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The Sugary Secret of Self-Control

nytimes.com

41–50 of 62 posts

Re: The Sugary Secret of Self-Control

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not an article abouth the subject of willpower (although it seems that way), but rather a book review of the book Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.

So it is. Must remember not to read news at 0500. -_-

u l n a

Re: The Sugary Secret of Self-Control

#44

As far as food & overeating/unhealthy foods- I've learned you don't necessarily need self-control. You can stop caring instead. That's how I wound up after going hungry for months, and got used to it. It's frighteningly effective. Right now, the last meal I remember was about 20 hours ago, and the last meal before that was another 20-24 ago. My stomach is aching, but it doesn't bother me. Of course, this is not witho…

That sounds scary. How does that affect your energy levels? Are you able to do much work, physical or involving hard thinking? I find that on days I'm working on hard programming problems, I feel hungrier.

Re: The Sugary Secret of Self-Control

#45
post #20

As far as food & overeating/unhealthy foods- I've learned you don't necessarily need self-control. You can stop caring instead. That's how I wound up after going hungry for months, and got used to it. It's frighteningly effective. Right now, the last meal I remember was about 20 hours ago, and the last meal before that was another 20-24 ago. My stomach is aching, but it doesn't bother me. Of course, this is not witho…

Starving for hours and ignoring your body's warning signals? Whatever happened to "don't eat less, eat better" -- "don't reduce quantity, increase quality"? If you enjoy eating and don't enjoy the sounds made by a hungry stomach... you can munch down as many of those fresh veggies as you like and will feel all the better for it, while not gaining a pound. Something to consider. Not the same for fruits as they do cont…

I've gone between 10 and 30 days without eating several times before. It really is good for you if you are relatively healthy to start with.

The first two days are key; You will go crazy if you are unprepared. Remedies for the craziness are drinking lemon water (freshly squeezed lemon in water, possibly with some sweetener but you'll need much less if it is unsweetened), and doing 5-10 minutes of exercise every time you feel the need to eat. Another option is to start when you've lost appetite due to some illness or mild depression - that makes the first two days pass easily.

And then something magical happens - you stop caring about food. For a long time. The smells don't matter, the sight doesn't matter. (Although if you force yourself to eat, it will stat mattering again in a few hours).

A few days or weeks later, you will feel hunger - and realize it is the first time ever you have felt hunger -- everything you felt before you _thought_ was hunger, was just plain appetite. hunger feels different, and it also cannot be suppressed by reading an interesting article or playing a video game.

There are also health benefits, but I highly recommend it just for the psychological experience.

Re: The Sugary Secret of Self-Control

#46

Nonetheless, the very idea of self-­control has acquired a musty Victorian odor. - Rly? How about Eastern cultures who rely on self-control as a foundation for ages and ages? How about Art of War and other classic Chinese texts? How about The Book of Five Rings and other classics about mortal fights? What about Tibetan tradition which emphasizes self-control as a recruitment for self-transformation? Zen and other tra…

"[H]as acquired a musty Victorian odor" says nothing about origins; that's the opposite of what "acquired" means. All you have to do is read the next sentence to see that Pinker is obviously talking about the arc of the idea in English-speaking modernity. Is he right about that? Maybe not, but your comment is irrelevant to his claim.

Re: The Sugary Secret of Self-Control

#47
post #45
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starving for hours and ignoring your body's warning signals? Whatever happened to "don't eat less, eat better" -- "don't reduce quantity, increase quality"? If you enjoy eating and don't enjoy the sounds made by a hungry stomach... you can munch down as many of those fresh veggies as you like and will feel all the better for it, while not gaining a pound. Something to consider. Not the same for fruits as they do cont…

I've gone between 10 and 30 days without eating several times before. It really is good for you if you are relatively healthy to start with. The first two days are key; You will go crazy if you are unprepared. Remedies for the craziness are drinking lemon water (freshly squeezed lemon in water, possibly with some sweetener but you'll need much less if it is unsweetened), and doing 5-10 minutes of exercise every time…

I've only done this for 5 days max, but your experience tracks with mine. It's fascinating from a psychological point of view; I'd agree it's one of those things one ought to try at least once, like skydiving (which comes to mind since I skydived for the first time yesterday).

Re: The Sugary Secret of Self-Control

#48

As far as food & overeating/unhealthy foods- I've learned you don't necessarily need self-control. You can stop caring instead. That's how I wound up after going hungry for months, and got used to it. It's frighteningly effective. Right now, the last meal I remember was about 20 hours ago, and the last meal before that was another 20-24 ago. My stomach is aching, but it doesn't bother me. Of course, this is not witho…

While your timespans are perhaps a little long, I adopted a similar approach, which allowed me to lose 70lbs.

Basically, I stopped looking forward to food and began seeing food as fuel. Like having to re-fuel your car, eating sometimes got to be more of a chore than a delight.

Our society looks at food as an indulgence, when perhaps it would be better to look at it as an energy source.

The Western mantra of "eat the things you love and look great doing it!" is probably cognitive dissonance at its best, not helping society at all.

Re: The Sugary Secret of Self-Control

#49
post #14
post #2

A really excellent followup to the study that was linked to around here about 6 months ago that found out "willpower" is an exhaustible resource that needs to be managed throughout your day. The book[1] this article is reviewing discusses learning to exercise your will power through little mini tasks throughout the day (sit up straight, don't curse, don't eat the whole cake, pickup your desk before going to lunch, et…

Recent findings by Carol Dweck and others challenge the prevalent notion that willpower is an exhaustible AND finite resource. She found that the subjects who believed that exercising one's willpower strengthens it rather than depletes it actually increased their willpower. One's mindset was the key. http://www.stanford.edu/~gwalton/home/In_the_News_files/Job,...

She found that the subjects who believed that exercising one's willpower strengthens it rather than depletes it actually increased their willpower.

That to me doesn't discredit the notion that willpower is an exhaustible, finite resource. It merely illuminates a neat psychological trick for increasing your willpower.

Re: The Sugary Secret of Self-Control

#50
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recent findings by Carol Dweck and others challenge the prevalent notion that willpower is an exhaustible AND finite resource. She found that the subjects who believed that exercising one's willpower strengthens it rather than depletes it actually increased their willpower. One's mindset was the key. http://www.stanford.edu/~gwalton/home/In_the_News_files/Job,...

Thanks for the links. I'm always interested to hear about Dweck's latest research. From the submitted article, this passage is food for thought: "The disasters reveal a limitation of the muscle metaphor: certain evolutionarily prepared drives seem to withstand even the most bulked-up powers of will. The authors note that people with the highest levels of self-control are only slightly better than average at controlli…

I think that the problem is that we are looking at "willpower" as a general skill when we should see it as more specific to the task. I have built up quite a bit of resistance to certain desires like food and television, but I still flounder when it comes to other areas of my life.

I would be very interested in long-term studies that attempt to build willpower in just one area and then examine the individual's ability to apply that self-control to another, separate task.

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