The food reward
The relationship we have with food is, and always will be, very complex. Every since we were little children we have been taught to associate both rewards and punishment with food.
Here is a quick thought for today:
“Find a way to reward the people in your life (including yourself) that doesn’t involve food’
And at the same time, don’t be afraid to celebrate with food.
At first glance, this may seem like a simple suggestion, but it is actually VERY difficult to do….There are very few things in life that people truly enjoy more than the instant gratification that comes with great tasting food.
However, if you can accomplish this then you create two unique positive benefits.
1) By not rewarding or punishing with food, you avoid creating ques for emotional eating, and
2) By using food for celebration you make what you are celebrating even MORE important..(after all, how exciting would a birthday be if you ate birthday cake every single day of the year??)
Now I know the line between a ‘Reward’ and a ‘Celebration’ can be a blurry one, so I’ll offer my definition:
Rewarding with food is literally when food IS the reward. Celebrating with food is when food is PART of the celebration.
Celebrating is also typically done with friends and family, whereas rewarding (or punishing) is more focused on the individual.
BP
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Hi Brad, can someone get into competition shape using IF?
Brad,
I pick and snack constantly out of habit and boredom. I need to lose about 30 pounds to look good and lean and I wanted to ask you to weigh in on my plan. I want to start eating 2 times a day. I’ll start the day with a milky and sweetened coffee (A habit I just am not willing to kick), but after that I will only put food in my mouth twice and then I will keep the servings to one plate of food. The idea is to beat the habit of mindless munching and allow time between meals for my body to start burning fat, without 24 hour fasting. I know this will be a hard habit to kick, but I’ll be diligent. I apperciate any input you have.
hey brad got a sample of your eat stop eat with mr ballentynes recent TT offer and totaly love it didn’t think i’d be able to go 24hrs without any food and personal trainer and passionate about nutrition and eating regularly but have een trying the fasting twice a week now for a month and love the feelin empty and in a fasted state and have lost half a stone! just wanted to say a big thank THANK YOU
Hi Brad … I know you’re with Craig tomorrow, so I wanted to get your input on http://www.precisionnutrition.com. I was following Craig’s diet on Twitter and there was a link to an article on him out there, so it got me looking at their product. Do you and Craig think this is worthwhile?
I hope you guys have an awesome seminar tomorrow. Sorry I cannot join you.
Thanks!
Hi Sharon.
I’ve purchased, read and applied way too many different diets/training methods over the years, one of them being precision nutrition.
It’s not one of the better plans I’ve seen or read; it’s about developing a new lifestyle (to fit the diet, not your personal lifestyle) food combining, meal planning, meal frequency and preparation. You need to eat 6-meals everyday, and it way overestimates a person’s metabolic rate.
It would be an OK nutrition plan for a newbie who has never taken time to understand nutrition, but there are many other similar plans that are much better.
By the way, I used to be the biggest 6+ meal a day person forever – what a miserable lifestyle, revolving around food. Back then, getting too 9% BF% used to be tough and staying there was impossible. Now, with ESE staying around 9% (and lower) all year round is easy (and I’m not stuck eating high protein and now carbs all the time).
How is your method different to the Every Other Day Diet by Jon Benson?
Hi James,
Thanks for the feedback.
Sharon I apologize, but I have not had the chance to read precision nutrition and am not familiar with the ins and outs of precision nutrition.
Sorry I couldn’t be of more help,
BP
Hi Hayley,
Thank you for the kind words and you are welcome!
BP
Hi Travis,
Sounds good. I would suggest that for the first week or two you keep record of the times you feel like munching so you can reveal what is causing you to eat more than you want to.
BP
Hi Sean,
I’d say 95%. Eat Stop Eat can get you just as lean as any other diet…but to get ‘contest ready’ there is a degree of water manipulaton and diet manipulaton and temporary (and drastic) changes in the way you look that can ONLY be found through specific pre contest/ pre photoshoot techniques.
I hope this helps,
BP
Hi Sarah,
I’m not familiar with that program. The title makes it sound similar, but I’d just be guessing.
BP