Why do many diets end in catastrophe? The answer lies in a strange mechanism in your brain.
June 13, 2011
This story is cross-posted from "You Are Not So Smart".
The Misconception: If you stop engaging in a bad habit, the habit will gradually diminish until it disappears from your life.
The Truth: Any time you quit something cold turkey, your brain will make a last-ditch effort to return you to your habit.
You’ve been there.
You get serious about losing weight and start to watch every calorie. You read labels, stock up on fruit and vegetables, hit the gym. Everything is going fine. You feel great. You feel like a champion. You think, “This is easy.”
One day you give in to temptation and eat some candy, or a doughnut, or a cheeseburger. Maybe, you buy a bag of chips. You order the fettuccine alfredo.
That afternoon, you decide not only will you eat whatever you want, but to celebrate the occasion you will eat a pint of ice cream.
The diet ends in a catastrophic binge.
What the hell? How did your smooth transition from comfort food to human Dumpster happen?
You just experienced an "extinction burst."
READ MORE
A collection of articles defining our times. The pages contain clickable links, don't let the titles fool you, some of the best articles have very non-descript titles and there are usually more articles on the matters in the days and week pages the links land on so it's a sort of treasure hunt through history, Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment