First, a Cobweb
A habit is first a cobweb, then a cord, and finally a cable.
I’ve written about changing habits before, but, for me, one of the best examples of how someone can successfully change an existing habit is illustrated by my evolving patterns around food.
When I was growing up, my mother would begin to cook dinner when I arrived home from school. I would keep her company, snacking for two hours on a treat I prepared for myself. In effect, I ate two dinners every afternoon.
This morning I mused about those afternoons with Mom, as I fried my single egg and placed one slice of bread into the toaster. I remembered that when I was seven my usual breakfast was four eggs, four slices of toast, and half a package of bacon. That’s a lot of breakfast for a seven-year-old. No wonder my weight from the age of fifteen until about ten years ago was never below two hundred pounds, topping out at 278 in my fifties.
I don’t need to dwell on the reasons. That fact was that I generally stuffed myself with as much food as I could possibly manage.
But today I weigh in at 190 and have maintained that weight consistently. I eat a reasonable breakfast of about two hundred calories, compared to a thousand calories when I was forming my eating habits.
So, after seventy years, how did I successfully disconnect from the cable of consumption?
Ten years ago, one of my sons mentioned a friend of his who had lost 60 pounds by working with a nutritionist. I contacted the nutritionist, and we collaborated for more than a year. She taught me how to develop new, healthier habits around food.
For example, one of her tips for lunch was to eat just one open-faced sandwich, half at noon and the other half in mid-afternoon. And no chips. She consistently told me that I could eat anything I wanted – even chocolate cake. But no more than two bites. (Yesterday evening I filched just two of my wife’s French fries, then stopped.)
Can we change habits? Of course. But we usually need a strong motivation, such as better health. Advice from a professional can also be useful, as well as support from family and friends.
If you have a habit you’d like to change, I suggest you begin to weave a brand-new cobweb.
Alan