Urges

Ah, the sugar rush of Halloween. It doesn’t just last one day, or a week…  admit it, there’s a pillowcase of candy in your kid’s bedroom that you’re going to raid for months after trick or treating ends.

Don’t have kids? Ah, well that’s better… but you’re an adult. You can totally buy candy on your own! No trick-or-treating needed.

Candy is fine, sometimes, of course. There’s nothing wrong with a sweet treat occasionally.

The problem with candy and chocolate and sweets comes in when your eating protocol doesn’t allow for it. There are as many reasons to avoid this temptation as there are to partake.

So how can you avoid the self-sabotage that always comes along this time of year?

The solution to battling cravings is actually really simple. I stumbled upon it just recently, and I can’t believe how well this process works.

Ready? Here we go 👇🏼

Name that urge

Much of what happens inside of our brains goes below our level of consciousness. For years, I would sabotage my own efforts at healthy eating because I was operating unconsciously.

Bowl of food on the table? That looks good.

Bite sized chocolate bar? Yum, I’ll have one.

A glass of wine handed to me?  I want that.

The very first step in overcoming cravings is identifying the moment you have one. The second your brain latches onto something pleasurable and starts convincing you that you need to have it, you bring it into the light. You say (out loud preferably) “This is an urge.”

Forget the willpower

Once you identify the urge, the next step is to forget the willpower. Willpower is actually a way of distracting yourself from the urge, and it doesn’t work. The urge is still there under the surface, waiting for you to break down.

The thing about urges is, they seem really important. That’s your primitive brain working, telling you you need to have whatever it is you’re craving or you’ll die.

Again, the solution is so simple I had never thought of it before.

The solution is to allow the urge. You don’t need to answer it. But you do need to allow it.

Feel and observe the feelings

Urges, like all sensations, are felt physically in the body (that is, if we’re not trying to distract ourselves from them). So the next step, now that you’ve identified the urge and decided you are not going to answer it, is to allow the feelings about it to run their course.

The first time I tried doing this, my insides felt like a toddler throwing a tantrum. I felt panicked. Furious. I bargained with myself: this is so stupid. You can eat that! Don’t deprive yourself. I felt prickly in my upper back. My stomach growled. It was pretty intense.

I sat with and observed what was happening in my mind and body. After what seemed like an eternity (but in reality was only about five minutes), my inner toddler got tired of wailing and… stopped.

Rinse and repeat

Shocked, I realized that after only five minutes of inner-tantrum, my mind and body were calm. The urge had passed! I observed that the discomfort from the urge feelings were relatively minor, in comparison to other sensations I’ve endured.

And successfully overcoming an urge made me feel proud – if I could do it once, I can do it again.