|
THE PLEASURE-PAIN DICHOTOMY! START ASSOCIATING BAD BEHAVIORS WITH ENOUGH PAIN AND YOU WILL CHANGE YOUR BEHAVIORS!Are you a master of the Pleasure-Pain Dichotomy? If you have no idea what I am talking about, please read on. Have you ever wondered why you are “stuck” in a place that you don’t want to be regarding your health and fitness levels? You started out committed, but in the end, just gave up because of too much effort and too little of a result? You have really given it the “old college try” but to no avail? It could be could be because of the Pleasure-Pain Dichotomy. “THE WHAT?” Well, let me explain. If you have following Food First Wellness long, you know that I have given dozens of simple to follow concepts to improve your health. But unfortunately, if you have tried to follow these concepts and create beneficial habits you may have also found yourself failing and feeling defeated. Hello, Pleasure-Pain Dichotomy! So why can’t we just integrate these simple steps into our lives? I have an idea. It MAY be the answer! Here are just a few of those simple daily habits that will add quality and quantity to your life, if you start applying a new understanding of the Pleasure-Pain Dichotomy. Eat Breakfast-Eat breakfast and break the fast! Fasting sends a message to your body to store fat and burn muscle. The message of starvation creates an increase in cortisol and adrenaline levels for survival; this ages the body and destroys the metabolism. Never Skip Meals-In addition to creating issues with your hormonal levels which will age you, you are also setting yourself up for over-eating. Your body wants to store fat, don’t give it another excuse to do so because you skip meals. Lack of Quality Sleep-By not getting to bed and falling asleep a couple hours before midnight you are creating issues with your body to recover mentally and physically. Each of us should look to receive at least 7 hours of quality sleep a night or expect a number of the human systems to be affected, including the immune system.
Drink at Least 64 Ounces of Quality Water-The majority of people in the United States are walking around dehydrated and all of their “interconnected” systems are paying the price because of it. Many people even confuse thirst for hunger and eat rather than drink, creating a larger challenge for losing weight. Replace Displacement Foods with Real Whole Foods-We know that the displacement foods of refined sugar and flour, vegetable oils, and processed canned goods create degenerative disease but they are also the easiest and most convenient foods available. It wasn’t long ago that we lived disease free because we consumed real whole foods everyday and at every meal. You see, these are very simple principles to better health, but for some reason, they are difficult to follow. I want to give you the answer to this dilemma: The Pleasure-Pain Dichotomy. If you are perfectly honest with yourself you will say that the reason you don’t change your lifestyle to improve your health is that the “Future Pain” is not as strong as the “Instant Pleasure” of the habit your refuse to change. Here are some examples of the Pleasure-Pain Dichotomy: EAT BREAKFAST “Why worry about the future PAIN of a damaged metabolism and degenerative disease when I can experience the PLEASURE of an extra 30 minutes of sleep now. Plus, there is always coffee and a donut at my favorite gas station down the street. I have been getting away with not eating breakfast for years?” NEVER SKIP MEALS “The PLEASURE of skipping meals and even replacing them with caffeine or nicotine makes it difficult to focus on the future PAIN that is in store. The PLEASURE of the immediate adrenaline rush when skipping meals far outweighs the PAIN of damaging my metabolism for the future. Plus, I know plenty of people who have much worse habit than I do and they are fine.”
LACK OF QUALITY SLEEP “It brings me great PLEASURE that I can watch TV and work on the computer through the night and I don’t see a future PAIN associated with these behaviors. I will get enough sleep when I die. Who cares about synthetic light and circadian rhythms, that is all rubbish anyway.” DRINK QUALITY WATER THROUGHOUT THE DAY “The PLEASURE of drinking sodas, sports drinks and coffee drinks throughout the day make it very difficult to even think about the future PAIN that is to come from constantly being dehydrated. Anyway, have you seen the bodies of the professional athletes that drink these things. Amazing.” REPLACE DISPLACEMENT FOODS WITH REAL HIGH QUALITY WHOLE FOODS “There is great PLEASURE in consuming modern day processed and convenience foods, it is easy and it tastes great. Though the PAIN of disease could be coming, such as diabetes, degenerative heart disease, and cancer, I think I will be one of the lucky ones. Plus, I can always just take drugs or have a procedure to make up for my poor choices today.” You see, staying committed to improving your health is only going to happen if you begin to understand that the instant gratification (pleasure) that comes from poor life choices will ALWAYS lead to accelerated aging and degenerative disease (pain). So, begin to think about these small lifestyle choices and how they are really impacting the overall health of you and your family. Experience the pleasure and imagine the long term pain!
|