Diet Rehab: 28 Days to Finally Stop Craving the Foods That Make You Fat by Mike Dow, Antonia Blyth Page B
Authors: Mike Dow, Antonia Blyth
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serotonin levels drop.
When you’re hungry for serotonin, pitfall mantras lead to anxious pitfall behaviors—and those pitfall behaviors cause serotonin levels to drop, too. Whenever we behave in a fearful, anxious way—obsessing over every bite of food or extra ounce of weight or refusing dates until we’ve lost those last ten pounds—we reinforce our fearful attitudes and lower our serotonin.
This interaction between brain chemistry and experience goes back to our childhoods. Say you come from a stormy, argumentative family with a father who was always exploding in rage and a mother who was known for her frequent criticisms. As a child, you may often have felt fearful and anxious, afraid that your slightest error might provoke your parents. This state of fear would have helped to “set” your serotonin at a chronically low level. These same low serotonin levels would contribute to your anxious state.
But it doesn’t stop there. Your anxious feelings might then drive you to choose fearful actions such as hanging back from the other kids at school or not wanting to leave the house until your outfit is perfect. These fearful actions in turn reinforce the idea that the world is dangerous (the kids will mock you, your outfit will make you look bad)—leading you to become still more cautious. The combination of anxious thoughts and fearful behavior continue to drive down your serotonin levels. And now we have all the elements of a vicious cycle, in which attitudes, behavior, and brain chemistry all work together to keep you anxious and miserable.
No wonder serotonin deficiency creates food addictions and weight gain! When you’re feeling anxious and fearful, you’re more likely to reach for the sweet, starchy foods that will ease your mind by boosting your serotonin levels. You’re starving for anything that will make you feel better, and food may feel like the only comfort you can rely on.
Transforming Your Mantra
Now that you’ve identified your old pitfall mantra and seen how it affects your life and your weight, let’s change it into a new, more positive statement about yourself and the world. For example, if your core belief is I’m not safe , I’m going to give you the tools to change it to a more optimistic message such as everything is fine. Here are some of the booster mantras you might choose:
• I’m a resourceful person and can handle the things that come up.
• Things will turn out okay . . . they usually have before.
• I’m good at many things, and if a few things aren’t perfect, that’s okay.
• I do what I can . . . and I’m okay with that.
• I’ve done my best . . . and my best is pretty good.
• Even when things are hard, I can imagine that they will get better.
Look over these improved mantras and see if one of them works for you. If so, write it down. We’ll be coming back to it again later. If none of these is perfect for you, take a few moments and create your own. You deserve a booster mantra that expresses exactly the attitude and core beliefs by which you choose to shape your life.
How Diet Rehab Will Transform Your Mantra
Maya was a teenage girl who had been to three psychotherapists before me. Her parents were both attorneys who had never had a problem with their weight. Maya, on the other hand, weighed close to two hundred pounds. Her parents’ high standards and fit bodies made Maya feel like a failure, as did their well-intentioned efforts to stock their kitchen with Maya’s “special diet food.” So when her parents weren’t home, Maya would medicate her loneliness by eating boxes of cookies in the middle of the night.
Maya was a junior at a prestigious private school, where she had good friends—but no dates. She compensated for her weight by buying expensive clothes. In fact, I never saw her wear the same thing twice, and her sense of fashion was astonishing. She was also sweet, charming, funny, and incredibly smart. I knew she
When you’re hungry for serotonin, pitfall mantras lead to anxious pitfall behaviors—and those pitfall behaviors cause serotonin levels to drop, too. Whenever we behave in a fearful, anxious way—obsessing over every bite of food or extra ounce of weight or refusing dates until we’ve lost those last ten pounds—we reinforce our fearful attitudes and lower our serotonin.
This interaction between brain chemistry and experience goes back to our childhoods. Say you come from a stormy, argumentative family with a father who was always exploding in rage and a mother who was known for her frequent criticisms. As a child, you may often have felt fearful and anxious, afraid that your slightest error might provoke your parents. This state of fear would have helped to “set” your serotonin at a chronically low level. These same low serotonin levels would contribute to your anxious state.
But it doesn’t stop there. Your anxious feelings might then drive you to choose fearful actions such as hanging back from the other kids at school or not wanting to leave the house until your outfit is perfect. These fearful actions in turn reinforce the idea that the world is dangerous (the kids will mock you, your outfit will make you look bad)—leading you to become still more cautious. The combination of anxious thoughts and fearful behavior continue to drive down your serotonin levels. And now we have all the elements of a vicious cycle, in which attitudes, behavior, and brain chemistry all work together to keep you anxious and miserable.
No wonder serotonin deficiency creates food addictions and weight gain! When you’re feeling anxious and fearful, you’re more likely to reach for the sweet, starchy foods that will ease your mind by boosting your serotonin levels. You’re starving for anything that will make you feel better, and food may feel like the only comfort you can rely on.
Transforming Your Mantra
Now that you’ve identified your old pitfall mantra and seen how it affects your life and your weight, let’s change it into a new, more positive statement about yourself and the world. For example, if your core belief is I’m not safe , I’m going to give you the tools to change it to a more optimistic message such as everything is fine. Here are some of the booster mantras you might choose:
• I’m a resourceful person and can handle the things that come up.
• Things will turn out okay . . . they usually have before.
• I’m good at many things, and if a few things aren’t perfect, that’s okay.
• I do what I can . . . and I’m okay with that.
• I’ve done my best . . . and my best is pretty good.
• Even when things are hard, I can imagine that they will get better.
Look over these improved mantras and see if one of them works for you. If so, write it down. We’ll be coming back to it again later. If none of these is perfect for you, take a few moments and create your own. You deserve a booster mantra that expresses exactly the attitude and core beliefs by which you choose to shape your life.
How Diet Rehab Will Transform Your Mantra
Maya was a teenage girl who had been to three psychotherapists before me. Her parents were both attorneys who had never had a problem with their weight. Maya, on the other hand, weighed close to two hundred pounds. Her parents’ high standards and fit bodies made Maya feel like a failure, as did their well-intentioned efforts to stock their kitchen with Maya’s “special diet food.” So when her parents weren’t home, Maya would medicate her loneliness by eating boxes of cookies in the middle of the night.
Maya was a junior at a prestigious private school, where she had good friends—but no dates. She compensated for her weight by buying expensive clothes. In fact, I never saw her wear the same thing twice, and her sense of fashion was astonishing. She was also sweet, charming, funny, and incredibly smart. I knew she
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