Have you heard of tapping?
There are many ways to do it, but Prevention Magazine says that
"The secret to weight loss might truly be at your fingertips: Tapping your forehead with your finger for 30 seconds could cut food cravings, suggests recent research presented at the Obesity Society Annual Meeting."
Yes, YouTube has many tapping videos available to watch if you are interested in technique or want to experiment. "It's not the only distraction trick that works—obese people in the study also tapped their ears with their fingers, tapped their feet on the floor, and stared at a blank wall—but researchers found it was most effective at reducing the participants' hankerings.
"When people feel a craving, the image of the food gets locked into the visual cortex of the brain. That's why it's so hard to shake the desire. But when you involve your eyes in focusing on something—like participants did when they followed the movement of their fingers—you're engaging that same part of your brain. This adds to the distraction and helps you interrupt the process involved in the craving.
While the experiment used obese participants, it's likely the distracting tricks will also work on normal-weight people, says study author Richard Weil, director of the weight loss program at the New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center.
Want to crush a craving in public, but feel a little weird trying the forehead technique? Just pick something to focus on that'll keep your eyes busy—say, an interesting family picture from your wallet—and try to engage in what you're seeing, says Weil."
Maybe active movement and intentional mind thinking is a good thing when it comes to aversions. I think it is best to be mindful as much as possible in all that we do, so that we have more presence and control in our habits, especially in eating.
When technologies are off, books are put down, silence is around us and we are in tune with what are bodies and minds are telling us, we can lose weight, eat for nutrition when we are truly hungry and optimize our bodies over time. Tapping is a good way to do that. Yoga, meditation, deep breathing, creating music, dancing and journaling are other great ways.
For more information, visit: Prevention.com
