I’ll admit, I wasn’t always the best listener in high school.
Sure I remember most of my lessons, but I’m not sure if I really
‘got’ them.
Take for instance…Pavlov’s Dogs.
I’m sure you’ve heard the story: Pavlov was the man behind some of the most famous scientific experiments.
Basically, he took a group of dogs and rang a bell every time they were fed.
In grade 9 science class, you were probably told that this was a perfect example of conditioning, and that would be the end of the science lesson.
And boy, would you have missed a VERY valuable nutrition lesson.
You see the dog’s salivated because they were hungry.
They had been conditioned to become hungry at the sound of the bell.
…even when there was no food present. No food smell, no food sound, and certainly no food taste.
Just a bell.
The bell alone caused a powerful expectation of food. And this expectation caused the dogs to drool.
THAT IS HOW POWERFUL THE EXPECTATION OF FOOD CAN BE.
It mimics hunger perfectly.
So the part that may have been left out of your grade nine science class was that the bell was eventually able to cause an extreme desire to eat…
This exact same conditioning happens to us almost everyday.
There are little things in our lives can cause us to A) THINK we are hungry and thus B) overeat.
So what are your bells?
It could be the smallest thing. A sight, a person, even a sound or a smell.
Repeated enough times, this small cue could be the cause of what you beleive to be hunger AND could be causing you to overeat.
So here’s the point of today’s email – On the days when you are fasting pay special attention to when you feel the need to eat. Try to identify the cue that caused this wanting…this is how fasting can help you eat better on the days when you do eat.
Once you know the cue, it will help you tell the difference between hunger and conditioning.
Just another example of the benefits of the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle.
