Here’s how you can break junk food addiction with a more sustainable source of pleasure.
You can listen to my podcast episode instead if you prefer the audio format:
Why break junk food addiction at all?
We eat junk food because we want to feel good right now.
For instance, we’re bored and want to feel variety.
But this is fake happiness.
It gives you instant gratification but just for five minutes.
Plus, you often end up wanting even more variety, i.e., food.
Your monkey mind goes, “I liked it. What’s next? When is the next ice cream coming?”
A life coach Sara Bown explains that junk food provides an immediate rush like drugs after eating it:
The issue is, to keep that feeling you need to keep eating it and the TRUTH is how the junk makes our body feel! We crash, have low energy, upset gut, trouble concentrating, short fuses, compromised immune systems, fatigue, immense inflammation… the list goes on and on.
Doesn’t sound like a sustainable method for changing your state, right?
Do you know what is?
Changing your core beliefs about health.
One powerful method is to reframe.
Breaking my son’s junk food addiction
Yesterday, my son felt sick after eating ice cream.
I was like, “Yes!”
We have an agreement that he can have some junk food once a week.
And this time, eating ice cream was an unpleasant experience.
This kind of situation is an opportunity for me to reframe this eating junk food addiction in his mind.
I told him immediately to think of what caused it so that he formed that neural connection in his brain.
It reframed ice cream in his mind.
He went from seeing it a pure source of pleasure to something that can be unpleasant at times.
With children, this kind of reframing works like magic.
They build new neural connections in their minds quickly.
I remember myself tasting beer for the first time in my life as a kid and hating it.
And I never drank it after that.
Tony Robbins: reframing against beer
The same happened to Tony Robbins.
When he was a kid, his mother let him drink a lot of beer so that he got sick of it.
This reframes how we think of that food or drink.
Instead of associating ice cream or a beer with pleasure, we frame it as a source of pain.
That’s how you break junk food addiction.
Reframe: being the strong one
I found this reframe to be working very well when it comes to food:
I’m going to live to 100 years because I want to stay with my loved ones as long as possible and don’t want them to grieve my death.
This reframe has three building blocks—with one generation associated with each block.
- The first generation is my parents.
- The second one is my generation that includes my siblings and my partner.
- The next generation is my kids and grandkids. (Technically, that’s two generations but I label them as one for simplicity.)
First generation: my parents
The first building block of my 100-year reframe is the first generation: my parents.
If I die prematurely, my parents will be devastated.
It’s a shame when people die young and do this to their parents.
So this gives me a powerful foundation for my reframe.
Overall, this idea of not wanting relatives to see me die is the cornerstone of my 100-year reframe.
Second generation: my wife and siblings
It is also reflected in the second building block of the reframe: thinking of my wife and siblings.
I make a conscious choice to outlive them.
If I die first, they will grieve my death.
If I die last, I will grieve them.
And I know I am stronger than them so I’d rather take this burden on myself than let them carry it.
To illustrate, imagine I die, and my wife ends up missing me all the time.
I don’t want that for her.
I am willing to see her die first—as late as possible of course—and keep on going without her because I am the strongest one.
Third and fourth generations: children and grandchildren
Finally, there are the third and fourth generations.
I want to stick around my kids and grandkids for as long as I can.
Again, I don’t want them to see me die prematurely and mourn me.
I want to be a positive example for them.
You know, old people tend to get resentful and inactive.
Younger people see this example and become resentful and inactive too as they grow old.
I want to break this negative cycle.
I know I can be different and I want to give the next generations an example of how you can age gracefully.
Plus, I want to share the wisdom I accumulate as a life coach with them.
Hopefully explaining some of the lessons that I learned the hard way.
So I want to exert a generational influence, leaving a legacy.
That is the third building block of my 100-year reframe.
Actionable tip for breaking junk food addiction
Now that you know the theory, I’m going to leave you with an affirmation to practice.
I live to 100 years to outlive my parents, my partner, and my siblings because as the strong one, I’d rather mourn them than let them mourn me.
I’ll also live to 100 years to be a generational influence, leaving a legacy for my kids and grandkids.
Affirm this to yourself:
- Right after you wake up.
- Right before you fall asleep.
- And whenever you feel like breaking junk food addiction.
Break through your barriers
If you need help getting over junk food addiction, contact me for a free clarity session.
Here is what’s going to happen in that session:
- You’ll tell me about your needs.
- I’ll show you what a life coach does.
- You’ll walk away with a clear understanding of the value of my coaching and an action plan.