Finally! In the past, my biggest obstacle when trying to lose weight was giving up foods that didn't fit in my diet. Cravings were my mortal enemies, and I had them often because I was highly suggestible. People talking about a new flavor of potato chips would make me Gotta Have It. A television commercial for grilled cheese sandwiches would make me Gotta Have It. Even reading a book was dangerous because if the main characters tucked into a stack of pancakes, that would make me Gotta Have It.
Worse, whenever I felt like Gotta Have It, I couldn't rest until I had what I craved. Even if I tried to satisfy a craving with a different food, it wouldn't work and I'd end up eating the original food on top of the substitute food. Even though I knew how unhealthy and counterproductive it was to satisfy those cravings, I just didn't have the will power to tell myself, "No."
Since I've started the Beck Diet Solution, things have been different: I haven't had any cravings for 12 days! I'm not sure how I could have changed so drastically so quickly, but I am sure I've been extremely lucky and I can't count on that forever. So I'm relieved to reach this step of the program, and I think it will truly help in fighting cravings.
Dr. Beck offers two kinds of anti-craving strategies: Mindset Techniques and Behavioral Techniques.
There are 5 Mindset Techniques:
- Label It. Tell myself this is only a craving, not a true need.
No problem. - Stand Firm. Tell myself I am absolutely not going to eat the food I'm craving.
Easier said than done. - Don't Give Yourself a Choice. Tell myself NO CHOICE.
How is this different than standing firm? Apparently I'll find out on Day 16. - Imagine the Aftermath of Giving In. Think about giving in to the craving, but focus on what happens after I swallow: feeling weak and out of control and hopeless.
This is a great idea! - Remind Myself Why I Want to Learn to Withstand Cravings. Read my ARC.
Another great idea!
There are 4 Behavioral Techniques:
- Distance Myself from the Food I Crave. Leave the room or throw away or give away the food.
This could be difficult since it calls on will power again. - Drink a No- or Low-Calorie Beverage. Satisfying thirst masked as hunger can erase cravings; have a glass of water or another low-calorie drink.
I already do this, drinking almost a gallon of water a day, and it does help. - Relax. Focus on my breathing, in through my nose for 4 counts and out for 4 counts.
This can be helpful in stressful situations of any kind. - Distract Myself. Perform another activity instead of giving in to the craving.
A definite winner!
The idea is to practice these techniques when a craving hits so I'll be able to ignore it until it goes away. Since I haven't been having cravings lately, I don't know when I'll be able to test the theory. So I wrote out these techniques on a card, and I'll read it everyday with my ARC. That way I should be fully prepared when another craving hits me.
For the same reason, I also created these Response Cards:
Sabotaging Thought: The next time I have a craving, I won't be able to tolerate it.
Helpful Response: I couldn't tolerate cravings in the past, but now I have lots of anti-craving techniques that I can use, which will make the craving go away. Besides, the discomfort of cravings is mild compared to the discomfort I felt when I had cancer. I survived that, and I can certainly survive cravings.
Sabotaging Thought: The next time I have a craving I won't want to control myself.
Helpful Response: I can keep reminding myself that I don't want to be at the mercy of my cravings forever. To get rid of them, I'm always going to have to do one of 2 things: either give in and never lose the weight I want or use the anti-craving techniques so often that I just won't have many cravings anymore. Once I find out these techniques really work, I'll be able to wait out my cravings so much more easily. I'll be glad when I get to the point where I don't have to be worried when I go to a party or eat out. I'll know for sure that I can tolerate these urges.
Until I have a craving, this is all I can do on this step. So my Cravings Rating Chart and Distraction Activities Chart will have to wait.
But I still need to complete my Discomfort Scale and my Hunger Discomfort Chart from Day 12, so I'll be skipping lunch again today and working on that.
2 comments:
Hi there.
What I did which worked amazingly well, is to deliberately go out and TRIGGER a Craving on purpose, and then use the Beck Solution to modify it, and not give into it. I did this probably 20 times a couple of months ago, and ever since those Cravings have been under control, some have even disappeared. So far its basically stopped being a problem, after I confronted it deliberately.
I wrote about some of it at this blog post on the Beck blog, in the comments section, under the title "Anti-Craving Exercise: The KFC Challenge"
http://beckdietsolution.wordpress.com/2007/04/24/craving-chocolate-diana/
Basically, what you do is a Behavioral Experiment, and use Exposure techniques from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is what the Beck Solution is based on.
Its just like facing a phobia, but in reverse. We go and expose ourselves to foods we Crave, and deliberately Trigger and intense Craving, and then work the techniques from the Beck book to NOT give into the Cravings, and even to have them diminish over time. OR even if they don't diminish, we still can TRAIN ourselves to not give into them.
After all, if we know how to train a doggie, we can train a dog to NOT eat a steak off the table, or to not even eat a steak until we tell him to eat it. So, hey,if a DOGGIE can control its Cravings through proper training, so can humans.
(this is an adaptation of the Beck technique of leaving extra craving food on your plate, and not eating it).
Once we do the Anti-Craving exercises for a while the Cravings can be profoundly altered, perhaps for life. I can say that I have not touched KFC in 2 months, and don't want to, and could put it right in front of me, even if I was "starved" and almost certainly NOT eat it, at least99% of the time. And that is more than good enough.
Its exactly the same as a phobia, we don't fear the "thing" we fear our own feelings. Its the same with intense Cravings.
We fear we CAN'T STAND NOT eating that food in the Craving moment. Guess what, we CAN stand it, its not bad at all to NOT eat that food even when we intensely crave it. If we FACE this fear down, and have some FUN triggering the cravings, and NOT eating them, we'll see our fears are simply a Phantom, they are like a child's monsters in the closet, they don't exist in reality.
Not eating a Craving food is simply some Discomfort, its not a serious pain. All we have to do is TRY it a few times, or a few dozens times, and we'll see for ourselves, and then our brain might be changed permanently. Just like extinguishing a phobia through Behavioral Exposure.
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see the "Anti-Craving Exercise: The KFC Challenge" which is under the Comments section on the Beck blog.
http://beckdietsolution.wordpress.com/2007/04/24/craving-chocolate-diana/
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