Change Your Mind, Change Your Health
Religions are some of the best examples of humans behaving according to rules and stories. We’ll fight, die, argue, all based on a story extrapolated over many years
Much has been said about whether religion is a force for good or evil, and I won’t get into this here. What I will discuss is how they’ve been helpful in enforcing behaviour and having us stick to guidelines to live by.
For many people, identifying with a greater good or higher power guides them to make better decisions and live a better life. They stop drinking, smoking, gambling and are generally more pleasant to be around. You could argue that this way of life creates a net positive.
Okay, but what does this have to do with nutrition? Well, following an arbitrary set of rules for a superficial reason can be one of the most difficult things to do. But what if these rules strike deep to your core, to the point that deviating them goes against everything you believe in?
A orthodox Jew probably doesn’t think twice about going out on the Sabbath, nor does a fundamentalist Christian even entertain the thought of having barbecue on a Friday. There’s no will power or discipline exercised here, it’s simply a way of life and adhering to these behaviours is deeply rooted in their identities as religious people.
To put it another way, what if, instead of eating this salad because you want to lose 5kg, you’re eating it because you belong to the salad faith and eating it is a symbol of your identity. What if you started behaving according to your identity, as opposed to an outcome that you want?
In his book, Atomic Habits, James Clear describes the three layers of behavioural change.
Outcome focussed: “I’m going to lose 5kg.”
Process focussed: “I’m only going to shop at a farmers market.”
Identity focussed: “I’m a healthy person and I believe that eating a salad can change the world. Hell, I’ll even fight for my salad.”
Now, this may sound ridiculous or even dangerous, but what if we used the innate power of identity based behaviour to create healthy behavioural change?
This is why mindset is so important in our health and fitness, and why in order to get healthy, you have to believe that you’re a healthy person, and health needs to be a key value of yours. If it’s not, (and it’s fine if it’s not), you will get pulled off track by the most trivial of temptations
So if you’ve recently taken on a fitness plan, I encourage you to spend some time questioning why you’re doing it. The answers may not be clear right away, and maybe you’re purely outcome focussed and just want to lose this bloody 5kg. That’s okay. But once you start your journey, I encourage you to dig a little deeper and ask yourself these questions as they might just keep you making this thing last.