Diet Rehab: 28 Days to Finally Stop Craving the Foods That Make You Fat by Mike Dow, Antonia Blyth Page A
Authors: Mike Dow, Antonia Blyth
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feeling, what they thought of me, and what I could do to make them happy or win them over.
The problem with my mantra was that it set me up for an unease that could never be silenced and therefore a hunger that could never be satisfied. Certainly I could never do enough to make my family feel okay if they were worried about my brother’s life-threatening illness and his long, slow, uncertain recovery. Nor could I ever figure out how every person in my life was feeling and then do the perfect thing to make them feel good about themselves and about me. If what I needed to feel okay was for the world to become a perfectly safe place and for every person in my life to be completely happy, I was doomed to continual feelings of insecurity and inadequacy.
Self-medicating with food only makes a pitfall mantra worse and can lead to a downward spiral if the “medicine” you’re choosing is an addictive pitfall food. As we’ve discussed, the “sugar high” is inevitably followed by a “sugar low,” just as the temporary calm of noodles and white bread gives way to an anxiety and hunger that are even more intense than before. You can lift your mood with booster foods—whole grains, plain yogurt, berries, and other serotonin-rich foods that feed your brain in healthy, stable ways—and later on in this book we’ll find out how. But I’d also like to help you get at the thoughts and feelings that exacerbate your anxiety in the first place.
The key to this is understanding your pitfall mantra and then replacing it with a more positive message. This will interrupt the cycle of anxious thoughts and free you from its downward spiral. A positive booster mantra will allow you to feel better about yourself, your life, and your future even before you’ve reached your healthy weight.
Sound good? Then let’s get started. The first step is to identify your mantra.
Identifying Your Mantra
If you’re struggling with low serotonin, your current mantra is likely to reflect anxiety, pessimism, and a lack of confidence. Here are some common “hungry for serotonin” mantras:
• Something bad is going to happen.
• If that could happen, then anything could happen.
• I’m not okay.
• If I don’t do something in one exact way, something bad will happen.
• If I’m not a complete success, I’m a complete failure.
• If I don’t weigh myself frequently, my weight might balloon.
• If I don’t control my feelings, I’ll fall apart completely.
• If I ever let anyone down, I’m a complete failure as a person.
• If others get close to me, they’ll hurt me.
Do any of these sound familiar? If one of these statements perfectly describes the way you think about yourself and the world, look no further. You have found your pitfall mantra. Go right ahead to the next section to find out how to this mantra affects your weight.
But if none of these statements quite hits the nail on the head, take a few moments to articulate your own personal pitfall mantra. It’s worth spending a little time on this because I want you to be able to recognize this way of thinking the moment it rears its ugly head. And believe me, it will. One thing I’ve learned from both my own growth and that of my patients is that as soon as we start making positive changes, all the old pitfall thoughts and feelings from the past rush up to try to pull us off track. If you can recognize your pitfall mantra, you’ll be far more effective at transforming it into your new booster mantra.
So grab a notebook and a pen, or sit for a moment at your computer, and write down your own personal pitfall mantra. What words do you keep hearing that make you feel anxious, unworthy, or pessimistic? Write them down, look at them for a moment, and then move on to the next section.
How Your Mantra Affects Your Weight
Your pitfall mantra might be different from mine, but they definitely share one thing in common: Each time we repeat our pitfall mantras, our
The problem with my mantra was that it set me up for an unease that could never be silenced and therefore a hunger that could never be satisfied. Certainly I could never do enough to make my family feel okay if they were worried about my brother’s life-threatening illness and his long, slow, uncertain recovery. Nor could I ever figure out how every person in my life was feeling and then do the perfect thing to make them feel good about themselves and about me. If what I needed to feel okay was for the world to become a perfectly safe place and for every person in my life to be completely happy, I was doomed to continual feelings of insecurity and inadequacy.
Self-medicating with food only makes a pitfall mantra worse and can lead to a downward spiral if the “medicine” you’re choosing is an addictive pitfall food. As we’ve discussed, the “sugar high” is inevitably followed by a “sugar low,” just as the temporary calm of noodles and white bread gives way to an anxiety and hunger that are even more intense than before. You can lift your mood with booster foods—whole grains, plain yogurt, berries, and other serotonin-rich foods that feed your brain in healthy, stable ways—and later on in this book we’ll find out how. But I’d also like to help you get at the thoughts and feelings that exacerbate your anxiety in the first place.
The key to this is understanding your pitfall mantra and then replacing it with a more positive message. This will interrupt the cycle of anxious thoughts and free you from its downward spiral. A positive booster mantra will allow you to feel better about yourself, your life, and your future even before you’ve reached your healthy weight.
Sound good? Then let’s get started. The first step is to identify your mantra.
Identifying Your Mantra
If you’re struggling with low serotonin, your current mantra is likely to reflect anxiety, pessimism, and a lack of confidence. Here are some common “hungry for serotonin” mantras:
• Something bad is going to happen.
• If that could happen, then anything could happen.
• I’m not okay.
• If I don’t do something in one exact way, something bad will happen.
• If I’m not a complete success, I’m a complete failure.
• If I don’t weigh myself frequently, my weight might balloon.
• If I don’t control my feelings, I’ll fall apart completely.
• If I ever let anyone down, I’m a complete failure as a person.
• If others get close to me, they’ll hurt me.
Do any of these sound familiar? If one of these statements perfectly describes the way you think about yourself and the world, look no further. You have found your pitfall mantra. Go right ahead to the next section to find out how to this mantra affects your weight.
But if none of these statements quite hits the nail on the head, take a few moments to articulate your own personal pitfall mantra. It’s worth spending a little time on this because I want you to be able to recognize this way of thinking the moment it rears its ugly head. And believe me, it will. One thing I’ve learned from both my own growth and that of my patients is that as soon as we start making positive changes, all the old pitfall thoughts and feelings from the past rush up to try to pull us off track. If you can recognize your pitfall mantra, you’ll be far more effective at transforming it into your new booster mantra.
So grab a notebook and a pen, or sit for a moment at your computer, and write down your own personal pitfall mantra. What words do you keep hearing that make you feel anxious, unworthy, or pessimistic? Write them down, look at them for a moment, and then move on to the next section.
How Your Mantra Affects Your Weight
Your pitfall mantra might be different from mine, but they definitely share one thing in common: Each time we repeat our pitfall mantras, our
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