Cueing Wednesday- Mindset Practice in Food Choice

Have you ever noticed how some people perpetually love vegetables while others "just don’t like them”? Is there something extraordinarily different between them?

In a study done by Todd Hare and colleagues researchers examined 37 dieters and noticed that dieters with high self control considered both taste and health in making a food choice, and portions of their brain that dealt with decision making and executive control (parts of the prefrontal cortex, or PFC) showed activation at time of food choice, while people with low self control only considered taste of the food and showed activity in the PFC but low in other brain regions (Hare, Camerer, & Rangel, 2009).

This activation within the high self-controllers likely takes practice in choosing those foods, and maybe more importantly, in repeating the values associated with those food choices (the PFC helps assign value signals at time of choice).

But what needs to happen before this practice and a “health mindset” becomes natural?

One of the first steps we can take in beginning that practice is to notice our mindset about our health and food.

Are you labeling yourself as a “cookie eater,” for example? Or that weight loss is so “ “ (fill in in the blank).

I think one of the biggest factors that influences our food choices is the way we look at food. Our Mindset. Whether we think a food will be disgusting, or we think it will be delicious, we’re right!

Be careful how you think about food and your health. Question your mindset. Do you believe bell peppers are un-tasty? Or can that broccoli be prepared in such a way where you think it IS tasty. OR, can you also be a “vegetable eater.”

If your current food choices aren’t working for you, re-evaluate and re-frame them. Research done by Ellen Langer, Alia Crum, and Carol Dweck shows us that the power of mindset, and the WAY we think about ourselves, the food we consume, and our health, has a direct influence on physiological outcomes, and hence wellbeing.

Develop and practice the health mindset that you WANT for your long term self.