Tag Archives: cravings

How I Overcame My Toughest Cravings (and you can, too)

Want to know why you haven’t quite been able to reach that goal?

You might want to lose weight.

Or have better family relationships.

Or leave a toxic relationship.

Or find your Soulmate.

Or have more abundance in your life.

Many times, the goals we set can feel so far away that we falsely believe that they are impossible to achieve.

But, that’s not the case.

If you can imagine it, you can create it.

So, it’s not a matter of imagination that stops you.

Then, what does stop you?

In his groundbreaking book “The Power of Habit,” Charles Duhigg explains that there are three parts of any habit…

They are:

1. Cue

2. Action

3. Reward

About two years ago, I had a massive habit change with my health.

I was diagnosed with prediabetes. I looked at my habit loops around food, and I knew they had to change.

Why?

Because they weren’t working any more.

My old habit was:

1. Cue: get cravings around 6/7pm, see food I want, or crave food I can order.

2. Action: Order or eat the food and imagine that it had no bearing on my health.

3. Reward: temporarily satisfy my craving.

But, this head-in-the-sand approach to food wasn’t working.

My body was sending me signals. I had to change.

I had to up my standards and go for a different reward.

So, I needed to change the “reward” of satisfying a craving to living in a healthy body without prediabetes.

I changed the reward and thought that that was all I had to do. But, I also had to change my action (step 2).

You see, I didn’t want to pretend I didn’t have cravings.

But, I did set out to satisfy my cravings in a different way.

Instead of eating during the witching hour, I would get a massage, go for a walk, connect with people I love, do a Kundalini Yoga class. I would still satisfy the craving, but in a way that didn’t involve eating bad food late at night.

Now, this is still a work in progress for me, but this one shift has changed my life.

The take away is this…

If you up the level of expectation you have of yourself… meaning that you want a better reward in your life… you MUST change your behavior, you MUST that new, imperfect and courageous action.

This is what Einstein meant when he said that you couldn’t solve a problem on the same level of thinking that created it.

You also can’t get a better reward if you are taking the same action.

TAKE ACTION & MAKE IT REAL:

Look at one habit that you want to change… and keep a journal for seven says.

Write down the following questions from The Power of Habit when you have a craving come up that you want to overcome:

1. Where are you?

2. What time is it?

3. What’s your emotional state?

4. Who else is around?

5. What action preceded the urge?

After one week, you will see the deeper root of this craving.

Maybe your environment needs to change.

Maybe it’s a time of day.

Maybe it’s an emotional craving.

Maybe someone in your life is the trigger, or maybe it’s something else that causes it.

See the common patterns in the answers to these questions and then start getting ahead of the craving.

If you know that at 7 pm each night you crave watching Netflix or having a bottle of wine and that’s holding you back – set yourself to meet your emotional needs in a different way.

It’s far better to work with your cravings than to deny them.

Not accepting your cravings and what they need is one major reason why you aren’t getting that goal just yet.

Become aware of your cravings and turn unhealthy habits into healthy ones.

Comment on this post and let me know what you found out about yourself.

You are power. Keep it up!

Don’t delay… you only live once (YOLO)… make the most of today!

Remember to get out there, take action and make it real!