Clearly mindfulness is a fantastic option and the one which is likely to be preferable but this is not always possible, and even when it is there may not be a better routine to use. If this is the case, then it can be useful to consider trying to remove the cue or change your environment instead.
Consider the person who always snacks when they get in from work. This person arrives home and gets the cue that there are snacks in the cupboard, they undergo the routine of eating them and get the reward associated with salt, sugar and fat that was discussed in previous modules. In this instance, the simple act of removing these snacks from the kitchen (or at least making them less obvious by placing them in opaque containers at the back of the cupboard) can make a huge difference to the actions of the individual. No cue, no craving.
Those who always eat snacks late in the evening will do so at home but find it very easy to avoid this on holiday. Their environment, and therefore the cues by which they are surrounded, are different.
Relating back to the M&S advert mentioned at the start of this module, humans are visual creatures and often the cue to eat can be as simple as seeing food. Someone who always has an after-work snack will be able to cut out their snacking, even if their confectionary of choice is in full view, so long as they are able to stay mindful. If, however, they sleep poorly, become tired or experience high amounts of stress, or are distracted by other things going on around them, someone will be less able to engage their higher functioning prefrontal cortex and utilise inhibitory control. Smokers who have not touched a cigarette in years will start smoking when stressed or when drunk. Distracted and stressed people will open the fridge upon entering the kitchen for no reason and this is why.
Some great alterations to make to your home and work environment are:
On top of this it could be wise to identify times of the day during which you find it most difficult to eat well. This could be immediately after work, midmorning or immediately before sleep. Once these are identified, create a specific action that you will do at that time instead. After work, you could go to the gym, call your parents before going in the house, or do the washing up immediately. Before bed you could set aside time to read. This interrupts your normal routine and disturbs the bracketed set of behaviours, therefore putting you back in control.
And as a final note, remember that this can take a lot of time and self-reflection. Distractions are more and more omnipresent in the modern world, alongside external cues driving us to eat. Not only that, the automation of numerous daily activities is leaving us more and more time in which we can become bored and distracted, allowing bad habits space to form. If you have bad habits, think of them systematically. First notice them and highlight what is really going on – your brain is driving you to do something you don’t want to do. Then, consider what it is you are truly craving and if possible look to alter your routine. If not, consider how you can eliminate the cue. Finally, reframe that craving for what it really is and remember the times of day that you are especially vulnerable to it so you can be alert and prepared to act consciously. Altering habits is hard because they rule a significant amount of our behaviour, so give yourself a fighting chance.
In our final module, we will pull everything together that you have learned so far and speak about the first step of long-term, permanent lifestyle change: goal setting. There we will discuss the ways that goal setting can be used to improve the success rate of any endeavour, and explore the different kinds of goals that can be used, how to use them and when. Finally, we will talk about motivation – how do you stay motivated long-term, and how do you use internal and external motivation to stay on track?