In rare cases, it’s a thyroid problem. Some people claim to just love food so much they just can’t stop eating it. Others feel that their metabolism is too slow for weight loss, so why bother changing their food habits?
Whatever the case, whatever the excuse, legitimate or not, it’s not easy for anyone to change their eating habits for weight loss. We are habitual creatures after all and our routines around eating are among our most ingrained habits. One that we practice many times a day.
But even if you understand the depth of your food habit, there are other forces working against you in your efforts to eat a healthier diet. Forces that you may not be aware of.
3 Things that Make it More Difficult to Change Your Eating
When you become conscious of everything you must accomplish to improve your diet for healthy and sustained weight loss, success is more likely. If you’ve had more trouble than you expect to lose weight, the following can be at least part of the problem.
- The Anticipation of Food – Amazingly, neuroscience says that your brain starts rewarding you just for thinking of food. From the moment you start anticipating what you’ll be enjoying at your next meal, your endocrine system begins to release dopamine, which is your “pleasure hormone”. You feel better just by imagining the food you’re going to eat.
- The Preparation of Food – As mealtime gets closer, the lure of food becomes more tangible. Now the foods you were only anticipating before are right in front of you. The connection between food and pleasure means that, when you know that eating is imminent, your brain releases more dopamine. The effect can happen even when you’re on your way to a restaurant.
- The Aroma of Food – Now you can smell the finished dishes. Your mouth waters. Your sense of smell is the only one of your senses that’s directly linked to the limbic system, the area of the brain responsible for your emotions. Even when you smell food walking by a restaurant, or from what a co-worker is preparing in the lunchroom, you can have a pleasurable response to it.
There are ways to help you make it easier to turn away from the foods that are making it difficult for you to live life at your target weight. Herbal One’s Ultra Xcel helps suppress your appetite while giving you an energy boost. Maybe even better, Ultra Xcel’s active ingredient, thermobroline, comes from the cocoa bean and can give you a similar ‘high’ as you get from eating chocolate!
If you enjoyed this post, check out our recent article about why you get food cravings and how to get rid of them