WEBVTT - Part 2: How I Kicked My Sugar Addiction - For Good 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:04.720 Hello, listener, it's Amantha here. So you might have heard. 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:09.040 My fourth book, The Health Habit, came out yesterday. To 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:13.080 celebrate this occasion, I'm releasing a couple of bonus episodes 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:17.520 of How I Work. If you missed yesterday's episode, I 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.759 gave a warts and olview about what's involved in getting 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:22.639 a book deal with a major publisher through to a 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.919 book hitting shelves. And today I'm going to be going 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:30.280 deep into my own health challenges and how I personally 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:33.879 have applied the strategies that I write about in The 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:41.879 Health Habit. My name is doctor Amantha Imbert. I'm an 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:46.519 organizational psychologist and founder of Behavior change consultancy Inventium, and 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:48.120 this is How I Work. 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:49.680 The show about. 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.280 How to help you get so much more out of 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:53.680 the hours in your day. 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:56.640 Hi, it's Neo here. I'm Amantha's partner. You might have 0:00:56.720 --> 0:01:00.680 heard me yesterday interviewing Amantha about writing the book. Today, 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:04.360 I'm asking her about her habits to improve sleep, movement 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.640 and a nutrition. So, Amantha, in your booky writing about 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.920 the habits you've got to improve sleep, movement nutrition. I 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:13.399 want to start with sleep, and I know you had 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.960 before we met many battles with insomnia. Do you want 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:19.720 to go through some of those kind of challenges you had. 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:21.279 Yeah. 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:22.200 So I. 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:27.640 Remember this moment where I was in my mid twenties 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.039 and I was living in Sydney at the time, and 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.440 to get to my office where I was working, I 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:36.640 had to sit in a lot of traffic and cross 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:38.080 over the Sydney Harbor Bridge. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:40.160 And I remember sitting in. 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:44.280 My car one morning and I was so tired, as 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.240 I was every single morning when I was sitting in 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.080 traffic in peak hour in Sydney, and I remember this 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:54.000 thought popped into my head and I thought, I wonder 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:58.920 if there are some people that are not perpetually exhausted 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:01.760 as I felt like I was as a twenty something 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:03.800 year old. And I thought, I wonder if there are 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:09.160 people that actually feel energetic, like for the whole day. 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.240 And in my mind I concluded that yes, that was 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:17.200 definitely a thing. I believed that some people, maybe lots 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:21.520 of people, actually had energy during their days. And that 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:25.520 little thought conversation with myself blew my mind and it 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.919 made me think I've got a problem. I don't think 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:33.840 I'm sleeping well, so I think I just googled a 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.040 sleep doctor or something random like that. 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:39.560 And I found an. 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.520 Apparently reputable sleep doctor in Sydney, and I went to 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.840 see him and I told him about the fact that 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:48.560 I was just never waking up feeling refreshed. I was 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:53.200 feeling tired throughout the day. And he suggested that I 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:59.840 should do a sleep test. I think it's called poly sonog. 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:02.720 Why am I asking you if that's right? 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.000 I have no idea, But these are the ones where 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:07.840 you go into the hospital and sleep in a strange 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:09.840 bed while they wire you up. Is that the one? 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:12.560 Yeah, that's exactly right. This one was a little bit different. 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.040 I've since done a second one that was in a hospital, 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:18.320 but this one was actually in a part of the 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:21.919 doctor's office where he'd set up a room. It looked 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:25.400 like like grandma's bedroom. 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.160 Off a fifty sitcom kind of vibe. 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:32.760 And you went into the lab within his office, and 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:35.880 you like went there in the evening, You got dressed 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:39.440 into your pajamas, you did your bedtime routine, and then 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.880 just before you were being tucked in by a lab clinician, 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:47.400 they hooked you up to about forty or fifty electrodes, 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:51.000 including some being glued onto your scalp like onto your hair, 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:55.560 and then they said good night, time to sleep, and out. 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:58.480 The lights go, and they expect you to sleep, and. 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:01.360 They expect you to sleep someone's watching you through the 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:05.080 whole night on a camera in the room next door. 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.360 So not exactly ideal sleeping conditions. 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:10.320 Okay, And did you get to sleep? 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:14.000 Well? I was surprised because they said that I did 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:18.400 actually sleep for five hours, but I don't remember doing that, 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:20.960 Like it felt like I was just awake all night. 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.240 All right, And so the outcome was well. 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.599 Yeah, so the outcome was well, the good news was 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:30.160 that there was nothing physiologically wrong, so I didn't have 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:34.839 something like sleep apnea, for example, where you know it 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:37.479 can affect your breathing, which can then affect the quality 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:40.960 of your sleep, which is quite a common condition. But 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.599 the bad news was it was psychological and there's no 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:47.039 magical pill that is going to fix that kind of 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:51.120 a sleep problem. So this is where I first learned 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:54.760 about the power of sleep restriction, which is something I 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:56.919 write about in The Health Habit. And I should add 0:04:57.040 --> 0:05:00.040 when I was researching The Health Habit, you know, I 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.800 think there's so much advice out there about the three 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:05.240 areas of health that I write about in the Health Habit. 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:07.120 So I look at sleep, I look at movement, and 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:11.600 I look at nutrition. And we all know that we 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:17.120 shouldn't be scrolling through Instagram while we lie in bed. 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:18.880 That's pretty common knowledge. We all know that we should 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.000 be getting more vegetables. So there are lots of things 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.080 that are common sense. But what I wanted to write 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.960 about in the Health Habit was looking at what were 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:33.800 the most impactful according to science, but actually underutilized or 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:37.159 underused strategies for improving our health. Because no one needs 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:39.760 to be told things that they already know. Again, I 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:42.320 wanted to see if I could uncover what were the 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:44.800 lesser known strategies that we're going. 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:46.360 To have a really big impact. 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.440 And one of those strategies, which I did learn in 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.840 my twenties because of this experience with the sleep doctor, 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:58.200 is the power of sleep restriction, which sounds really counterintuitive, 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:00.880 like if you're trying to improve your sleep, why would 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:05.280 you restrict your sleep? But this is the main It 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:07.880 was certainly the most powerful strategy that I got at 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.919 the time that completely transformed my sleep. So how sleep 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:15.440 restriction works is that you think about how many hours 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:18.600 you spend in bed, and at that point in. 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:21.160 My life, I estimated I was. 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:25.400 Probably spending maybe ten hours in bed, which sounds kind 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.720 of ridiculous. I think I was getting into bed at 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:30.240 about nine pm and then getting out of bed at 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:33.719 about seven am, with the thinking being that if I 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:37.279 could spend a long time in bed, then surely that 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:42.919 increases my chance of catching some sleep. But the sleep 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.480 doctor also asked me to estimate how much sleep I 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.479 thought I was actually getting within that ten hour window, 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.360 and I think at the time I said, I reckon 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:57.320 maybe six hours, maybe six hours at a guess, it's 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.600 always really hard to know. And he said, Okay, what 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:02.880 you're gonna do is you are now only allowed to 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.720 be in bed for six hours, which and he didn't 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:10.840 want me to adjust my wake time, which meant I 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.960 was going to have to stay up into one in 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:17.720 the morning, which blew my mind. I had no idea 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:20.760 how I was going to do that, because I would 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:23.800 just be exhausted. But I did it, and so for 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:27.960 several weeks I restricted my time in bed. And what 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:33.120 that does is your hormonal urge to go to sleep 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:37.080 is building up so much that by the time your 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:42.559 head hits the pillow, you pretty quickly fall asleep, which 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:46.200 then starts to change your association with bed, because before 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:49.640 then I was having a lot of anxiety about going 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:51.920 to bed. I was really nervous that I was just 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.320 going to be up all night and tossing and turning, 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.760 and it makes you really dread going to bed, and 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:03.239 psychologically you start to assoc your bed with everything but sleep. 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:06.320 And so by restricting the amount of hours are spending 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:10.280 in bed, and I should add like, when you feel 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:12.600 like you're actually sleeping for those six hours that you're 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:14.840 in bed, you can slowly start to extend it until 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:17.480 you're in bed for the time that you want to 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:19.440 be sleeping, which for me is about sort of eight 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:24.280 hours or so. That was That was the best thing 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:28.000 I learned from that sleep doctor. And I'm surprised to 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:33.760 this day how uncommon that is as a strategy for 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:35.880 people that are suffering from insomnia, when it's one of 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:37.760 the most powerful strategies that you can use. 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.560 On the surface, when you say it makes sense because 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:43.840 you're going to be so dog tired by one am, 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.200 you will sleep, that makes perfect sense. But the other 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:49.560 part you were trying makes also sense, which is I'll 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:51.960 just lie in bed longer and eventually I'll get tired 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:54.760 and fall asleep or get bored. So yeah, that's a 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.760 really very valuable thing to share with everyone. 0:08:57.960 --> 0:08:58.640 Yeah. 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:02.360 Something else, and I mean, like for listeners that are 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:08.719 also listeners and fans of Huberman, this will probably not 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:10.559 come as new news, but if you're not a fan 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:14.280 of Hubman, it might is the importance of exposing yourself 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:19.079 to daylight or certainly high levels of light very. 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:20.719 Early in the morning when you wake up. 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:25.400 So what some of the sleep professors that I interviewed 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.080 when I was researching the health Habit recommend is that 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:35.120 you should try to get out into daylight, ideally actually outside, 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:38.040 but if not, sit near a window for ten minutes 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:42.080 to half an hour. And what this does is that 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:47.079 this actually resets your body clock, so it's really effective 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.880 in terms of like waking yourself up. It's a great 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:53.720 way to overcome sleep inertia, which is that groggy feeling 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:55.160 that a lot of us feel and we get out 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.920 of bed, and also helping us feel ready to go 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:01.920 to bed at the same or similar time every night. 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:03.640 So this is something that you and I do. We 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.680 sort of have had different routines around, like I refer 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.040 to it like you have like a water shower or 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.000 a shower to clean yourself, but we also have a 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:15.000 light shower where we shower ourselves with daylight. 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:17.680 And it's surprisingly easing to fit in, whether it be 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:19.240 take the dog for a walk in the morning or 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:21.080 just try to get out for a walk before the day, 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:23.800 those kind of things fit in really well with my 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.400 lifestyle and because I wasn't doing it before. 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:30.280 We met, Yeah, I feel like it is easy, Like 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:34.560 I think that on maybe on school drop off mornings 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:37.840 it can be a tiny bit more challenging, although sometimes 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:42.079 we can enlist Frankie to maybe come for a short 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:46.360 dog walk around the block, or we can pop out 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:47.800 into the. 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.800 Garden for a little bit to eat breakfast. So so 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:52.040 there are ways to incorporate it. 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:54.480 But certainly if we don't get time before school drop off, 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:57.200 then certainly it's something that we can do straight after that. 0:10:57.280 --> 0:10:59.480 Ideally you want to be doing it within the first 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.560 couple of hours of waking up. So that's a good 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.079 strategy and a lot of evidence behind that, and I 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:06.760 write about that in the Health Habit. 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:09.960 Okay, so let's go on to nutrition that's been a 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:13.480 challenging one for you over the years, not so much anymore, 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:16.040 But do you want to tell all the listeners about 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:17.960 where you started with nutrition journey. 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:24.240 So I am someone that had terrible eating habits, like 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:30.599 from just eating all sorts of crappy junk food as 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.520 a teenager and still in my twenties, and I think 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:39.680 realizing in my twenties, but probably more so this all 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:42.360 coming to a head in my thirties that I had 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:44.120 a massive problem with sugar. 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:47.400 I was massively addicted to sugar. It's funny. 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:51.280 I've never been like a drug taker or had addictions 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:56.160 of that nature, but sugar was absolutely my achilles heel. 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.760 I needed sugar. I needed it several times a day. 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.680 I needed it to energize me, to power me through. 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:07.640 The cravings were very, very intense. And this all came 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:12.240 to a head when my daughter, Frankie was three months 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.840 old and I was in the kitchen. I just put 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:20.679 Frankie to bed and I needed a hit of sugar 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:24.080 so badly, and I looked through the fridge and there 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:25.880 was like there was literally nothing there. There was no 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:29.520 chocolate cake or anything sweet. Then I went to the 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:34.960 pantry looking for biscuits or leftover lollies, and there was nothing. 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:38.880 But then I saw a tap of way container that 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:43.720 was full of raw sugar, and I thought, Okay, let's 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.280 know what I was looking for, but let's give this 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:51.280 a go because it might it might help. And so 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.760 I took out the tapware container and I started spooning 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.959 like spoonfuls of raw sugar into my mouth. And then 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:03.240 my husband is now ex husband not for that reason, like, 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:06.520 came into the kitchen and saw me doing this, and 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:08.960 just the look on his face was like, what. 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:10.840 Are you doing? 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:15.480 And I just I saw myself through his eyes and 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:19.520 I just thought, what am I doing? This is ridiculous, 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:21.000 this is out of control. 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:22.439 I need to stop. 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:25.400 So that was your sugar rock bottom. If you'd like, 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:29.160 how much sugar were you eating a day and what 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:30.800 was your sugar of choice? 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:35.960 H Chocolate bars were a go to. 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:39.040 They were like an easy source of energy in the afternoon. 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:42.280 So I would say that, you know, every every day 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.360 I would be having maybe one or two chocolate bars. 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.000 I remember when I was pregnant with Frankie, I had 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:52.280 a little routine. Where my office for Inventium was in 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:54.880 the city, there was a route that I would walk 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:57.960 from the office to Flint the street station in Melbourne, 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.440 and there was a shop at Industry Station, it's still 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:05.640 there called the Sugar Station SUGA, and it was filled 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:08.480 with mixed lollies. And every day after work I would 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:09.920 go in and I would fill up a bag of 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.000 mixed dollies and I would eat them on the train home, 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:15.199 like every single day. 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:17.280 I was addicted. 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:19.480 So that's going to be a tough halt habit to break. 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:21.440 So when you hit that rock bottom, how did you 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:21.960 change that? 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:24.640 So there are a few things that I did, and 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:28.320 this is why I feel like, you know, knowing something 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:30.640 is not enough. And I talk about this research in 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:36.320 the Health Habit where information doesn't actually change behavior most 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:38.760 of the time. And I'd read books about quitting sugar. 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:43.720 I'd read books like Sweet Poison by David Gillespie. I'd 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.280 read Sarah Wilson's stuff about quitting sugar. 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.200 I'd sort of I'd tried and failed. 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:52.600 And this is where the second part of the Health Habit, 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.600 which is all about the habit heroes around what are 0:14:56.200 --> 0:15:01.280 habit change strategies that are go to deal with the 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:03.440 habit hijackers or the barriers that are getting in the 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:07.120 way of behavior change, like what is best applied, And 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.080 so a couple of other things that really worked for 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:14.720 me is firstly, like one of the hijackers that I 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:20.040 talk about in the Health habit is environmental hijackers. So 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.480 just the physical environment and situations that we put ourselves 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.000 in every day can have a really big impact on 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:29.600 our behavior. And if you're trying to quit sugar and 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:33.080 there's sugar like sugary foods in your pantry or in 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.200 your fridge, it's really hard to change your behavior because 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.200 that stuff is staring at you every day. So in 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:42.040 the Health Habit I talk about disrupt the default, where 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:46.240 make the default choice like the sort of the natural 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:49.280 thing to do to not have sugar, And how you 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:54.400 do that is through removing sugary treats and snacks and 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:58.560 food from the house. Another strategy that I used and 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:00.800 actually think this was probably the most powerful one for me. 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:06.600 He's understanding the power of language and specifically the power 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:09.520 of the word don't. So there was some really interesting 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:14.160 research conducted by Vanessa Patrick, who's a marketing professor, and 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:18.120 she brought a bunch of people into her lab and 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.520 she divided them into two groups and taught each group 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:27.160 a different strategy so around resisting temptation. One group were 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.320 told to use the self talk when presented with the 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:36.920 attempting chocolate bar, I can't eat chocolate. The second group 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:41.520 was told to switch up that second word slightly and 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:46.360 say I don't eat chocolate when presented with that unhealthy temptation. 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:49.160 So they learned these strategies and then they thought the 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:51.520 experiment was over and on the way out of the lab, 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:53.840 which is actually the crux of the experiment, they were 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:58.440 offered the choice, these participants of a healthy musli bar 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.840 or a chocolate bar. What they found, what the research 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:05.560 has found is that the group that had the don't strategy, 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:10.040 I don't eat chocolate, We're fifty percent more likely to 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:13.520 choose the healthy musli bar compared to the chocolate bar 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.360 compared to the group that we're told to say I can't. 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:20.480 But interestingly, when we're trying to change behavior, we often 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:22.879 say to ourselves, oh, I can't do that. I can't 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:24.679 do that, like I'm not allowed to do that. But 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.399 if we say I don't do that, it speaks to 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.320 who we are as a person. It's like our self 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:32.119 identity changes, and I really felt that way when I 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:34.800 made the commitment to quit sugar, which I've done ninety 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:40.280 five percent successfully over the last decade, where almost every 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.400 single day I just I haven't consumed like chocolate or 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.439 sugary foods because I say to myself, I don't eat sugar, 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:52.000 I don't do dessert, I don't eat sweet treats. And 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.240 that is literally who I am as a person. So 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.840 to break that is like living a life that's not 0:17:57.920 --> 0:17:59.520 consistent with my self identity. 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:04.280 That You've been totally fine and there's been no issues 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:06.800 with me coming into the house with any chocolate per 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:08.200 se over the last while. 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:13.600 Right, So you love your dark chocolate and it's now 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.119 or it was for the last few months, always in 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:21.119 the house, and for the most part that was actually fine. 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:23.000 But the last few months. 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:26.800 Of twenty twenty three were very, very stressful, and I 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:31.320 found that I started getting into the habit of having 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:32.560 dark chocolate every night. 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.520 And you know, arguably dark chocolate is fine. 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:37.760 And there are actually good things in dark chocolate, but 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.119 I knew that it was it was like a slippery 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:44.959 slope in terms of like regressing back to where I 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.440 was ten years ago, and so we had a chat 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:52.119 about it because I wasn't happy with how I was behaving, 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:55.240 and I feel like, if there's chocolate in the house, 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:59.160 it started to become really hard to resist that temptation. 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:02.480 So now we removed the chocolate. I think you have 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:05.159 possibly hidden some chocolate somewhere in the house. I have 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.359 no desire to go on a little treasure hunt, but 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:11.840 it's reversed where I was going, So once again, no 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:13.520 dark chocolate now for me. 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:17.159 And for me, it's not been that bad either. I 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:19.520 do enjoy a chocolate at the end of the day occasionally, 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:22.760 but I haven't missed it, which has been crazy. And 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:26.520 it's still hidden somewhere magically around the house, but I 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:29.359 haven't craved it either, So I suspect it feels for 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:32.720 me was habit end of day reward myself with a 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:35.320 bit of chocolate, but also it being there at eye 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.120 level in the pantry every single day. So you've done 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:40.600 me a favor as well, and I'm not missing it. 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:42.080 I'm glad to hear that. 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:45.439 Okay, any other habits you want to go through? With nutrition? 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:46.160 Oh? 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:46.600 Look. 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:50.840 The nutrition section of the book was actually the hardest 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:55.720 one to write because there's so many conflicting views around 0:19:56.200 --> 0:20:01.800 what we should be eating to improve gut how and microbiome, 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:05.600 improve our energy, improve how we feel, and give ourselves 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.439 the best chance of living along in healthy life. So 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:12.440 there's a lot of disagreement between academics, but something that 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:17.440 pretty much everyone agrees on is that our blood glucose 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:19.879 or blood sugar levels like which which is essentially just 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:22.360 a measure of like how much sugar is floating around 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:26.280 in our bloodstream, is something that we want to have 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:30.639 as stable as possible. So if you have ever eaten 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:36.040 a meal and felt completely crap and sluggish or maybe 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:39.080 still hungry after you've eaten a full meal, chances are 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:42.080 what has happened is that the meal has spiked your 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:45.639 blood sugar levels and then they've come crashing down. 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:47.280 So maybe you've had like. 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:49.959 The big pasta lunch where you feel like sleeping at 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:51.440 three o'clock, yeah. 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:54.840 Exactly exactly, or maybe like you know, like a big 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:58.000 burger or something like that, and you're, you know, and 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.480 you're just feeling like rubbish. Maybe half an hour later, 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:05.600 maybe an hour later. It's probably because your blood sugar 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:09.959 has crashed, and we want to avoid that. So some 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:11.680 of the strategies that I talk about in the health 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:18.600 habit are really really effective at stabilizing or leveling out 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:21.600 our blood sugar levels. And if you can do that, 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:25.240 you will feel so much better. You will feel fuller 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:28.440 after you eat, you will feel full of energy, and 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:32.240 you avoiding those horrible crashes that a lot of us experience, 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:35.400 particularly in the afternoon. So it's super important. So one 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:39.440 strategy was one of my favorite ones, is that there 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:42.879 was some really interesting research and this has been actually 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:44.280 research a few times. 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:47.480 That looked at does the order or the. 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:51.320 Sequence of which we eat our foods make a difference 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:55.439 to our blood glucose response. So there was one study 0:21:55.440 --> 0:22:01.280 that had people eating some Asian vegetable, a chicken breast, 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:04.200 and some white rice. But what they did is they 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:08.160 mixed around the order that different groups were eating this meal. 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:11.639 In what they found, and this finding has been replicated 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:15.800 several times, is that if we can eat our vegetables first, 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:19.560 followed by the proteins and the fats of the meals, 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:23.680 in this case the chicken, and finishing with the carbs 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:26.160