Recent Articles
Intermittent Fasting Journal #56: How Much Do the Eating Window and Fasting Window Lengths Affect Weight Loss
Should you focus on the length of the fasting period or the food in the eating window for weight loss? Does longer always mean better weight loss? Should you eat differently if you have a short fast or a long fast? Donna Reish, Intermittent Fasting teacher, blogger,...
Halloween Candy, Dopamine Spikes, and Allowing Urges (Fast Shot)
How many Halloween candies do you have left? Which ones are your favorites? Have you ever thought about why those particular candies are your faves? Come to find out, our favorites are often our favorites because of the combination of ingredients that cause dopamine...
Fast Shot: How My Husband and I Lost Weight During the Last Two Holiday Seasons (and Why Beginning IF Is Amazing During This Time)
Welcome to another Fast Shot video. This is a timely one--and one that I hope will convince you that the holiday season is the ideal time to begin Intermittent Fasting! I know..I know...most people STOP their eating protocols during the holidays, not add new ones. But...
Finding Your Fasting Hours Sweet Spot (Fast Shot)
How can you find your fasting sweet spot? That is, find the time of day and eating window time that works best for YOU! Remember, there are four main elements that affect our weight loss, inch loss, and craving loss with Intermittent Fasting. These four components can...
Emotional Eating and the Model Part I of V (Fast Shot)
Emotional eating. How can we overcome it? Or why does it often feel like it is overcoming us? I always thought our cravings, appetites, urges, binges, and eating were out of our control. That they just happened to us. Until.... I learned I could...
Broadcast #55: Make a Relationship Better by Tomorrow (Or…What Does Learning Pickle Ball Have to Do With Our Thoughts and Marital Harmony?)
Are you getting tired of me telling you that you can control your thoughts--and that if you do control your thoughts, you will change the actions you take? (Have you been following the thoughts and Emotional Eating five part series in the private FB group? Join and...
Logical Fallacies (Broadcast #54)
In this broadcast, curriculum author, IF teacher, and former debat coach, helps listeners cut through the noise when it comes to claims, beliefs, and research about weight loss, macronutrients, and more. She begins by drawing on her experience as a high school debate...
Do You Like Full Meals or Nibbles?
I recently created a video called "My Three Favorite Things About Intermittent Fasting." (You can watch it here!) As I was considering what my very favorite things about IF really are, I was surprised to hear the "full meal instead of nibbles" thought over and over. I...
Three Intermittent Fasting Surprises (Fast Shot)
When I began Intermittent Fasting, I quickly found three amazing, actually-life-changing, surprises. I had already learned that I could burn body fat, control hunger, and reduce cravings. (Learn more about those IF body/hormone changes at my Intermittent Fasting...
What Does “Treat” Mean to You? (And How That Affects Your Weight Management)
So I’ve been crazy about this brain/food book, and then this came through my thread. Cracked me up. This café has a conveyor belt that serves all-you-can-eat dessert right to your table. One of the teachings of brain/food (in the book, The Hungry Brain) is...
Create a “Tomorrow Real-for-Me Food Plan” (Broadcast #53)
Hello, Fasting Friends! I have had so many requests for food and eating help. Some want to see my daily food intake for a few days (coming soon!). Some want to know why they aren't losing weight in spite of an 18 or 19 hour daily fast. Others want to know what food...
Can You Eat Whatever You Want on Intermittent Fasting?
Hello Fasting Friends! Time to talk about food....eating window, feasting, choices, habits, cravings, “addictions”....okay, maybe not all of those things in one short article, but at least food (and cravings). I have come to realize through the process of Intermittent...
Our Plexus and Food Regiment—and Losing 200 Pounds Together With the Plexus Products
Since we have reached a big milestone in our weight loss journey--losing 200 pounds together---we are getting a lot of questions about our supplement, fasting, and eating protocols. And I am thrilled to pass it along! (I'm giddy over reaching this goal---can't imagine...
My Three Favorite Things About Intermittent Fasting (Fast Shot Video!)
Welcome to another Fast Shot Video! I've been sharing this content with people everywhere, and I thought I should put it at the blog too! Of course, I have a detailed outline for you! 🙂 I want the whole world to know that they can have appetite control. That they can...
3 Ways to Get Into Ketosis (Broadcast 52)
Dear Listener and Learner, I'm so glad you're both! We can listen, listen, listen...but it is learning/applying what we hear that really matters. Doesn't it? Anyway, thanks for joining me! Ketosis is a coveted space to be in by many people. When most people think of...
Categories
Plexus
Check out the supplements that have changed my life!
Ray & Donna Reish Independent Ambassadors #1382677
Think-Feel-Eat #10: Thoughts About Your Thoughts During the Pandemic
Are your “pandemic thoughts” troubling you? Do you see graphics and memes telling you that you should be doing more—you’re homebound after all? Do you see graphics and memes telling you that you should just feel how you feel and not worry about getting anything done?
Do all of these shoulds and thoughts have your head spinning?
In this episode of Think-Feel-Eat, I examine two popular social memes to get to the bottom of Your Thoughts About Your Thoughts—and give you the freedom to Think and Feel whatever it is you are Thinking and Feeling during this time.
I cover what these two memes represent in terms of judging others’ thoughts—and how we apply them. Then I delve into the Think-Feel-Act cycle and how we have the option of changing our Thoughts (either slightly or massively—depending on what we want to do or feel that we can do).
Next I touch on the Thoughts surrounding Maslov’s Hierarchy—how when our basic needs are not met, we are unable to Think about a Thought that requires more than we have to give as we try to meet our basic needs—and how this applies to our Thoughts during this Pandemic.
There’s nothing wrong with being in survival mode! But if we want a different Thought, we also have that option in most cases as well.
I go into some “big picture” Thought work like “accepting that life is 50/50” and feeling like we have no control right now (compared to two months ago when we also had no control!). And how we can “grab” a new Thought if we want to (and if it is believable).
Finally, I suggest some practical Thought tips to get us through this time. These include not laying our thoughts with an imagination that is running wild, creating a Pandemic Protocol for listening and reading information, coming back to the present moment with gratitude, counteracting negative input with positive input, understanding the role your Thoughts have, and designing your Pandemic Manifesto. (There is a graphic you can use/share for a Pandemic Manifesto!) Find documents related to this episode here.
Attend my upcoming free Intermittent Fasting webinar: intermittentfastingwebinar.com!
Thoughts About Your Thoughts During a Pandemic
A. Introduction
1. Memes
a. Each meme is a thought you either think or dismiss
b. Each thought you have about the memes makes you feel a certain way
2. Introducing Think Feel Act
a. Thoughts drive our Feelings
b. Feelings drive our Actions
c. Most major religions have some sort of consensus that we should try to control our Thoughts—Think on these things; As a man thinketh, so he is.
d. You can put in your Thoughts or Feelings or Actions right now and see what is driving them
e. Think Feel Eat Episode 1 introduces these concepts
B. Not a Right or Wrong Thought
1. Maslov’s hierarchy says that when we are hungry or do not have basic necessities, we can’t move up the hierarchy because our basic needs are not met
2. What we think about the levels of the hierarchy will determine if we are still in survival or not
3. Nothing wrong with being in survival!! Nothing wrong with those thoughts
4. Important to note that we can choose our Thoughts—and if our first thought is survival, that is where we will stay and it is acceptable and fine during crises to stay here.
5. The memes are in our action line—what feeling did we have before them and what thought did we have that gave us that feeling?
C. New Thoughts During This Time
1. Accept that life is 50/50
a. We want to control things (and spin out of control with feelings of worry) when we do not accept that life is 50/50—
b. We want it to be a way that it is not
2. Stop thinking we have no control right now—we never did; we never know the future
3. Thoughts are the “drama” of life
4. “Trust an unknown future to a known God”
5. Grab a new thought if desired
6. Must be believable
D. Practical Thought Tips
1. Don’t let imagination go overboard either way—these “layering of Thoughts” can be hard to process as they are so deep
2. Reduce input that causes your thoughts to run wild—develop your own “Pandemic Protocol” where you determine how much and when you will listen or read COVID 19 and Pandemic info—and stick to those times so that both the total number of hours of Pandemic input is lessened and the frequency in which you interact with it is reduced
3. Come back to the present—to what absolutely is with “anti anxiety exercises” like breathing, grounding, physical surroundings, etc. then with gratitude
4. Come back to the present with a pandemic manifesto
My Pandemic Manifesto
“I am grateful for my health, my family’s health, my home/shelter,
food, clothing, and the many luxuries I have.
During this time, I want to show up for those I love,
for those I serve, and for people I do not even know.
I will show up for those I love by speaking truth to them, checking on them,
being available for them, and listening to them (virtually if called for).
I will show up for those I serve by giving them value in my teaching
and content and trying to bring brightness and hope to their days.
I will show up for those I do not know by social distancing,
thinking about/praying for those who are sick and those who care for them,
and considering the hardships of others during this time.
I will show up for myself by having self-integrity even when it is hard—by doing what I tell myself I will do.
I will show up in love. Because love covers everything…”
5. Tips for your own Pandemic Manifesto
a. Write six to ten sentences
b. Break up so it’s easy to read if you print/copy it
c. Use powerful words like grateful, gratitude, thankful, show up, be there, serve, love
d. Make it other focused as much as possible
e. Put a little about everybody so it covers many situations you will find yourself (ie.. getting angry at the drive thru or upset at the grocery clerk, etc.).
6. Don’t debate on socials!
7. Counteract negative input with positive input (See all Think Feel Eat broadcasts here. Learn more about how to teach your kids during this time here helpyourkidswithschool.com)
8. Understand the role your thoughts have
Free content put up each and every week—videos, audios, articles, graphics and more at donnareish.com
Delights of the Day freebie for you and your kids at donnareish.com/freebies
Think-Feel-Eat Episode #9: 10 Ways to Sit With/Process Food Urges
Hi! I’m Donna Reish, IF teacher, weight loss coach, blogger, and half of “The Minus 220 Pound Pair” as my husband and I have lost over 200 pounds together (160 of that in the past couple of years through the Weight Loss Lifestyle habits and strategies I teach!).
In this episode, I present Part I of two parts about Urges and Feeling Feelings—really good stuff!
This episode digs into sitting with or processing food urges.
Earlier (Episodes 7 and 8), I taught that we have three main choices with urges. The first two choices aren’t ideal and both have net negative consequences. We can give in to food urges (obviously many net negative consequences!). We can white knuckle our way through them—try to use willpower. (Find out tons of deets about willpower in Weight Loss Lifestyle 60 and 61!) That also gives a net negative consequence because it isn’t sustainable, and we don’t learn to deal with our feelings/urges.
Of course to begin with, we must remember that food urges are any of those times that we want to eat something that is:
(1) a type that isn’t on our plan for that day;
(2) an amount that isn’t on our plan that day;
(3) a time that isn’t on our plan that day.
If we believe that a food urge is a desire to eat off of one of those—a desire to buffer with food rather than feeling our feelings in that moment—we can look at food urges for what they are—feelings/urges/unctions/desires to do something other than what we planned or truly wanted to do.
This episode details ten ways we can sit with/process those urges rather than fighting against them. They all work at various times—and they can also work for other urges that we don’t want to give in to!
I hope this is a help and a blessing to you as it has been to me. I am gradually learning to do this—and the control and peace I feel around it is utterly amazing!
Find all of my episodes, outlines, and articles for my two weekly broadcasts:
(1) Weight Loss Lifestyle broadcast (formerly Donna’s Intermittent Fasting Broadcast) and
(2) Think-Feel-Eat broadcast at donnareish.com
Sign up for my free webinar: intermittentfastingwebinar.com
I want so many good things for you!
Think Feel Eat #9: Learning to Sit With Food Urges (Not “Resist” or “White Knuckle”)
A. Review of Episodes 7 and 8
1. Urge is eating off protocol food
2. Urge is eating off protocol amount
3. Urge is eating off protocol time
B. Buffer Review
1. The reason we buffer is because we don’t want to feel the feelings of the unmet urge
2. Buffering is when we do something to avoid a feeling—like the pads we put on dining room chairs to keep them from scratching against the flooring
3. Buffering isn’t always because of a deep emotional need
4. Sometimes we buffer/give in to urges not because we have feelings from something horrible in our past—sometimes we just don’t want the feelings we would have from saying no to the urge—the restlessness, boredom, deprivation, etc.
5. We have to get to the point where we believe that a feeling is just a feeling—and we can feel any feeling….they won’t hurt us long or for a long time.
6. When we are afraid to feel our feelings, we will continually look for buffers between us and those feelings—including giving in to urges for foods that are off our protocol, time, or amount.
C. Three Choices With Urges
1. Give in
2. White knuckle—try to use willpower
3. Sit with/process them
D. Ten Ways to Sit With/Process Urges
1. Make our WHY stronger. Our why can be whatever will motivate us the most at the time. It doesn’t have to be lofty or noble—it can be what will actually lead us to learn to sit with/process urges.
2. Set a timer for ten minutes every single time. Tell yourself at the end of the ten minutes if you still want it, you can have it. This period of time gives us enough time to look at our thoughts and feelings more closely.
3. Set timer for 90 seconds—count backwards from 90. I like to walk and count.
4. Write about urges—journal, sticky note, white board, index card.
5. Have an Urge Chat with accountability partners or partner. Write to each other when Urges are very strong. Talk through the Thoughts and Feelings leading to the Urges and what better Thoughts you can develop.
6. Talk to YOURSELF about the feelings of urges. “This is nothing more than a feeling. I can sit here with this feeling. Nothing bad is happening if I don’t eat. Feelings don’t hurt.” (I like to sit in an empty room or put my head in my arms on my desk.)
7. Talk to the URGE itself. Like my granddaughter does when she is afraid of her uncle acting like a tiger. “Hi there, Tiger! You’re not going to hurt me, Tiger!” Here are some scripts:
a. “Hi there, urge. I knew you would be here soon. Have a seat with me. It’s going to be a while until I eat again…so just make yourself at home.”
b. “Hello, Urge. I can feel any feeling you bring with you. An urge is a feeling that can’t hurt me. You can’t hurt me.”
c. “Hi, Urge. I see you’re back. I’m not eating that right now, but you’re welcome to stay if you’d like.”
d. “Welcome, urge. You here to try to get me to eat something not on my plan again? I’m really finished, but make yourself at home if you’d like!”
8. Three deep breaths. Equal inhale and exhale.
9. When you have sat with/allowed/processed an urge, use an Urge Jar to put beads in. When you have allowed 100 urges, see how much weight you have lost and how much better you are at allowing urges.
10. When you have sat with/allowed/processed an urge, use Urge Rings to move from one hand to another (if you aren’t at home to put beads in; put beads in when you get back home).
E. Closing
1. Every time we sit with/allow/process an urge instead of white knuckling or giving in, we build our urge muscle on a thought/psychological level.
2. Every time we sit with/allow/process an urge instead of white knuckling or giving in, we stretch out the time between hyper palatable foods—and our dopamine spikes are decreased, so we have fewer urges eventually.
3. Win-Win-Win!
4. Watch or listen to the two pre-quels to this one: Episode #7: What is an Urge/Introducing the Urge Map; Episode #8: The Urge Map/Three Responses to Urges.
5. And….Weight Loss Lifestyle Willpower episodes 60 and 61.
6. Free Intermittent Fasting Webinar sessions available now for April!!! Intermittentfastingwebinar.com
Think-Feel-Eat Episode #8 Urges and Feeling Feelings! Part II of II
Hi! I’m Donna Reish, IF teacher, weight loss coach, blogger, and half of “The Minus 220 Pound Pair” as my husband and I have lost over 200 pounds together (160 of that in the past couple of years through the Weight Loss Lifestyle habits and strategies I teach!). In this episode, I present Part II of two parts about Urges and Feeling Feelings—really good stuff!
This episode takes off where we left off last week with understanding that Urges are feelings to do something that we hadn’t planned to do or not do something that we had planned to do. When it comes to food urges, this means that we are URGED to eat food off of our plan; an amount off of our plan; or a time off of our plan.
Urges feel urgent. We want to buffer against them—we don’t want to feel them. So we give in. Or we white knuckle and try to use willpower. (WLL #60 and #61.)
Then I introduce The Urge Map! This map shows us three distinct responses to Urges:
1) Give in
2) Use willpower (this time only—who knows if it will work next time?)
3) Sit…just sit with the urge
After a while of doing the third response—sitting with urges—we will have fewer and fewer urges. We will be able see them coming. We will be prepared for them. And we will feel whatever feelings may come with them!
This information changed my life. And I hope it does for you too!
Oh, and join next week—when I give 10 Ways to Sit With Urges Instead of Resisting Them! Think-Feel-Eat #9!
Find all of my episodes, outlines, and articles for my two weekly broadcasts:
(1) Weight Loss Lifestyle broadcast (formerly Donna’s Intermittent Fasting Broadcast) and
(2) Think-Feel-Eat broadcast at donnareish.com
Sign up for my free webinar: intermittentfastingwebinar.com
Think Feel Eat 8: Urges and Feeling Feelings Part II: The Urge Map
A. Again: What Is an Urge
1. Eating off protocol
a. Food Protocol.
b. Simple. Same. Specific.
c. These are the things I DO eat; these are the only things I will eat tomorrow. Protocol for life.
d. Off protocol is foods not on master protocol list, not planned for today, overeating the amount we have planned, or eating a time that isn’t on schedule for today.
e. The difference between cheating and planning fun foods and fabulously fun foods. It’s all in the planning.
f. 80 percent of your food should be on protocol.
g. Protocol should be like brushing your teeth. You don’t want to go without it but you aren’t making it sooo exciting.
2. Giving in to an urge
a. Anytime we eat food off plan
b. Anytime we eat amount off plan
c. Anytime we eat time off plan
3. Urges feel urgent—alarm at teaching location
4. Buffering or giving in or sitting with urges….
B. Urge Map—Four Responses to Urges (See Urge Map)
1. Give in—feel defeated and have many net negative consequences
2. White knuckle—uses limited willpower; stay strong today but still have continual urges thereafter
3. Sit with URGE—you know it’s a feeling; the urge passes; you have no net-negative consequences; over time, this reduces the number or urges you have
4. Have no urge—after a while of sitting with urges, you will feel urges much less frequently and much less intensely
C. More Help
1. Next week Think Feel Eat Episode 9—ways to SIT with urges rather than RESISTING urges—how to feel the feelings of urges
2. Two more free webinar dates at the end of the month: intermittentfastingwebinar.com
3. Next month’s course starts the first Monday of the month—get control of your fasting and eating with my daily help! Intermittentfastingcourse.com
Think-Feel-Eat Episode #7: Urges and Feeling Feelings!
Hi! I’m Donna Reish, IF teacher, weight loss coach, blogger, and half of “The Minus 220 Pound Pair” as my husband and I have lost over 200 pounds together (160 of that in the past couple of years through the Weight Loss Lifestyle habits and strategies I teach!). In this episode, I present Part I of two parts about Urges and Feeling Feelings—really good stuff!
This episode digs into what Urges are. This is super important because if we don’t identify any time we want to do anything off plan or schedule, we are having an urge, we won’t be able to tackle them head on.
Specifically, I teach about how food urges are any of those times that we want to eat something that is
(1) a type that isn’t on our plan for that day;
(2) an amount that isn’t on our plan that day;
(3) a time that isn’t on our plan that day.
This assumes that we have a plan in place (time plan with some form of time restricted eating and food plan with any boundaries we choose—food types, calorie counting, low carb, low fat, counting macros—whatever your plan might be).
(Are you fasting? Free webinar! Intermittentfastingwebinar.com)
Once those are in place, we delve into what urges are and how they feel in our bodies—and what drives them.
Next, I go into one of the biggest factors in handling our urges—deciding ahead of time, using our pre-frontal cortext (rather than our “toddler brain”). We can’t count on willpower or good intentions in the moment of urges. We must plan ahead to overcome them.
Lots more valuable info that will set us up for next week when we look at four responses to urges and how to get to the point where we have fewer urges rather than always trying to battle urges.
Find all of my episodes, outlines, and articles for my two weekly broadcasts:
(1) Weight Loss Lifestyle broadcast (formerly Donna’s Intermittent Fasting Broadcast) and
(2) Think-Feel-Eat broadcast at donnareish.com
Sign up for my free webinar: intermittentfastingwebinar.com
Outline below!
1. Alarm at First Assembly
A. What Are Urges?
1. Any time we have a desire to eat….
a. At a time we didn’t determine we would eat
b. A food that we didn’t plan to eat
c. An amount that we didn’t plan to eat
2. We can’t overcome urges if we don’t have protocols in place that show when something is an urge
a. Are you eating when you’re not scheduled to? (Not really sure…can’t know it’s an urge.)
b. Are you eating a food you’re not scheduled to eat? (Not really sure….can’t know it’s an urge.)
c. Are you eating an amount that is not planned? (Not really sure…can’t know it’s an urge.)
3. Create a Tomorrow Real-for-Me Plan! (more later…)
a. Exact foods
b. Exact amounts
c. Exact times
See more about this in Episode 53 here
B. What Is Overriding Urges?
1. Over-riding our primitive brain is how we overcome urges—and this makes us uncomfortable…very hard to do as our brain wants us to pursue and maintain comfort.
a. Overcoming urges is feeling feelings that we don’t want to feel
b. It is deciding you don’t mind living with the anxiety or the restlessness or the deprivation that you will feel when you don’t give in to urges
2. Buffering with food
a. We buffer our feelings with food when we don’t want to feel them
b. This buffering involves giving in to urges of all kinds (food, pleasures, etc.—all of it feels better than the feelings we don’t want to have)
C. Why is overcoming urges so hard?
1. Urge is an emotion that is intensely driving actions
a. Urges are urgent…urging us to take action immediately
b. Food urges feel urgent
c. Food urges are driven by the need for reward, pleasure, and comfort
2. Nothing wrong with us for having urges…
a. Having desire for pleasure is what we are created to do
b. But overriding it is a process of feeling emotions but not giving in to those emotions
c. The point of junk food is to make us want them
d. (The point of all food is to make us want it)
e. You are a human with a very complex brain that drives urges for us to stay alive—dopamine spike—super important, eat more of it, you need this…fees like life and death
3. We have choices in Think-Feel-Eat…. TFE #6
a. We can make a choice with our pre-frontal cortex rather than our toddler/primitive brain
b. It will feel super powerful but we have to give consent; we don’t have to give in
c. The urge gives us vibrations in our body (feelings)….we have to stop it in the thought…and that usually can’t be done long term unless we do it ahead of time
d. Using willpower, distractions, barriers, etc., can help…but not forever and not as well as using our pre-frontal cortex (deciding ahead of time, creating Thought practices, etc.)—Episodes #60 and #61
e. Using pre frontal cortex ahead of time is better and more long term than fighting against it
Think-Feel-Eat Episode #6: Donna’s February Thought Work—and How to Get Your Thought Work Started
This episode digs into what Thought Work is and how to set yourself up to implement ongoing Thought Work for weight loss or any goals you have.
It begins with the differences in Thoughts (and Beliefs—and how Beliefs are more difficult to control than simple, fleeting Thoughts), Feelings, and Actions. And then delves into the interrelationship among the three and how we can manage our Thoughts if we do it on purpose and with a dependable framework, such as Think-Feel-Act or Brooke Castillo’s Self-Coaching Model or both.
I dig into some General How To’s for personal Thought Work, including a framework, calendaring it, keeping it simple, being in self-integrity by making small, tiny, atomic habits (Fogg, Clear). I describe how perfection will hold us back from managing our minds and changing our lives.
I introduce my downloadable Think-Feel-Act worksheet for listeners to print off in multiples and use for consistent Thought Work. The top of this sheet has a Thought Drops section to “download” or “drop” all of your Thoughts. The bottom half has the Thought-Feel-Actions section. I detail how to use this sheet.
Then I use some of my February Thought Work to show you how to do the Thought Drops and how to choose which single Thought to work on for that day. I plug my sample Thought into the “Unintentional” side (or the unmanaged side) and show how that Thought leads to a Feeling of defeat and actions that do not serve me in my weight loss.
Then I show my new Thought (a believable one) and how to follow that through the Think-Feel-Eat cycle.
I. REVIEW Thought-Feeling-Actions
Get your handout for today’s material (and print it off and fill it in—you can change your thoughts!)
A. Beliefs
1. But a belief is just a Thought that we have thought over and over and over again
a. Cinderella—“A dream is a wish your heart makes…when you’re fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches…whatever you wish for you keep.”
b. “A Belief is a Thought your mind thinks…over and over again. Change Thoughts, you will change your Beliefs too…with new Thoughts you’re sure to win!”
2. When we think something over and over, it goes from a thought to a pattern from a pattern to a belief
3. Beliefs are hard to shake—new path through the woods—one that takes us not back to where we are now, but to where we really want to go.
B. Thoughts Lead to Feelings
1. What we think about anything leads us to a feeling about it
2. Understand that Thoughts are just Thoughts—they are optional and we choose to Think them—and we can gain control over them if we do the work necessary
3. Feelings are basically why we do everything—so controlling the Thoughts that lead to Feelings is super important
C. All of our actions come from Feelings (Which came from Thoughts)
1. If we want to change a behavior, we have to change how we feel and how we think
2. We can’t just will ourselves to a new action
Get all freebies and downloads at the website for the Think-Feel-Eat episodes!
II. Daily Thought Work
A. General How To’s
1. Framework—
a. Journal
b. Pages from donnareish.com
c. Think-Feel-Act sheets
d. OR Brooke Castillo’s Self-Coaching Model sheets (also at dr)
2. Calendar it—and make it doable
a. Put it in your calendar at a time you will do it
b. Don’t overextend yourself
c. Plan for 15-30 minutes a few times a week
3. Don’t aim for perfection
a. Doesn’t have to be perfect
b. It is for you
c. You get better and better at it as you go
B. Start With Thought Drops
1. Also called Thought downloads
2. Can be all about a certain topic
3. Can be random
4. Don’t use a question for your thought drops; make it into a statement so your brain doesn’t have to be working on an answer at the same time as you are creating your Thought Drops.
C. Once you have a good list of Thoughts, plug one in
1. One thought at a time
2. Don’t confuse Circumstances with Thoughts
D. Think-Feel-Act Worksheet or CTFAR (from Brooke Castillo)
1. Notice how I chose ONE thought only to do my Thought Work on
2. Plug in that Thought in your Unintentional column—this is what you are now thinking when you don’t manage your mind or you don’t get control of your thoughts
3. Ask yourself how that Thought makes you feel
4. Then create a list of Activities/Actions you are now taking as a result of that Thought and Feeling
5. Then move to the Intentional—if you manage your mind, how can you change that Thought to something that is believable that will help you get a Feeling that gives the Actions you want?
6. What Feeling does that new Thought give you?
7. What Actions will you likely take as a result of that new Thought and Feeling
8. Yay you!
Check out Episode #1 of Think-Feel-Eat for a thorough broadcast detailing this process
Weight Loss Lifestyle #62: Lessons From My 800th Fast (Part I)
Yay—my 800th fast!! This is gonna be festive!
In this episode, I share about how my 800th fast showed up on the Zero app, what I like about the app, and how to use an app to reach your fasting goals. Then I delve into how I average my fasts for the week—and the benefits and potential pitfalls of doing a weekly average.
I describe how for over two years my husband and I never went “off” and “on” but made IF a way of life. I also talk about what breaks my fast to me and signs to look for if you might be breaking your fast in a way that is not helpful to your overall goals.
Finally, I talk about what I have learned about the incredible benefits of Intermittent Fasting—its effects on hunger, whole meals, willpower, control, insulin/leptin, and much more!
Find all of my episodes, outlines, and articles for my two weekly broadcasts: (1) Weight Loss Lifestyle broadcast (formerly Donna’s Intermittent Fasting Broadcast) and (2) Think-Feel-Eat broadcast at donnareish.com Sign up for my free webinar: intermittentfastingwebinar.com
Check out the video, podcast, and outline below!
I want so many good things for you!
A. Zero App
1. Top part
a. 800 fasts!!!
b. 7 fast average time
c. Longest fast over all
d. Longest streak (misleading…must have pushed the wrong button!)
e. Current streak (misleading…must have pushed the wrong button!)
f. Never went off for 800 days…had a few 12-14 hour fasts for vacations and holidays; had many 14-16 hour fasts for weekend getaways, family events, etc.
2. Graph part
a. Daily hours
b. Average
c. Date
d. Goal reached colors each day (a little misleading if you are averaging)
Start fasting with my help! Use my FREE Intermittent Fasting Start Up Charts
B. Learned to Average
1. Never go off and on
2. Use high fasting days as compensation days not punishment days
3. Be careful of average when eating window is long (Decide ahead of time 2 or 3 instances with food, times, and amounts)
4. Averaging is not intended to create a binge or “pig out” day
5. Plan your eating instances even on longer eating window days (2-4 eating episodes decided ahead of time)
C. Learned What “Breaks” My Fast
1. “Eight Fasting Gurus on What Breaks the Fast” coming soon! All of them agree that fat in some form (even slight amounts of fat in cbd oil, etc.) are okay during the fast—I disagree as I say why consume anything you have to work through before you start burning body fat!
2. I’m not concerned with a little blip from communion or my 5 calorie supplement or toothpaste or sugar free mint if needed
3. Doctorate NP of Diabetes discusses insulin spikes and their effect and length
4. How I feel= broken fast to me
5. Cravings= broken fast to me
6. Hunger= broken fast to me
7. “Broken” might be for ten minutes then right back to fasting (but don’t use this as an excuse for “breaking” it as the little breaks add up—plus, the worst thing about “breaking a fast” is the ensuing hunger and cravings…don’t do it!)
Don’t miss an episode! Join the free private FB group to watch the Tuesday night Weight Loss Lifestyle broadcasts and the Thursday Think-Feel-Eat broadcasts right away!
D. Power of Fasting
1. Not affect weight LOSS as much as amount of food eating, cravings, hunger, dopamine spikes, willpower needs, control, etc.
2. Effect on hunger
3. Nibbles vs. whole meals
4. Willpower—need lessened and used in smaller time period
5. Control—says it all!
6. Insulin/leptin relationship
7. Puts me in good position to burn body fat (but not only way to lose weight or burn body fat)
Free webinar! https://intermittentfastingwebinar.com
Think-Feel-Eat #5: Brain Hacks vs. Thought Work–and How Both Can Help Us With Weight Management
Hack your kitchen pantry system!
Hack your bedroom closet organizing!
Hack your vegetable cleaning and storage!
Hack your vacation planning!
And hack your brain?
Yep…it’s a real thing. And it is super powerful….and multi-faceted.
To me, brain hacks are like shorter, faster ways to do Thought Work.
And yet, Thought Work is one of the best things in the world to manage our brain–to rein it in and get it under control when it wants to be wild on us!
This broadcast/podcast focuses on both–Brain Hacks and Thought Work.
They have so many things in common:
Both are used to optimize brain function.
Both are used to interrupt negative thought processes.
Both utilize the fact that the brain can run away with itself if not controlled!
I’m excited to teach you how to use both!
Thanks for joining me!
Outline, video & podcast below!
I want so many good things for you!
P.S. Want more of my teacherish ways? Time for course sign up for next month! Use SAVE20 to get 20% off: intermittentfastingcourse.com
A. What is the Think-Feel-Act cycle?
a. Sixty thousand thoughts a day
b. All feelings stem from thoughts—while we can’t just “get happy” or “feel excited,” we can change our thoughts, which will affect our feelings
c. All of our Actions are done from Feelings (and indirectly Thoughts)
B. What are thoughts?
1. What are thoughts—Sentences in your mind.
2. What are beliefs—Thoughts you think over and over again.
3. Power of Positive Thinking oftentimes means that beliefs/thoughts lead to results/outcome.
a. We know this isn’t true or we could win the lottery, think a new car in the driveway, etc.
b. Thoughts to not lead to outcomes—even good thoughts.
4. Beliefs/Thoughts over and over do not lead to results.
(Free webinar next week! Intermittentfastingwebinar.com)
C. How does Think-Feel-Act differ from the Power of Positive Thinking?
1. What does give results—Action!
2. This is where we can use “power of positive thinking”—not to get what we want, but to help us DO what we need to DO!
3. Thoughts do not give results—Thoughts give actions!!!!
4. We do what we think about…
a. Why someone says “I’ve been thinking about this over and over and…..”
b. Why when we hear a motivational speaker and think about it, review our notes, talk about it, etc., we start acting.
c. Why it’s important to surround our kids with good things to think about—their peers are HUGE in what they think and thus what they act on.
D. We can Think ourselves to Action
1. So….we can’t think our way to success.
2. But we CAN think our way to actions!
3. TRUTH
a. Thoughts lead to actions
b. Actions lead to results
E. How does Think-Feel-EAT help with weight loss goals?
1. You don’t just think “I can lose weight” and then lose it!
2. Your BELIEVABLE Thoughts give you Feelings
3. And those Feelings lead to productive Actions
4. Rinse and repeat….
F. Learn more!
1. Episode 1 of Think-Feel-Eat…an Introduction to the Think-Feel-Act cycle (important first broadcast in the series!)
2. Subscribe to blog
3. Subscribe to podcast
4. New Intermittent Fasting Course session begins the first Monday of each month! Intermittentfastingcourse.com
Weight Loss Lifestyle #61: Willpower II–Ways to Overcome or Change the Willpower Gap
In Episode #60, I explained that we have a willpower gap—a gap between the amount of willpower that we need each day and the length of day/number of temptations we are faced with each day.
We can do some things to manufacture more—we can refill some of our stores, we can do intentional self care tasks that give us more, and we can do daily lifestyle things that lead to a bump in willpower.
However, the best way to handle the willpower gap is to use what we have wisely, to reduce the need for so much of it, to control hormones to help us with the lack, and other “use wisely and reduce need” moves.
The first way to use our willpower more wisely is simply to “save it up” during Intermittent Fasting. Such a cool and simple trick to not use it for 119 food related decisions all day.
We also decrease our need for it overall in Intermittent Fasting as we help insulin, ghrelin, and leptin to work amazingly well for us–again through IF!
Next, we can actually NEED less willpower when we create automaticity in our lives! Yep…we can use “tiny habits” (Fogg) and “atomic habits” and “deciding ahead of time” (Castillo) to automatize much of our life!
And you know my love for all things Stephen Guyenet (Hungry Brain)! Finally, we can gradually reduce the extreme dopamine spikes that we get from such seductive, hyper-palatable foods over time (even with little choices)….and guess what? Less willpower will be needed!!
Outline , video, and podcast are below!
I want so many good things for you!
Part I: Review of Willpower
A. Willpower Review
1. What it is
a. Using internal strength to over-ride our brain to do something we don’t want to do or not do something we do want to do
b. Discovered in 1988 to be a “thing”
c. “Overriding a feeling in order to act in a way that is different than you feel like acting
2. All kinds of willpower are used each day adding up to overcoming 4 hours of temptations and 119 food-related decisions per day
B. Willpower needed for too many things each day–It takes willpower to resist (or sit with) over hunger and over desire
1. Over hunger—hunger signals, ghrelin telling us we are empty; leptin not telling us (or us not hearing it) that we are full
2. Over desire—processed foods, frequent eating, sugar and flour concentrations…all lead to overdesire due to neuro transmitters in the brain that tell us that we want more and more of those things each time we have them.
3. Willpower gap—running out of willpower before we run out of day/time/decisions that willpower is needed for.
Part II: Ways to Work With or Overcome Willpower Gap
A. Refill Willpower Stores
1. Ways we might be able to refill lagging willpower
a. Human connection—FB groups, people to text, like-minded people, etc.
b. Meditation—even quick sitting and taking 3 minutes of deep breathing
c. Prayer
d. Gratitude—MANY studies show that gratitude replenishes willpower! (Weekly gratitude list and reading it aloud each day)
e. Service—giving to others
f. Self Care
2. Self care
a. Deciding ahead of time is “adult self care”!
b. Don’t rely on immature/emergency self care—this will feel graspy and will not replenish like adult self care that you have decided ahead of time
c. Read, bath, music, instruments, hobbies, exercise
B. Intermittent Fasting
1. We do not have the willpower gap that we would have from the aforementioned 119 food decisions each day—no decisions at all for 16, 18, 19 hours!
2. We were never intended to …
a. Eat 7-12 times every 24 hours
b. Have such highly-processed, hyper-palatable foods
3. Our willpower is saved for during our eating window
4. Our insulin is kept low since we aren’t spiking it with food. This gives insulin a chance to drop and increase leptin/our ability to hear leptin and “hear the song of satiety” better.
5. When insulin is low, leptin is increased and heard better— we know when we are full more quickly and more thoroughly than eating all the time. We don’t need as much willpower to stop overeating when leptin is heard so clearly.
6. When we fast, we get control of the hunger hormone, ghrelin, so we actually train our body when to be hungry—so less willpower is needed! We are essentially overriding willpower during our fast through “clock hunger” and “ghrelin taming”!
7. Another benefit of leptin sensitivity (being able to hear leptin signals) is that we start to crave healthier foods—again, without willpower and white knuckling in order to eat those healthier foods.
8. Finally, fewer eating instances means fewer dopamine spikes. (See later in outline!)
C. Create Automaticity—Habits, Rituals, and Deciding Ahead of Time
1. Brushing our teeth
a. We brush out teeth with consistency—no sticky notes, timers, phone reminders, leaving things on the counter, charts, etc.!
b. We don’t rely on willpower to brush our teeth
c. We use automaticity, habits, rituals, and deciding ahead of time-as well as the clear desire to do it
d. We brush our teeth AUTOMATICALLY because we have a clear, unambiguous line that we will not cross—I will NEVER leave the house without having my teeth brushed!
e. We have a routine/ritual/automaticity in order for it to happen twice a day
2. We must automatize our eating so that it is more habitual, ritualistic, and automatic
a. Planning and preparing
i. As we plan and prepare, those plans turn into automatic actions and behaviors
ii. Then the plans become habitual and ritualistic
iii. “I got into the habit of”
iv. “I got out of the habit of”
b. Why losing 100 pounds over a decade has actually helped me—plenty of time to make my changes gradually and automatize them and get them to stick
3. Decide Ahead of Time
a. Studies showing we always PLAN to eat better ahead of time—the cake vs. fruit order
b. We always think we can do it when we are planning next week
c. Use this “decide ahead of time” strength to our benefit
d. Decide today WHEN you will eat tomorrow
e. Decide today WHAT you will eat tomorrow (watch for upcoming Protocol Planning broadcasts!)
f. Uses your pre-frontal cortex (adult brain) not toddler brain
g. Uses less willpower since it is decided when you are not in the heat of the moment
D. Reduce Six Seductive Craving Combinations So Dopamine Spikes Are Decreased
1. Dopamine is the habit/desire hormone that makes us want to eat junk food.
2. Every time we eat a processed food or drink a sugary drink, our dopamine is spiked, and we need more and more of those junk foods in order to be satisfied.
3. One way to decrease this over-desire is to decrease the number of eating opportunities
4. Eventually, with the help of leptin, lowered insulin, and grehlin, we will be able to decrease those spikes that need super human willpower to overcome.
5. Decrease one of the three major spikers: flour, sugar, fat…..
(Did you know that you can find all weekly broadcasts {Weight Loss Lifestyle/formerly Donna’s IF Journal} in one place at my website?)
Does “The Power of Positive Thinking” Work–and How Does Think-Feel-Act Differ From It? (Think-Feel-Eat Episode #4)
I have a little song that I like to sing to myself (you might only know the tune if you’re, um…pretty “mature” lol). It’s to the tune of “Catch a Falling Star and Put It In Your Pocket”!
“Catch a helpful thought and put it in your pocket…
Never let it fade away.
Catch a helpful thought and put it in your pocket…
Think it all throughout the day!”
So what about those helpful thoughts?
Do they lead to a Result–as in we think them, and then we click our heels together and have what we Thought about?
This is how I always viewed “the power of positive thinking.”
Then I discovered the Think-Feel-Act cycle…and I realized that Thoughts lead to Feelings….and they both lead to Actions….not a Result.
I don’t get a Result until I take Actions.
This is great news….
Because all of the time that we don’t carry out the Actions that we want to….all the times that we don’t get the Results that we want…
We can go right back to Thoughts.
And Thoughts are optional.
Thoughts are changeable.
Thoughts are manageable.
Such good news!
Outline below!
And the video is below!
Or listen on iTunes (link below)!
I want so many good things for you!
A. What is the Think-Feel-Act cycle?
a. Sixty thousand thoughts a day
b. All feelings stem from thoughts—while we can’t just “get happy” or “feel excited,” we can change our thoughts, which will affect our feelings
c. All of our Actions are done from Feelings (and indirectly Thoughts)
B. What are thoughts?
1. What are thoughts—Sentences in your mind.
2. What are beliefs—Thoughts you think over and over again.
3. Power of Positive Thinking oftentimes means that beliefs/thoughts lead to results/outcome.
a. We know this isn’t true or we could win the lottery, think a new car in the driveway, etc.
b. Thoughts to not lead to outcomes—even good thoughts.
4. Beliefs/Thoughts over and over do not lead to results.
(Free webinar next week! Intermittentfastingwebinar.com)
C. How does Think-Feel-Act differ from the Power of Positive Thinking?
1. What does give results—Action!
2. This is where we can use “power of positive thinking”—not to get what we want, but to help us DO what we need to DO!
3. Thoughts do not give results—Thoughts give actions!!!!
4. We do what we think about…
a. Why someone says “I’ve been thinking about this over and over and…..”
b. Why when we hear a motivational speaker and think about it, review our notes, talk about it, etc., we start acting.
c. Why it’s important to surround our kids with good things to think about—their peers are HUGE in what they think and thus what they act on.
D. We can Think ourselves to Action
1. So….we can’t think our way to success.
2. But we CAN think our way to actions!
3. TRUTH
a. Thoughts lead to actions
b. Actions lead to results
E. How does Think-Feel-EAT help with weight loss goals?
1. You don’t just think “I can lose weight” and then lose it!
2. Your BELIEVABLE Thoughts give you Feelings
3. And those Feelings lead to productive Actions
4. Rinse and repeat….
F. Learn more!
1. Episode 1 of Think-Feel-Eat…an Introduction to the Think-Feel-Act cycle (important first broadcast in the series!)
2. Subscribe to blog
3. Subscribe to podcast
4. New Intermittent Fasting Course session begins the first Monday of each month! Intermittentfastingcourse.com
Broadcast #60 – The Problem With Relying on Willpower Part I of II
Why don’t I have more willpower?
Why can’t I just be stronger around food?
Why does food seem to control me?
These were questions that I have asked myself for over forty years!
So imagine my joy in discovering that the “lack of willpower” really wasn’t my fault…
And that research shows that trying to rely on it as our main means of controlling food urges simply doesn’t work.
So here is the scoop!!! It’s a long broadcast (and it’s only Part I of II!)…but if you are like I was…you NEED this info!
Like always, you can watch it at the blog below or on YouTube or just listen to it at the podcast! Easy peasy!
Also like always…detailed outline below…you need this info!
A. Relying on Will Power
1. How we rely on willpower
a. Making a plan, buying food, cleaning out, exercise program, etc. –1)
b. Relying on will power to keep plan in place
c. Leaves the weight of the changes on the part of the brain that is ill-equipped to make those decisions and carry the burden of saying no
2. What is willpower?
a. One definition: Overriding a feeling in order to act in a way that is different than you feel like acting
b. Discovered in 1988 to actually be a thing
3. Why we couldn’t conquer our food habits that made us obese with willpower
a. We used to wonder, like so many others, why we could have the self discipline and willpower to do things—raise children, work well in a job, create a nice home, develop habits and skills
b. But why couldn’t we (and so many people) apply those same self-regulating behaviors to lose weight and keep it off?
c. We didn’t know that the amount, type, and intensity of WILLPOWER needed to lose weight were nearly impossible to sustain when it comes to food urges.
B. Willpower Doesn’t Work Long Term (or Sometimes Even Short Term)
1) Radish experiment:
a. Come missing a meal
b. Chocolate chip cookies being piped in
c. Bowl of chocolate chip cookies and bowl of cleaned radishes
d. Told to eat in one of three ways
i. Couple of chocolate chip cookies (or just chocolate alone)
ii. A couple of radishes
iii. Nothing
e. Outcome
i. People who ate radishes, resisted cookies/chocolate could only do 8 minutes of puzzles
ii. People who were allowed to eat cookies could do 20 minutes of puzzles
f. Making decisions, monitoring emotions, keeping task performance high (few errors)
i. All of these things seem different but they’re all the same as resisting temptations
ii. They all need willpower; they all leave us in willpower depletion
2) Research with beepers
a) Beeped and asked over 400 people if they were resisting temptation at that moment or previous 15 minutes
b) Found that we spend four hours per day resisting temptations
3) Other experiments (M and M’s on table vs across the room—barriers!) and how much “brain power” they had left for intense tasks
4) Brian Wansink (researcher) has shown that we make 119 food-related decisions each day
C. We Have a Willpower Gap
1.Willpower gap means that we don’t have enough willpower left to overcome the urges that we are presented with
2.Willpower drains and depletes from all kinds of decisions and actions
4. It takes willpower to resist (or sit with) over hunger and over desire
a. Over hunger—hunger signals, grehlin tells us we are empty; leptin tells us we are full
b. Over desire—processed foods, frequent eating, sugar and flour concentrations, not real foods all lead to overdesire due to neuro transmitters in the brain that tell us we want more and more of those things each time we have them (dopamine and serotonin)
D. Ways We Handle Willpower Ineffectively
1. Eat many small meals and snacks
a. Research #1
i. Had morbidly obese people go on fixed calorie diet divided into either three meals a day or six meals a day
ii. No difference in weight loss
iii. No difference in health, adherence, etc.
b. Research #2
i. Closed chamber measuring carbon dioxide and oxygen
ii. Over three days people ate either three meals a day or six meals a day, completely standardized
iii. No difference in metabolism for three vs. six meals a day
c. Many small meals and snacks work against the body’s hormones
i. Insulin is kept high, so we don’t hear leptin signals tell us that we are full and need to move around
ii. Leptin is low when insulin is high
iii. We never give ourselves a chance to get hungry—so we become accustomed to not hearing grehlin tell us that we are full
2. “White knuckling” and “resisting” will get us through urges
a. Research, personal experience, and observations all show us this isn’t true
b. We simply run out of willpower to continue without intervening with our hormones, changing our thinking, and building habits (spoiler warning for next week!)
c. Like holding the beach ball under the water—eventually we have to release it
d. Not having enough willpower is also draining because of the shame and judgement we put upon ourselves when we run out of it and give in to urges
3. Eating whatever we want but counting will get us to our goals
a. Some people do need to count because they have no idea the huge amounts of food they are truly eating
b. But eating whatever we want and counting doesn’t work
i. Not enough “calories” for six times a day (“nibbles”)
ii. Eating highly palatable foods will spike dopamine repeatedly—this is why we can stop at one apple but we can’t stop at one cookie
iii. “Whatever we want” is so calorie dense that if we are counting, we will only be able to eat a few things a day—like one donut, one large shake, and a Big Mac take all the calories/fuel we have available for a day for most women!
E. Love to help others solve this critical weight loss mistake!
1. Some simple tweaks in when we eat, what we eat, and how many times we eat each day can completely change the brainpower/willpower issues!
2. Some simple tweaks in when we eat, what we eat, and how many times we eat each day can completely change the hormonal issues that keep us craving, over hungry, and giving in to urges!
3. I’d love to teach others how to practice Intermittent Fasting so we can help our brain and your body work FOR us rather than AGAINST us!
4. Sign up for my month-long Intermittent Fasting course—the first Monday of next month! https://intermittentfastingcourse.com
Categories
Plexus
Check out the supplements that have changed my life!
Ray & Donna Reish Independent Ambassadors #1382677
Contact Me!
Character Ink Press
Downloadable lessons, Language Arts curriculum, Character Training tools & more!
Plexus
Check out the supplements that have changed my life!
Ray & Donna Reish Independent Ambassadors #1382677
