[New Series] Diet Maxims Vol. 3: 'Between stimulus and response there is a space.' Erase the urge to binge eat in '3 seconds'! The choice technique of the wise man Frankl

“Ugh, I’m so tired from work today! I can’t go on without eating something sweet!”

And before you know it, you’re at the convenience store checkout with an armful of sweets...

Do you blame yourself for that, calling yourself a “slave to your appetite”?

I assure you, the reason you end up eating isn't because you have a weak will.

You are simply “responding immediately” to a “stimulus.”

Your brain’s circuits are just operating on reflex.

I, too, was once an “instant-response glutton.”

If something unpleasant happened, I’d shove chocolate into my mouth; if I felt hungry, I’d get sucked into the ramen shop in front of me.

At the time, I thought I was deciding my own actions, but in reality, it was just a series of “reactions.”

However, after encountering a historic “maxim of a wise man” and mastering how to create a “space” based on brain science, I succeeded in losing 10kg, and now I can even enjoy late-night hunger as a “staircase to my ideal self.”

😱 The end of a diet that keeps “responding immediately” to emotions

“I’m hungry, so I eat.”
“I’m frustrated, so I drink.”

At first glance, these seem like natural actions, but if you leave this life of “reacting immediately” to “stimuli” unchecked, your brain will continue to degenerate.

In psychology, this is called “impulse control disorder,” a state where the primitive part of the brain (the amygdala) runs wild and reason (the prefrontal cortex) is dead.

If you leave this as is, the following future awaits you.

• A brain similar to drug addiction, where you can only relieve stress by “eating.”

• Confidence disappearing from your face as you keep breaking “promises to yourself.”

• Daily life spent constantly irritable and lashing out at family due to blood sugar spikes and crashes from excessive sugar intake.

Deep down, you should already know.

That after the “30 minutes of bliss” from eating that donut, hours of “regret and self-loathing” come as a set.

🌟 A 'Maxim of Choice' to engrave upon your soul

Viktor Frankl, a psychologist who survived the unimaginable extreme conditions of Nazi concentration camps, said this:

Translating this into dieting, it goes like this:

🧠 Control your 'impulses' just as you would control cursed energy

Why is this 'space (gap)' so important?

Let me talk a little bit about my favorite series, 'Jujutsu Kaisen', here.

Top-tier sorcerers do not just let the 'cursed energy' born from negative emotions flow out unchecked.

The moment their emotions flare up is exactly when they control them calmly, unleashing maximum power with minimal loss.

Dieting is the same as this.

The urge to 'eat!' is, so to speak, like 'cursed energy' generated within the brain.

An immature sorcerer is swayed by that cursed energy and causes an explosion of 'eating immediately'.

However, once you become able to use the 'space' Frankl speaks of, you can step back and view yourself objectively, thinking, 'Oh, the cursed energy of "wanting to eat" has just been generated in my brain.'

This 'metacognition' is the only means to transform impulses into your ideal energy.

🔥 You can do it starting today! 3 steps to create a '3-second gap'

So, how exactly can you create a 'space'?

I will teach you 3 steps you can do right now to turn the urge to binge eat into a 'sage's choice'.

1. For just '3 seconds,' provide a play-by-play of your own breathing

The moment you think 'I want to eat!', please do not move immediately.

'I am craving sweets right now. 1, 2, 3...' I count in my mind while breathing slowly.

With just this, the runaway amygdala calms down, and the rational brain (prefrontal cortex) regains control.

2. Have an image of calling your 'future self'

'If I eat this now, what will I say to myself when I look in the mirror tomorrow morning?'
'Do I want to meet the me who woke up refreshed after a cold shower, or the me who is bloated and puffy from indigestion?'

By having a brief dialogue with your future self for just a moment, the sweets in front of you will start to look like'just a lump of sugar.'

3. Prepare 'alternative actions (other techniques)' in advance

When a stimulus arrives, immediately switch to a different action.

If you think 'I want to eat!', it doesn't matter if you 'do 10 squats,' 'drink warm tea,' or 'watch your favorite Ichiro video.'

You are physically rewiring your brain's circuits.

✨ A word for the soul ✨

The reason I am able to wake up at 3 AM and live stoically now is not because I am a special person.

It is the result of widening the space between the stimulus of 'I'm sleepy' and the response of 'I'll get up' by 1 millimeter at a time with the thought,'What would my ideal self do?'.

That quiet sense of omnipotence when you overcome the urge to 'eat'.

Once you taste that, you can never go back.

Step by step, let's win'freedom' together with me.

I'm rooting for you💪

koji

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