Junk foods are almost everywhere, and their availability and convenience make them hard to avoid or limit. But what if we tell you there is a simple way you can stop eating junk food simply because it is there.
This method does not involve throwing away bags of your favorite chips or white-knuckling your way through the day. And the best part – it does not take up to 5 minutes or require a tiny bit of willpower to do.
Would you try it?
If yes, continue reading…
Before we go into the details, we have a question for you…
Unless you are living under a rock, we believe you have seen speed bumps before. Remember those small hill-like ridges that stretch across the road?
You will see them scattered across neighborhoods to slow down speedy drivers.
And they are easy to cross… if you take it slow.
But have you ever seen a driver hit a speed bump while driving too fast? What happens then? Here’s our experience…
A white Ford Mustang was racing down the street – at maybe 40 miles per hour. That is not too fast, but only if there are no speed bumps on the road. Unfortunately, there were bumps!
So when the car hit one of the bumps…it sprung off the ground and spent like a few seconds in the air before crashing back on the road.
The driver was terrified, as was everyone around. People dashed to where the car was to make sure the driver was unharmed. Luckily, he was fine, and so was his car.
The surprising thing was –
We did not see ANY other car racing down the street again that day. Other drivers knew exactly where the bumps were. And when they approached the speed bumps, they slowed down, gently crawled over them, and went on with their day.
Isn’t it amazing how such a simple thing can be so effective?!
We’re sure the neighborhood has tried other things to slow the flow of traffic because speed bumps aren’t usually the first option. Perhaps they have already put:
- Speed limit signs
- Electronic signs showing your speed
- “SLOW! Children At Play” signs
But they all failed to deter lead-footed drivers…
And this got us wondering if there is a way we can use speed bumps in our daily lives. Well, it turns out, there is! We will show you.
At Biointelligent Wellness, we have helped numerous clients overcome mindless eating through our one-on-one coaching program. And this is how most people slip into mindless eating:
They take a bag of chips from the kitchen, go to YouTube, and within a few minutes, all the chips are gone.
Sounds familiar?
Some people may advise…
“It is pretty easy. Just don’t keep chips around the house. Throw away any leftover chips once you are satisfied.”
Well, that may be a great plan – if you believe it’ll help you stop mindless eating. Not to mention, your family is probably NOT okay with you tossing their favorite snacks in the trashcan.
Other people may say,
“You need to strengthen your willpower. Willpower is similar to a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes.”
Again, we recommended that you go for this plan if it has previously worked for you. But what we know from our years of experience as diet coaches is that most people won’t want to throw away every snack in the house and risk starting a family conflict because of food. And they also know that relying on willpower is NOT a strategy they can depend on alone.
Here’s a more practical option. This strategy involves using speed bumps to overcome mindless eating. Let us explain.
The issue with mindless eating is that we switch off our minds and slip into a “food trance.” And when you are in a food trance,
- You don’t think about anything
- You lose concentration
- You eat without paying any attention to what and how much you are eating
- You miss out on the enjoyment of what you are eating
So, what you need to get yourself out of the trance is – a jolt of awareness. And awareness is exactly what you get with the “Speed Bump” strategy. This is how it works:
Let’s say you grab a big bag of chips. What you usually do is start eating immediately and continue until you finish them all. But what if you divide the big bag of chips into a few smaller bags?
So, instead of beginning with a big bag, you start with a smaller, snack-sized bag.
Does that make any sense? What occurs when you take this approach is, you incorporate stop points along the way – checkpoints where you need to slow down and decide whether or not to open another bag of chips.
Since you have to make a conscious decision every time you reach these points, this helps bring awareness to the situation. And as said, awareness is the effective cure to mindless eating. Now, let’s incorporate a few speed bumps into your day.
Once you finish reading this article, take small sandwich bags and turn big bags of chips into smaller bags.
“But I don’t think this will work for me. I’ll just finish one bag and immediately grab another.”
Okay, let’s assume you go for another bag after the first one. Isn’t that less than what you would have taken with a full bag?
“I’m sure this won’t work. I will just open all of the bags and eat the same amount I would have taken.”
But how are you sure? Have you tried it?
If the answer is no, then try it first and see what happens.
If you have done it and still raced through the “speed bumps,” you need to know that there is a difference between emotional eating and mindless eating.
Mindless eating is eating without being aware. Emotional eating is eating to change how you are feeling.
Although the “Speed Bump” strategy works well in both cases, we need to figure out the reasons why you are eating and change them to overcome emotional eating.
It is easy to change “what you eat” once you change the reasons “why” you eat them. We know this because that is exactly what we do in our online one-on-one coaching programs.
We find out the reasons why clients are eating emotionally and help solve them. We help you change your habits, psychology, and mindset about food, so you won’t have to expend unnecessary energy thinking about what you should eat and what you shouldn’t.
So will you try the speed bump strategy or not?
It’s totally up to you but if you do, let us know how it goes.
If you have got more questions for us, simply schedule a complimentary consultation with our coaches or use the instant chat option at the bottom right.
