The Habit Concept

Habit formation is an important goal for behavior change interventions 
because habitual behaviors are elicited automatically
and are therefore likely to be maintained.

 
All habits—no matter how large or small—have three components, according to neurological studies.

• a cue—a trigger for a particular behavior;
• a routine, which is the behavior itself;  and
  
• a reward, which is how your brain decides whether to remember a habit for the future.

The two basic rules for forming a Habit are:

First, find a simple and obvious cue.
Second, clearly define the rewards.

According to Scientists, Habits are so powerful because they create neurological cravings.  Most of the time, these cravings emerge so gradually that we’re not really aware they exist. But as our brains start to associate certain cues (a bakery box!) with certain rewards (yummy pastry!), a subconscious craving emerges. And so whenever we see the bakery box in the break room we start craving a pastry—even if, just moments before, we weren't hungry at all.

If you can identify the right cue and reward—and if you can create a sense of craving—you can establish almost any habit.

For the past six years I've been interested in the well-thought-out Habit concepts of The No S Diet, and at  present, I am very focused on turning some specific Behaviors into Habits.

I believe achieving success in this area would be tremendously helpful to me in the areas of weight-loss and maintenance.  Wouldn't it be great if I CRAVED the Eating BEHAVIORS that served to keep me a "normal" weight?

Although I'm finding this type of Habit formation quite difficult, I feel certain that it's possible. During the past nine-and-one-third years, I've succeeded at establishing the habit of tracking all of my food intake into a computer food journal every day. Now… if I can just do the same thing with several specific positive eating behaviors …….