There is much in the news today about obesity and you can be assured that the food industry fully intends to place the blame squarely on the individual, despite the fact they spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year in an effort to entice us to buy more and more of their products. Children are especially vulnerable to the advertising for cereals, snack bars, crackers, cookies, candy, and fast foods. Colorful packaging, and now even colorful foods to encourage the little shoppers to badger their parents into buying the "convenient" snack packs for them. "Mommy I want it" is exactly the result advertisers are paying to obtain. They know that many adults will give in to the child's demands, just to "keep the peace."
If you live in modern society, you can't escape advertising. How many times have you been happily minding your own business when suddenly the TV screen flashes a big, juicy, something! Your stomach may start gurgling, your mouth starts watering, and the launch sequence for hunger has begun. Once the countdown starts, nothing can stop the launch into the kitchen, or for the seriously dedicated, out the door to go get something to eat. This can happen only an hour after a big dinner. The ads are designed to do this, and they work well as we prove with our food dollars every day.
Next time you watch TV keep a note pad nearby and make a little hash mark every time you see a commercial that encourages you to eat. You'll also notice there are certain ads that seem to trigger the hunger response more than others. What is it about those ads? Do you start to mentally taste the food? Does it remind you of happy occasions? It can even remind you of unhappy occasions which then drives you to want something to eat because you "deserve" it.
Notice whether it is the people in the ad, the message itself, the words they use, even the background music or scenery? See if you can pin-point what, exactly, it is about the ad that draws you in. Notice what you don't like about ads that simply do not interest you. Play college student and do this as homework, and if you can get your kids to do it with you, all the better.
My son has come to me many times to tell me about something he's seen on TV and now wants me to buy. He gets caught up in the half hour infomercials and becomes so convinced their product is the single best thing, that it's difficult to change his mind.
Evenings are an especially rough time for dieters because of the over abundance of advertising for food. Seeing delicious things to eat can create the sensation of hunger until it becomes a patterned response. Turning on the TV then begins to make you hungry, even without the food cues.
1. Mute the commercials or switch to another channel (channel surfers already do this anyway). Not watching or hearing the ad can help enormously. Remember, out of sight, out of mind.
2. Use commercial break time to do housework. You'd be amazed at how much clutter you can clear in three or four minutes, and every hour you get at least four of these breaks.
3. Mute the ads and keep your hands busy until your show comes back on with a project like knitting, reading or finishing that book you've been writing.
4. Start a new business (then you're probably not in front of the TV anyway).
5. Step outside and breath some fresh air for a few minutes.
6. Exercise during the ads. Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, do this for a full minute. It's a great leg exercise. Use a kitchen chair rather than the couch to be kinder on your knees.
7. Move to another seat in the room. Sometimes just getting up from your usual spot in the room (the coach, or your favorite chair) and moving to another location can help, so can getting a glass of water. Sometimes it's thirst.
The worst thing you can do is simply watch and then attempt to combat your growing desire to eat. Once the idea that you're hungry is planted, it becomes much more difficult to change your mind. Instead stop the idea from occurring in the first place by finding something else to do instead of watching another Burger King commercial.
Advertising only works when we're paying attention, either watching or listening. I've no quarrel with advertisers, I advertise my services too, but watching one hundred ads all featuring food after dinnertime is a bit much for anyone to endure. Food ads are designed for you to simply sit and be mesmerized by the flashing words, snappy slogans, colors and lights. Pay closer attention, or pay none at all, but either way you'll gain a much greater understanding of how advertising influences you.
~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of onemorebite-weightloss.com
Get onemorebite-weightloss.com: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.
cheap limo service Lombard .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareIndividuals who are interested in bariatric surgery need to be... Read More
In the early nineties I had the opportunity to work... Read More
One of the biggest scams ever successfully pulled on the... Read More
The huge companies stealing your money by promising impossible results... Read More
Information About Weight Training Routines For BeginnersSo you need to... Read More
When women talk about their biggest obstacles to successful weight... Read More
America is getting more obese every year. Even our children... Read More
Several months ago I was in desperate need of weight... Read More
All Diets Are Based on the Same Premise: Eat Less... Read More
If you are trying to lose weight you may find... Read More
Healthy living begins with healthy eating and healthy eating begins... Read More
Hold the onions! Let's talk "liver". No, not beef liver,... Read More
The Liver The function of your kidneys is to filter... Read More
If you're thinking of going on a diet to lose... Read More
So you're overweight, "fat"--to be honest--and you want to start... Read More
The low carb diet craze has become extremely popular amongst... Read More
When it comes to our weight and the appearance of... Read More
Fifteen Secrets of Safe and Easy Permanent Weight Loss Revealed!*... Read More
Obesity raises the risk of various types of cancer. And... Read More
Teenagers with body mass indices between 25 and 30 require... Read More
Just the facts on bodybuilding weightloss strategies that work. No... Read More
Weight loss plans come in all shapes and sizes. Some... Read More
Abdominal fat is now seen as a growing health hazard,... Read More
In the early weeks after having weight loss surgery almost... Read More
Over the past 5 years, online weight loss programs have... Read More
limo O'Hare Glen Ellyn ..Why has Phentermine stopped helping me lose weight?Many people are... Read More
How to Break Your PlateauToday is a typical morning like... Read More
If you're thinking of going on a diet to lose... Read More
Dieters have long searched for secret paths to easy weight... Read More
How many meals do you eat in one day?Close study... Read More
Self-acceptance and body love can be tough concepts to grasp... Read More
Speculating on the scientifically proven memory unreliability, the memory specialist... Read More
We think we know everything there is to know about... Read More
Whether coming from a close friend, the nightly news or... Read More
New Medical Research shows high-intensity exercise can increase the body's... Read More
Well, to begin with, there isn't really any one Mediterranean... Read More
Are you tired of getting the same old advice when... Read More
Axiom Number FourTo have a great selling diet plan encourage... Read More
When we hear all the success stories of the gastric... Read More
Losing weight on hips and thighs has always been a... Read More
Having just returned from a week of basking on a... Read More
You may not like what I'm about to say, but... Read More
Considering the US Center for Disease Control's advice is a... Read More
How many of your New Year's resolution start out with... Read More
One-size-fits-all diets don't work....but then you probably know that already.... Read More
It seems there are two schools of behavior patients follow... Read More
If you're trying lose weight, maintain your weight, or sculpt... Read More
Low Carb, Low Fat, More protein, Eat all the fat... Read More
You know what is so amazing? We get to keep... Read More
We must all now be familiar with the Atkins Diet.... Read More
Weight Loss |