The Ritual of Food Addiction

If you've been coaching people for the same twenty-five years as me, you've probably been attempting to cut out eating, even if that strategy hasn't succeeded. You should observe the steps that culminate in the ritual of clearing your dish.

My show "Changing Habits" was on the air and airing on public access television for a long time. At the outset of each program, it is stated: we discuss food, smoking, gambling, alcohol, shopping, expenditure, and negative thinking. Procrastination, disorganized living quarters, low wages, and mounting debt were among topics covered. One thing all of these things have in common is that they may all be ritualized.

The hypnotic effect of entering a routine's thoughtless, mechanical state was irresistible to me as well. While in that meditative state, you are at ease regardless of your thoughts or emotions. I drank too much, smoked too much, and spent too much; I was in a trance when I got into debt. There was always another chapter to write, rewrite, edit, or type, thus writing this book became a behavioral ritual. Right now, my apartment is a building site. Purchasing new furnishings and creating built-ins have evolved from what started as re-doing the floors in the kitchen and bathroom.

Searching for new cabinet door knobs was a minor aspect of the renovating process. You could pick from a plethora of shapes, sizes, colors, and pricing. The number of options I had to consider before settling on a sofa is too much to mention.

Every activity that involves the use of a substance—be it gambling, drugging, eating, or writing a book—is accompanied by a set of pre-, during-, and post-activity rituals. I call it a drug because behavioral rituals are as addicting to the body as any substance, including food, cigarettes, and alcohol.

The number of off-track betting or the bookie is memorized by the gambler; your regular drink is remembered by the bartender; and you shop whenever you're bored. A certain amount of ice, mixer, or water is required for the drinker's preferred beverage. Some people have rituals around when they drink—with or without others—and some people exclusively drink in certain locations; for example, I would never think to get booze at a Chinese restaurant. In contrast, whenever we go to a Japanese restaurant, my friend Tom always gets a beer and my friend Sara gets a big and a small sake. As you go through a ritual, each component works in tandem to reinforce the habit. Include the steps you use to lock and unlock your door, answer the phone, make a friend's call, get ready for bed, style your hair, and maintain your moustache.

I used to buy cigarettes and light them up whenever I smoked. For crying out loud, I also used a Lalique ashtray, had a Dunhill lighter, and a collection of cigarette cases. Along with lighting each cigarette, I now also make sure to have extra mouth spray and mouth wash on available, as well as lighter fluid for my lighter.

You incorporate the ritual gear into your eating, smoking, or drinking routine as seamlessly as you light up and inhale a cigarette, or swallow a bite of food. There are distinct behaviors and responses associated with each habit.

Consider some of the other routines and behaviors you engage in without giving them any thought: Things like shaving, applying makeup, brushing your teeth, and taking a shower fall under this category. It is possible that you will be responsible for retrieving messages left on voicemail or checking the mail. Checking my inbox every so often to see if "I've got mail" is a new habit I've just adopted.

There is a set routine for getting dressed every morning as well. Before putting on clothes, you could style your hair and apply cosmetics. While for some, getting dressed comes first, followed by styling their hair and applying cosmetics. Every morning when I have my breakfast, I take my calcium pills, multivitamin, and other vitamins and minerals. For future convenience, I even stack them in four separate piles on a paper plate. As well, that is a ritual. Our specialty is that:

In order to narcotize, we plan and perform rituals.

Doing something productive takes your mind off of unpleasant emotions or ideas, at least for the time being.

I've incorporated numerous positive rituals into my life and worked hard to perfect them. They used to be laborious and deliberate, but now they're second nature and meet my demands with little effort at all. Like utilizing a pencil to jot down appointments, they facilitate the smooth running of my day. When you know what to expect, you can relax.

It is the pattern whereby one action, speech, or thought triggers another, which in turn triggers yet another, and so on. The temptation of food, whether it be the scent, look, or taste, eventually gets the best of you. But in reality, it's just the last part of a ritual, and you're probably bored or exhausted and used to giving in to whatever is presented to you. For some of us, eating is a way to signal that it's time to relax and unwind. From the initial notion of a ritual to the initial sensations of guilt, everything is interconnected, making it difficult to say no. Apologies are ever-present. Also included in the rite is that. We need to break this pattern of behavior and figure out what's going on. A great place to start when trying to break a habit is by recognizing that you have patterns.

Being more self-aware allows you to start rearranging or eliminating the habitual next steps in your thought, word, and action patterns while simultaneously creating new, more positive ones. There will come a time when you're content to think, speak, and do something else entirely rather than mindlessly stuffing your face with food.

As you break free from the cycle of food addiction, you'll be better able to take charge of your life and make the changes you desire. The new method of behaving could be drastically different from your old habits at times. A lifetime of habitual, unconsciously shaped behavior gave you your current manner of doing things. Now is your chance to make something amazing that will help you meet your current weight loss goals of __________ pounds.

Danny Glover danced the As a holdover from an earlier diet, I can fast for 24 hours straight, but once I start tangoing, I just can't stop.

His mind was unoccupied in the evenings due to the lack of stimulation from daytime activities; as a result, repressed emotions and ideas surfaced. Since he was bored and had no one to talk to, he started making his nightly trip to the kitchen a means of passing the time. A sweet, a nibble of leftover salad, two grapes, and a piece of candy were the results of my many journeys to the kitchen. The frequency of the once-or-twice-daily routine increased. The installation of the phone in the kitchen was the turning point. There he was, chatting on the phone from a wheeled chair, and then he'd roll over to the fridge, open the door, and window shop.

As part of his efforts to quit the habit, I had him mark a small box on paper every time he considered swallowing. He had 42 thoughts about eating between 9 p.m. and midnight! One episode airs around every five minutes.

He had formed the habit of putting something in his mouth 42 times in three hours, even though he wasn't hungry. Simply due to boredom, he nibbled 42 times, swallowed once, then nibbled again. It adds up whether you consume just one thing or a few bites of several. It makes no difference whether it's salad or soda. Even though you're not hungry, you're still eating. An addiction to this conduct manifests as weight gain if you engage in it daily. If you do it again and again, it will become a staple of the show. The scene transformed the moment Herman removed the phone from the kitchen. He lost some weight. He altered his routine. Being more self-aware led him to find other patterns, including this one. It got better: there were more.

When he took customers out to dinner, he always had a glass of wine or coffee to round out the meal, and now he knew why. There appeared to be an unbreakable relationship between going to the movies and purchasing a Coke or popcorn. I too consider the purchase to be a ritual; I call it a spending habit.

She mentioned that keeping the notebook where she records her daily weight and food intake was a ritual when we were discussing rituals with another student of mine. It was my agreement. As a result of practicing some rituals regularly, we can become more aware of our actions and even record the patterns we've developed. Every ritual has its merits.

Every day at four o'clock, Barbara J. had a hard time. It was obvious that her hunger wasn't the real reason she wanted to eat; she regularly had lunch just a few hours prior. It had something to do with her kids getting home from school. She would idly eat on her own meal as she was preparing it for them. In the kitchen, she kept a phone and practiced a variation of conversing on the phone while perusing the sausage. The thought may occur to you: But all I do is nibble on broccoli. It makes no difference what you eat as long as you avoid eating when you're not actually hungry. Finally, it becomes apparent.

At 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., the coffee-wagon bell may start ringing, marking the beginning of a meal routine in an office. During my conversation with Rachel S., she informed me about a silly habit she had while commuting between Manhattan and her New Jersey residence. For a whole year, she would snack on candy bars every trip. By the end of the year, the one candy bar habit could have added up to about twenty pounds.

I used to regularly purchase 64 ounce bottles of fruit juice and would drink it in small sips, rationalizing that it's only juice. Then I'd go out and get another bottle. After realizing how frequently I engaged in this practice, I separated the juice bottles into individual 4-ounce bottles and stored them on a separate shelf from the top shelf of my refrigerator. I didn't give it any consideration if I didn't observe it. I drank it only when I gave it some serious consideration. Over time, the habit began to fall apart. Changing a single ritual component, such as a thought, word, or action, can sometimes untie the whole behavior loop with little to no effort at all. Occasional deliberation is required. Here, the physical action of adjusting the container's size was enough. Additionally, I reasoned (brain re-patterning), that I'd been fine for years without consuming juice so frequently during the day. It may be alright once more. You adapt to anything.


Oh my goodness!

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