Brain Change | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Brain Change | Previous Challenge Entry
By Dolores Stohler
11/30/11
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Last night on PBS I watched a tutorial on how to change your brain to change your body. It featured some fanciful drawings of brains in baby blue and pink. They looked good enough to eat – like cotton candy or frosted cookies. I thought perhaps they were going to tell us that brains were the latest fad in diet foods.

After the initial food comparison, my brain evolved to thinking about how the subject might meet the latest FW challenge. You know, download information on how not to upload on food and gain weight. That’s how my brain works. I guess it really does need a change of some kind.

Here’s what I learned from TV. There are five different kinds of food thinkers: impulsive, obsessive, a mix of the first two, then sad and anxious. You have to determine which category you belong in before you decide on the treatment. Dr. Amen (yes, that’s really his name) emphasized lots of exercise and green vegetables for all kinds of dieters. Wouldn’t you know it? You don’t really need a new brain to figure that one out. I like what my son-in-law said last week, “I got a stair master for my birthday and guess what? I’ve mastered the art of staring at it.”

I’ve mastered the art of staring at chocolate cake and making it disappear. When I was young, I was proud of my 22” waistline. My thighs are getting close to that measurement now. I’ll look in my closet and wonder if I should give some of my old clothes to the thrift store. Then I’ll think, “I really like that dress. If I lose five pounds per week, maybe I can wear it again by Christmas.” Well, I can dream, can’t I?

As my TV class progressed, I began to realize that I really fit into the “anxious eater” category. I’ve always thought of myself as a positive thinker but it seems my brain has been playing tricks on me. Anxious people are restless types, always thinking of things to do. We’re good at analyzing, creating, nit-picking and criticizing. The cure for this is hypnosis and meditation. I’ll skip the hypnosis but meditation sounds good. On second thought, maybe I can hypnotize myself into a state where I give up sweets.

Dr. Amen went on to say that it takes two weeks of avoiding sugar to conquer cravings for the tempting sweets. A light bulb has gone off! I’ll ask my husband to lock me in the bathroom for two weeks while I go on a sugar-free diet. He could cut a slit in the door to pass through plates loaded with salad, blueberries and other brain-healthy stuff. I would have a Bible handy for long periods of meditation and prayer.

We-ell, it sounded like a good plan at first. The drawback is that I’d have to sleep in the bathtub and that’s not too comfy. I tried it years ago when I had a fight with my husband and, even with a couple of pillows and a blanket, I didn’t get much sleep. I walked around with a sore back for days.

If good intentions count for anything, I have lots of those. I’m determined to kick the sugar habit and download all the right foods for a change. My brain and my body will be in tip-top condition in no time at all. I’ll get started on it right after New Year’s.

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