Reprogramming The Brain For Desired Food Behavior

Dr. Srini Pillay says, “If you simply stick to a low-calorie diet it actually becomes hyper sensitized to foods that you’re not supposed to eat.” Pillay is an acclaimed psychiatrist who hit the ground running in medical school where he won the most national awards of anyone at Harvard Medical School and has been accomplishing pages of acclaims and awards ever since.

He says, “When we use the word ‘not‘ like do not eat potatoes, or do not eat stuffing an extensive series of studies has actually shown that the brain will do the exact opposite of this when we’re under stress. So when we’re under stress the brain does not hear the word not,” says Dr. Pillay,

Dr. Pillay says, “Humans are wired to master disappointment rather than seek fulfillment. We spend a lot of time making sure we can deal with the adversity that comes our way and we don’t actually think about thriving, about eating healthier.”

{We are taking a leap of faith and have added a donate button instead of using advertisers. Advertisements have been removed from this page to make your reading uninterrupted. If you learn something here, please donate so we can keep offering these posts. This post contains affiliate links, which sometimes pay for this site}.

This method in which the brain thinks while under stress is better controlled by focusing on what you want to do instead of what you do not want to do. Laying out your goals in a restaurant or party situation prior to the occasion has more success so your brain does not enter that stress response mode.

Dr. Pillay says you have the power to control these unconscious factors. Focus on what you really want, what really works for you and how do you really want to carry out your plan.

“When you pursue a low-calorie diet your brain actually becomes sensitized to the foods you are trying to avoid. When just walking by the popcorn stand and it smells all the butter your brain feels extra rewarded,” Dr. Pillay says. He says we should, “Not just think about food as low and high calorie or carbs and fat but toxic and non-toxic.”

The reward center of the brain is programmable. 

Changing our automatic behaviors is a programmable way to accomplish our goals in life. Thinking differently on what our memories know can reprogram the commitment center of the brain towards a newly desired outcome.

“One study buzzed the left frontal cortex of the brain. The group that got buzzed suddenly became more committed. Another study took a high commitment group and a low commitment group. They found the high commitment group had a lot of blood flowing into it. In the right frontal cortex that wasn’t happening,” he says.

This shows if you want something you should stimulate the left frontal cortex.

Dr. Pillay says you can do this by making a list with two columns showing what you want and what is needed. Make the lists as in-depth and detailed as possible. This tells the brain what it should focus on and why. It programs the brain for reward. It removes the word not at the same time it removes stress from the equation.

Quieting the brain down in this manner creates a clear pathway without chaos within the brain at the same time it removes stress. This creates meaningful information for future use.

Other sources:

http://blogs.hbr.org/srini-pillay/

http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/07/3-reasons-you-underestimate-risk/

http://eatingpsychologyconference.com/day-3/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/srinivasan-pillay/

http://johnassaraf.com/law-of-attraction/dr-srini-pillay-from-harvard-how-and-why-your-fears-are-holding-you-back-from-achieving-greater-success-2

http://www.neurobusinessgroup.com/index.php/about-nbg/leadership

http://srinipillay.com/