In working with my clients to help them follow the Caveman Diet, I've noticed a pattern. People who follow the diet successfully end up eliminating certain foods from their diet without craving them anymore.

 

For example, on the Caveman Diet, you don't eat bread. People who follow it give up eating bread and stop craving it.

 

You might wonder, how do people do this? Many of us feel that it would be difficult, if not nearly impossible, to give up the foods we currently enjoy.

 

I wondered about this, too. How do some people stop craving foods they previously enjoyed?

 

I thought back in my own life about the foods I gave up eating a long time ago to see if I could find answers to this.

 

Some of the foods I stopped craving years ago include sodas, alcohol, chips, pretzels and Fries fries. I used to enjoy these foods in years past, but now I rarely or never eat them. Not only don't I eat them, I also don't crave them anymore.

 

I asked myself: How have I been able to reduce my desire for these foods?

 

 

 

I remembered that I stopped drinking sodas when I was in my teens.

 

At the time, I decided that sodas weren't healthy and that I didn't want to drink them anymore. I also decided that I didn't like the feeling of the carbonation, or, as I thought of it, "bubbles" in my stomach. Every time I thought about drinking soda, I would think how I didn't like the bubbling feeling in my stomach. Over time, I stopped wanting sodas.

 

I did the same thing with French fries. I knew that fries weren't healthy and that I didn't want to eat them. I thought about how when I ate fries or any fried food, the oil in them made me slightly nauseous. Each time I had the opportunity to eat fries, I passed on them, thinking about how I didn't want to feel queezy. Over time, I stopped wanting to eat French fries and fried food.

 

I call this technique "fostering food prejudice."  I believe that many people use the technique half-consciously to stop eating foods they don't want to eat, whether for health reasons or otherwise. And it  works.

 

It's actually very similar to the way we form prejudices against people or anything else in life that we decide not to like.

 

 

 

Here's a breakdown of how fostering food prejudice works:

 

 

Decide you don't want to eat a certain food. This may be because you realize it's not good for your health or because you tend to gain weight when you eat it. In the case of young kids, they often just decide one day that don't want to eat a certain food.

 

 

2. Find a Reason or Reasons Not to Like It.

 

Think of something you don't like about the food. What seems to work best is finding something about the food that makes you feel sick when you eat it or imagining that it's doing something bad to your body.

 

This can be something small like how cookies tend to mush up and get stuck in your teeth after you eat them, causing your gums to inflame and leading to tooth decay.

 

It can be something more intense, like how eating rich, cream-based sauces tends to make you feel sick.

 

It just has to be something that makes sense to you.

 

 

 

Every time you think about eating the food or have the opportunity to eat it, remind yourself what you don't like about it. Think about how the food feels bad to your body.

 

At the same time that you do this, don't eat the food.

 

Over time, you'll build up a habitual prejudice against the food and will subconsiously remove it from your "foods I want to eat" list.

 

 

 

 

People foster food prejudice unconsciously all the time. Why not try it yourself with foods that you want to stop eating for health or weight-loss reasons?

 

Here's an important key to doing it: rather than telling yourself that you can never have the food again, tell yourself that you can have it if you want but that it will make you feel sick or bad when you eat it.

 

Imagine how great it would be to banish unhealthy and fattening foods from your diet for the long-term because you simply don't want them anymore! It's very empowering.

 

Try it out yourself with a food that you'd like to eliminate from your diet.

 

Email me (by simply sending a "reply" to this newsletter) to let me know your results and whether you've used this technique successfully in the past. A number of people have already told me that they've used it effectively.

 

 

NOTE:

 

I've already helped a number of clients reach their health and weight-loss goals through my nutritional coaching.

 

If you'd like my help in losing weight and getting healthy for the summer, I offer a Personalized Nutritional Coaching Program.  We can work over the phone as well as in person, so you can use the program even if you're in a different state.

 

Call me at (512) 228-2800 if you'd like to learn more about having me work with you to help you meet your health and weight-loss goals.

 

 

Issue 57