If you were on the kickstart last week, or are a current client, you will have heard me talk about Georgia’s £15 “Morrisons – The Best” birthday cake that I bought for her on Monday.
I said on the night it was going back for a refund as “The Best” it certainly was not.
How much of that cake do you think was left, less than 36hrs later?
Read on to find out.
Now, full of Domino’s on the night I bought it (I’m laying full blame at Georgia’s door for that one, as “pizza” was the answer given when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner)
When the three of us tucked into our modest slices of said cake, the verdict was “Gross! Not worth the calories!” from my housemate and me, and an “I’m full” from Georgia.
But the next day was a totally different matter.
I’d been up since 5.30am working, the dog was asking to go out every two minutes because he can’t control his butt sphincter very well.
I was up to my neck in Spanish planning legislation.
Getting interrupted every 10 seconds by “Mummy! Tiny Pop!”
And couldn’t for the life of me get my laptop to work properly.
Cue 2pm and not having had breakfast (let alone lunch!), when Georgia demands some more birthday cake.
Up I get from my desk… “Anything for a quiet life!”, after all.
Duly cut her a slice, and then… some of the icing ended up in my mouth.
Big mistake!
Cue the Neanderthal at a blackberry bush.
First one slice.
Then another.
Then “just an edge”.
Shiiiiit!
Next thing you know, half the cake’s gone, and oinker here is the one responsible for that! (And at the time of writing this 48hrs later, there’s less than a fifth left!)
So several things to look at here;
The first is that when full of food already, it didn’t taste as good and thus I didn’t consume as much.
(Granted it was Dominos pizza, but let’s move on from that.)
The second is that when hungry and with it screaming “EAT ME” from the kitchen counter, I had zero chance of resisting, even though it didn’t even taste good.
Why was that?
Because my brain was running on empty and clambering for glycogen.
So, my Neanderthal came out.
Full on, with the innate behaviour which has evolved over millions of years!
Because humans are all wired to behave like that!
It’s a survival mechanism.
Do you think our ancestors used to encounter a bush full of blackberries, take one or two and then leave a load for the next animal to chomp down on?
Not a chance!
So next time you find yourself smashing a ton of the sweet stuff.
First ask yourself why.
“Am I hungry?” is always a good one to start with - a Neanderthal with a belly full of wild rabbit won’t even be foraging around for that blackberry bush in the first place.
And then figure out what you could do going forward, to prevent from finding yourself in that situation again.
In my case it was simply having breakfast.
(And not leaving the bloody cake on the worktop!)
The strategies are simple, but by God they work!
Summary: you’re not a pig; you’re a highly evolved ape you need to outsmart.
I’ll be covering the psychology behind smashing the “bad” stuff, as well as multiple strategies to employ when encountering those situations, in a webinar next Monday 30th of May.
Want to attend? Just drop me a line back, or get yourself signed up to the “Lean on Me” Nutrition and Weight Loss programme. Your results are guaranteed, so you’d be crazy not to.
P.S. Blackberries are good! All fruit is good! Even in large quantities. It’s the refined sugar in large quantities that isn’t.
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