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A trigger is anything that
causes us to eat when we are not really physically hungry.
An example is watching a food or drink commercial on TV that
causes us to go to the refrigerator and get something to
eat. This is a visual trigger.
But a trigger doesn’t always
involve seeing food; sometimes it will be an emotional
trigger – stress for instance. Stress is an example of a
non-visual trigger.
Let's see how a phone call
might trigger us to want to eat. If a friend calls and says
something that hurts your feelings, you might find yourself
wanting to get into the refrigerator when you hang up the
receiver. In this case, feeling hurt could be a trigger to
eat.
Another type of trigger is
called a paired association. This is the pairing of eating
with a specific activity or event. Have you ever gone to a
birthday party and not seen a cake and ice cream. Of course
you haven’t! Cake and ice cream are traditional birthday
foods. Or, how about when you go to the football game.
Just how many hot dogs and colas do you consume during a
game? And what's a movie without popcorn and candy? All
these are examples of paired associations…a specific event
and food that seem inseparable. Notice that we said
“seem”...because they don't have to be paired of together.
A more general paired
association is the habit of eating anything along with an
activity, such as eating while watching TV. People with
this habit may, for example, eat a full evening meal and
then go in the family room for an evening of TV. But soon,
they find themselves roaming in the kitchen. There is no
way they’re physically hungry, but instead they’ve
associated eating with watching television. Watching
television becomes the trigger to eat. And this pattern is
practiced repeatedly. To some, this trigger is a very
powerful one!
Of course, you can't even
begin dealing with triggers until you know exactly what your
eating habits are. Your on-line food journal is one of the
best ways to learn what your triggers are.
List some
of your personal triggers: (here are some examples)
1. Junk food at a sporting
event.
2. Popcorn and candy at the
movies.
3. Eating while talking on
the phone.
4. Birthday parties (cake
and ice cream)
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