The powerful secret to changing or building healthy habits
My nutrition coaching program is all about helping you make small (but very effective) changes to your daily habits and thought patterns in order to help you feel great about food and prioritize healthful self-care.
In order to effectively create or change a habit, though, it helps to understand the science behind them. I could spend weeks talking about habits and different strategies for creating or changing your wellness routines, but today I want to highlight one key concept known as the Habit Loop.
According to author James Clear, each habit has 4 stages that act as a circular feedback loop in our brains: the cue, the craving, the response, and the reward.
1. As you might expect, the cue is the stimulus for the habit. For example, I normally prepare and eat a healthful, well-balanced breakfast. Entering my kitchen after I’ve exercised or gotten dressed for the day is my cue to prepare that breakfast. (Or maybe it’s my stomach growling? That probably depends on the day!)
2. The craving is something you desire. I want to feel good in my body and start my day off on the right foot.
3. The response is the action or habit itself. In this example, my response is preparing and eating a yummy, balanced breakfast.
4. Just as it sounds, the reward is the benefit one receives as a result of the action or habit. My reward is enjoying the food, feeling good, and knowing that I’m starting my day in a positive way that I can build upon.
SO…if you want to adopt a new habit or change an old one a great starting place is to determine a cue, identify the desire (or craving) that’s motivating you, and then pinpoint the associated reward. For a new habit think about how to set up a cue and plan a reward that will make the habit easier to follow through with. To break an unhelpful habit, identify the cue, craving, and reward that are currently motivating you and see which factors can be modified, eliminated, or replaced to help extinguish the behavior.
Here’s a few more tips to help you successfully create or change your wellness habits:
Remember that habits are basically pathways in our brain. Once adopted, we do them without really thinking about them. That’s why working on our habits can be a powerful tool for building a healthy lifestyle and/or managing our weight—it’s like putting positive wellness behaviors on autopilot.
You’ll be most successful if you focus on one small, specific habit at a time. Want to be more physically active, for example? Start by just walking for a couple of minutes each day. Once you’re doing that consistently, make it 5, then 10, etc.
Success begets success. Once you’re successfully implementing one desired new habit (however small), you’re more likely to keep building and expanding upon it.
If success = small, then results = gradual. Be patient and celebrate successful action. Measurable results WILL come as the effects of your small wellness habits and lifestyle changes snowball and gain momentum.
So…now that you’re armed with more knowledge about implementing and changing habits, what one small wellness habit will you work on this week?
Set an intention, create a specific plan…and go!
Cheers!
Elizabeth
PS: If you want to read more on this topic, I highly recommend reading the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. Not only is it super informative and actionable but it’s very engaging as well.