Insights November 2007 - Watching the News Can Make You Fat
Typically people consider fat a result of overeating, lack of exercise, and metabolism. The truth is, fat occurs because of programs in your subconscious mind that control body chemistry and behavior. If behavior was controlled by decisions, as people prefer to believe, people would do everything they had decided to do – that’s not what happens.
It’s not comfortable to consider that some primitive part of your subconscious mind has such a big influence in your life, your body, and your health. Tapping into your subconscious is the gateway to real change, including making decisions that actually work.
The limbic system is part of your subconscious brain that controls fight or flight responses. Since limbic programs haven’t been updated since people lived in caves, it considers all inputs and experiences in your life with the perspective that everything is a potential threat. This part of your subconscious does not distinguish time or circumstances the way your rational, cognitive brain does, so if you are watching a news story about a murder in the States, or a flood in India, your limbic system considers those dangers an active threat to your life. That’s pretty hard to imagine when you’re sitting on your sofa at home – not that your limbic system would understand a sofa, or a TV.
The presence of any threat – real or via TV – can trigger a threat reaction that includes floods of chemistry creating a biological imperative for your body to acquire fuel. That means you’ll have food cravings, probably for high-carbohydrate foods that provide quick energy for running away from great hairy beasts with teeth and claws that might try to eat you, or whatever threat appeared on the evening news.
The problem with all this body chemistry is that your cognitive brain has no idea it’s happening, so it has to rationalize the outcome it sees. You probably have a whole list of rationalizations, such as ‘I eat when I’m bored,’ or ‘I always crave junk food at night.’ Although those rationalizations fit the behavior observed by your cognitive brain, they are not the reality of what is happening in your body, and in your subconscious mind.
An obvious solution would be to turn off the TV, but it’s probably wiser to help your subconscious learn to feel safe in your modern life. There are a number of ways to do that, but lets use a simple process that’s easy to apply without more information about subconscious function.
The key is to create a substitute comfort source that will satisfy the food cravings. This is a process that will take about six weeks, since it take six weeks to train a behavior. Once the behavior is in place, you can use it forever to cope with limbic reactions.
Start by picking a likely substitute that you can use to train as a reaction behavior. I used a herbal tea that smelled sweet, because it corresponded with the high-carbohydrate craving. Other options include a quick hand massage with a soothing cream such as lavender, handling Chinese worry balls, or a mundane activity like knitting. Then, you can begin the process of training your body to be comforted by using this behavior in place of eating.
To create the subconscious association between the new comfort source and being safe, start by creating a relaxed time. You can use music, breathing, or whatever works for you to get your body in a comfortable state. (Past Tone articles on my website contain other methods of creating relaxed states.)
When you are able to feel relaxed, ‘apply’ your new comfort source while telling yourself inside: “This is how I am comforted. This is how I know I am safe.” I found it particularly effective to smell the tea, which creates a link right in the primitive brain where smells are triggers. You are teaching your body to associate feeling relaxed with your trigger.
It will take about six weeks of training to make your new comfort source become a trigger. What you’re aiming for is a state where just smelling the tea (or using your trigger) will make your whole body go limp – into that relaxed state you trained as an association.
There are deeper methods of retraining the subconscious that I teach in my workshops, and are available on a CD available through my website. For information on the November Naturally Slim Workshop call 613-831-8956
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