Did you find yourself sweeter and kinder after Whole30 reintro?

[MeadowLily]

Do you remember studying about the Marshmallow Test? 

The children who resisted eating the marshmallow became more successful in life. It was a test about emotional intelligence.

Is the secret of life just simply waiting to eat two marshmallows. Maybe. Maybe.

The Marshmallow Test is about delayed and deferred gratification. Those who could resist - it prepared them for a lifetime of choices that determined their success.

Two marshmallows.  A predictor of a kid's success.

Whole 30 success. Choosing discipline and resisting immediate food rewards for a larger and more enduring reward later.

They followed these children for 40 years. The children who were willing to delay gratification and waited to receive the second marshmallow had higher SAT scores, lower levels of substance and alcohol abuse, better responses to stress, better social skills and higher scores in every area of life.

If you delay playing with your Iphone or being glued to social media and get your homework done or chores around the house or doing your actual job that you're being paid for...

If you delay buying crummy food rewards...

If you delay going through the drive-thru and cook your own food...

Success comes down to choosing discipline over distraction. That's what resisting temptation is all about.

Are some children born with more self-control and discipline, destined for success. Can you learn these behaviors.

Yes. You can.

It all comes back to focus, focus, focus.

Don't employ 'willpower' to resist temptation. That will only get you so far.

You have to turn your attention elsewhere. It's very much the same as Urge Surfing.  You have to replace one habit with another or turn your attention elsewhere until the temptation has passed and you can surf that wave.

It's Muscle Memory. We train our muscles at the gym and we have to train our children up in the way they should go. Parents can train their children to resist immediate temptations and delay gratification.

It's similar to handing a kid everything they want whenever they want it. Those who have to save their money in a piggy bank and look forward to going into the store to make their purchase are more successful than trust fund babies who are handed everything on a silver platter.  Here you go, you don't need to work for anything. 

Ahhhh, how many of those do you know who blow through all of Daddy's money. They didn't have to work for anything.  Immediate gratification for the big flop. 

Two marshmallows.  We can train our abilities.

Eating crappy food is not a reward.  It is a punishment. Drew Carey said that.

Why not delay and eat something really good that you've made yourself. Something simple and wonderful and real.

[MeadowLily]

We could continue talking about food forever. Cooking, recipes and healing.

I keep tooling along, keeping you company while you're conducting your Whole 30's.  I enjoy talking about everything. Paw used to say if one my thoughts went through your head your mind would explode. Hi-larious.  He was.

Many have told me that his laugh was contagious and his sense of humor was off the charts. True.

Now, I've got to go on. We all have to. We are bent on survival.

Paw said...Use your head besides something to part your ears with. I have never liked goodbyes. Never.

One time, I tried to say goodbye to Whole 30 and just ended up feeling sorry for myself. I was going to miss it but I don't really know who's milling around out there, Felicias. 

I simply imagine that I have some W30 friends that have experienced struggles with food and others have experienced loss and illness in their families, too.

Much Love, Felicias. Much Love.  

[MeadowLily]

https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/willpower-gratification.pdf

 

The marshmallow experiments eventually led Mischel and his colleagues to develop a framework to explain the human ability to delay gratification. He proposed what he calls a “hot-and-cool” system to explain why willpower succeeds or fails.

The cool system is cognitive in nature. It’s essentially a thinking system, incorporating knowledge about sensations, feelings, actions and goals — reminding yourself why you shouldn’t eat the marshmallow.

While the cool system is reflective, the hot system is impulsive and emotional. The hot system is responsible for quick, reflexive responses to certain triggers — such as popping the marshmallow into your mouth without considering the long-term implications.

When willpower fails, exposure to a “hot” stimulus essentially overrides the cool system, leading to impulsive actions.

Susceptibility to emotional responses influenced their behavior throughout life. Those that waited longer as preschoolers scored higher on SAT's, had a greater ability to plan, handles stress and anxiety, respond to reason and exhibited self-control in stressful situations.

 

[MeadowLily]

Amazingly, the subjects’ willpower differences had largely held up over four decades. In general, children who were less successful at resisting the marshmallow all those years ago performed more poorly on the self-control task as adults. An individual’s sensitivity to so-called hot stimuli persists throughout his or her lifetime.

Additionally, Casey and colleagues examined brain activity... presented with tempting stimuli, individuals with low self-control showed brain patterns that differed from those with high self-control. The researchers found that the prefrontal cortex (a region that controls executive functions, such as making choices) was more active in subjects with higher self-control. And the ventral striatum (a region thought to process desires and rewards) showed boosted activity in those with lower self-control.

 

[MeadowLily]

Choices and Consequences.

Immediate gratification.

Falling back into old habits immediately after a Whole 30 on Day 31 or Day 61 or Day 91. That is not Food Freedom Forever.

The Marshmallow Test. Thinking through and making conscious choices.

Food Addiction is chronically choosing food rewards above everything else...above your hopes and dreams of having overall health and well-being for the long haul. Alcoholism and substance abuse, ditto.

It's going to take true grit to unwind the years of impulsive food choices and immediate gratification.  For 30 days, you follow an elimination protocol. Taking it down to the bare bones but it's not over-restriction. Reasonable restriction with delayed gratification.

Now if you work it the way it was intended, not blindly going through the motions but engage your brain along every step of the way, you won't have to keep starting over and over and over again.

The Hot System = Impulsive, immediate gratification

The Cool System = The Thinking System

[MeadowLily]

Conduct a thoughtful and meaningful Reintroduction Process.

If you've been bouncing in and out of Whole 30's inbetween your off-roading, month after month, go back to the well. Read - It Starts With Food.

Keep doing what you've always done and you will get what you've always gotten.  You want change. Permanent changes with lasting and positive consequences.

A Whole 30 is a springboard and a launching pad but do not neglect the Reintro Process.  There's no such thing as a Whole 30 Forever. 

One item and it only takes one non-compliant item during your giant-months-hunk Whole 30 and it's over at that very minute.  A Whole 30 is 30 days.

What you accomplished 3 years ago or 3 months ago  - if you start thrill eating the very minute or next day your W30 is over without any Reintro Phase whatsoever, you're doing what you've always done.

Some have never conducted a Reintro Process and they continue to struggle.

The Reintro Process = The Thinking System.  

Without it, you fall back into immediate gratification and thrill eating.  A Whole 30 is a Food Reset which leads to the Brain Reset that's going to change your life in unexpected ways. 

 

[MeadowLily]

Happy Mother's Day. Why not shake things up just a tad. The Universe gives you permission...It's saying yes, why not.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

I've been thinking about immediate gratification in the form of food rewards. STOP. In the name of love.

Food rewards, trickery triggers that really marsh your mellow.

The Hot System = Ready to pounce like a tiger. Reactive. Impulsive. The hot stimuli that leads you around by the nose for an entire lifetime. 

I'm not going out like that. 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

How do you do that?

You enjoy the moment without following the urge. 

Immediate gratification gives you the illusion that you have control over your life.  Making split second decisions. Eating. All. The. Things.

I may not have what I really want but I've got food rewards. A substitute for love or success or power or connection with others.

Sugar = Approval and Cheering and Love.

Happy Meals. We learn these things as children and that conditioning is something we can spend an entire lifetime trying to overcome.

No more jello for me, Mom. 

We reward children with food for cleaning their room and doing their homework. Insulin excursions become the norm. 

Good girl. Bad girl. Naughty or Nice.  Black and White thinking.

When you feel sad, you deserve a food reward.  Mad, sad or glad - food rewards and thrill eating is an imaginary self-soothing activity that loses its charm quickly.

It satisfies for a few minutes then it only adds to the problems or sadness. When you're a grown-up, you can rebel all you want. No one is going to tell you what to do.  You  can reward the inner child for an entire lifetime with Happy Meals.

Treat yourself. You deserve it. Reward yourself with food when multi-crap hits the fan. I am an adult and it's my party. I'll cry if I want to and you're not the boss of me.

The adverse effects of immediate gratification are long-lasting. 

You have to shift your focus to long-term gratification.  Reframe your ideas about control.

Substitute other habits to take the place of chronically rewarding yourself with food.  Choose quality over quantity.

Food addiction is about amassing large quantities and doesn't give two hoots about quality when you're in the impulsive and highly reactive moment of thrill eating.

STOP.  In the name of love.  Ruby, don't take your love to town.

 

Don't hop in the car and drive like a bat out of hail to the nearest drive-thru or mini-mart.  Don't stuff yourself to the gills with the imaginary intention of making yourself feel better.

Enjoy the moment without following the urge.

Enjoy Mother's Day without turning it into a free-falling food fest. There's always another streetcar coming around the corner. We have holidays every month of the year.

After all, tomorrow is another day. 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

Impulsive people have a hard time imagining the future and thinking way down the road.

It may be quicker and easier to buy fast food immediate rewards than thinking about avoiding T2, obesity, food addiction in your future. 

Impulsive people have to shift the bright light on present food rewards to the future desire and longing for a healthy body. Until there are concrete brain interventions that lead to real-life choices, investing wisely in your future - you have to do this for yourself. Take full responsibility for everything.

It will take true grit and making conscious decisions - minute by minute, day by day and year by year. Sit down with someone, Face-to-Face. Ask for help. No one can do this for you and there's no such thing as the Finish Line.

It's 3 years now. I'm not where I used to be but I'm still a work in progress.  My immediate gratification food rewards lifestyle is not something I would recommend or ever wish to repeat.  I do regret it and that's the hard cold truth.

Flying by the seat of your pants is not a badge of honor. I'm learning to measure my words and actions.  Striking while the griddle is hot, snap decisions, impulsive actions without a thinking system is not all it's cracked up to be.

 

[MeadowLily]

Enjoy the moment without following the urge.

 

Let your body and mind, shake, rattle and roll.

Feel everything.

Let it get mad and throw a baby fit.

Cry if you want to.

Throw yourself on the bed.

Enjoy even those moments without following the urge.

Much Love.  Much Love.

 

[MeadowLily]

Best of all he loved the fall

The leaves yellow on the cottonwoods

Leaves floating on the trout streams

And above the mountains the windless skies...

Now he will be a part of them forever.

 

[MeadowLily]

Enjoy the moment without following the urge.

[MeadowLily]

Be quick to listen and slow to speak.

Lead with your ears, follow with your words and let anger straggle along in the rear.

Kind hearts are the garden. Kind thoughts are the roots. Kind words are the blossoms. Kind deeds are the fruits.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

Potshots taken across the bow = ships firing warning shots at one another. 

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A shot over the bow person contrives snidely whiplash remarks that slap you upside the head. They're loaded statements that ambush you from every direction.

Suffering the slings and arrows of bullies is an interesting form of communication. It's usually an indirect slam but can lead to a direct rope-a-dope swift upper cut -  boxing your ears around kind of conflict.

How you react to these snidely and snarkalicious jabs requires the Thinking System.

The Hot System = highly reactive, impulsive, ready to pounce to hot stimuli and potshots taken from across the bow...it's going to take true grit to tame that tiger.

Enjoy the moment without following the urge. That's my new theme. 

It's going to require that you feel everything. Your body and mind will shake, rattle and roll.  You want to respond in kind but that will result in a disaster area. An avalanche and calvalcade of regret.

Connection with others ain't always pretty. I don't stuff my emotions down with food like I used to. Rewarding myself with multi-crap can't remedy potshots taken from across the bow.

All I have is faith. Food won't fix it.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

The 5 fats you should never eat for heart health:

Vegan butter substitutes

Corn oil

Canola

Grapeseed

Vegetable/soybean oils

Fractioned oils and hexane used to extract the oils is a gasoline-like solvent and cleaning agent = inflammation.

[MeadowLily]

Natural Flavors = loosely regulated. Technically, MSG and aspartame can be listed as natural flavors.

Synthetic vitamins and added fructose:

Falling back into shakes and bars, created in a lab and manufactured in a plant -  these are full of synthetic vitamins and added fructose.

Plastic vitamins and fructose. Glucose is used by every cell in the body. Manufactured fructose is only metabolized by the liver. Too much fructose is toxic to the liver. Added fructose, an excess of fructose raises triglycerides and increases fat production.

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

 

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

Is life one big marshmallow test.

We are faced with temptations or tempting distractions every single day. There is no such thing as the Finish Line.

Those who focus on the temptations are more likely to give into it.

My Food Freedom Forever = the ability to manage and regulate my emotions about food and life in general.

I have freedom to choose my responses. My responses to everything requires energy. A good night's sleep and whole foods improves my responses.

Since the original Marshmallow Test there has been more careful study. They've found that a scarcity mentality or growing up with limited resources, for real...doesn't mean that eating the one marshmallow is an indication of failure.

It can actually mean that you are thinking very logically. Lack and scarcity, limited resources...the greater the tendency to pounce on that marshmallow because you may not have another opportunity to find one for a long, long time.

There's the old school paleo and new paleo. One was mostly lack and the other one can be filled with shakes, bars, bulletproof coffee drinks, synthetic/plastic vitamins and protein powders.

You choose.  Choices and Consequences.

This is a judgment free zone.

The old school paleo of lack and scarcity wasn't all it was cracked up to be either. The half has not been told.

My Food Freedom Forever doesn't mean over-restriction. For me, it has reasonable restriction with responses that require a Thinking System. Every single day.

If you grew up with limited resources, immediate gratification or immediate food rewards - these were opportunities when things were scarce. No judgment there, none.

Our environment can help or hinder us to perform our best, making wise decisions.

I won't judge anyone who can't afford top quality food. Their family may be surviving on rice and beans or noodles. We are all a product of our raising.

Food Freedom Forever, for me, means the difference between gorging on every marshmallow in sight and starving myself. Good girl. Bad girl.  Naughty or Nice.  Black or White thinking.

Food Addiction is chronically rewarding yourself with immediate food rewards.

We all want to release endorphins and have very active pre-frontal lobes. We want our ventral striatums associated with addictive behaviors/impulse control to just shut the hail up already. 

Sometimes, you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

I have freedom to choose my response and reaction to 2 feet of new snow.