Often times we know that we are not happy with our weight, health, and fitness. We know that we should make changes in our eating, exercise, and lifestyle habits, but sometimes we just get stuck in our old ways of thinking and eating.
Why do we get so stuck in not-so-good-for-you habits and stay stuck when we know better?
There are many reasons for getting stuck.
The more aware you become of what keeps you in the food rut, the more likely you will free yourself from the food muck in order to reach a higher level of health and fitness.
What keeps you stuck in a body less than your ideal? Could it be:
Conditioning
Habits
Emotional bondage
Ignorance
Laziness
Complacency (self-satisfaction)
Too many voices
Fear
Doctor worship
10.“It won’t happen to me”
In this article, let’s explore the first three reasons why we get stuck.
Conditioning: From the time we were very little, we were taught by our mothers, grandmothers, teachers, doctors, peers, and our government that, in order to be healthy, we must eat from the infamous “Four Food Groups,” which was created and pushed by the egg, dairy, and meat industries and, in 1956, endorsed by our government.
Since that time and even decades before that time, the law of the land was to center all three meals a day on meat, milk, cheese, eggs, cereals, and/or refined bread.
Vegetables and fruits were relegated to the lowly status of side-dishes.
That is how we were raised and conditioned to think and eat, and that is how most of continue to think and eat today—in spite of the fact that there is a wealth of information that tells us that it is the very “Four Food Groups” that has led and continues to lead Americans to premature, life-robbing diseases and early deaths.
But we get trapped by our conditioning.
Habits: We formed deeply ingrained habits based on our conditioning. To make matters worse, not only did we form the habit of eating an excess of meat, dairy products, and refined breads and cereals from the “Four Food Groups,” we also formed the habits of eating fast foods, junk foods, processed foods, packaged foods, refined foods, manmade foods, pop, coffee, alcohol, and sugary drinks.
And, let’s face it. Even if we know certain foods are not good for us, it is tough to change our habits. Even if we know there are healthier choices, we stay stuck in our habits. How long do you think it takes to break a lifelong habit? 21 days like some people say? No way. It takes many, many years sometimes to break lifelong habits.
Emotional Bondage: Because we have eaten a certain way for all of our lives, we are emotionally attached to certain foods. Different foods are strongly tied to our earliest memories. Food is our friend. It comforts and soothes and satisfies. We eat when we are sad. We eat when we are happy. We eat when we are alone. We eat when we are with people.
Many of our lives revolve around our favorite foods so much that we would rather die than give them up. When food holds us in emotional bondage, no matter how logical it is to make changes, it is tough to break those bonds with our old buddies and forge new eating habits. It’s tough, but not impossible!
Do these reasons resonate with you? Read parts 2 and 3 of this article to explore what else keeps us stuck in the food muck.