Visual Images Are Running the Show

Our cravings live and work within a web of images. The targets and goals that drive us are often visual images in our minds. When we think about eating a piece of candy, we actually see an image of it in our minds and then imagine the taste. If you watch your mind work, you will observe that visual images are generally driving the show. You “see” options for your next move and if you then imagine how it will feel to reach the goal (chomp on the candy), then it starts pulling you toward doing it. Your cravings are derived from images for pleasurable things. They are just the minions of your imagination. If the imagined targets involve artificially intense pleasure ­– that is, those pleasures that are beyond the intensity we would have experienced in our evolution ­– those cravings can lead us to unhealthy decisions and lifestyles. For example, soda and ice cream provide us with a hyper-normal amount of pleasure and can trigger destructive cravings.

The Best Technique for Managing Cravings

So what is the best technique for managing these types of cravings? The very best technique is to basically not have the cravings in the first place. How is that possible? It is possible when your mind can’t create a good image of what the stimulus ­is going to feel like because it’s been a long time since you have actually been exposed to it. The longer the amount of time since you had, say, your last hamburger or fudge sundae, the harder it becomes for your mind to create a vivid image of eating these unhealthy foods. Images depend on memory and memories fade with time. An alcoholic sober for one week has a significantly more difficult problem to manage than an alcoholic sober for a year. Over time, the vividness of memory fades and loses a lot of its destructive influence.

This is why healthy living can get easier and easier, the better the job you do at it. When you are struggling, you can begin to notice that your cheats tend to come in little streaks. If you have a cheat on Monday, then for the next several days the image of that cheat is forceful since it is very clear in your memory. But if you don’t indulge that cheat again for a couple of weeks, the images start to decay in your memory and lose a lot of their power. It can be hard to start a good streak, but well worth it. The people who have the best “willpower” hardly use it at all, since they have rid themselves of their cheats quickly. Keep this in mind the next time you are thinking about skipping a little indulgence and living clean for the day – because you don’t just win at that moment. You also make tomorrow easier to live healthy and well.

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With the holidays upon us, we all know that we are going to soon be tested. We will be tempted by holiday goodies, and by our friends and families to indulge, to join “The Contest.”

What is “The Contest?”

In America, “The Contest” is the annual ritual that takes place between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day—to see just how fat and sick we can get. And it is easy enough to be a winner, as all it takes is to blindly follow our instincts. Those instincts will consistently lead people astray—right into high-fat, high-sugar, unhealthy foods.

It can be useful to be mentally prepared to avoid “The Contest” by implementing my top two tips.

Tip #1: Eat something healthy before you go!

If you plan to visit friends and family, and you know that healthy foods will be scarce, it is perfectly fine to have a substantial healthy snack before you go. That way, even if you are tempted and boxed into a bit of an unhealthy situation, you are less likely to jump “whole hog” (so to speak) into “The Contest.”

Tip #2: Break a sweat!

There is nothing like a good workout to make you feel pride in yourself and respect your body. Even if you have been wobbling along for a week or two, you can snap out of it in a matter of 15 minutes with a sudden exercise attack. I’m always amazed at how this simple effort gives my self-discipline a booster shot.

I hope these ideas can give you a little lift if you need it. Remember, we don’t need to get through the holidays with a perfect score, but we also don’t want to win “The Contest.” A few little moves like these can sometimes make a big difference. Good luck!

This article was originally published on Dec. 18, 2012, and has been updated.

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As someone who has been watching this cultural process for thirty years, my guess is yeah — they are going to get it … but it will be a slow dance. Don’t hold your breath about what you are likely to see in your lifetime. Think in terms of the march of human enlightenment, and it can help you relax. A hundred years ago, women weren’t allowed to vote. We are only about fifty years since the civil rights movement. Today, we look back in amazement at the primitive thinking of the average citizen in previous eras. Cultural perceptions can change — and usually in the right direction.

Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “One’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” While many people are now confused by the overwhelming sources of health information and oftentimes opposite recommendations from medical experts, this is a battle that will eventually be won. The plant-based program, I believe, will win out in the end because it yields consistent, positive results.

I see an open-mindedness among physicians that was nowhere to be seen thirty years ago. The collective mind is being stretched by these powerful new ideas, and the collective consciousness is not going to shrink.

But we need to be patient with other people and their processes. There will be a lot more slow train wrecks. We will all witness them, even within our families and friends. But with every mind touched by this knowledge, people are finding their way. At some point, what we know here will become common knowledge, and the benefits to people and to the planet will be immense.

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My good friend Debbie called me the other day and asked for a little motivational help. She was struggling with giving up caffeinated tea, and asked me for the secret to giving up bad habits. She was setting in for a long explanation, figuring this had to be complicated, but with enough insight, she might just find the motivation to quit the habit.

I told her there was a secret, and to get ready. “OK”, she said, “I’m ready.”

So I told her the secret. It is to just begin.

Too often, we overcomplicate the process of change. We wait for a great moment, turning point, an inspiration. Forget it. Just begin. You might not finish. You might not stick with it. You may not beat the problem this month or this year. Who cares? You want to get rid of a bad habit? Just begin.

I told Debbie I could help her right then, but we would have to “commit a crime.” She laughed. What did I mean?

“Go get out your tea, bring it over to the sink while we are talking, and get some scissors,” I said. She laughed nervously. “I can’t believe you are making me do this!”

I had her cut the tea bags, and put them down the disposal. Gone. Poof. Kaput. Now she could just begin. I pointed out that if she wanted to change her mind, she could run to the store tomorrow and get some more tea, no problem. Well, that was two weeks ago, and guess what?  She hasn’t bought any more, and she is kicking her habit. She’s begun.

Don’t wait for the golden moment. The turning point. The magic key. There isn’t one. If you want to change something in your life, don’t plan to change the whole thing at once and “really get into this.” Forget it. Just begin. Once you start, you just might build a little momentum. Commit a crime or two….toss some of the junk down the sink. Clean out the cupboard a little. A little crime can help get you going.

And a little saintly behavior can help too. Can’t get into an “exercise program?” Then don’t. Just begin. Six pushups, eight situps, a little jogging in place until you are tired. Right in your living room. You can begin right now….and in just a few minutes, you have discovered the great secret to change.

Ready to get started? Learn more about the life-saving plant-based diet, access hundreds of delicious free recipes, buy and download our convenient app, and register for our online cooking course!

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Willpower. The word conjures up images of tremendous effort, excruciating determination, and sacrifice. Willpower is Rocky Balboa forcing himself to the top of the monument in Philadelphia and celebrating his growing strength. It’s the US Olympic hockey team in 1980, grinding out an impossible victory over the Russians.

I love stories like this. Because these stories are so exciting, we often think that willpower holds the key to our success or failure, and that if we can just summon up enough willpower, we will succeed. But if we just don’t have it, we will fail.  Fortunately, it is beginning to look like this isn’t true. Some recent experiments in psychology have cast the willpower concept in a whole new light.

It seems reasonable to assume that the more determined you are to do something, the more likely it is that you will do it. However, a few years into my practice as a psychologist, I began to question this.  I noticed that often when clients were most desperate to make changes (“I will lose 15 pounds!”), they would quit making efforts as soon as they had a little setback. On the other hand, those clients who were maybe a little less determined and a little more flexible often succeeded. The journey became an exciting one, rather than a process that left them feeling guilty and defeated.

I have been puzzled by this pattern, but some insights into why the mind works this way may finally be on the horizon. Dr. Ibrahim Senay, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois, has turned something up. He and his colleagues have been studying what they call “self-talk” with respect to working on bad habits.  Helping people to analyze their “self-talk” has been a cornerstone of cognitive therapy for depression and anxiety for more than forty years. But the analysis of self-talk for managing and improving bad habits is pretty new, and Dr. Senay’s intuition led him toward a curious discovery.

In his studies, Dr. Senay would have one group of subjects say to themselves, “I WILL! I WILL! I WILL!” while thinking about starting an exercise program. A second group would say “Will I?  Will I?  Will I?” The results were clear-cut and dramatic, and consistent with a number of other studies Dr. Senay has conducted.  Those that said “I WILL!” were far less motivated and determined to exercise than those that asked themselves the question “Will I?”

The reasons for these results are still a little unclear, but Dr. Senay can see patterns emerging. When we “use our willpower” toward a goal, we can quickly feel guilty and embarrassed if we start to fall short. If, on the other hand, we keep an open mind about what we might accomplish, we feel like any positive moves we make are getting us ahead of expectations and thus are “wins.”

This makes the process of doing things better (diet, exercise, saving money) a source of pride. We are “getting ahead…better than we thought.” On the other hand, if we announce to ourselves, or anyone else, that “I will!”, it may sound impressive, but it sets us up for shame and avoidance as soon as we have a setback.

What is the message we can take from Dr. Senay’s research? A willingness to do better than you have been doing, rather than a will to do better, can be your best asset. So the next time you want to improve how you are doing something, ask your self a question like “Why not give this a try?” or “Could I maybe give this some effort?”

I’ve found that encouraging my clients to say “Maybe I will and maybe I won’t…but maybe I will” keeps them excited about the possibility of putting in effort toward a goal. For some reason, it works better for most people than trying to create momentum through sheer determination. This curious motivational twist, just now getting scientific attention, is being called the “willpower paradox.”

Maybe you will try to put it to work for you …Or maybe you won’t. Or maybe you will.

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