Traveling together with Josef Wasinski on the GiveGetWin Tour was a revelation; the way he trains, eats, approaches nutrition and biochemistry... I thought I understood some things on the topic beforehand; it turns out, I didn't understand much.
Josef suppresses the desire to eat junk food by eating lots of clean food, but also mixing in zero calorie stuff: coffee, Powerade Zero, and -- chewing gum.
I shared Gollwitzer's paper on goal shielding last week; it's an important paper. Gollwitzer et al recommend having a very well-programmed if/then statement to help defeat the craving spirals predicted under the "Elaborated Intrusive Theory of Desire" (seriously, read the paper).
Well, I thought, this is all very interesting. I wonder if I could use physical actions instead of only mental.
And -- it seems like it's possible.
I went and bought a bunch of sugarless gum. Now, I'm sitting in a cafe with bagels and cream cheese in the air. I'm running a caloric deficit. I'm hungry. Some part of me wants the bread and cheese that's permeating the air, despite that it's no good at all.
And I pop a couple pieces of chewing gum into my mouth... and.... it fades.
I've been going out of my way to try to condition a link between "Hungry for junk --> Have chewing gum." (Of course, then make sure you're getting macro and micronutrients later through good food choices, and stay hydrated.)
I was curious about this, and I set to train it like a Pavlovian reaction. Walk into a 7-11 convenience store, walk up to an aisle of junk while hungry, let a craving start, have chewing gum, relax.
Repeat.
The results are early. Who knows if it'll stick. But it seems interesting and promising as a way to suppress breakdown on this sort of goal.