Bear with me for a second.

The other morning I was going for a run in my neighborhood and on the second lap I had a large retriever charge me barking to beat the band.   Instantly, I got a surge of adrenaline and the fight or flight syndrome kicked in.  The dog reached the invisible fence, stopped charging and off I went on the next laps.  Of yeah, I almost forgot; as instantly as the adrenaline kicked in so did my mouth dropping the F bomb. Fortunately, it was early so just the dog and I heard that.

But it got me thinking about how amazing our brain is.  All that adrenaline and fight or flight happened from that stimuli.  I didn’t have to give it a single thought.  Wouldn’t it be great to harness some of those same instincts toward the goals we want to accomplish?

Last week, I shot a video on how to use a food log.  A friend told me that was a lousy title for a video and he thought a lot of people wouldn’t even know what I meant by a food log. And you know what?  He was right.  At least judging by how few people watched that video compared to the number who normally watch my video blogs.

So let me take another swing at explaining what a food log is and how to use it.

First, here is a template for a food log if you’d like to download it.

So what does any of this have to do with a user’s guide to our brain?  Well, just like my instant reaction to my neighbor’s dog, our brain controls a lot of our actions obviously, both consciously and subconsciously.

Almost all of us want to either lose weight or maintain our weight, right?  Well a food log is nothing more than a way to track what we eat and that’s helpful.  But it’s even more helpful if we fill in a food log before we eat.  And why is that?  Because it makes us take a minute or two to think about what we are about to eat before we put it in our mouths.

Years ago when I was working to lose weight I saw a nutritionist who said “your arch nemesis is bits and bites”.  Well I didn’t know what she meant either as you’re probably saying “huh”?  What she meant was those stops be the pantry when I would throw a handful of nuts or raisins or both in my mouth without even thinking about it.

So a food log gives you a chance to engage your brain before you engage your mouth.

Click here for the video from last week (very short) where I made the offer to review anyone’s food log and give you some feedback.  That offer still stands.  I hope you take me up on that offer if you are trying to lose some weight.

Back on a user’s guide to our brain…. I did a video on willpower that I got great feedback on.  So if you missed that video and want to see what the science says about willpower just click here.

I’d love to hear any comments or suggestions you have on this or suggestions for topics you’d like to learn more about or that are problems for you.

And if you find these posts helpful feel free to share them or like the Facebook page.  You know the drill I’m sure.

Have a great week!

To Your Quantum Leap in Health,

Bruce

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