Name: 不管怎麼減肥都失敗嗎？學會這三招讓自己不再嘴饞吃不停，輕鬆減下多餘的脂肪！(How I Tricked My Brain Into Stopping Cravings)
Uploaded: 2023-10-06T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 8 min 25 s

When I had cravings after a long day, I used to beeline for the ice cream in my freezer or the leftover pizza.

當我在一天辛苦之後渴望吃美食時，我過去總是直奔冰箱裡找冰淇淋或剩下的比薩。

Our brains seem wired to crave junk food and sweets.

我們的大腦似乎天生就渴望吃垃圾食品和甜食。

And while their composition does mess with our brain chemistry, we have more control over our cravings than we might think.

儘管它們的組成確實會影響我們的腦化學，但我們對於渴望的掌控力可能比我們想像的更大。

I discovered three slippery slopes that would tip my brain into helplessly craving junk food and sweets.

我發現有三個滑坡會讓我的大腦無法自拔地渴望吃垃圾食物和甜食。

So I took these three points and flipped them into Clarity Guardrails,

因此，我把這三個點轉化為清晰的防護欄，

which over time became stronger and stronger to the point  that my brain hardly ever craves junk food and sweets now.

隨著時間的推移，這些防護欄變得越來越堅固，以至於我的大腦現在幾乎不再渴望垃圾食物和甜食。

Put your detective hat on and try to spot the three slippery slopes in this story.

戴上你的偵探帽子，試著找出這個故事中的三個容易滑入的陷阱。

When I was losing weight, I'd wake up with just enough time to get to work before my first meeting,

當我在減肥時，我會在醒來後趕在第一次會議之前趕到公司，

so my entire breakfast consisted of grabbing a banana on my way out.

所以我的整個早餐，就是在我離開家的時候吃一根香蕉。

I figured the fewer the meals, the less I eat, so it's a win-win.

我想少吃幾餐，這樣我吃得就更少，所以是雙贏。

And then unsurprisingly within a few hours I'd be hungry, head to the vending machine, and get a tea and nuts to tide me till lunch.

不出所料，幾個小時後我就餓了，前往自動販賣機，然後喝杯茶，吃點堅果，直到吃午飯。

Lunch rolls around and finally my first proper meal in the cafeteria.

午飯時間到了，我終於在食堂吃上了第一頓像樣的飯菜。

I'd go for salads, but sometimes the specials for the day were calling my name.

我會選擇沙拉，但有時候當天的特色菜也在召喚著我。

I'd try to keep the ratio three to four days salads, at most one to two days specials.

我會盡量保持三到四天吃沙拉的，最多一到兩天吃特餐的比例。

This way on average I would still be eating less.

這樣平均下來，我還是吃得比較少。

Then between lunch and dinner, I'd start feeling the need to eat again, so I'd grab some nuts or maybe some string cheese.

然後在午餐和晚餐之間，我開始覺得需要再吃東西，所以我會拿一些堅果或者來點起司串。

Nothing too big because I'm losing weight.

不會吃太多，因為我正在減肥。

I am also only pounding down zero-calorie soda the whole time.

整個減肥過程我也只喝零卡路里的蘇打水。

Finally I get home exhausted and eat a home cooked meal.

最後，我筋疲力盡地回到家，吃了一頓家常菜。

But then as the night keeps going, I am craving some of the chocolate in the pantry.

但隨著夜幕降臨，我很想吃儲藏室裡的巧克力。

TV is so much more enjoyable with chocolate and a scoop of ice cream, you know?

有了巧克力和一勺冰淇淋，看電視就更有趣了，你知道嗎？

If I am on a new weight loss attempt, I'd be able to fight off the urge and watch TV with just a cup of tea.

如果我正在嘗試新的減肥方法，我就能忍住衝動只需一杯茶配電視了。

But if it's been a while into the attempt, chocolate and ice cream would start sneaking into my after-dinner wind-down.

但如果已經嘗試了一段時間，巧克力和冰淇淋會開始偷偷地成了我飯後的消遣。

At first I'd think "I'll just have a little bit" but then it'd snowball until I am back to the eating habits I've always had, completely off-the-wagon.

一開始我會想「我就吃一點」，但之後就會像滾雪球一樣越滾越大，直到我恢復到以前一直以來的飲食習慣，完全不在狀態內。

I'd be good the whole day but the nighttime cravings were what always got me.

整天都表現得很好，但晚上的渴望總是讓我失控。

So every new attempt, I'd try to battle my nighttime cravings by finding substitutes like low-calorie ice cream or hiding junk and sweets at back of the cupboard,

所以每次新的嘗試，我都會嘗試對抗夜晚的渴望，找到替代品，比如低熱量的冰淇淋，或者將垃圾食物和糖果藏在櫥櫃的後面。

The problem was that while nighttime craving is a slippery slope, it's the last one, and inevitable if the two earlier slippery slopes are not addressed.

問題在於，儘管夜晚的渴望是一個棘手的問題，但它是最後一個，如果前兩個滑坡沒有解決，它是不可避免的。

Did you spot the two earlier slippery slopes in the story?

你發現故事中的前兩個滑坡了嗎？

If you guessed cooking more of my meals, or intermittent fasting, or cutting carbs, or adding exercise, or any specific diet, then it's none of those.

如果你猜測是多做飯菜、間歇性禁食、減少碳水化合物、增加運動，或是任何特定的飲食方法，那都不是。

The first slippery slope was not fueling my body properly throughout the day, which made my hunger and cravings roll together into a monster at night.

第一個滑坡是整天沒有正確為身體提供足夠的營養，這讓我的飢餓和渴望在夜晚合併成了一個怪物。

Think of cravings like an elephant and hunger as the rider of that elephant.

把渴望想像成大象，而飢餓是那頭大象的騎手。

The elephant is harder to control than the rider, but if I also don't have a good relationship with the rider, I can't control either and will get trampled.

大象比騎手更難控制，但如果我與騎手的關係也不好，我就無法控制任何一者，最終會被踐踏。

There are two clarity guardrails I put in place to form a good relationship with the rider aka my hunger.

我設置了兩個明確的防護欄，以建立與我的飢餓（即我的騎手）的良好關係。

One: Remember how I was pounding down soda all day long?

一：還記得我一天到晚猛灌蘇打水嗎？

Turns out our bodies indicate the need for water as hunger first.

原來我們的身體首先會以飢餓的方式表明對水的需求。

It's only when we're severely dehydrated that we start feeling thirsty.

只有在我們嚴重脫水時，我們才會感到口渴。

And soda does not help as much as water here.

在這裡，蘇打水的作用不如水大。

So the many times between meals when I was quote unquote hungry, what I needed to do was drink water instead of snacking.

所以兩餐之間的許多次當我感到飢腸轆轆的時候，我需要做的是喝水，而不是吃零食。

Once I started drinking more water, the number of times I felt the need to eat reduced, but I still kept getting hungry between meals.

一旦我開始多喝水，我感到需要進食的次數減少了，但我在兩餐之間還是會感到飢餓。

Especially two to three hours after lunch.

I researched how to stop this and found testimonials from people doing paleo saying that their hunger had reduced drastically.

我研究了如何停止這種情況，發現有人在進行原始人飲食時表示他們的飢餓感大大減少。

So I tried paleo, it worked, but I really like rice and bread.

於是我嘗試了原始人飲食，它成功了，但我真的很喜歡米飯和麵包。

I fell off paleo in three weeks, but surprising side-benefit:

三個星期後，我就放棄了 ，但卻有令人驚喜的副作用：

those three weeks had trained me to become better at finding protein because I had to replace my normal rice, bread and pasta with something else.

那三周的訓練使我更善於尋找蛋白質，因為我必須用其他東西來替代我的普通米飯、麵包和義大利麵。

So even after I stopped doing paleo, I kept up with eating one palm-sized amount of protein four times a day.

所以即使我停止了原始人飲食，我仍然每天保持進食四次手掌大小的蛋白質。

The gaps between my hunger pangs became the normal 3.5 to 4 hours after eating.

在進食後，我的飢餓感之間的間隔變成了正常的3.5到4小時。

Just these two guardrails got my hunger under control, and I found that my nighttime cravings reduced from daily to every two to three days.

僅僅這兩條防護網就讓我的飢餓感得到了控制，我發現我的夜晚渴望從每天降低到每兩到三天一次。

And even on days when I was craving my favorite ice cream, the urge wasn't as crazy because the rider of my elephant was sane.

即使在我渴望我最喜歡的冰淇淋的日子裡，渴望的衝動也不那麼瘋狂，因為我的大象的騎手是理智的。

This got me to lose many lb for many weeks until my weight loss stalled.

這讓我連續幾周減掉了好幾磅體重，直到我的減肥停滯不前。

I realized that while I had reduced indulging in after-dinner snacking, it now needed to be reduced even more if I wanted to continue losing weight.

我意識到，雖然我已經減少了晚餐後的零食，但如果我想繼續減肥，現在需要進一步減少。

I needed to also tame the elephant which led me to slippery slope number two.

我還需要馴服大象這讓我陷入了第二個滑坡。

Now if you've read any habit building book, you know how habits form:

如果你讀過任何一本培養習慣的書，你知道習慣是怎麼養成的：

This causes you to have a craving like "You know what makes me feel better? Chocolate!"

這會讓你產生渴望，比如「你知道什麼能讓我感覺更好嗎？ 巧克力！」

Then you act on the craving by eating some delicious candy.

然後，你就會吃一些美味的糖果來滿足自己的慾望。

the sweet satisfaction, stress relief, and fireworks that go off inside you while you enjoy that chocolate.

在你享用巧克力的時候，甜蜜的滿足感，壓力的緩解，以及在你心中綻放的煙花。

The moment where the elephant goes truly berserk is between the craving and the action.

大象真正發狂的時刻是在渴望和行動之間。

Now I had read that the way to prevent hurtling from craving straight into action is to make the action difficult.

我曾在書中讀到阻止從渴望直接行動的方法，那就是使行動變得困難。

So I tried hiding my ice cream behind a bunch of other stuff in my freezer, but somehow a week in I didn't find it that hard to dig my way to it.

所以我嘗試把我的冰淇淋藏在冰箱的其他東西後面，但不知怎麼回事，一個星期過去了，我發現挖到它並不那麼困難。

Then I tried not buying junk and sweets at all, which lasted many weeks until I finally got ahold of some pie at a party and lost all semblance of dignity as I gobbled up 3 slices in record time.

然後我試著根本不買垃圾食物和糖果，這持續了很多周，直到我最終在一個派對上弄到了一些派，以創紀錄的速度狼吞虎嚥地吃掉了3片，並失去了所有的尊嚴。

It was at one of these parties as I was waiting for more ice cream that my big Aha happened.

就在我在等更多冰淇淋的這種聚會中，我有了一個大領悟。

I had already had a bowl of ice cream and I was waiting for another one.

我已經吃過一碗冰淇淋，正在等另一碗。

I realized I had no interest in having it anymore.

我意識到，我對它不再有興趣了。

One: I had given myself full permission to eat as much ice cream as I wanted.

其一：我完全允許自己想吃多少冰淇淋就吃多少冰淇淋。

Unlike those times when I hid my favorite snacks, I wasn't trying to dupe myself into not eating something I really wanted.

不像那些我隱藏我最喜歡的零食的時候，我並不是在試圖欺騙自己不吃我真的想吃的東西。

And two: the time between craving and action had stretched.

其二：渴望與行動之間的時間已經拉長。

The restaurant's slowness had added an unintentional speed bump in my behavior chain.

餐廳的慢吞吞在我的行為鏈中加入了一個意外的減速障礙。

This gave my mind enough time to catch-up to my stomach.

這給了我的大腦足夠的時間來追趕我的胃。

These two became my clarity guardrails for slippery slope number two.

這兩個成為了我防止第二個滑坡的防護網。

From then onward I gave myself full permission to eat whatever I wanted, as long as I went over a speed bump first.

從那時起，我給了自己完全的許可，只要我先過一個減速帶，就可以吃任何我想吃的東西。

Some of my favorites were drinking water after every bite, making the first plate a small salad before any meal, and jotting down my thoughts before I ate my craved ice cream.

我的一些喜好包括每咬一口後喝水，每頓飯前先吃一小碗沙拉，以及在吃渴望的冰淇淋之前寫下我的想法。

My weight loss resumed once I got these in-place and kept going for another 2 months before it stalled again.

一旦我確立了這些習慣，我的減重就繼續進行了另外兩個月，然後又停滯了。

Because while the speed bumps and permission had reduced my cravings and the amount I ate even more,

因為盡管這些減速帶和許可權減少了我的渴望和進食量，

I was still indulging more than I should twice-a-week on, you guessed it, the weekends.

我仍然在一週兩次，也就是週末，放任自己吃超出應有的範圍。

This last slippery slope is the slipperiest of them all because it required me to move up the habit chain and address the craving directly.

這最後一個滑坡是其中最棘手的，因為它需要我升級習慣鏈並直接解決渴望。

I knew from watching my friends that when faced with, say, stress, they didn't experience the same cravings as me, namely, lunging for food.

我從觀察我的朋友得知，當面對壓力時，他們並沒有像我一樣渴望進食。

They were able to treat food like it was optional.

他們能夠把食物當作可有可無的東西。

This made me ask myself uncomfortable questions:

"Why do I turn to food for stress-relief?"

「我為什麼要靠食物來緩解壓力？」

"Why does celebration mean stuffing myself to the gills?"

「為什麼慶祝意味著要把自己吃得飽飽的？」

I started answering these questions whenever my cravings hit, and I realized over time that they all pointed to 1 main answer:

每當我的渴望來襲時，我開始回答這些問題，並隨著時間的推移意識到它們都指向一個主要答案：

the scale I used to value food was one of pleasure, celebration and relief.

我用來評價食物的尺度是以愉悅、慶祝和舒緩為基礎的。

The opposite of this is pain, sadness and distress.

與之相反的是痛苦、悲傷和煩惱。

So of course I didn't want to change my relationship with food!

當然我不想改變我與食物的關係！

From then on whenever I watched my friends eat, I asked myself: "What scale are they using to value food?"

從那以後，每當我看著朋友們吃東西的時候，我問自己：「他們用什麼標準來衡量食物的價值？」

And over time, I realized it all pointed to one scale: "How do I want this food I'm about to eat to serve me right now?"

隨著時間的推移，我意識到這一切都指向一個尺度：「我想要這種我即將吃的食物現在怎樣來服務我？」

For example, I noticed at parties that they did value it as celebration like I did.

例如，我在聚會上注意到，他們確實像我一樣很重視慶祝。

But when I met them after gym, the value was to refuel after the workout, not as a treat for being good.

但當我在健身後見到他們時，價值是在運動後補充能量，而不是作為表現良好的獎勵。

If we ordered food that didn't taste good, they didn't value it all and wouldn't touch it, unlike me who'd eat it anyway.

如果我們點了不好吃的食物，他們就不會價值它，也不會碰它，而我會不管怎樣都吃。

This is well and good as an insight but really hard to put in practice.

這是很好的見解，但真的很難付諸實踐。

So my clarity guideline here was not to set any particular goals but instead turn the observation spotlight on myself I'd simply jot down before I ate how I wanted the food I was about to eat to serve me.

因此，我在這裡的明確指南不是設定特定的目標，而是將觀察的焦點轉向自己，我只是簡單地在吃之前記下我想讓即將吃的食物如何為我服務。