Two Brains
Lower brain or lizard Brain or Beast or Pig Brain has survival mechanism build it. I called it baby brain.
It offers suggestions but the suggestions are not the most optimal. Following the suggestions causes problems. The higher brain is more rational and controls your hands, mouth, and other voluntary muscle.
So you might want to kill someone but you do not because your Prefrontal cortex or higher brain rationalizes that might be good for you long term.
The baby brain thinks of short term results WHILE the mature higher brain thinks of long term results.
The main concept is that the Baby Brain’s command or urge should be ignored. I mean not suppress- it’s better to listen and recognize the voice (as Addictive Voice name given by Jack Trimpy’s book) and ignore it.
Tricks our Beast play’s on us
Remember while you read this your Baby Brain or Pig/Beast/Lower Brains saying to you:
This is not possible.
If it was so easy anyone can do it…so let’s stop reading this BS. Since this is BS.
5 step process of dismissing urges to Binge
Remember here we are discussing urges to binge or overeat…do not use these steps for a crazy fast weight loss …so do not starve…since your urges will then overpower you.
Step 1. View Urges to Binge as Neurological Junk or faulty brain messages
Remember urges to bingeor overeat is not YOU. The voice that encourages overeating or pushes you to make excuses sounds very much like your own voice, but it is not.
You cannot make these urges go away; you only need to learn to experience them differently so you can stop acting on them. Then they will go away on their own. You may find yourselves believing the “faulty messages” when you having an urge, but when you are not having an urge, you realize those urges are not truly required for you.
When you are 10 kgs (or 20 lbs.) overweight I am pretty sure none of us are being deprived of calories or suffering from malnutrition.
Step 2. Separate the Higher Brain from Urges to Binge.
Know and feel that you—your true self—is completely separate from your urges and fully capable of dismissing them.
Your higher brain (which can also be called your human brain, and more specifically, your prefrontal cortex) gives you the power to dismiss the urges.
The difference between the higher and lower brain is an important reason why traditional treatment approaches (which focus on the deep emotional or psychological meaning of the urges) often fail.
Spending time analyzing what is wrong with you in therapy is ineffective when it comes to binge eating because the urges don’t come from you at all!
Everyone has life issues and problems. You have issues before you began binge earing and you will still have problems after you quit. But do not connect problems and life issues with your binge eating.
When the action is not an option for you, it’s effortless to resist. The more you can move binge eating into the category of behaviors you would never dream of performing, the easier it will be to feel separate from the urges.
Like killing someone is not an option, stealing from a store is not an option or any serious crime is not an option. We might feel we had an urge but we know we do not have to do it.
Step 3: Stop Reaching to Urges to Binge
Often you may binge just to make those uncomfortable feelings go away. Those feelings can be frustration, anxiety, depression, excitement or just pure flat starving.
Do you try to analyze why you are having the urge and become frustrated that you can’t find a reason? OR Do you argue with the urges, making yourself anxious?
To stop reacting to urges, it’s helpful to use detachment.
[Side note look into Buddhist philosophy of mindfulness where it suggests to observe you as a third person in a detached and non-judgmental way. You think of yourself as a gaming character (named by Tej Dosa). ]
Detachment is when you (the real you in your higher brain) aren’t involved in what you are experiencing. Even though the internal and external factors are still there, you are no longer personally invested. Detachment is when you simply let the urge be without fueling it with your mental and physical energy.
Don’t offer any counterarguments to the thoughts from the lower brain. Don’t engage in any mental dialogue with it (if other thoughts come up automatically, that’s fine—simply observe them)
Step 4: Stop Acting on Urges to Binge – breaking bad habit
When you stop binge eating, the neural connections that supported the destructive behavior will fade, and the urges will go away. Each time you don’t act on an urge, you are actually utilizing neuroplasticity to rewire your brain.
Write down the times when you have succeeded in doing that and remind yourself of those successes.
Would you rather have temporary discomfort because of not acting on the binge or the discomfort after a binge? When you are full to the brim you feel sleepy, lazy, gaseous, bloated and several other bad things happen. And at least I 100% regret overeating!
The discomfort you feel when not acting on an urge isn’t actually your discomfort; it’s the lower brain’s.
Remember when When you feel uncomfortable not acting on an urge: The lower brain prefers comfort (it’s a normal survival mechanism), but its comfort (binge eating) causes you much more discomfort and pain that you aren’t willing to live with anymore. You are actually much more comfortable dismissing urges.
Step 5: Get Excited (about resisting binge urges and recovery)
When you don’t act on a binge urge of course you will feel excited and happy afterwards.
This excitement isn’t just about feeling good; it actually has a useful neurological function. It speeds brain changes that erase your binge eating habit.
Congratulate yourself. Get excited.
Wouldn’t you be excited if I tell you yes it is possible to lose 10 lbs. in a month? I will be. You know you will be. So why do we not lose those 10 lbs.? because our lower brain tries to seduce yourself with the mental tricks that it’s not possible…and we can start some other day…or some other excuse.