My client Stephanie was struggling with urges for something sweet.

She’d finish dinner and feel replete, but she’d still crave the sweet thing.

She felt shame for giving into the urges.  Shame, in part, because she’d “binge” in secret.

Can you relate to this?

Are there foods that derail you from sticking to your plan to be your healthiest?

Perhaps it’s wine, beer, chocolate, ice cream, crunchy snacking foods, banana bread, cereal, …

Stephanie found a tool to manage those urges and help her stay on track with her health and fitness goals.

It’s brought her peace and calm and enables her to spend her evenings doing things that give her pleasure and satisfaction.

I want to give you this tool.

Imagine an urgent desire that’s hit you in the past.  “I want that.  I need that.  That looks so good…”

This tool will help you manage that urge and retrain your brain when it comes again.

It’s called the 30-minute pause[1].  Pause spelled PAZ, which means peace in Spanish.

This is a pattern interrupt technique.  Normally you have a strong desire/urge for a particular food, and you respond to it.

But there’s another option.  It’s allowing the desire to be there.  You don’t resist it because that’s willpower.  And willpower doesn’t work.  It’s like being in a vice that just gets tighter and tighter.

The pause creates space for you to make a decision on purpose rather than just responding almost subconsciously and continuing to self-sabotage your true desires and goals.

P stands for pause for 30 minutes; peek at your brain.

Let’s say you have an urge for a bowl of ice cream.  Look at the time.  Note it.

You’re going to pause for 30 minutes and just allow the urge or desire to be there.  Set a timer if necessary.

Doing this will cause the inner struggle to dissipate.  And you’ll be able to manage your desires, urges and cravings.  You’ll start to unlearn the habit of feeling the urge and responding to it.

You’re creating the space to completely interrupt your typical pattern and learn something different.

Peek at your brain. “What am I thinking?”  Be fascinated.  “What am I thinking about the ice cream?  Am I feeling stressed?  What’s going on with me right now?  What do I really need?”

A stands for allow the desire.  And access and acknowledge your feelings.

You simply allow the desire to be there without reacting to, responding to, or resisting it. It’s just there.  It’s totally harmless.  It’s just a feeling.

Tell yourself.  “I am going to allow this urge and desire to be here.  I’m okay.  I’m safe.  It’s totally fine if I don’t react and respond to it right away.  It’s just a feeling or desire of wanting something.  It’s not going to hurt me.”

You might be thinking, “Karen, I don’t understand what you mean by allowing the desire. How can I allow the desire to be there and not eat the ice cream?”

Here’s an analogy.  Visualize getting extremely angry with someone.   So much so, you want to punch the person.  Do you punch him?  No.  You allow the anger and desire to punch him to be there, BUT you don’t respond to it.

It’s similar to the food urge.

Access how you’re feeling.  Ask yourself: “What am I feeling?”

Get curious about this desire and what’s creating it.

Are you feeling stressed? angry? anxious? bitter? depressed? bored? restless?…

Acknowledge the feeling.

Z stands for zone in on your goal.  And zig zag to a new thought, feeling, action, result.

Zone in on your goal equates to reminding yourself what’s more important.

Is eating the bowl of ice cream more important?

Or is sticking to your goal? (The goal could be staying off sugar, slimming down, healing your gut, having better complexion, having better energy and clarity of thought, ending the battle with food,…)

Zig zag to focusing on something new. “How can I think about this differently?  Why is making a different choice important to me right now?  What else can I focus on?  What do I truly need?”

For example, instead of feeling stressed or overwhelmed, remind yourself you can only do one thing at a time.  You take a deep breath.  You tell yourself, “I got this.”  You feel calm  And you focus on the next task.

Or it may be as simple as you’re tired and need to go to bed.

Using PAZ will produce more lasting results than exercising pure willpower to not eat or to lose weight because willpower is about restriction.  You may lose the weight, but it often comes back.

PAZ is not about deprivation and restriction.  Rather, practicing this will help you change your behaviors and eating habits such that they’re more sustainable and deprivation free.

Would you like to make this commitment to yourself to begin pausing for 30 minutes when you’re hit with an unwanted craving/desire/urge?

Intellectually processing this concept isn’t going to change your results.  You need to make this commitment and honor it.  The next time you have an urge, you’re literally going to look at the clock.

You will not consume the food or beverage for which you got the urge until you’ve gone through the PAZ process and can make a decision about which you feel good.

You’ll be managing your desires on purpose and shifting your focus to getting results that you want.

You’ll be generating desires that move you toward your goals.

I am here to support you in whatever way I can.

I recognize you may need help working through some trauma in order to practice this.

For many of us food became a way of coping with stress at a young age.  I get that.  And would love to help you with that.

You may also like help learning how to sit in an uncomfortable emotion of not having the specific food.

Whatever the challenge, feel free to reach out.  Click here to book a free 30-minute Discovery Call.

Two last words of exhortation.

One.  You can use the 30-Minute Pause for other unwanted habits, not just food.  It can be scrolling on Facebook or another social media platform or checking your email to see if someone has written to you.  Or responding hastily to social media post or email.  Anything that takes you out away from your purpose and goal.

Two.  Please don’t shame yourself or beat yourself up for your food struggles.  Or for trying to implement this practice and not “succeeding.”  Give yourself time to learn.

Getting new results requires courage and taking new action.  I believe you have the courage.

And as I said, reach out for help if you need help.

May God’s peace and grace be upon you.

Thank you,
Karen

[1]Concept learned from Brenda Lomeli, The Last 10 Podcast