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How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)

thelogicaloptimist.com

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Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's weird. I'm actually a much nicer person on nicotine than I ever was before I got addicted. It makes it really hard to quit, because even after a few weeks, while I don't feel miserable anymore, I do miss the person I was on nicotine.

There's always vaping! Nicotine goodness without the combustion byproducts.

People that I have seen substitute with vaping seem to get more addicted to that.

Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine is a bowl of old fashion oats, frozen mixed fruit (I like a blueberry/blackberry mix), and maybe some non-fat plain greek yogurt and/or a glass a of plain soy milk. Alternatively, a couple of scrambled eggs with a piece of toast and a bananna is fairly healthy. A fried egg on an English muffin also isn't a terrible way to start the day. Target ~400 cals, Try and get some protein and fiber in there. Watch out for…

I used a CGM recently. I tried breakfast as oatmeal with blueberries and mixed in with peanut butter. It spikes my blood sugar outside the "normal range". I treat oatmeal as once a week treat to avoid food boredom. The oatmeal was a "big bowl" variety from a packet. I heard rolled oats might be better but it's a hassle to cook. Most days breakfast is scrambled eggs (3 eggs), spinach, cheese. Sometimes I add tuna or a…

Yeah that tracks. In the mornings your body is still in sleep mode so carb intake will take longer to be absorbed. If you have diabetes you need more insulin and a longer time for it to have affect. So for sure eating slow release carbs will help with the peak. Eating fats like cheese/avocado/oil will dampen the peak as well, eggs have 1% carbs and weighs almost nothing.

Just pointing out that the peak is just how the body works.

Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)

#93
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think part of the problem is we don't really know what a healthy diet looks like. We can point to what is probably unhealthy: eating tons of sugar filled items is probably bad, eating a lot of fried food is at least questionable, but beyond that we really don't know. The research is either poorly done, impossible to do, or you can find studies that go both ways.

Pretty sure the verdict is in - natural foods over processed.

That's not very useful. There are many healthy processed foods. It's better if we actually define what types of processing are unhealthy.

Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)

#94

It took me a few days to become a smoker, and a few weeks to get to the point of not wanting to smoke again (some decades later). It took me a week or so to start having a healthier breakfast and it become part of my routine, and I've been trying to have healthier lunches for years now (and still regularly fail, normally because at lunchtimes I'm tired, stressed and yearning for comfort foods like sandwiches and snac…

I've found that habits tied to emotion (like seeking comfort or relief) are always the hardest to rewire. It's not about willpower, it's about replacing the feeling you're chasing with something that actually works long-term.

Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think part of the problem is we don't really know what a healthy diet looks like. We can point to what is probably unhealthy: eating tons of sugar filled items is probably bad, eating a lot of fried food is at least questionable, but beyond that we really don't know. The research is either poorly done, impossible to do, or you can find studies that go both ways.

I mean a healthy diet is a variety of fruits and vegetables, with a decent supplement of whole grains and occasional lean meats and eggs. Minimally processed as much as possible - whole ingredients should be the majority of calories. The details don’t matter so much, as long as you get a variety and generally stick to the above guidelines. I think you can judge how healthy a diet is by how many people get diseases, m…

This seems like good and standard advice does not seem to be controversial at all. I think the question is which practical foods are healthy.

Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)

#96
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean a healthy diet is a variety of fruits and vegetables, with a decent supplement of whole grains and occasional lean meats and eggs. Minimally processed as much as possible - whole ingredients should be the majority of calories. The details don’t matter so much, as long as you get a variety and generally stick to the above guidelines. I think you can judge how healthy a diet is by how many people get diseases, m…

This seems like good and standard advice does not seem to be controversial at all. I think the question is which practical foods are healthy.

I agree, it’s a trick question because no food is healthy by itself, foods are only healthy as part of a whole. And as long as your foods usually fit with the basic standard advice, then you’re eating healthy foods.

If you have cheese as a large component of almost every meal, then you’re deviating a lot from the basic advice, so it’s not healthy. If you have a bit of cheese on your breakfast of eggs and toast a couple times per week, then it’s healthy.

Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)

#97

It took me a few days to become a smoker, and a few weeks to get to the point of not wanting to smoke again (some decades later). It took me a week or so to start having a healthier breakfast and it become part of my routine, and I've been trying to have healthier lunches for years now (and still regularly fail, normally because at lunchtimes I'm tired, stressed and yearning for comfort foods like sandwiches and snac…

> Identifying that habit as part of who you are is key to it being sticky.

This has always been key to me. I've succeeded to identify myself as a runner, as someone who speaks French, as someone who reads books. But my identification as someone who has meaningful programming side-project, who has a garden and so on is to weak to succeed.

Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)

#98
post #64

It took me a few days to become a smoker, and a few weeks to get to the point of not wanting to smoke again (some decades later). It took me a week or so to start having a healthier breakfast and it become part of my routine, and I've been trying to have healthier lunches for years now (and still regularly fail, normally because at lunchtimes I'm tired, stressed and yearning for comfort foods like sandwiches and snac…

But then again, 21 days might be an optimistic number solely for the purpose of getting people started. Now we should do a study of how many people, armed with this belief, still managed to keep their habit after 21 days.

> Now we should do a study of how many people, armed with this belief, still managed to keep their habit after 21 days.

Or perhaps better still, how many people didn't give up during the first or second week, since they now expect it to take 3 weeks.

(And similarly, whether there's a statistically significant number of people who give up ay 22+delta days now assuming they'd made it to 21 days and if the habit isn't formed then they've failed.)

Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's weird. I'm actually a much nicer person on nicotine than I ever was before I got addicted. It makes it really hard to quit, because even after a few weeks, while I don't feel miserable anymore, I do miss the person I was on nicotine.

There's always vaping! Nicotine goodness without the combustion byproducts.

In a very simplistic way:

- Smoking brings cancer and damages lungs.

- Vaping damages lungs (more research needed on other possible conditions).

- Nicotine pouches damage teeth.

I suppose the healthiest way of ingesting nicotine would be nicotine pills, which exist to help people quit smoking (and which is why they are very expensive).

Re: How long does it take to create a new habit? (2015)

#100

It took me a few days to become a smoker, and a few weeks to get to the point of not wanting to smoke again (some decades later). It took me a week or so to start having a healthier breakfast and it become part of my routine, and I've been trying to have healthier lunches for years now (and still regularly fail, normally because at lunchtimes I'm tired, stressed and yearning for comfort foods like sandwiches and snac…

> Identifying that habit as part of who you are is key to it being sticky. This has always been key to me. I've succeeded to identify myself as a runner, as someone who speaks French, as someone who reads books. But my identification as someone who has meaningful programming side-project, who has a garden and so on is to weak to succeed.

I never liked running. But my trick was to start a run-streak, https://runeveryday.com/.

And there are certain thresholds from the article that I can identify with. 21 days to a month as the main hurdle to pass obviously.

But then some place around 6 months, where you realize that it is impossible that this day, today, is the day I will end my streak.

All these past days just keeps pushing me on like a steamroller that picked up pace.

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