Have you had times in your life when you said something to an important person in your life that you wish you would have waited before you said it? When words are uttered they cannot be taken back. Sometimes these words can completely change (in a negative way) the nature of the relationship with that person. We wish we could have taken a delay time to think through what we really wanted to say.
When it comes to our dietary intake, a similar situation exists: We often find ourselves in situations when we almost mindlessly reach for high caloric foods/snacks without thinking through the consequences? The cumulative results of this behavior is obviously detrimental results on the scale.
If we took a “Delay Time” before certain behaviors to think through: 1- WHY are about to follow through on this behavior and 2- what are the CONSEQUENCES of this behavior, we may not continue through to consummate said behavior. In the case of reaching for that bag of chips the “WHY” would probably bring us to several conclusions such as it tastes good and/or it may help with my stress. The “CONSEQUENCES” of snacking on the chips are cumulatively, negative impacts on our weight, health, cholesterol levels, skin smoothness etc.
Here is a recommendation: Keep a 3X5 card posted in your car, on your fridge, on your work desk with bullet points outlining the reasons WHY you want to shed weight. Promise yourself that before downing that glass of wine, eating those chips, snacking on the nuts etc you will READ the card and then, if you still wish to engage in that eating behavior, turn the card over, date, initial and then proceed to eat the food. By taking this DELAY TIME you very well may NOT proceed in consuming the deleterious food/drink.
Our “intellectual” parts of our brains can rise above the “instinctual” components of our brain that prompt us to seek immediate gratification. Take that DELAY TIME to allow the “smarts” to win against the “pleasure seeking” aspects of our behaviors.
And there is no DELAY TIME for me to tell you that my favorite disco song from the 1970s was (click the link to find out).
