It seems to me that the process of losing weight and/or living healthier is, at it’s core, a matter of breaking old habits and making new ones.
“Burger and fries” has to become “burger.” “Let’s order pizza” becomes, “I’ll go pick up a pizza,” because the places that deliver don’t use whole-wheat dough. Waiting for the elevator turns into taking the stairs.
As a consquence, I have a passing interest in how habits work. So does this guy. Fair warning – I haven’t read the book yet, but the story on Fresh Air was interesting. It’s been covered in a variety of media, mostly because of the Target/pregnant teenager anecdote (OK, now I have your attention), but as usual, Terry Gross does a nice job of asking the author the right questions. The cookie story makes it extra-relevant to this-here blog.
Here’s a list of habits that would do you and me both some good. Most will be familiar to Skippers (That’s a new term I’m testing for regular Skipping Dessert readers – let me know what you think – maybe “Skippies” instead?), but worth rereading nonetheless. Don’t take number seven to heart until you’ve had a chance to re-read Skipping Dessert from start to finish.
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Posted by Joe Lowry Jr (@jlowryjr) on March 5, 2012 at 5:12 pm
Thanks for the links and the good perspective!
Posted by anneseraphine on March 5, 2012 at 8:26 pm
I love your list of habits here–familiar but often ignored at least in my world. Related to the idea of habits is the literature concerning the effects of cognitive overload that results from having to make too many decisions. Habits limit the number of decisions–particularly in the world of food. But maybe this book talks about this.
Posted by 'Shell on March 5, 2012 at 11:57 pm
Great reading (and writing) as usual!! And for the record, I like skippers better than skippies. Good list you posted…but my only problem is that I’m alergic to wheat…so white or italian is all that I can have!! The one about taking a day off…not when you work for yourself! But…I have taken a few hours off at least once a week to do what I want to do. Keep up the good work Harvey. BTW…are you back to jogging in the morning again?? Just curious!